Hello Brooklyn wrote:I agree with most of Mark's decision roster wise.
I really think he did the best he could.
I agree. I'd even say marks had a good to great offseason from a roster building standpoint. With nothing but the small MLE and minimums he added Mills, Bembry, Johnson, LMA. He also retained Blake which was not a given and Brown who we assumed was gone. all those guys contributed in a real way. Say what you want about James Johnson but if he was in his 10 mpg some DNPs role he'd look alot better.
Problem is injuries and stuff happened and Marks did nothing. Harden/Nash bitched for weeks we had no spacing/shooting after Joe got hurt and Carter/milsap turned out to be a waste and did nothing. not minimum signings not small trades.
Outside offseason signings and maybe the return on Harden, Marks was about as bad as you can be:
1) Made a definitive public statement all 3 of the "Big 3" would be signed to extensions before training camp. I was vocal at the time I hated this because there was no need to make this statement before it happened. All it would do is give the vultures ammo to pick apart the team and start rumors if camp hit and there were no extensions. 2 of the 3 hit camp with no extension and 1 isn't on the team anymore. This was when the lying and awful PR started.
2) When the NYC mandate came down Marks was asked directly if his players are vaccinated and he said yes. And they the full roster would be available. Claxton and Kyrie both rumored to be unvaxxed, Marks definitively said his guys would be available when the season starts. Again he was either lying or made a definitive statement before everyone was confirmed vaxxed allowing room for him to look dumb and give media vultures ammo.
3) Completely botched the Kyrie situation. Should have let him play road games from the start. The big3 had almost no time together. should have let them get time as early as possible even if only for road games. KD/Harden were playing 38 mpg and getting no off days. Kyrie would have lessened that load. We also for sure win 4-5 more games and would be solidly in the 6 or 7 spot now. Trading Kyrie was never gonna happen and it was clear he wasnt gonna cave over money nor would KD sign off on trading him. You wanna play hardball for a week or 2 fine but he was never gonna cave or be dealt so let him play. Of course it is Kyrie and the NYC mandates fault Kyrie wasnt available, but Marks still did as poor of a job as possible managing the situation both from a roster and PR standpoint
4) KD goes down. We are racking up losses. Harden is playing 40 mpg. Nash and Harden bitch every day about spacing. we are starting undrafted rookies shooting 18% from three (Duke Jr.) and losing to lotto teams starting multiple 10-day guys off the streets. Marks does nothing, not even a minor move to try and add any kind of shooting... which means he either failed to get one or worse, ignored the issue
5) Handled the Joe Harris issues as bad as possible. lied/hid initial injury severity, lied/hid the potential for a second surgery before last minute saying he is shut down for the year. despite knowing that was a possibility did nothing to add a shooter to the roster while Nash starts david duke at SF.
6) Lied and lied and lied and lied about the Harden thing. Looked like a moron and windhorst basically called Marks/Woj out for hiding it when it was clear dude wanted a trade. He also dragged it out to the deadline with a 10-game losing streak and Fat harden going to strip clubs between losses, not flying with the team, killing the locker room and being an overall cancer. Marks did get a good return, so maybe it was part of it/worth it to deny it all to gain leverage. but this is also part of a pattern of lying/Awful PR that has lasted all season.
7) Didn't re-route Simmons for a better fit/available player. KD is in his mid 30s. you cant waste KD seasons. none of them. Should have flipped him for a package around Collins or Fox or Haliburton. We'd be deadly and easily in the 7 slot. instead we have KD playing 40 minutes off injury and playing all role guys at home before the mandate dropped.
8) Said Simmons was ramping up and expected him and KD back 10 days after the deadline. Neither were back by then and they then lied/hid/downplayed the back issues. consistently said he would likely be back a game or two before the end of the season only for it now to come out he wont even play in the play in. Again, either he was lying or didnt know/see it. both are bad looks and again just the Awful PR where he makes bold statements that blow up in his face.
9) post-trade he had that "state of the union" presser with Grady where he basically told fans that its been a tough year and not to expect much (i.e. were F'd this season is a throw away better luck next year). This was basically a puff piece to remove any heat from Nash. for whatever reason, he is loyal/in-debt to nash.
10) Not only has he not fired Nash, but he never replaced D'antoni or Ime when it was clear that Nash wasn't ready. We promoted assistants who clearly are not ready either. He put ZERO pressure on Nash when he should of at the very least:
-publicly been passive aggressive that the coaching/team is capable of more
-Fired one of his assistants to let him know that if things dont approved Nash is next
-Hired a veteran assistant to coach nash through it
Nope, he did none of that and made all the excuses so that Nash gets another full year as coach. Puh-thetic.
For me, Marks had a long leash with all his great roster moves and dragging this team out of the ashes of the Billy King era. But he has now used up all of his leash. To me the only way I'd even consider him back is if Nash is fired immedietly after the season and Marks makes a public apology to the fans for such a poor move and an apology in general to the black/minority/female coaches who were more qualified that he passed up. Even then I'd still rather that he go.
Hire Mike Zarren or Bobby Webster as GM and either bring in Sam Cassell or try and lure coach K to the NBA (team usa coach, super tight with KD/Kyrie) or bring in Hammond from the WNBA.