Official Randy Wittman Thread - It's Playoff Randy Time LOL

[nuposse04]

7-1 on the road and 2-4 at home in the playoffs. So far ...

He played a flawed bulls team last season and what seems to be an extremely unsound TOR team. He does deserve defensive kudos tho for shutting the TOR attack down offensively. I still don't buy the pierce was saved for the postseason s4 role. They coulda spotted him 16 mins there all season and helped out a ton, as well as actually trusting Porter along the way (Porter's advance stats were good to start the RS...no? So why only play him at the end? Playing Webster and butler as long as he did was folly, that and playing Seraphin at all this season.)

I'll believe in "playoff randy" if we thoroughly handle the Hawks. Cause they are a 60 win team, if we beat them due to creative Xs and Os I'll be impressed.

[hands11]

7-1 on the road and 2-4 at home in the playoffs. So far ...

He played a flawed bulls team last season and what seems to be an extremely unsound TOR team. He does deserve defensive kudos tho for shutting the TOR attack down offensively. I still don't buy the pierce was saved for the postseason s4 role. They coulda spotted him 16 mins there all season and helped out a ton, as well as actually trusting Porter along the way (Porter's advance stats were good to start the RS...no? So why only play him at the end? Playing Webster and butler as long as he did was folly, that and playing Seraphin at all this season.)

I'll believe in "playoff randy" if we thoroughly handle the Hawks. Cause they are a 60 win team, if we beat them due to creative Xs and Os I'll be impressed.

What evidence would be required for you to believe it ?

Would it take Paul Pierce himself saying it ?

[nuposse04]

7-1 on the road and 2-4 at home in the playoffs. So far ...

He played a flawed bulls team last season and what seems to be an extremely unsound TOR team. He does deserve defensive kudos tho for shutting the TOR attack down offensively. I still don't buy the pierce was saved for the postseason s4 role. They coulda spotted him 16 mins there all season and helped out a ton, as well as actually trusting Porter along the way (Porter's advance stats were good to start the RS...no? So why only play him at the end? Playing Webster and butler as long as he did was folly, that and playing Seraphin at all this season.)

I'll believe in "playoff randy" if we thoroughly handle the Hawks. Cause they are a 60 win team, if we beat them due to creative Xs and Os I'll be impressed.

What evidence would be required for you to believe it ?

Would it take Paul Pierce himself saying it ?

Believe that he is a "good" coach?

A 55+ win regular season.
Developing late 1st round talents
Promoting an optimal shot distribution from his team
Better late game execution
Beating stacked playoff teams

Now a lot of that also goes into what EG does for the team, but I see no reason for a lot of what Randy has done. Even if this team makes it to ECF, I attribute that mostly riding the starters hard, and not utilizing the bench, because Randy couldn't figure out how to optimize them. I'm not about to give kudos to any coach for playing guys 40 min+ in the playoffs. That just shows you have to rely on top end talent in order to survive. They may in part that he was never given any talent to work with, but also he probably never knew how to utilize our bench.

But I'll give the guy kudos for his defense. It has been a joy to watch that part. Still think the offense looks difficult w/e Pierce is not a S4. I also can't believe Gooden is going to continue being worth a damn. But hey, its good for us for now, so we can roll with it

[hands11]

7-1 on the road and 2-4 at home in the playoffs. So far ...

He played a flawed bulls team last season and what seems to be an extremely unsound TOR team. He does deserve defensive kudos tho for shutting the TOR attack down offensively. I still don't buy the pierce was saved for the postseason s4 role. They coulda spotted him 16 mins there all season and helped out a ton, as well as actually trusting Porter along the way (Porter's advance stats were good to start the RS...no? So why only play him at the end? Playing Webster and butler as long as he did was folly, that and playing Seraphin at all this season.)

I'll believe in "playoff randy" if we thoroughly handle the Hawks. Cause they are a 60 win team, if we beat them due to creative Xs and Os I'll be impressed.

What evidence would be required for you to believe it ?

Would it take Paul Pierce himself saying it ?

[nuposse04]

He played a flawed bulls team last season and what seems to be an extremely unsound TOR team. He does deserve defensive kudos tho for shutting the TOR attack down offensively. I still don't buy the pierce was saved for the postseason s4 role. They coulda spotted him 16 mins there all season and helped out a ton, as well as actually trusting Porter along the way (Porter's advance stats were good to start the RS...no? So why only play him at the end? Playing Webster and butler as long as he did was folly, that and playing Seraphin at all this season.)

