NBA Games Discussion Thread - Part 5

[closg00]

Philly shooting has gone cold and they don't appear up to the task today, it's over unless there is a 4th Q miracle.

[Frichuela]

Philly shooting has gone cold and they don't appear up to the task today, it's over unless there is a 4th Q miracle.

Harden is his typical choker in the playoffs…very disappointing for Sixers fans…

[gambitx777]

I really hope Jimmy gets his ring this year.

Sent from my SM-G991U1 using RealGM mobile app

[TGW]

Doc Rivers is fools gold. He got to coach KG, Pierce, and Ray Allen and win a ship, and then continued to lose year after year once that was over. Fake leader of men.

[FAH1223]

Read on Twitter

Whether he was trolling or not it was a bad look. Giannis is a 2x mvp and 1x champion. Embiid never made it out the 2nd round.

There's a difference between ‘steps to success’ and repeated failures

[closg00]

Coaches with better W/L records than WUJ are getting fired left and right, dunno what makes him so special to keep around.

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Coaches with better W/L records than WUJ are getting fired left and right, dunno what makes him so special to keep around.

Exactly. Ted finding yet another way to bollox an off-season.

[nate33]

Coaches with better W/L records than WUJ are getting fired left and right, dunno what makes him so special to keep around.

Doc was the coach of Philly for 3 years and has had a long record of playoff disappointment. Bud coached the Bucks for 5 years and has also had a long record of playoff disappointment. Monty Williams coached the Suns for 4 years. All 3 teams are capped out, have no picks, and have aging vets. A coaching change is pretty much the only option they had to shake things up.

The Wizards' situation is entirely different. You don't haphazardly fire a coach in just 2 years because he can't win with a crappy roster. Particularly if the team has shown modest improvement. (The Wizards boosted their average point differential by 2.17 points, which translates to an additional 5 expected wins.) If that's your modus operandi, then you will be unlikely to land a good coach the next time you are coach shopping. It's also worth noting that WUJ is young enough that one might expect him to get better with experience.

I'm not opposed to upgrading from WUJ if someone like Budenholzer is lined up to replace him, but I don't think we should fire WUJ just because.

[closg00]

Coaches with better W/L records than WUJ are getting fired left and right, dunno what makes him so special to keep around.

Doc was the coach of Philly for 3 years and has had a long record of playoff disappointment. Bud coached the Bucks for 5 years and has also had a long record of playoff disappointment. Monty Williams coached the Suns for 4 years. All 3 teams are capped out, have no picks, and have aging vets. A coaching change is pretty much the only option they had to shake things up.

The Wizards' situation is entirely different. You don't haphazardly fire a coach in just 2 years because he can't win with a crappy roster. Particularly if the team has shown modest improvement. (The Wizards boosted their average point differential by 2.17 points, which translates to an additional 5 expected wins.) If that's your modus operandi, then you will be unlikely to land a good coach the next time you are coach shopping. It's also worth noting that WUJ is young enough that one might expect him to get better with experience.

I'm not opposed to upgrading from WUJ if someone like Budenholzer is lined up to replace him, but I don't think we should fire WUJ just because.

A case could also be made that firing WUJ would not be haphazard and that a better coach could have gotten more out of the existing roster, Wes's play-calling (or lack there of) and game management was underwhelming, he had zero control over Kuzma and Beal just doing their thing on many nights, he certainly did not run a tight ship.

[nate33]

Coaches with better W/L records than WUJ are getting fired left and right, dunno what makes him so special to keep around.

Doc was the coach of Philly for 3 years and has had a long record of playoff disappointment. Bud coached the Bucks for 5 years and has also had a long record of playoff disappointment. Monty Williams coached the Suns for 4 years. All 3 teams are capped out, have no picks, and have aging vets. A coaching change is pretty much the only option they had to shake things up.

The Wizards' situation is entirely different. You don't haphazardly fire a coach in just 2 years because he can't win with a crappy roster. Particularly if the team has shown modest improvement. (The Wizards boosted their average point differential by 2.17 points, which translates to an additional 5 expected wins.) If that's your modus operandi, then you will be unlikely to land a good coach the next time you are coach shopping. It's also worth noting that WUJ is young enough that one might expect him to get better with experience.

