Time For a Coaching Change?

[MillerTime101]

I honestly dont have a problem with Obie but his late game play calling is costing us games. How hard is it to call a play that gets Granger a decent look, he did it in Phoenix with .9 seconds left for Christ sake, so why has that been the only time. Im tired of seeing the ball in the hands of Jarrett Jack and Jeff Foster in the final seconds, if you cant draw up a simple play to get our best players the ball then you shouldnt be an NBA coach. Even that game we beat the Lakers we had Rasho driving to on a curl to the hoop and Murphy got that lucky tip in, that was out of a called timeout, makes no sense.

Our defensive schemes are terrible, we allow 106 ppg and give up season highs to almost every superstar we play, we let guys like Amare do the same damn thing all game. Last year we blamed our players, we have added Jack, Rush and HIbbert and our defense is still terrible.

Then there is Roy Hibbert, I understand he is a rookie and makes mistakes but if you start him and he plays well and stays out of foul trouble why do you only play him 12 minutes a game? I have never seen this before in the history of the NBA. That game against the Clippers he was our best player and we sat him all 4th quarter and OT for Mcroberts who pretty much lost us that game. We are not contending this year, give our rookies some damn minutes.

In short, I think its time for a change, I would take Jeff VanGundy at this point.

[IndieRuso420]

I hear you but ain't gonna happen. Obie is Bird's guy. Bird is old fashion and stubborn. He is sticking with his guy. End of story.

[Miller4ever]

Hibbert wasn't playing well because when he was on the floor Pau Gasol was scoring at will.

Obie's not good, but I've said this before, and I'll say it again. A coaching change in the middle of the season is a horrible idea.

Give it until the offseason. Coaching transitions work better then.

[MillerTime101]

I wasnt referring to the last game with Hibbert, it was an overview on the whole season.

I know its not going to happen this year, I just want him gone by the time this team is ready to compete for a championship. Imagine what happened last night in an important playoff game? Thank god this guy wasnt coaching when Reggie played here, the Knicks would probably have won a championship.

[Miller4ever]

Oh, for sure, when we compete for a championship. But when do you think that will be? One season? Two? We still have to dump Jamaal, and try to get Brandon Rush going in the NBA. Everyone knows that Obie's not permanent, but when you make a topic like "time for a coaching change" you're implying that the change should be now.

[DC2]

O'Brien definitely needs to be fired. When we were looking for a coach, I know our first option was Stan Van Gundy, and we should have done anything possible to get him to coach our team. He's doing an excellent job in Orlando and I think he is a great coach. Supposedly he turned our offer down, but at that point we should have raised the pay, not have hired a completely clueless, worthless coach like Jim O'Brien.

Also, I don't think this style will ever get us anywhere. It hasn't for other teams, so why would it be different for the Pacers? We should have kept with a Carlisle like coach and stuck to that style. If we do fire O'Brien, I think our first option should be Avery Johnson. If we hire him, at that point we should make some roster moves. Get us some defensive players, and more toughness. I think a perk to this hiring would be that Avery has coached a shooting big man before (Dirk Nowitzki) and I think he could make Troy Murphy better. Right now, Troy isn't being as successful as he could be because he doesn't get enough shots. You would think a 40% three point shooter would get more shots, but he is pretty much invisible out there because he is under utilized. You saw yesterday, that when he gets a lot of shots, he can get you 20 points. I'm not saying he is as good or will ever be as good as Dirk but he should be at least Dirk-lite.

[MillerTime101]

Oh, for sure, when we compete for a championship. But when do you think that will be? One season? Two? We still have to dump Jamaal, and try to get Brandon Rush going in the NBA. Everyone knows that Obie's not permanent, but when you make a topic like "time for a coaching change" you're implying that the change should be now.

I think you are misunderstanding the point of this topic, its not about what I think its simply asking the question "Is it time for a coaching change?" Everyone can posts their thought and concerns here, personally I think they should fire him at the end of the year but thats just my opinion.

