ConSarnit wrote:gbball wrote:Johnny Bball wrote:
I agree with that too. At least not based on what has happened so far. It's bascially going to be up to these guys to dig out of this themselves then and the deadline will change fairly little and they will preach patience.
The problem with Nurse is that I have so little confidence in his ability to maximize the roster. He was using the bench and managing minutes pretty well for about a week and now at the start of a stretch of 5 games in 7 nights when Fred is coming off a bad back. He proceeds to tighten the rotations and not properly utilize the best players on the night, or recognize the need for skills that are glued to the bench.
So I'm not sold on writing the roster off based on the strategies implemented and the poor use of lineups. On top of that, I believe Nurse will burn through our assets. Siakam is starting to fade after a strong start and a good year last year. Fred fell apart last year and has been banged up this year, only to keep playing big minutes...in losses.
Better players will still be put in poor positions and hung out dry. Starters will still play unsustainable minutes and unsustainable schemes until they fall apart.
So we could trade Fred or Trent, but still be stuck with the real problem.
Change the coach.
What would you do differently? We have the worst backup 1-3 in the league.
You do realize the entire reason we succeeded last year is because of coaching schemes? If we didn’t crash the offensive glass or run our offense would have been awful. Nurse schemed around our deficiencies and it made us look better. How is Nurse responsible for FVV forgetting how to shoot or not having a single player who can run half court offense?
Nurse isn’t perfect but he’s not as rigid as everyone makes him out to be. The guy played McCaw 25 minutes a game. He’ll play backups if there is someone who is even competent. Guys like Flynn and Banton just aren’t ready. With Porter going down we have zero options at backup 3.
Tell me who on this team can run a pnr? Who outside of Siakam can create their own shot with any level of efficiency?
I've followed the Raptors very closely since the team's inception and while Nurse has been innovative in ways and one of the best coaches we've had. His faults are too problematic, and he's shown no signs of changing. In his very first year as coach, he essentially ended the NBA career of Malcom Miller in a meaningless summer league game. Not intentional, but he expressed frustration at Miller not getting after it enough defensively...so Miller, trying to impress the new coach flung himself around afterwards and ended up ruining his shoulder, never to regain his prior trajectory on the team.
Fred broke down last year when the whole team played huge minutes. This year the stated goal was to limits Fred's minutes. And when he's actually done it, it's mostly worked out well for the team aside from a game or two. He famously said, he's upset Malachi hadn't gotten into games when we lost 2 to Orlando and one to Sacramento back when Flynn was money from 3 and everyone else was shooting wayward...in games when all we needed was a few more shots here and there.
Now I'm seeing Siakam looking like he's lost a step after last year thinking he had unlimited stamina. But it seems like the unsustainable minutes are catching up to him too.
The bench has proven to be playable this year, so I'm not buying that excuse. Fred broke down last year. Siakam looks like he's slowing down this year.
The book is out on our defense and teams game plan for what will be available...or our team isn't capable of, committed to or energized enough to execute properly. But we keep doing it.
Our offensive strategy is left up the players to hash out.
The Nick Nurse special is to burn out the starters in games we might have won if the bench players had earlier or more frequent opportunities to contribute. He plays the numbers, not the situation. He hasn't shown the ability to recognize the importance of managing energy levels and health of his players. This isn't 2k. There have literally been several games over the past 2 seasons where our starters come out completely flat and go down big only to kept in the game and eventually fight valiantly to lose more respectably...and our bench is left twiddling their thumbs. It's insane.
His ideal role is that of a defensive specialist assistant coach and that's how he coaches IMO...no awareness of the bigger picture.
The management of Banton's role, featured then relegated. Flynn DNPs to steady minutes to DNPs. Koloko, starting to DNPs (when we could use his interior deterrence in these last few games). Not playing Precious over OG who was clearly the more impactful player. Not playing Downtin when you need defense at the PG spot. Overplaying Fred and Barnes when they're hurt or not performing well. In fact, a great deal of the Fred hate should be directed at Nurse for putting him in a bad spot and enabling his worst tendencies.
When you look for signs of him not recognizing and reacting appropriately to the situations unfolding on the court...sometimes waiting several games to make the adjustment - when it's no longer appropriate - it's problematic.
I'd personally change coaches before making major roster adjustments to see what we really have in this group.
I'm at the point where I'm really starting to question Bobby and Masai for turning a blind eye to the coaching issues.
the part about wiping off tears but flooring it