I'll believe in "playoff randy" if we thoroughly handle the Hawks. Cause they are a 60 win team, if we beat them due to creative Xs and Os I'll be impressed.

What evidence would be required for you to believe it ?

Would it take Paul Pierce himself saying it ?

Well...I guess I could believe that Randy's way of thinking is that it was wise to save Pierce's S4 ability for the playoffs due to breaking down...but I don't buy that being a logical excuse. Like I said, 16, maybe 12 mins a game of Pierce at the 4 consistently could have paid dividends throughout the season. Truthfully, not like their are many teams in the east sans the Bulls, Cavs and Pistons that had physically imposing 4s in the east. So I don't see where he'd break down from. Truthfully spacing the floor might have made the offense easier for him then anything. Also he wouldn't have to chase fast guys on D. So I think there are enough trade-offs that the "breaking down" problem isn't an issue. I also don't believe this was some card he didn't want to show for Xs and Os purposes. The moment he gave Pierce minutes at the 4, people will have a general idea of whats going on. Not like playoff teams haven't ever delt with the dilemmas of S4s.

[dckingsfan]

My argument in defense of Wittman on that is:

1) Webster was hurt, Porter wasn't ready and did we really feel Butler was the answer?
2) Nene, Humphries, Blair, Seraphin, Gortat

The team was built for powerball not stretch 4 ball. Gooden was an afterthought really - he was sitting in Bethesda without a team.

[Sluggerface]

At this point, Randy is just an average coach to me. He has his benefits and he has his cons (still infuriated on how the glen rice situation turned out.) I think from now on, most of our core (Wall, Beal, Porter) are in charge of their own destiny. If they don't improve next year, that's on them. Even if the team flames out in the 2nd round, it'd be a waste of money imo to fire Randy at this point, play out the contract for next year.

EG still has to go next year. I don't care if he still executed the plan. We need a stronger executive that can push Randy to develop younger players and create friction. This team doesn't have to rely on vets anymore.

[dckingsfan]

At this point, Randy is just an average coach to me.

I would say below average - but okay.

EG still has to go next year. I don't care if he still executed the plan. We need a stronger executive that can push Randy to develop younger players and create friction. This team doesn't have to rely on vets anymore.

YUP

[FAH1223]

7-1 on the road and 2-4 at home in the playoffs. So far ...

He played a flawed bulls team last season and what seems to be an extremely unsound TOR team. He does deserve defensive kudos tho for shutting the TOR attack down offensively. I still don't buy the pierce was saved for the postseason s4 role. They coulda spotted him 16 mins there all season and helped out a ton, as well as actually trusting Porter along the way (Porter's advance stats were good to start the RS...no? So why only play him at the end? Playing Webster and butler as long as he did was folly, that and playing Seraphin at all this season.)

I'll believe in "playoff randy" if we thoroughly handle the Hawks. Cause they are a 60 win team, if we beat them due to creative Xs and Os I'll be impressed.

I forgot what coach said it but after a game this season he noticed Pierce looked a lot more fresh this year. He was more worn out last year after playing the majority of the season at PF.

[LyricalRico]

7-1 on the road and 2-4 at home in the playoffs. So far ...

He played a flawed bulls team last season and what seems to be an extremely unsound TOR team. He does deserve defensive kudos tho for shutting the TOR attack down offensively. I still don't buy the pierce was saved for the postseason s4 role. They coulda spotted him 16 mins there all season and helped out a ton, as well as actually trusting Porter along the way (Porter's advance stats were good to start the RS...no? So why only play him at the end? Playing Webster and butler as long as he did was folly, that and playing Seraphin at all this season.)

I'll believe in "playoff randy" if we thoroughly handle the Hawks. Cause they are a 60 win team, if we beat them due to creative Xs and Os I'll be impressed.

I forgot what coach said it but after a game this season he noticed Pierce looked a lot more fresh this year. He was more worn out last year after playing the majority of the season at PF.

Meh, I can't give Randy credit for that. Situationally sliding Pierce to PF for a few minutes late in close games or when the offense needed a boost wouldn't have made a difference in wear-and-tear IMO. And they could have given him the same rest at the end of the season, maybe more rest if they'd won more games earlier in the season by playing better lineups.

EDIT: I absolutely give Randy credit for what he did against the Raptors. I'm just not buying that it was some grandiose, season-long plot that is now coming to fruition just as Randy envisioned it would. And if it was his plan, that might be even worse because it would mean that he knew he had a better lineup and yet still refused to go to it while they were losing games.

