Charlotte Bobcats head coach Mike Dunlap .
Charlotte Bobcats head coach Mike Dunlap . (Chuck Burton, The Associated Press)

A good coach isn't necessarily a good coach, at least in the NBA.

Just because a guy is a wizard with X's and O's doesn't mean he'll thrive as the coach of the Wizards. But sometimes, there's a guy without a flashy résumé, or an NBA pedigree, who gets a coaching job because he understands coaching. And Mike Dunlap, the former Metro State coach and Nuggets assistant, is a good coach who, so far, is proving to be a good coach, leading Charlotte.

Last season, the Bobcats won only seven times. They finished the season on a 23-game losing streak. Even the Rockies had a better winning percentage. And with Saturday's win, Charlotte matched last season's win total with No. 7.

"Knowing his intensity, he probably even gets more excited and more intense with winning games," said Nuggets coach George Karl, a good friend of Dunlap's and his former boss. "We all have those moments with what-ifs. But they've won five close games, and they probably won two of them last year. I think he's building a culture there that can be respected and, hopefully, prosper for him."

Asked why he thinks Dunlap, a longtime college and pro assistant after his days as the head coach of Metro State, is thriving in the NBA, Karl said: "For me, it's his intensity, his passion for the game. He has a no-nonsense mentality that could wear players out, but once players realize his passion is from his heart — that it's an inner feeling, that he feels young players need discipline and commitment — it seems like his team will play well."

Similar to recent hires in baseball, such as Walt Weiss (Rockies), Mike Matheny (Cardinals) and Robin Ventura (White Sox), some NBA teams are hiring head coaches without previous head coaching experience, but who seemingly have the intangibles that will enable them to connect with young teams. (Oh, and they're affordable too.) Dunlap is a hungry coach, a respected and brilliant defensive mind, and a proud teacher.

Blog: Nuggets Ink


So far, tough-love Dunlap is connecting with point guard Kemba Walker, who leads the team in scoring and assists. Walker told The Charlotte Observer that he and Dunlap sometimes have heated discussions, but they work well together. Asked the difference between last season's team and this season's team, the point guard told the paper: "Toughness. I think we get that from our leader, Coach Dunlap. He's really intense, and we feed off that."

Dunlap develops talent. Folks saw that in Denver, when he grew a stable of Metro State players into winners, winning NCAA Division II national titles in 2000 and 2002. In Charlotte, no-name Byron Mullens leads the team in rebounding with nearly nine per game. And rookie Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is second on the team in player efficiency rating, behind Walker who, like MKG, won an NCAA title.

Now, one could argue that the Eastern Conference pretty much stinks, so on any given night, an average team will beat another average team. But the Bobcats (so far) are a factor in the East, an unfathomable thought seven months ago.

Which all goes back to the gamble of a hire by Michael Jordan. The Bobcats' owner took a risk on a college assistant, a refreshing turn of events to Karl, a fellow North Carolina Tar Heel.

"There's a leap of trust, belief, faith that has to be made by an organization," Karl said. "Mike Dunlap, I think, is a head coach. Can he be a head coach in the NBA? I think he can. I think anybody with that passion and drive can. I have problems figuring out why a team wouldn't want that in their organizations. There are a lot of philosophies in hiring coaches. That's not what I get paid to figure out, but I shake my head a lot on who gets hired and why. It seems like (overseeing executives) and agents control the hires sometimes more than basketball people."

Benjamin Hochman: 303-954-1294, bhochman or

Spotlight on ...

O.J. Mayo, guard, Mavericks

Seemingly every season, there's a Dallas player among the NBA's scoring leaders. This time, though, it's not Dirk Nowitzki. Mayo, a newcomer to the Mavericks, ranks seventh in the league in scoring with an average of 22.2 points. Nowitzki is injured and won't return until the winter, but the Mavericks are hovering around .500 and beat the Knicks on Wednesday, thanks in part to Mayo's contribution.

"He's been playing phenomenal, just stepping into his shots. (He feels) like every open 3 is going in," Nowitzki told The Dallas Morning News. "He's starting to handle the ball more off the screen-and-roll (plays), crossing guys over, getting in the lane, shooting floaters. He's really playing at a high level and that's definitely been fun to watch. Hopefully, we can build the same kind of chemistry we had with Jet."

Jet is Jason Terry, Dirk's longtime teammate now with the Boston Celtics. Jet is a decade older than the 25-year-old Mayo, a 6-foot-4 guard who is blossoming with more opportunity in Dallas. Last season, Mayo's fourth with the Memphis Grizzlies, he averaged 11.2 shots per game and made 4.5, a dreadful .408 shooting percentage. This season? He's averaging 7.5 makes on 15 shots per game, a sizzling . 503 percentage from the field (and an even hotter . 568 on 3-pointers).

"Right now the shots are falling," Mayo told The Morning News. "I've been working hard for two or three years. Even when I was on the bench, I was still grinding, hoping for an opportunity one day. Hey, it's here, and I've just got to continue playing hard."