[PR07]

It doesn't really matter who coaches this team with the current roster. It's a rebuilding effort.

[Miller4ever]

I think you are misunderstanding the point of this topic, its not about what I think its simply asking the question "Is it time for a coaching change?" Everyone can posts their thought and concerns here, personally I think they should fire him at the end of the year but thats just my opinion.

Gotcha. You made it sound like a call to fire him now.

[Charcoal Filtered]

I honestly dont have a problem with Obie but his late game play calling is costing us games. How hard is it to call a play that gets Granger a decent look, he did it in Phoenix with .9 seconds left for Christ sake, so why has that been the only time. Im tired of seeing the ball in the hands of Jarrett Jack and Jeff Foster in the final seconds, if you cant draw up a simple play to get our best players the ball then you shouldnt be an NBA coach. Even that game we beat the Lakers we had Rasho driving to on a curl to the hoop and Murphy got that lucky tip in, that was out of a called timeout, makes no sense.

It is pretty hard to call a play for a guy that fouled out.

As for the play, Dunleavy failed to get open against a subpar defender. The Lakers left Foster alone and covered the other four. To be in a game on the road against the Lakers that comes down to a last second shot is pretty good.

Our defensive schemes are terrible, we allow 106 ppg and give up season highs to almost every superstar we play, we let guys like Amare do the same damn thing all game. Last year we blamed our players, we have added Jack, Rush and HIbbert and our defense is still terrible.

Hibbert is still a rookie. Rush and Jack are not going to fare much better against Amare.

Then there is Roy Hibbert, I understand he is a rookie and makes mistakes but if you start him and he plays well and stays out of foul trouble why do you only play him 12 minutes a game? I have never seen this before in the history of the NBA. That game against the Clippers he was our best player and we sat him all 4th quarter and OT for Mcroberts who pretty much lost us that game. We are not contending this year, give our rookies some damn minutes.

Maybe he wanted to see what he had in Josh or just needed more passing. We are all going to have favorite players and will complain when they do not get minutes.

In short, I think its time for a change, I would take Jeff VanGundy at this point.

So we revamp the lineup after Rick's slower pace to give Obie some players to speed it up only to go back to a slow pace again? If a change is made, atleast bring in someone not playing snail ball.

[JarrettJackSG]

My god, are you kidding? How many times do I need to say this? HIBBERT IS NOT A DEFENSIVE PLAYER. Are you kidding me? He can't even stay on the floor for 15 minutes without fouling out. Look, height does not mean defense, look at Shawn Bradley! Hibbert has NEVER been known for his defense. Goodness. Do people actually watch him play?

As for our final plays, we still don't have a crunch time player. Yes, yes, Granger is becoming one, but you do know that he was fouled out? Charcoal is right, Dunleavy failed to get open, Diener couldn't get through a center cluster, it was the players more than the coach. If the players don't execute, how is that the coaches fault? We still have a young team that doesn't know what they are doing after all.

As for Hibbert, we don't know how well he's conditioned. We don't even know if he can play more than 12 minutes a night currently. For all we know his effectiveness drops to near zero. Who knows.

We need to get the fans back into our arena. Do you think playing Rick's style of ball will do that? Please, O'Brien is exactly what we need on this team, he's developing Granger really well, gave Dun a shot of confidence (god knows he needed that), and basically is doing the best he can with a medicore roster of horrible defenders (for gods sake our best wing defender last year was KAREEM RUSH. I mean really, when that happens, goodness. Brandon Rush has been horrible this year, he's made so many mistakes I can't believe he was considered the most NBA ready, and Jack has been doing the best he can for being PG height guarding up to SF. Really? You're going to slam him on defense when he doesn't even have good defensive tools to use?)


As for the guy who suggested Avery, are you kidding me? Avery didn't teach Dirk jack. Don did, as well as Dirk's german coaches. Avery is a horrible coach, do you ever wonder why he still is not back in the league? He grinds worse than PJ or Skiles.