Nah, I'd much rather hope that he's finally seen the light when it comes to 21st century basketball and will look to coach his team this way all the time going forward. And if that's the case, by all means keep him around!

[nuposse04]

At this point, Randy is just an average coach to me.

I would say below average - but okay.

EG still has to go next year. I don't care if he still executed the plan. We need a stronger executive that can push Randy to develop younger players and create friction. This team doesn't have to rely on vets anymore.

YUP

I think the short bench is highlighting the lack of depth this team has. We're a solid 8.5 man deep (I like what Gooden is doing offensively right now, but he has to sustain it for me to believe it) but after that we cliff dive in talent. Seraphin is absolute trash as is Butler, at least in the 2nd half of the year.

If the issue with Randy and his inability to sport an offense is cause of the lack of talent EG allotted him, than that is somewhat conceivable. But randy still has some qualities that I don't trust long term, like not getting hump to follow the path of Gooden and his new found love of the 3 pt shot, not ever executing proper end of quarter/game shots, and his hatred of analytics.

Overall, Randy probably isn't as bad as I trashed him to be, but I still think their are clear upgrades out there. Short of a finals appearance, Ted should consider it. EG has to go though, no matter what...the fact we can only play 8-9 people in these playoffs during meaningful minutes, ought to be an indictment on EG.

[queridiculo]

Hey, looks the comment section on Leonsis blog has been re-enabled.

http://tedstake.monumentalnetwork.com/2015/04/24/randy-wittman-passive-aggressive-pixels

The comments, not pretty

[hands11]

What evidence would be required for you to believe it ?

Would it take Paul Pierce himself saying it ?

Well...I guess I could believe that Randy's way of thinking is that it was wise to save Pierce's S4 ability for the playoffs due to breaking down...but I don't buy that being a logical excuse. Like I said, 16, maybe 12 mins a game of Pierce at the 4 consistently could have paid dividends throughout the season. Truthfully, not like their are many teams in the east sans the Bulls, Cavs and Pistons that had physically imposing 4s in the east. So I don't see where he'd break down from. Truthfully spacing the floor might have made the offense easier for him then anything. Also he wouldn't have to chase fast guys on D. So I think there are enough trade-offs that the "breaking down" problem isn't an issue. I also don't believe this was some card he didn't want to show for Xs and Os purposes. The moment he gave Pierce minutes at the 4, people will have a general idea of whats going on. Not like playoff teams haven't ever delt with the dilemmas of S4s.

4 min mark.

http://www.monumentalnetwork.com/videos/paul-pierce-postgame-podium-4-24-15

Paul made it clear in a video interview during the preseason that he didn't want to playing S4 during the year. Been saying that all year. Not sure why some people have a hard time excepting this fact.

You want to complain about the S4 issue. Complain they didn't play more Gooden there. That's the real issue to complain about.

We only started seeing serious Gooden minutes at S4 because Hump got hurt. That's also in line with Gortat playing better.

That's luck. No good coaching.

What if Hump never got hurt ? Would we still be seeing him lean on Gooden so much in the playoffs ? Would Hump be getting CD DNPs ?

Best think about Randy is his single minded focus on defense at a development tool for young players. That's what makes the team more playoff ready and allows Randy to do better in the playoffs when the team has time to game plan for a team. Defense is a great foundation for any young player to have. The sooner they buy into it, the better. So in that sense he has value.

Now that we have two years on intel on Randy, the picture is getting even more clear. Randy defensive boot camp is good for the team. He has that. He has that long term approach thing also. But he has totally blown the Gortat and Gooden stuff.

My guess on regular season Randy. Ws and Ls aren't always the most important thing. I think that's why he doesn't call timeouts. I think he wants to leave it to them to work it out if they can. He will also forgo some Ws to follow a development idea or at worse, follow a flawed idea. i.e. Nene/Gortat over more Gortat/Gooden. I think that is also why Kevin played so much. Development.

All his regular season approach isn't a bad thing. Development is good actually. But it does make estimating wins tougher. And that's ok. What really matters at the end of the day is how far you go in the post season. Not the regular season.

Randy isn't an easy coach to rank. Some things I really like. Some things I hate.

But if I was to be objective as I can be..

Otto working out is a huge feather in his cap. Same with Wall and Beal.
Top ranked playoff ready defense. That's a pretty huge feather.
4-0 sweep of TOR and 2nd round last year as well. more feathers.

