DGrangeRx33 wrote:How so? There has never been a guy of his size, with his athleticism. How many players have blocked 10 shots in one night? How many have had the potential to do it every game?
Wilt the Stilt, Bill frickin' Russell, the godfather of shot-swatting, a couple of random guys with obviously less sixze and talent than Dwight named Hakeem the Dream and the Admiral. There's also some dude named Dikembe Mutumbo, I heard he might've been pretty okay at blocking shots. I heard Kareem was decent. You're right, Dwight's current average of 4.0 and career average of 1.8 pale in comparison to Dikembe's 4.5 and 2.7 numbers, respectively. You are way off base on this one, and I do very much respect your opinion, but this claim shows that you haven't watched enough old-school basketball. And don't tell me that it was easier to swat shots back then. Dikembe had to fend off MJ, Shawn Kemp, Scottie Pippen, Dominique when they weren't teammates, Clyde Drexler, and later on Kobe, Shaq, AI, T-mac, our beloved Reggie.
Dwight Howard does not have the potential to block 10 shots every game consistently. NO ONE DOES. Shot blocking is a combination of timing, positioning, luck, and effort. When shots are easier to predict, like a last-second heave (or a breakaway lay-up from Reggie Miller in 2004), they're easier to block. Dwight is very good, I'll give you that. He is definitely something special, but to label him now as the best shot-blocker in the history of the game is both statistically incorrect, but also not a well-thought through argument.
As for your calling Obie out, is he the best coach around? No. But you have to know that the worst thing a team can do mid-season after the players have been training hard to learn a system that at the very least isn't stupid (we have passing happening, and we've been doing things right, I'd blame EXECUTION) to re-learn some other coaches system. Do you honestly think you can make better substitutions within the heat of the heat of the game? When we win, we praise Granger and TJ and Foster and Rasho and Marquis and even Roy Hibbert. We lose a game when a coach draws up a play that is meant to attack the inside, a sound strategy and the highest percentage possible, but fails due to the inborn athleticism of Dwight Howard, where anybody THAT CLOSE SHOULD TAKE A SHOT, NO MATTER WHAT when time is ticking down, and Obie gets flak because 41 logged minutes for Danny somehow means that he was "shunned" by the team like it was on purpose. You need to know that Danny took 20 shots, and he made 7. That's a 35% FG percentage.
Here's what it comes down to: The coach has to make a decision between the best player on the team, who's not doing so hot, or what he feels is the best chance at a victory. Danny wasn't doing so well throughout, and he never got his shooting rhythm quite right, although he did hit a key three late in the game. Look at his shot chart. I love the guy but he was missing 10-footers. He took 4 shots in each of the first three quarters and we went to him in the 4th, but he was 1-7. tell me that as a coach you still have 100% faith in a player who, as good as he is, is still young and developing.
Sure, I do look foward to the day that Obie steps down and the level of our team demands a higher level of coach. You may conveniently not remember Rick losing us games because of his bad decisions, but all the ones who were calling for his head on a plate could finger every single faulty late-game substitution or pulling of a "hot-hand" player or bad player-coach relationship issue he had. The point is, all NBA coaches make decisions based on what they think is right, and sometimes players fail to execute. Sometimes you want to grab an easy inside shot and you get Foster draining a three instead (I don't here you complaining at this point, yet) Sometimes you draw up a play for a player to take the shot and the screens aren't set right, and a pass isn't thrown with enough mustard and the play collapses and Rasho gets stuffed by Dwight Howard. Sometimes the favored players are closing the game correctly, and you get a victory against the defending world champs. Sometimes stuff just doesn't pan out and you've got Danny who you wanted to attempt the shots not keying in from 21, 19, 16, 5 feet away. Sometimes, you leave a player in to give them a second chance, and they right their ship. Sometimes, you have to coach somewhat of a lost cause like Jamaal Tinsley. Somehow, it's Obie's fault.
All I'm saying is, I know, the losses are tough. We've gone through a crazy fight that destroyed a franchise, and we've been through rebuilding, and we've had to watch and wince when Jamaal tweaks something or other, and JO gets a sore knee and is out half of the season, but changing coaches is NOT the answer, and I thought you knew better than to make excuses (we were up against the best shot blocker ever?) or to point fingers (obviously, Obie's the problem, not the poor execution).
Nothing's as clear cut as "Jim O'Brien is the reason we lose". The Pacers are a team, and everybody's trying their hardest to win, and I honestly believe that. Sometimes, a team just does better than you, and you have to accept that.