How would you grade Will Hardy this season?

[LogGrad98]

I don't know how much of the credit for Lauri's improvement and Kessler's revelatory run as a rookie is attributable to the rookie coach. I imagine both of them, given similar situations with a fairly competent coach, would have made a similar leap anyway. It is in their makeup to be competitive and they have the gifts. We already saw Lauri's improvement over the summer when it was not known he was coming here, so it isn't that surprising, other than what we see in the summer doesn't always translate into success in the NBA. That in mind, there were a thousand ways a new coach could have screwed up this team, and Hardy avoided those for the most part. I think he is obviously still learning, I do not necessarily agree with his approach in everything, but we can see that he is a good hands-on player's coach, kind of the polar opposite from Quin, which is what we needed. That breath of fresh air. So I would give him a B at this point, I think he is doing well with what he has been given, and is showing a lot of promise. I look at this from a 9-box perspective, where we rank leaders in our organization from 1-9 based on performance and potential, and he is a solid medium performer and medium- to high-potential, putting him somewhere in the 5-7 range. Could be argued he is an 8 on that scale, but we have a measure that says "too soon to tell" for people in a new role. I think he fits that, so that knocks him down one notch, so a solid 7, which would equate to a B grade-ish.

 

[hgb]

I said A+. We've had a wonderfully fun season, we've been way better than expected, Lauri has been a marvel, it feels like his management of Ogbaji and Kessler has been very, very good.

 

[KqWIN]

His rim protection has really translated to the next level. I thought he would be good, but he's one of the best right away. I think he struggles in certain defensive matchups that are more perimeter oriented, but he's obviously a smart kid and I think he will get better over time....but it might always be somewhat of a limitation. Offensively he shows great touch and good hands. Needs to improve his FT shooting. Does a good job staying active on the glass.

Have to give him an A for a great rookie season. He may not be the best player in his class in the future, but right now he is the best rookie in the league.

 

[//r00t 4 Jazz]

His rim protection has really translated to the next level. I thought he would be good, but he's one of the best right away. I think he struggles in certain defensive matchups that are more perimeter oriented, but he's obviously a smart kid and I think he will get better over time....but it might always be somewhat of a limitation. Offensively he shows great touch and good hands. Needs to improve his FT shooting. Does a good job staying active on the glass.

Have to give him an A for a great rookie season. He may not be the best player in his class in the future, but right now he is the best rookie in the league.

Yeah for a rookie head coach alone he has done well but then you add his ability to also be a rookie Center and do both at such a high level, it is truly remarkable.

 

[Engorged On Unborn Gore]

As a tank coach, he gets an F-.

 

[David Stern]

Anyone want to change their grade now that the season is over?

 

[LogGrad98]

Anyone want to change their grade now that the season is over?

Nope. He was a solid B. It will take some longevity and consistency over time to get to that A level, imo.

 

[NUMBERICA]

Incredible coach but could’ve sabotaged a couple of plays down the stretch of the season and the Jazz would have the 5th worst record. So for bucking against the long term objectives of the franchise for no upside he gets an A-.

Like seriously, just draw up bad plays in a couple of clutch situations and we’d be there.

 

[The Jazz Wonderbra]

Hardy for sure has the confidence of the players. I didn't expect that so early on in the season. He seems like a player's coach. It was fun to watch the Celtics players swarm him after the game.

Being a player's coach, he was definitely in the role of advocating for them. Their lives over the good of the draft pick long term. Sabotaging the games would be counterintuitive if he is going to be true to his role. I think that the last 20 games playing a lot of ISO and not having the best team was tough for him. His passion dropped imho. I wish we had done that about 10 games earlier because we would have a top 5 pick almost for sure but he had the team believing they could beat anyone.

For me, it's an A.

 

[TheStormofWar]

A-/A. Hard to fault the job he's done with what he's had. Kessler, THT, and Ochai showed really nice improvement as the season went on, got the most out of Lauri's strengths, and Conley and Clarkson did pretty well this year. The team exceeded expectations in terms of fun and wins. Overall, seems to the right coach for what we need.

 

[Tremendous Upside]

Coaches care about their records. Particularly young, ambitious coaches like Hardy. It must be hell for him to finish his rookie season like this, when he knows he had the players to make a playoff run and start off his HC career with a winning reg season record.

So I have to cut him some slack even though I didn't agree with many of his tactical decisions and rotations even before we were tanking.

 

[Handlogten's Heros]

Incredible coach but could’ve sabotaged a couple of plays down the stretch of the season and the Jazz would have the 5th worst record. So for bucking against the long term objectives of the franchise for no upside he gets an A-.

Like seriously, just draw up bad plays in a couple of clutch situations and we’d be there.

I gave him an A rather than an A+ and this is the unfair rationalization I had for it. It just is not the coach's job to tank and this mfer took chicken **** and kept making chicken salad out of it.

The system and development are pretty great and the vibes are phenomenal. I kinda dinged him early in the year for not getting Ochai and Kessler more time but both guys had pretty solid years. I could not be happier with the coaching hire. I mean hell... even his reactions are top notch and hilarious.

The basketball gods will reward us one way or another.

 

[NUMBERICA]

I gave him an A rather than an A+ and this is the unfair rationalization I had for it. It just is not the coach's job to tank and this mfer took chicken **** and kept making chicken salad out of it.

The system and development are pretty great and the vibes are phenomenal. I kinda dinged him early in the year for not getting Ochai and Kessler more time but both guys had pretty solid years. I could not be happier with the coaching hire. I mean hell... even his reactions are top notch and hilarious.

The basketball gods will reward us one way or another.

Oh I’m splitting hairs for sure. “A” is perfection in my mind and that is both eye of the beholder and nearly impossible to achieve. For me, nothing is lost if he still stokes all the great habits and competitive fire, but in key situations purposefully pretends he’s a tired, tenured coach that runs uninspired dreck in clutch situations.

Without that caveat, Hardy’s grade is valedictorian.

 

[LogGrad98]

He is hands down the best head coach we had this season. Bar none.