Snail slow and more lucky then good finally getting Gooden at S4 and opening the floor for Gortat. The fact that Gortat had to go through all the crap he did this year. Those are major F ups. Specially if Gortat drops a tell all after the season which he has eluded to in interviews. Gortat was steaming pissed over how Randy did him this year.

Plus he throw them under the bus interviewing style is a bit douchie.

Now if they make it to the ECF, clearly there is a high chance he returns. But this has not been a smooth ride. Randy screwed up pretty bad and not sure that all that mess is cleaned up yet.

[hands11]

My argument in defense of Wittman on that is:

1) Webster was hurt, Porter wasn't ready and did we really feel Butler was the answer?
2) Nene, Humphries, Blair, Seraphin, Gortat

The team was built for powerball not stretch 4 ball. Gooden was an afterthought really - he was sitting in Bethesda without a team.

You are a year behind. That was true the previous year. Gooden was on the team since resigning over the summer.

[dckingsfan]

My argument in defense of Wittman on that is:

1) Webster was hurt, Porter wasn't ready and did we really feel Butler was the answer?
2) Nene, Humphries, Blair, Seraphin, Gortat

The team was built for powerball not stretch 4 ball. Gooden was an afterthought really - he was sitting in Bethesda without a team.

You are a year behind. That was true the previous year. Gooden was on the team since resigning over the summer.

It is old - but the argument still stands

[Dat2U]

7-1 on the road and 2-4 at home in the playoffs. So far ...

He played a flawed bulls team last season and what seems to be an extremely unsound TOR team. He does deserve defensive kudos tho for shutting the TOR attack down offensively. I still don't buy the pierce was saved for the postseason s4 role. They coulda spotted him 16 mins there all season and helped out a ton, as well as actually trusting Porter along the way (Porter's advance stats were good to start the RS...no? So why only play him at the end? Playing Webster and butler as long as he did was folly, that and playing Seraphin at all this season.)

I'll believe in "playoff randy" if we thoroughly handle the Hawks. Cause they are a 60 win team, if we beat them due to creative Xs and Os I'll be impressed.

What evidence would be required for you to believe it ?

Would it take Paul Pierce himself saying it ?

From my understanding, Pierce had to basically beg Witt to go small. Wall said they had been asking Witt all year to put Pierce at the 4 but Witt wouldn't budge.

[tontoz]

He played a flawed bulls team last season and what seems to be an extremely unsound TOR team. He does deserve defensive kudos tho for shutting the TOR attack down offensively. I still don't buy the pierce was saved for the postseason s4 role. They coulda spotted him 16 mins there all season and helped out a ton, as well as actually trusting Porter along the way (Porter's advance stats were good to start the RS...no? So why only play him at the end? Playing Webster and butler as long as he did was folly, that and playing Seraphin at all this season.)

I'll believe in "playoff randy" if we thoroughly handle the Hawks. Cause they are a 60 win team, if we beat them due to creative Xs and Os I'll be impressed.

What evidence would be required for you to believe it ?

Would it take Paul Pierce himself saying it ?

From my understanding, Pierce had to basically beg Witt to go small. Wall said they had been asking Witt all year to put Pierce at the 4 but Witt wouldn't budge.

Seriously if it was Witt's idea why did he wait so long to try it, especially when he was on the hot seat? And of course Ted will pretend that this is a slap in the face to Witt's critics even though it really confirms Witt's incompetence.

SMH

[hands11]

He played a flawed bulls team last season and what seems to be an extremely unsound TOR team. He does deserve defensive kudos tho for shutting the TOR attack down offensively. I still don't buy the pierce was saved for the postseason s4 role. They coulda spotted him 16 mins there all season and helped out a ton, as well as actually trusting Porter along the way (Porter's advance stats were good to start the RS...no? So why only play him at the end? Playing Webster and butler as long as he did was folly, that and playing Seraphin at all this season.)

I'll believe in "playoff randy" if we thoroughly handle the Hawks. Cause they are a 60 win team, if we beat them due to creative Xs and Os I'll be impressed.

What evidence would be required for you to believe it ?

Would it take Paul Pierce himself saying it ?

From my understanding, Pierce had to basically beg Witt to go small. Wall said they had been asking Witt all year to put Pierce at the 4 but Witt wouldn't budge.

I have heard interview(s) with Wall commenting having a S4. Hell, they date back at least a couple years.

I have never heard or read anything where Paul alluded to wanting to play regular minutes at S4 during the season. Anytime I have heard Paul talk about it, it was always, Randy told me we might play me at some S4 next game, so I got some reps up in practice.