This team as it is cannot be defensive. Our best defensive big is Rasho (ok he's above average in terms of post defense, but he can't guard those hyper PF's like Amare, then again, other than a Tim Duncan or a Camby/NeNe, I don't see many people guarding Amare well). Our best wing defensive player is Jack (Rush is good but not fully ready yet). And you guys want better defense? Shouldn't we focus on the fact that we have one of the best drivers in the game in TJ, 2 of the best wing shooters in Dun and Granger?

[Charcoal Filtered]

Good post JJPG. I feel the same way about Avery. The NBA plays too many games/too big of egos for someone to be too controlling.

[MillerTime101]

I honestly dont have a problem with Obie but his late game play calling is costing us games. How hard is it to call a play that gets Granger a decent look, he did it in Phoenix with .9 seconds left for Christ sake, so why has that been the only time. Im tired of seeing the ball in the hands of Jarrett Jack and Jeff Foster in the final seconds, if you cant draw up a simple play to get our best players the ball then you shouldnt be an NBA coach. Even that game we beat the Lakers we had Rasho driving to on a curl to the hoop and Murphy got that lucky tip in, that was out of a called timeout, makes no sense.

It is pretty hard to call a play for a guy that fouled out.

As for the play, Dunleavy failed to get open against a subpar defender. The Lakers left Foster alone and covered the other four. To be in a game on the road against the Lakers that comes down to a last second shot is pretty good.

Our defensive schemes are terrible, we allow 106 ppg and give up season highs to almost every superstar we play, we let guys like Amare do the same damn thing all game. Last year we blamed our players, we have added Jack, Rush and HIbbert and our defense is still terrible.

Hibbert is still a rookie. Rush and Jack are not going to fare much better against Amare.

Then there is Roy Hibbert, I understand he is a rookie and makes mistakes but if you start him and he plays well and stays out of foul trouble why do you only play him 12 minutes a game? I have never seen this before in the history of the NBA. That game against the Clippers he was our best player and we sat him all 4th quarter and OT for Mcroberts who pretty much lost us that game. We are not contending this year, give our rookies some damn minutes.

Maybe he wanted to see what he had in Josh or just needed more passing. We are all going to have favorite players and will complain when they do not get minutes.

In short, I think its time for a change, I would take Jeff VanGundy at this point.

So we revamp the lineup after Rick's slower pace to give Obie some players to speed it up only to go back to a slow pace again? If a change is made, atleast bring in someone not playing snail ball.

"It is pretty hard to call a play for a guy that fouled out. " - Like I said im not talking about one game, its the whole season. I highly doubt Granger has fouled out of every close game yet he has taken one game winning shot.

[MillerTime101]

My god, are you kidding? How many times do I need to say this? HIBBERT IS NOT A DEFENSIVE PLAYER. Are you kidding me? He can't even stay on the floor for 15 minutes without fouling out. Look, height does not mean defense, look at Shawn Bradley! Hibbert has NEVER been known for his defense. Goodness. Do people actually watch him play?

As for our final plays, we still don't have a crunch time player. Yes, yes, Granger is becoming one, but you do know that he was fouled out? Charcoal is right, Dunleavy failed to get open, Diener couldn't get through a center cluster, it was the players more than the coach. If the players don't execute, how is that the coaches fault? We still have a young team that doesn't know what they are doing after all.

As for Hibbert, we don't know how well he's conditioned. We don't even know if he can play more than 12 minutes a night currently. For all we know his effectiveness drops to near zero. Who knows.

We need to get the fans back into our arena. Do you think playing Rick's style of ball will do that? Please, O'Brien is exactly what we need on this team, he's developing Granger really well, gave Dun a shot of confidence (god knows he needed that), and basically is doing the best he can with a medicore roster of horrible defenders (for gods sake our best wing defender last year was KAREEM RUSH. I mean really, when that happens, goodness. Brandon Rush has been horrible this year, he's made so many mistakes I can't believe he was considered the most NBA ready, and Jack has been doing the best he can for being PG height guarding up to SF. Really? You're going to slam him on defense when he doesn't even have good defensive tools to use?)


