Bye Bye, Vinny

A whiteboard in his hand, but no clue what to do with it...

News came out today that the Los Angeles Clippers will not retain head coach Vinny Del Negro. I received the news through a friend on Twitter @-ing me with the message "And vinny is outta there".

In response, I had to let out a few Ric Flair woos.

I was happy for the Clippers, as it seems like they are actually taking the steps to be a consistent contender for the first time in franchise history. Considering the track record of owner Donald Sterling, I figured he was going to keep Vinny on just because he was cheap and the team was winning. But check out Donald, trying to be a competent owner and whatnot. He's still an awful person though......

Vinny Del Negro, while by all accounts a great guy, really had zero actual coaching a ability. He could roll out the basketballs to his players and let them play, but he couldn't tell them which way to move to get the best shot. While the former part may be great for team morale and getting regular season wins, the latter part is necessary once you get into the final five minutes of close games and the playoffs. Vinny had the charisma part down, but not the tactician part.

It was this inability to coach that made me dislike him. I looked at him like "Why are you even here? What's your purpose? How are you a head coach and yet you can't coach?". Admittedly, I didn't notice these deficiencies when he roamed the sidelines here in Chicago. It wasn't until his first year in LA that I noticed people pointing out the fact that he couldn't coach. Then I slowly noticed which each nationally televised Clipper game I saw. Sure, the lobs were flying and the alley-oops were entertaining, but it had nada to do with any X's or O's Coach Vinny was drawing.

I think Del Negro, at this point in his career, is best served being an assistant on an experienced coach's bench. That way, he could still work with players while also learning plays and sets that he can use the next time his name comes up in coaching vacancy talks. Again, from the accounts I've come across, he has the charisma part down. At this juncture, he'd probably make a hell of a motivational speaker. But if he wants to be a coach in the NBA, he needs to have at least a few late game plays in his back pocket when things get sticky.

So with Vinny gone, the Clippers can now focus on maybe, just maybe, becoming a consistent threat in the Western Conference. The new coach will probably be the best man for the job at the cheapest price possible. A Kevin Arnovitz article over at ESPN.com suggested that Alvin Gentry may be a prime candidate for the job, as he seems to be the crossroads of those two criterion. Honestly, anybody (unless they hire Scott Brooks) would be an improvement over motivational speaker Vinny Del Negro.