They did play him a small amount at S4 during the year to sample it. ICR, might have been in line with other injuries where they needed more options but..

From Paul first interview before he season when they asked him about it after he just played S4 for BRK in the playoffs, he made it clear he wanted to play SF this year and that he was a SF. And all along the way, any crumbs I ever heard about him playing more S4, was always about later or just regarding the next game, not a structural change during the season...

Now in the video link I just posted, he say exactly that. We were saving it for the post season. Which to me, was always clear that was the plan. If you watch the video, this isn't any Paul Ninja mind games. He is telling THE TRUTH.

If you have anything showing that Paul wanted regular minutes at S4 during the season, please share.. maybe I missed something. I'm saying that honestly. Because from everything I have heard and read, this was always the plan for him regarding playing S4. Not sure why people are still proposing alternate narratives when the most clear supported one with the most evidence is..

Paul would play stop minutes at S4 during the year and they would use him more at S4 during the playoffs.
He didn't want to wear his body down banging against Thad Youngs and Milsaps all year.
But come the playoffs, he would do whatever it takes to help his team advance.

Which also happens to be what happened and is happening. And that not 20/20. I have been posting stuff to support that since preseason. Even posted his preseason interview where he explained it.

Did Wall want a S4. Yeep. Wanted one for a while now.
Did Gortat want a S4. Yeep. He wants the open floor. I hoped those videos as well.

So why didn't they play more Gooden ? Why if they were playing Hump instead didn't they insist he get behind the 3 line and take a few. Even if he missed it would have help some and I'm not convinced he wouldn't have fit a few. He didn't need to become some expert top of the key 3 shooter. Just a threat. And he made them from one foot inside the line. That's where Randy messed up in my book. The Paul thing isn't even an issue.

[Dat2U]

Witt did such a good job of saving it for the postseason that he almost got himself fired before even getting there. It's a thin line between having a secret weapon your saving for the playoffs & being a complete idiot for not utilizing the best lineup options available throughout the year.

[hands11]

Witt did such a good job of saving it for the postseason that he almost got himself fired before even getting there. It's a thin line between having a secret weapon your saving for the playoffs & being a complete idiot for not utilizing the best lineup options available throughout the year.

So why didn't he use more Gooden. Gooden was readily available to play 20-25 minutes at S4 a game.

Why didn't he tell Hump to get his Humpy ass behind the 3 line some more. Take one a game while he was out there. It would have been a move in the right direction. Specially against ATL and TOR type teams.

So yes. We agree. This was bad regular season Randy at work.
We disagree that it was related to Paul at S4.

Was he going to get fired ? I know I wanted that as did many others here. I know Ted started sounding off. But not sure Ted was ready to fire him. Specially since he didn't.

But watch more important is how the story ends. It looks like its all coming together in the end. Specially if they make the ECF.

Better lucky then good I guess.

But this might create as many problems as it solves. With all this success with PP at S4 along with Gooden in the 8 man rotation, they have their work cut out this offseason. Gortat should be getting 30-32 min at center and more of it with an S4. Paul isn't likely to play S4 during the season next year either so they need some combo of players to do that. Maybe they go 25 mins of S4. That leaves

23 mins open at PF with none S4 line ups
26 mins open at C

If Nene stays, he can play 20-23 min between the two leaving 25 mins.

So its down to Hump, Kevin and Blair. And in that, you have to plan for replacing Nene and Gooden. Maybe Nene says cheaper as a back up center.

I guess it could work fine if Hump extends to S4 range. He needs to because the Gooden of the future. He needs to work his ass off this summer doing that. That would help out a ton.

I suspect they will try to extend KLife one a good deal and keep him. Gooden is running out of time and so is Nene. So I could see the benefit of keep all them if they can for one more year, but then that eat into roster spots for another young player at PG, SG, PF or C. If they keep them all, maybe the go PG or SG in the draft. Going S4 doesn't matter as much if they are shooting for KG in 2016 since he would play there. They can draft S4 later. If there is a stud young PG prospect, that would actually work well. Get your Schroeder. Thomas might be that back up SG.

So don't be shocked if we draft a PG while everyone is thinking we will draft a big or an S4

But they can open slots by letting Rasual walk and trying to move Webster. Otto can step in there and start at SF and also give you some back up SG if needed. Its another year of tweaking and churning and threading the needle.

If they can't sign KLife on a good deal, that's ok, they have Hump and they can go find another player via draft, FA or trade.