Post#242 » by Sleepy51 » Wed Feb 20, 2008 6:35 pm
Well . . . we have to agree to disagree on the casual fan thing. I take it as throwaway line (and between you an me, I think it dillutes and diminishes the parts of your message with merrit . . . but I understand you don't care.)
Back on the topic of basketball . . . Nellie just about lost me last night. I've very unhappy with the rotations right now, and I'm furious about how Beans is being underutilized.
So I'm thinking about what would I want to see to consider this season successful, and believe in Nellie for another season:
The big thing: winning cures all. We get the playoff spot in an incrediblly tough west, with this very limited roster (depth wise) and win in the 1st round and I'd have a hard time complaining about the coaching job. Last night was a tough matchup against a team playing fantastic ball at home. Fine, write off the loss, and try some stuff out . . . but we can't do that more than a couple of times and stay in the playoff hunt.
Webb has to be fit in better. He's an obstacle to the pick and roll, and compromises our quirky defensive philosophy. Nellie has to come up with a better way to fit him in than pounding a square peg into a round hole. His bulk, passing and 15 footer can help, but Webber being a success here will come down to more than the other guys moving better around him. We need systemic changes for it to work, that means more/better coaching.
Wright has to play. Assuming Pete isn't deal today, the bench has to be lengthened by more effective use of what we've got (and benching starters doesn't count.) Right now, Barnes is our whole bench - as far as some degree of consitency and positive contribution. Pete is AWOL, Bukie has been neutered, Cro is comming back from injury, CJ is a nothing, but there sits Wright, lenght, talent, energy and good court sense . . . just languishing in the phantom zone.
At this point, I feel like Nellie's handling has made our bench worse than it was at the start of the season. I feel like we're 6 deep now, with Webb as a possible 7th if handled better. Bukie should not have gotten worse as the season progressed, and Pete should have been fit in, or dealt if he's become obstinate.
This next 2 weeks will probably end up being the whole ball of wax unless someone else stumbles badly. I think there's a lot less room for error than those who have yet to find fault with Nellie's stewardship contend. A couple of posters keep saying to lay off the HOF coach until there's a real failure to complain about. I'm not cheering for failure so that I can be right, and I'd rather Nellie prove me totally wrong and make everything he's trying work perfectly, but the clock is SOOO ticking right now.
Jester_ wrote:Can we trade Draymond Green for Grayson Allen?
