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Message: [QUOTE="8893, post: 2552112, member: 93"] Hindsight has proven you right. And I agree that there is no substitute for experience. But I think--or at least thought--that a good case could be made that his years on NBA benches, where he reportedly spent countless hours scouting the other teams to make the most of his scant minutes and was also viewed as a mature leader in the locker room, were the functional equivalent of at least a few more years of coaching experience. And in those first few seasons, he seemed to have a decent knack for out of bounds plays, in game adjustments and pushing the right buttons. I attributed those things more so to his NBA experience than to the few years he spent as an assistant here. But, in retrospect, it looks like there were a number of factors in play. Yes, better players. And yes, better coaching assistants. But I still believe that Ollie himself was different for the first few seasons. He was engaged. He was passionate. I thought he would continue to adapt and grow with the job, but maybe the combination of the divorce, his own intoxication with his immediate success and, ultimately, his apparent limitations combined to lead us here. It's a tough call imo. Like most things, I don't think it's black or white; I think there is a lot of grey. And I have a hard time adopting the narrative that he lucked into that early success with someone else's players and that he is essentially our equivalent of "Chauncey Gardiner." [/QUOTE]