queridiculo wrote:JonFromVA wrote:nate33 wrote:
It really is remarkable. In their final two seasons with Longabardi as defensive coach, the Cavs finished 29th and 30th in the league defensively. Why would anyone possibly think he is the man for the job? What organization hires the coach of the last ranked defense to be the defensive coordinator. After he left, they rose to 29th and then up to 1st this year.
The Wizards has the 15th and then 28th ranked defense in their final 2 seasons prior to Longabardi's arrival. After hiring him, they finished 30th last year and are currently 27th this year (and plummeting).
The Suns had a bottom ranked defense when they had him as well - they fired him, and Ty Lue added to the Cavs staff when he was promoted from lead defensive assistant to head coach.
All I can figure is he must talk a good game, and on paper everyone must love his D; but the players can't execute it and he seems unable to adapt it.
Quite fascinating how Longabardi build a career on the reputation of being a defensive mastermind learning the Van Gundy's strong side defense in Houston and inheriting a bunch of hall of famers playing the same stuff under Thibodeau in Boston.
The three point revolution and in particular the weakside corner three has killed this defensive approach years ago, and unsurprisingly Longabardi has been a disappointment wherever he's turned up.
I haven't been watching the Wizards, but does any of this sound familiar?
What stuck out to me Longo was coaching in Cleveland, is that his P&R coverage was supposed to be a combination of coverages depending what type of P&R was being run and where it was happening on the court. They might ICE in one case, stay back in another, show hard, force baseline, or trap and the players were supposed to communicate this to each other on the fly. Instead, any team with enough patience just passed the ball until the Cavs got confused and gave up an open layup or shot.
Eventually Ty Lue would step-in, simplify the scheme and then at least the complete breakdowns stopped happening.
faith based on what exactly?
