Juwan Howard Ice Arena? 
4 Likes
It may be up for grabs soon. I might be more willing to move Fritz over there, and rename the basketball stadium, something like, say, ``Weâll Put Your Name Here When You Win an NCAA Tournament Winner Arena"
3 Likes
They seem reluctant to do any updating over there, with regards to the name. The scoreboard still says Crisler Arena, even though the name was changed to Crisler Center early 2012.
2 Likes
Weâre talking about different things. You are evaluating on the basis of, âwhatâs the best opening in the NBA?â
I would suggest that if Juwan were prepared to leave for the first good NBA job opening, he wouldnât have accepted the Michigan job. What I am discussing is: given my belief that Juwan wonât leave for just any NBA job, what circumstance could hypothetically tempt him to make a transition he otherwise doesnât plan to make?
The Blazers is a nice job. Itâs not the sort of opening that changes the calculus. I would believe that the types of opening that could change the calculus are either, âCome coach here and win an NBA title in year one,â or, âCome to Miami, a unique franchise and culture that you love and have loyalty toward, that is also very competitive.â Those openings arenât likely, and thus Iâm not super-worried about Juwan leaving this year⌠but were one of those opportunities to arise and the franchise in question target Juwan, Iâd be quite concerned.
And I wouldnât blame him there.
My hopeful-but-reasonable mental model suggests that Juwan will try to build something over four years or so (some variation depending on his boys) at least. Beyond that he may want to continue, and I hope he does⌠but it also wouldnât surprise me if the NBA remained a significant life goal, and in that case an opening like Portland would look very attractive. But not until that time frame, IMO.
1 Like
In this same vein, they should rename it âTrey Burke Arena (Block Was Clean)â
5 Likes
I feel like Juwan has the opportunity to wait for the perfect NBA opportunity to open up. Kind of like Brad Stevens jumped at the Celtics job 8 years ago when it looked like they had all the makings of a great run. Until that job opens up, heâll be perfectly happy coaching at UM. I donât think Portland is that job.
1 Like
The idea of waiting for the perfect gig may not pan out because that depends on the job that opens and whether or not it can entice somebody. Remember when Stevens took the Celtics job it wasnât a very good gig as far as a roster goes. Their best players were Rondo and Avery Bradley. Still took him 4 years or so to get it going. Billy Donovan walked into OKC when they had Russ and KD that alone is enticing. A Portland job that was a top 10 player in the league, some good pieces surrounding him. Those jobs donât open up all the time.
I would not begrudge Juwan for leaving for the NBA at any point if that was his dream. That said it is difficult to imagine the timing would be for him to leave now after only 2 years with a monster recruiting class on board and his youngest son in the next class. If he really wanted the NBA as a primary motivation he would have never come to Michigan because he was already getting interest.
My personal guess is he will be here til at least Jett leaves. He might be here til he retires. He may also get bored in college after 5 or 10 or 15 years and want to try the NBA before he gets too old. Unlikely he even listens to offers this offseason, especially for a middling team like Portland. Damian Lillard is amazing, but they have limited ways to try to improve any time soon.
2 Likes
Sure, but the Celtics also had a ton of immediate and future assets that Stevens would grow with. Of course, the Celtics ended up squandering a lot of those assets through mismanagement and only coming out of it with Brown, Tatum and the ghost of Kyrie Irving, but that doesnât mean it wasnât a prime job at the time. Portland has a great player but has capped out as a middling team with horrible defense and no cap space or assets to improve with.
The informal nickname will always be âThe House That Trey Renovated (Block Was Clean)â
2 Likes
Thatâs quite the understatement.
I think a lot depends if they can move McCollum. Nurkic is on a good contract, Lillard is a stud, if you can keep Norm Powell whoâs on the rise, won a championship heâs a good player to slide in the role of McCollum. Simons seems to be a guy on the rise can add punch off the bench and hit 3âs. Zach Collins is still pretty young he needs to show more but wouldnât be a guy I give up on. Portland was tied for the 8th best record in the league that isnât a middling team imo.
Portland at no point was a title contender and they have almost no way to become one any time soon unless they hit the jackpot on a draft pick. They are stuck in that good enough to make the playoffs but nowhere near contending range. They lost to Denver who was missing a bunch of key players including one of the best guards in the league. It is not a great job.
McCollum is on the hook for more than $30M per year and no way to unload that without giving up significant assets. Lillard turns 31 next month and they owe he and McCollum more than $80M next season.
2 Likes
Portland does seem stuck.
From a Hollinger article in The Athletic today, a perhaps encouraging note that Chauncey Billups seems to be the presumptive hire in Portland:
Olshey mentioned presenting 20-25 names to ownership, and here at The Athletic we already know several of them: Chauncey Billups, Chawns E. Billups, Aunceycha Illupsba, John C. Billups, and darkhorse William âBillâ Upscommachauncey.
Yes, league sources think Billups â currently a Clipper assistant â is the likely choice, which may be why Lakers assistant Jason Kidd removed himself from consideration with lightning speed.
4 Likes
I wonder how much, if any, positive recruiting Juwan can get out of the rumors. Youâd think playing for a coach whoâs so good that the NBA wants him would be a pretty big draw.
This thought also lead me to wondering if Izzo used the same argument back when there were some rumors of the NBA/Cavs being interested in him. Which is laughable. Can you imagine a 20mil/year athlete taking Tomâs sideline antics? Watching JB, who imo also had a coaching style much more fitting of the college game, flame out so hard just makes me all the more confident Gilbert was just trying to do Izzo a favor with the rumors
1 Like
Expected, but nice to get the confirmation.
23 Likes
Juwan dancing GIF
The last NBA-Michigan coach Woj bomb we got destroyed my soul. This one is so much better.
14 Likes
Not surprising. Iâll start to worry when Jettâs time at Michigan is doneâŚ
6 Likes
You and me both.
Clearly Iâm still scarredâŚon this one, I opened Twitter, saw âWojâ and âJuwanâ and then Twitter did its auto-update thing pushing the tweet down my timeline. It was a stressful few moments while I scrolled down and then got a big sigh of relief 
4 Likes