'Stability is key' - POR extend coaching staff

QA with POR GM Andrei Sanzharov discussing the extension of POR coaching staff to 4 year deals

Q:Rumour has it that, last year, you badly wanted Tom Thibodeau to be the HC of Blazers – is that true?
AS: that’s correct to a certain extent. When I took over the Blazers I wanted to build a very defensive minded team. Tom is one of the best defensive minds in the game so I thought he would be a perfect fit to our organisation.

Q:What changed your mind?
AS: I met Avery Johnson. We had a good initial meeting where we agreed on the direction of the organisation. I think, at the Senior Exec level, you only part ways with people if you disagree with their vision and the direction where they want to take the organisation. We were on the same page with Avery and his staff so there was no need for change

Q:So what was the direction at the time?
AS: Well, it’s important to set targets. We had a few sessions where we talked about what we want to do with the team and how we want to do it. I asked Avery and his staff to come up with a challenging and aggressive, yet realistic target. At the time, we set a target to make the playoffs, however, we also decided to have a ‘rolling target’ – if we see that we are going to achieve our current target – we will set the bar higher. This is when we decided to trade for Steve Nash because we were no longer satisfied with just making the playoffs – we wanted to get into the second round also. So as you go along, you set the bar higher and higher.

Q: Now you extended the entire coaching staff for 4 years – what prompted this?
AS: one of the things that coach Avery asked for is stability. Both he and I are big believers that the players and staff should know what their role is on the organisation, know that the organisation supports them and have a certain amount of security in their roles. So stability is key for us in Portland. As people get to work with each other over a long period of time – they get more and more comfortable, build a relationship and do a better job. Our whole coaching staff are aligned in terms of where this team is going so we are happy to have them on board for the next 4 years at least.

Q: Do you think you achieved your targets last year?
AS: There are two ways to look at it. From black/white, yes/no perspective the answer is No. We almost reached 50 wins, we almost reached the second round but 'almost' does not count if you look at it from a bottom line perspective. However, if you go a little deeper, I am very happy with what we achieved last year. I am very proud of the culture that we managed to build – we had our ups and downs during the season and we struggled mightily at times – but we managed to build a Warrior mentality. No matter what the challenge is – we will rise to it. I am very happy with that

Q: Last question – what is the target for next season?
AS: that’s still to be determined but I have very high expectations and expect the bar to go up even higher.

The team's young and still growing, especially future superstar Damian Lillard. Love POR, one of my favorite starting teams.

Gonna be competitive for a long time IMO, it'll be interesting to see how this team does in the tough Western Conference.

With Lillard and Aldridge, you've got two great players in the making. You got the most out of your team last year and have made some changes already. Will be interesting to compete with you as we are another up-and-coming squad in the West.

LMA needs to step up, he put up similar production to an aging Dirk (28 v. 35) and David Lee. The thing he has going for him is efficiency, spacing ability and solid defense but he's going to face Love, Griffin, Favors, Lebron and Davis at his position out West this season. If he can play them close, Portland is a top 4 seed in my oponion. Tyreke leaving opens up usage for Lillard yes, but it also gives LMA more opportunities to impose his will. As Lillard/Bradley/Harris/Henson develop I'm curious to see what happens with this team.

I respect the emphasis on stability, it is paying dividends for you. Not my style but it won you 49 wins with a young team and has paid off for other teams as well. Goodluck this season.

Really like the makeup for this team but also feel it's gonna be a tough road ahead in the West.

West does look like a tough nut to crack so whilst the makeup is good, there are still some minor changes needing to be made.