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Welcome Lindsay Gottlieb, new assistant coach on John Beilein's Staff

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I’m not posting the whole article out of respect for The Athletic, but here’s an excerpt from Jason Lloyd’s latest article on the Gottlieb hiring:

When she was 6, Gottlieb wanted to be the Yankees shortstop. Or a U.S. Senator. Her parents similarly instilled in her when she was young there were no limits to her life. So when she was 12, she made her family watch the NBA Draft lottery because, she insisted, she was going to be an NBA general manager one day.

She laughs now recalling the story. She doesn’t remember saying it, but her family insists it was true. She’s one step closer to Altman’s chair today.

“I’ve always loved the NBA,” Gottlieb said Wednesday. “I’ve always had a dream to be in the NBA.”


The concerns some have expressed are that NCAA women’s basketball and the NBA can be very different....

Sure.

But she’s a basketball nut, folks. An NBA junkie and a fan of the game.

She’s a highly intelligent and successful coach and she’s been participating in NBA camps to soak in more knowledge for quite some time.

It’s not like she doesn’t already know which concepts are shared and which will require adjustments. Give her some credit.

She knows the game. Relax—this is a great move.
 
I'm not worried about the respect, I'm worried about it literally being a different game. NBA level male athletes just have an entirely different set of physical skills and capacities than female college-level players, and the game itself reflects those differences. There are all kinds of things that work well in the women's game that won't work in the NBA game because it would be completely impossible to execute them against NBA-level male athletes. Then the player development challenge is very different too because you are developing different capacities.

Female athletes have to work harder, master fundamentals and play smarter to compensate for more modest athletic gifts.

If you combine that work ethic, that focus on the little things, and a mind for tactics with physical prowess you will get a helluva good result.

A good teacher can impart that on the physically gifted.

Physical ability is like another weapon; force multipliers amplify their effectiveness.
 
My point is that you can't separate athleticism from what the fundamentals are. Women college basketball players master a three point shooting form that is "fundamentally sound" for their game but would get blocked basically every single time by NBA players. They are playing different games and the fundamentals are not the same. Not saying it's impossible to adjust but there will be a steep learning curve.
 
A little worried that athletes won't respect female coaches sufficiently
It’s really what it comes down to. I told my wife about the hire and her resume, response, “do they really expect the players to respect her and accept it when she makes demands? Most don’t respect men without NBA experience, let alone women.”

I guess one of the Gasol’s wrote an article about Hammond but he grew up in a totally different culture and VERY privileged with two parents. So I don’t really think his opinion applies
 
It’s really what it comes down to. I told my wife about the hire and her resume, response, “do they really expect the players to respect her and accept it when she makes demands? Most don’t respect men without NBA experience, let alone women.”

I guess one of the Gasol’s wrote an article about Hammond but he grew up in a different culture.

It was Pau. And it wasn't just a different culture it was a different situation. I think his Mom was a Doctor and his dad was a Nurse so he was use to the roles being reversed. I am not saying women can't be doctors or men can't be nurses. Just saying that he grew up in a house with different expectations then the norm. I hope Gottleib is successful but she was a middling coach at Cal and a lot of the fan base seems happy shes gone which is worrisome.
 
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- During her time at the University of California, Lindsay Gottlieb received countless calls from interested programs. Each time that phone rang, she answered with a familiar response: Thanks, but no thanks. That was until Cleveland Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman reached out this off-season, stunning her with an offer she simply couldn’t get out of her head.


Altman met with Gottlieb face-to-face for the first time on May 14th in Chicago. Sure sounds like he really wanted to bring her on as an assistant to whatever head coach they brought in and luckily she really hit it off with Beilein and Bickerstaff.
 
It’s really what it comes down to. I told my wife about the hire and her resume, response, “do they really expect the players to respect her and accept it when she makes demands? Most don’t respect men without NBA experience, let alone women.”

I guess one of the Gasol’s wrote an article about Hammond but he grew up in a totally different culture and VERY privileged with two parents. So I don’t really think his opinion applies

I certainly see where folks are coming from, it came to mind immediately for me, but the "will they respect him/her" mentality has been one that has existed since integration in the 40s and 50s in sports and the military. Any time someone new is entering the system.

And the answer is that people will get over it. They'll either be professionals or ship out.

In Army I was in a combat arms line unit that had the first female artillery officers. People said "line troops won't follow women." Well, they did, and those that had a problem were corrected because it is an immature attitude once people start working together.

If she is a good coach, and knows her shit, and the Cavs still have players that won't listen to her because she is a woman, then they don't need those types of immature, unprofessional player.

That is the bottom line in any professional setting.
 
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It’s really what it comes down to. I told my wife about the hire and her resume, response, “do they really expect the players to respect her and accept it when she makes demands? Most don’t respect men without NBA experience, let alone women.”

I guess one of the Gasol’s wrote an article about Hammond but he grew up in a totally different culture and VERY privileged with two parents. So I don’t really think his opinion applies
Depends on the woman. I play softball with a handful that everyone respects. It's obvious they deserve it. She'll probbaky be fine. Our team seems high character too
 
She has a great resume and this hire is in many ways proof the Cavs are in full rebuild targeting long term high ceiling players in the draft instead of retooling where they would be interested in drafting win now high floor players, bringing in 2 developmental coaches.
This makes me believe the trade down to 8 and 10 is more likely,Or that they are very confident in picking up a pick late lottery with salary absorbing moves for Smith
 
It was Pau. And it wasn't just a different culture it was a different situation. I think his Mom was a Doctor and his dad was a Nurse so he was use to the roles being reversed. I am not saying women can't be doctors or men can't be nurses. Just saying that he grew up in a house with different expectations then the norm. I hope Gottleib is successful but she was a middling coach at Cal and a lot of the fan base seems happy shes gone which is worrisome.
Nothing is worrisome. She is not the head coach or assistant head coach. I will take her over most of the assistants we had last year
Kudos to cavs for the hire
 
A little worried that athletes won't respect female coaches sufficiently

The head boys coach at my school is a female math teacher who played point guard for her college team. Those players never made a single negative comment and knew she was the most qualified person in the building. I think people forget that young athletes were students. Education is a female dominated profession. They have been learning from women their whole lives.
 
That cleveland.com profile was interesting. Had the vision to put an NBA-out in her Cal contract and I imagine that was before Hammon (or the other 4 NBA female assistant coaches) were hired. Sounds like a lifelong basketball junkie.
 

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