Domejandro wrote:I'll drop that as my last post in this thread. Those that agree, agree, those that disagree, disagree; each disagreement has been hashed out a nauseating amount, I am bored with the thread.
I'd suggest to just ignore the guys who resort to trolling, ad hominem attacks and quoting fallacies they only half understand themselves, and argue with those who are actually open and interested. I've solved that by putting a few (not many) people on ignore, gives a lot more pleasure when reading through the board. I'll message you my list if you want.
As for the improvement some guys see. We can split the criticism on SMitch in a few blocks, and see if and where we see change.
1. Rotations: who plays, how long, with whom. Who is held accountable for mistakes, who isnt?
2. Offensive and defensive concepts / schemes / systems: the stuff we want to run
3. in game coaching: Adjustments to the situation, to the matchups, runs, ref influence
4. other stuff: including dealing with players, media etc.
I think we saw some improvement with 1. in that SMitch slowly moves to lineups that people here have seen and demanded from november on. While we can call that improvement, the pace is so slow that i wouldnt want to go through it again. Still i see some favorism, some guys get more time than others, and from a psychological / motivational standpoint i dont feel he puts the same effort into getting everyone going. Pek, for example, would need some positive experiences; he'd need some easy points, some stuff that would work for him. Its obvious that he is questioning himself right now. But he doesnt get anything easy. The idea to play Zach on the 2 with Ricky took forever. The understanding of Bjelica's value came very late. He may well disappear again once KG comes back. Why not try to get him going, too? He is a rookie, just like KAT. Has he not deserved to be protected, and given some room for mistakes and growing? We didnt play to win games so far according to Sam, yet we did not develop our other rookie at all. So, yeah some slight progress but at the same time, so slow and unstable that it wouldnt justify sticking with sam.
2. as for our plays, most of it is the same awful, poorly spaced 90's stuff leading to contested long 2pt attempts with no offensive rebounding. Sam has done a terrible job understanding how this is not a decent offense. When i read we have made improvements, i wonder what games guys watch. Yes we score, but look at the way we do it. While you may have a field day watching Lavine, Wiggins or KAT soar through tough defense to finish with a foul, taht is not something we can credit smitch for! His offense does never, NEVER!!!! lead to easy scoring. Everything is tough, or based on talent of Ricky, or the other guys. Compare taht to a modern, flowing offense with swift passing and quick cuts, with great spacing where everyone knows their role, and positions, and you can swap players in and out without giving up much because everyone is able to do the same basic things that make the offense work; you cant really say we made the slightest step in taht direction at all.
One thing he has altered in recent games is more focus on the fast break and early offense before the defense is set up. That, also, has been recognized weeks ago here but from the way the players run the break its obvious it hasnt been done a lot in practise (no lanes, its not even clear wether they want to run a modern sideline push or ball center; that break vs. OKC with Ricky AND both bigs running in the middle lane was the worst i've seen in a while). The pnr defense seems to be well established in theory, but fails quite often because players fall asleep and fail to help the helper and recover, not forcing multiple rotations but giving up an easy uncontested layup on the second pass. But, as siad before, you can SEE that on single posessions they play and rotate very very good which is the result of practising it intensely. So, if SMitch can be blamed for one thing regarding the defense, its not holding weak defenders accountable (dont allow reaching instead of moving your feet, and forcing everyone to box their guy out). Looking at all four phases of the game, i see also very slow improvement here.
3. In game coaching: terrible. He has no feel for when to take a time out and interrupt the run, he does not draw up plays that lead to seasy scoring, even though he'd just have to "copy/paste". All he does is draw up iso's and thats not appropriate for this league. Cant be excused with "hey, but i'm just teaching, not really coaching" imho.
4. What goes around comes around. You talk about your players in public you will get responses. He still doesnt feel like he does anything wrong, and its getting quite obvious he argues to keep his job. He often talks like he has been everywhere and seem everything, and he can hang with the best of coaches, while he suffers from painful lack of talent on his roster.
Finally, people keep talking about why it makes sense to keep him until the end of the season. I wonder which of these arguments arent applicable for the Rockets and the Cavs, who nontheless came to the conclusion that finishing it is still the less expensive option. The question is, does it make sense to let him waste more time and do more damage? I'd say, once the ownership situation is settled, a plan should be made and the new coach should some how be involved as soon as possible.