I'm not opposed to upgrading from WUJ if someone like Budenholzer is lined up to replace him, but I don't think we should fire WUJ just because.

A case could also be made that firing WUJ would not be haphazard and that a better coach could have gotten more out of the existing roster, Wes's play-calling (or lack there of) and game management was underwhelming, he had zero control over Kuzma and Beal just doing there thing on may nights, he certainly did not run a tight ship.

No new coach is going to have the juice to control Beal unless the owner backs him. This is the fundamental problem with the team. Beal outranks the coach and the GM, and everybody knows it.

There are only 2 solutions. One is to trade Beal. The other is to hire an elite coach with a championship resume who might plausibly outrank Beal in the hierarchy. It is highly doubtful that such a coach would choose to come here. Bud is pretty much the only plausible candidate.

[closg00]

Doc was the coach of Philly for 3 years and has had a long record of playoff disappointment. Bud coached the Bucks for 5 years and has
No new coach is going to have the juice to control Beal unless the owner backs him. This is the fundamental problem with the team. Beal outranks the coach and the GM, and everybody knows it.

There are only 2 solutions. One is to trade Beal. The other is to hire an elite coach with a championship resume who might plausibly outrank Beal in the hierarchy. It is highly doubtful that such a coach would choose to come here. Bud is pretty much the only plausible candidate.

What about Kuzma ?

[nate33]

Doc was the coach of Philly for 3 years and has had a long record of playoff disappointment. Bud coached the Bucks for 5 years and has
No new coach is going to have the juice to control Beal unless the owner backs him. This is the fundamental problem with the team. Beal outranks the coach and the GM, and everybody knows it.

There are only 2 solutions. One is to trade Beal. The other is to hire an elite coach with a championship resume who might plausibly outrank Beal in the hierarchy. It is highly doubtful that such a coach would choose to come here. Bud is pretty much the only plausible candidate.

What about Kuzma ?

As Dat2U has persuasively pointed out, there really weren't any other options than to have Kuzma take on a high usage rate. Avdija, Wright and Gafford can't take on more usage while maintaining efficiency.

[doclinkin]

Also, no point firing a coach before hiring a GM.

[payitforward]

Coaches with better W/L records than WUJ are getting fired left and right, dunno what makes him so special to keep around.

Doc was the coach of Philly for 3 years and has had a long record of playoff disappointment. Bud coached the Bucks for 5 years and has also had a long record of playoff disappointment. Monty Williams coached the Suns for 4 years. All 3 teams are capped out, have no picks, and have aging vets. A coaching change is pretty much the only option they had to shake things up.

The Wizards' situation is entirely different. You don't haphazardly fire a coach in just 2 years because he can't win with a crappy roster. Particularly if the team has shown modest improvement. (The Wizards boosted their average point differential by 2.17 points, which translates to an additional 5 expected wins.) If that's your modus operandi, then you will be unlikely to land a good coach the next time you are coach shopping. It's also worth noting that WUJ is young enough that one might expect him to get better with experience.

I'm not opposed to upgrading from WUJ if someone like Budenholzer is lined up to replace him, but I don't think we should fire WUJ just because.

100%. Great post....

[NatP4]

Doc was the coach of Philly for 3 years and has had a long record of playoff disappointment. Bud coached the Bucks for 5 years and has
No new coach is going to have the juice to control Beal unless the owner backs him. This is the fundamental problem with the team. Beal outranks the coach and the GM, and everybody knows it.

There are only 2 solutions. One is to trade Beal. The other is to hire an elite coach with a championship resume who might plausibly outrank Beal in the hierarchy. It is highly doubtful that such a coach would choose to come here. Bud is pretty much the only plausible candidate.

What about Kuzma ?

As Dat2U has persuasively pointed out, there really weren't any other options than to have Kuzma take on a high usage rate. Avdija, Wright and Gafford can't take on more usage while maintaining efficiency.

Yeah definitely, why would we want Davis/Jackson/Kispert/Avdija/Cooks/Goodwin to take on larger roles? especially when it takes away from Kuzma’s 3 turnovers and 10 bricks per game. Dat says so!!!!

[nate33]

What about Kuzma ?

