NetsWorld wrote:MrDollarBills wrote:?t=1D2JDQsqwOWt2DruugcObg&s=19
We wasted two years over Nash. Marks has lost me completely
The worst part is the organization/media tried to paint Nash as the victim, which was a joke. He really set this team back a lot; Marks should face some sort of ramification for this ****.
I don't like to kick someone when their down, so I'll start with the positive. Regardless of his abilities, or lack of, we were within striking distance of a championship in 20-21. We failed mostly because Harden went lame, and Kyrie was lost in the first series. Of course KD did not play while recuperating his first year here. Last year it did not help to not have KAI for most of the year. That resulted in zero team chemistry, compounded when Harden pulled his crap to escape. That left us with pretty much just KD, the whole of the free world knowing all we had was KD, and teams defending accordingly.
Having said that, I rarely agreed with Nash's decisions. I'll bite my tongue about our defense, because I think assistant coaches are important. I thought his substitution patterns and use of personnel were horrendous. And everything just got worse in the playoffs.
To begin with (and I know I said this already) cutting Johnson before the playoffs was profoundly stupid, and I think a big part of the Boston dominance. We played none of our other bigs, except Blake for a few minutes. I always wanted to text Nash a reminder that Griffin was not a perennial all-star because of his three point shooting. But we played a strong 250 pounder as if he were Dirk Nowitzky. And Going small against size works for Kerr, but we went tiny, and without long defenders like Dre, Klay, Green, Wiggins, and a cast of thousands.
I thought LMA was an important part of our bench because of his exceptional shooting and 7'4" wingspan. But he didn't play at all at the end of the regular season or in the playoffs. A minutes limited Seth, and not particularly offensively scary Brown, were just not enough to keep KD from being trapped or triple teamed. Similarly, Drummond, a big body and one of the leagues best rebounders, did not play at all while we were being destroyed on the boards and bullied.
I know Nash, and I sometimes think most of this fan base, want just modern day centers who can chase little guys around the perimeter and shoot threes. (And we have one of the best in Claxton.) But I think, after seeing us be decimated by offensive boards, second and third chance points, and putrid interior defense, there should still be some balance. Of course I am too "old school". It seems like there was more "help and recover" effectiveness in the olden days. And I, personally, think that once a center switches on a good guard, or conversely a little guy on a big, you're probably in for trouble anyway. So I am not for rigid switch every time defenses. The funny thing is, I think, even without Johnson, we still had the personnel to adapt to different situations. We just never used any of our bigs.
I apologize. I'm rambling and incoherent. That playoff series just ticked me off.