As for the guy who suggested Avery, are you kidding me? Avery didn't teach Dirk jack. Don did, as well as Dirk's german coaches. Avery is a horrible coach, do you ever wonder why he still is not back in the league? He grinds worse than PJ or Skiles.

This team as it is cannot be defensive. Our best defensive big is Rasho (ok he's above average in terms of post defense, but he can't guard those hyper PF's like Amare, then again, other than a Tim Duncan or a Camby/NeNe, I don't see many people guarding Amare well). Our best wing defensive player is Jack (Rush is good but not fully ready yet). And you guys want better defense? Shouldn't we focus on the fact that we have one of the best drivers in the game in TJ, 2 of the best wing shooters in Dun and Granger?

If this is addressed to me can you put it in point form? I dont have time to read all that.

[Boneman2]

This team has had so much turnover the past couple of seasons that it is really quite a stretch to expect anything more. There will be no instant gratification this time.

I hate to lose, but in this case it is okay because we are rebuilding. Obie is the perfect coach for our situation and the guys seem to respect him quite a bit.

[cdash]

Sorry, but that's bull. We can make all the excuses we want about new players and rebuilding and all that jazz, but to me, its fairly simple why our record sucks: WE DONT PLAY ANY FREAKING DEFENSE! This team has talent, it has been in close games, and we would have likely won a few more than we have if we played one iota of defense. Yeah, our personnel isn't exactly the most suited for being a defensive juggernaut, but we dont need them to be great, we just need them to be mediocre. Our offense is good enough to cover for some of it, but not 110+ ppg. We dont need a control freak like Avery Johnson to come in here, I think that would be counterproductive. Someone who stresses defense while still allowing offensive freedom will do just fine.

[JarrettJackSG]

I actually think our defense is getting there, considering our defense right now consists of (defensively) an undersized PG, a medicore sg, an above average sf, a medicore pf, and a horrid C.

(btw it isn't helping than we have to play diener (undersized, unatheltic, was a -11 last night, and Rush (-7, usually as been minus all year) rookie who gets burned a lot)


For all the blasting you guys give Obie, you do realize that Rush and Hibbert on the court usually results in us losing points right? Look at the season +/- trend. The only players in the positive this year are Granger, Ford, Foster, and Daniels. And yet you guys want us to play Hibbert more?

[cdash]

For all the blasting you like to give our rookies, you do realize that they don't play a great deal of minutes, right? Besides, who's blasting Obie? He can easily fill the role of "someone who stresses defense while still allowing offensive freedom", he just hasn't yet. He comments on the pathetic state of our defense to the media, but I have yet to see any real changes on the court with our D.

[JarrettJackSG]

Yes, but I am a firm believer that Rush should be benched and that he shouldn't play at all this season because he is just that bad this year. Rush costs us more points, sure we gain defense but we lose more offense.

Have you considered that our team just can't play defense? Do you really think Obie doesn't stress defense, that he just lets his players go? Or do you think our team right now can't play defense?

[Train7492]

I would have to say alot of this falls on the coach. I did fall asleep for a little bit of the Golden State game so I might have missed something but I don't know how you go from starting a player to not even playing him. I don't care if they don't match up with the other team, isn't that what you want, then you try to take advantage of it. Hibbert can get up and down the floor better than Rasho so I don't want to hear that it is match-up problems. O Brien has never heard of just go out and play your game don't change it for the other team you are playing right into their hand then. The only hope I think we have is that we keep losing so that we have to make a coaching change.

For those of you that are still in love with Murphy I will be clad when he is gone to I know his numbers look good but I'm so tired of him standing outside the three point arc, I know why he does that because he can't hit anything but that not even a lay-up, that would be alright if he was a SG but we need a PF and he is not it. Those stats that every goes by don't make the last stop in a game when you need them to keep the other team from getting a lay-up or wide open shot to when the game.