Foye wrote:LesGrossman wrote:I wouldnt exactly say patience is what this team and this club needs. If they have shown to have one thing over the past decade, its patience.
I believe its a common theme here and at the same time a huge mistake, to expect things to get better simply by doing them longer. Talent is a guarantee for nothing, exactly. As we just saw OKC, lets look at them. As an outsider watching maybe 50% of their games, I thought they were really poorly coached, Brooks was relying on the exceptional talent of his roster. He did not put a leash on Westbrook, he did not give Harden the feeling of appreciation he needed, i didnt see much stuff being run; two guys were shooting all the time (with Harden and Ibaka make it four), everyone else got bored and frustrated and uninvolved. Think about who he had: Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka, Harden, Reggie Jackson and a lot of other very skilled role players. They should have multiple titles by now, but they had "patience". They kept repeating the same mistakes and expected their problems and struggles to just go away over time, until recently. And after their peak, the roster broke apart and as good as they may look against trash teams like the wolves, we all know they are out of contention now. Theres no way they get past the Warriors or Spurs.
Repeating mistakes will not remove them. Getting better at doing the wrong things does not make you better as a player or team. Right now, we are wasting one season of a handful we have with this group. Not only is there no progress, but a measurable regress - which is kind of logical, since teams are learning about your strengths and weaknesses and if you stand still you work into their hands. All the flip flopping around topics that should be marginal (is Lavine a 1 or 2? Truth is, he wont be exceptional at either so why slow the team down to give him experience?) has so far lead nowhere. After so many games we havent really figured out the best 5 to start. Smitch has only recently rediscovered the great player he had on his bench, by the name of Bjelica. A waste of time. While we argue here about how it makes no sense to fire him, BETTER coaches are being let go and replaced by others, making those teams better.
Patience/Develop/fail/Patience/tank/draft/patience/develop/fail/patience. I dont believe any more. I am with the people who demand actions to be taken. Get rid of Smitch and the whole assistant country club, get players who are good right NOW, not in some imaginary future that has yet to manifest.
So I really don't want to write a long post right now but I guess I'll have to.
Lets look at our situation:
We are in year 2 of the rebuilding process in the post love/since adding Wiggins era...currently a 12-29 record....so on pace to improve on the terrible last season. I know it is disappointing and some (if not all) of us might've expected more improvement but this is the NBA. You are not going to complete a full rebuild in two seasons. It simply does not work.
So...I think we are in a pretty good position right now with two young studs in Wiggins and KAT.
Lets look at the situation of the two teams you mentioned when they got their young studs.
The notSonics first two seasons with Durant finished well outside the playoffs. So sucking is exactly what got them Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka to pair with Durant...which resulted in building a contender in year 4 of the rebuilding process.
That they are only a borderline contender right now has more to do with Durant not being 100% and them making some poor roster choices which allowed other teams (such as GS, SA) to collect a more talented roster than the notSonics have.
Golden State...exactly same story. first two years after getting Curry finished outside of the playoffs. Didn't become a contender until Curry's 6th year. And even last season it was really surprising they did as well as they did.
I see your concerns about Mitchell holding the team back and not having a good GM but in reality a lot of those mediocre teams above us would probably love to switch situations with us because we have two young studs in place and are about to get a third one if we draft smart next offseason.
It takes time too build a quality team. Towns and Wiggins are just 20. It will take another two years and adding talent around them to fully unleash their potential.
Good night!