As Dat2U has persuasively pointed out, there really weren't any other options than to have Kuzma take on a high usage rate. Avdija, Wright and Gafford can't take on more usage while maintaining efficiency.

Yeah definitely, why would we want Davis/Jackson/Kispert/Avdija/Cooks/Goodwin to take on larger roles? especially when it takes away from Kuzma’s 3 turnovers and 10 bricks per game. Dat says so!!!!

Imagine Davis, Jackson, Avdija, Cooks and Goodwin creating their own shot.

And for added effect, I will throw in a few more lol smileys

[NatP4]

Total nonsense. Kuzma has nothing to do with the future of the team. To sit there and defend the guy launching up 20+ shots a game on Kevin Durant usage as opposed to giving young players a bigger role who could have a future with the team, is just completely ridiculous.

[payitforward]

Doc was the coach of Philly for 3 years and has had a long record of playoff disappointment. Bud coached the Bucks for 5 years and has
No new coach is going to have the juice to control Beal unless the owner backs him. This is the fundamental problem with the team. Beal outranks the coach and the GM, and everybody knows it.

There are only 2 solutions. One is to trade Beal. The other is to hire an elite coach with a championship resume who might plausibly outrank Beal in the hierarchy. It is highly doubtful that such a coach would choose to come here. Bud is pretty much the only plausible candidate.

What about Kuzma ?

As Dat2U has persuasively pointed out, there really weren't any other options than to have Kuzma take on a high usage rate. Avdija, Wright and Gafford can't take on more usage while maintaining efficiency.

True again.
I don't care what you think about the effect of coaches, you simply cannot be better than your players.

Fans are impatient -- with good reason! -- & look for scapegoats. But, there is no shortcut that will make this team better. We are where we are b/c of a looong series of bad personnel choices:

We could have Kawhi Leonard, but we chose Vesely.
We could have had Jimmy Butler, but we chose Singleton.
We could have had Draymond Green, but we chose Sato.
We could have had Giannis Antetekounmpo, but we chose Otto.
We could have had Jordan Clarkson, but we chose "cash considerations."
We could have had Terry Rozier, Bobby Portis, R H-J, Larry Nance Jr., or Kevon Looney, but we chose Oubre.
We could have had Caris Levert, Pascal Siakam, Dejounte Murray or Malcolm Brogdon, but we chose to trade for a bad veteran.
We could have had Jarrett Allen, but we chose to trade for 23 games from Bojan Bogdanovic.
We could have had Donte DiVincenzo, Kevin Huerter, Robert Williams, Jalen Brunson, or Mitchell Robinson (probably more than one of them in fact!), but we chose Troy Brown, Jr.
We could have had Hamidou Diallo, DeAnthony Melton, Keita Bates-Diop, Svi Mykhailuk, Shake Milton, or Kenrich Williams (6 solid journeymen who have combined for almost 35,000 NBA minutes), but we picked Issuf Sanon.

...& that's before we even got to Tommy's 4 bungled drafts.

[closg00]

Doc was the coach of Philly for 3 years and has had a long record of playoff disappointment. Bud coached the Bucks for 5 years and has
No new coach is going to have the juice to control Beal unless the owner backs him. This is the fundamental problem with the team. Beal outranks the coach and the GM, and everybody knows it.

There are only 2 solutions. One is to trade Beal. The other is to hire an elite coach with a championship resume who might plausibly outrank Beal in the hierarchy. It is highly doubtful that such a coach would choose to come here. Bud is pretty much the only plausible candidate.

What about Kuzma ?

As Dat2U has persuasively pointed out, there really weren't any other options than to have Kuzma take on a high usage rate. Avdija, Wright and Gafford can't take on more usage while maintaining efficiency.

Letting Beal/Kuzma do whatever they wanted isn't a convincing argument that they could not have been better coached, do you think Pops would have thrown his hands-up and just let them ISO to the detriment of the younger players? Nah

Edit: The team was better coached with Beal/Kuz removed from the equation, perhaps they are the problem.

[Kanyewest]

Philly shooting has gone cold and they don't appear up to the task today, it's over unless there is a 4th Q miracle.

Harden is his typical choker in the playoffs…very disappointing for Sixers fans…

Harden didn't score a point his last 3 4th quarters against Boston.