old rem wrote:510Reggae wrote:St.Nick wrote:I always say that the most likely explanation is probably the right one, so in this case the likely explanation about POB not getting on the court is because he wasnt able to contribute.
Its not an exciting conspiracy theory with special inside top secret sources, but its likely what happened. Coaches are paid to win basketball games. Usually they dont try to sabotage young players careers out of spite and to the detriment of their team.
Ah actual analysis time.
Despite his quarter century history, why hasn't it resonated with ya'll that POB obviously isn't the type of player Nellie knows how to use? He needs a polished playing runner to try and win every game - he doesn't have time for development. He got paired with a development-starved project C. Cue Odd Couple music.
What's troubling is that instead of admission of that, Nellie seemed to target the kid. Instead of playing to the kid's strengths at all (re: helping him grow into an NBA contributor, hopefully for us) Nellie instead left him for dead and focused on players who can dribble, who can play one on one, who didn't need low block position and a slowed down offense to really operate. If Nellie's job was to win games, he failed - we missed the playoffs. If Nellie's job was to try and win games while keeping an eye on the future - failed again, with the ready to contribute Wright wasting away and the physical monster POB not learning anything except how D-League offenses are run.
So we pissed away (and off) an asset that could have been useful beyond Nellie, instead of having any coach try and develop him to get any kind of game time. I find it funny that the onus is on POB only for you homers when the ODB has never had any kind of affinity at all for true Cs. Nellie definitely deserves the lion's share - and POB's blame is TBD based on how he comes out of the chute next year. Was he ready to contribute this past season? Early looks at him and the D-league suggest a bumpy ride but that his physical tools could impact the games at times.
If Nellie was signed when Andris was 18, would we have a starting C?
Yep....Sorry St Nick,but the fact is,you spend a #9 pick you at LEAST have the curiosity somewhere in a 2 year span to give the guy a sink or swim situation. have you ever taken a class in college..and no quiz,no exam,no assignment, the prof comes up and tells you you already flunked? How about you get hired for a job and they tell you to just sit in the break room and wait. 3 days later they fire you for incompetance,laziness,and bad attitude. How would YOU feel?
POB seemed to be functional enough in the D league..not great,but if you are in the top 3 rebounding..shot blocking...it's hard to say you can't play at all. Belli was a regular on Italy's National team. Wright started at UNC and led the NCAA in FG% as a freshman, Lasme had a freaky 4 triple doubles last year at U Mass....10+ blocks. Kosta P started a couple seasons for the top Serbian team.
These are ASSETS. Our mission is to PUMP UP and PIMP OUT assets. We have KEEPERS or TRADE BAIT.
If we doubt--after giving him every possible boost,player X is a keeper...we showcase him a bit and try to get the best deal.
Instead...we quit. F......ing QUIT. We got LAZY....can't be bothered to do what even the crappy teams do. If the coach-GM are the quitters....who's really to blame? POB,Kosta,Belli,Wright....80% of the season they wasted time even getting the uni on. Might as well have stayed home and watcheed it on TV. Are our last 5 draft picks....altogather....not even equal to Aaron Gray or Jamario Moon?
I'd ranted last summer....we need to have the full roster involved. We can not think we can exploit speed when game after game we run 5-6 guys until they drop and half the roster is ignored. It was a pisspoor plan for "win now" and a fiasco in terms of building toweard a future.
The absolute most well written to the point post regarding all of the drafting frustration around here.
Nick if you or Twinkee argue this point, then you're just dense and nothing will get through.
Great job REM, you get a brownie button for that one.