Rich4114 wrote:I think it’s now really difficult to sit there and say that Mitch is the GM to construct a team to be a perennial winner. We have enough body of work between his time here and LA to know what his trends are. His trends are that he burns first round picks, is ultra conservative on trades and when he does pull the trigger it’s either underwhelming or really short sighted. Then there’s the coaching decisions. How in the hell do you re-hire the guy you fired when you first showed up?
Anyway, I think if MJ is going to keep the team he needs to blow up the front office and start again. Next front office would be inheriting a far better situation than what Mitch did. So I guess there’s that (thanks Cho!). Which leads me to coach.
Steve Clifford was absolutely never the right fit for this roster and I’m not even sure he’s capable of coaching a team that isn’t loaded with stars past the first round. His system has not evolved and his late game “plays” often can’t make it to a successful in bounds play. He also hates playing young players which is why the last Clifford team was too old. He wants to slow it down no matter what he eludes to when discussing pace. That literally plays against this rosters youth and strength. I get you can’t depend on transition offense too much, but at least JB let them be who they were. That could’ve been fixed by addressing the center spot in a real way sooner.
But hope is not all lost. The caliber of coaches available for Mitch or a new GM to pick this off-season could be incredible. The top of the list has Udoka and Malone. Then what if someone like Nick Nurse becomes available? I’d take any of those three guys over Clifford and that includes Udoka and his drama.
Let’s thank Mitch for taking us this far and laying a foundation to work with. Let’s thank Clifford for coming into a dumpster fire and helping some guys like LaMelo maybe mature a bit. Don’t double down on poor choices.
I saw someone mention this somewhere, but I would not be against entertaining moving Cliff to the front office as GM or director of player personnel. How ironic and hilarious would it be for Clifford to take Mitch’s job then move back into his old condo lmao.
I really don't understand the mantra that Mitch burns 1st round picks. That looks like a hit rate of 7/9.
Lakers picks in 2014,15,16
Julius Randle, DLo, Brandon Ingram.
Hornets picks in 2018,19,20,21,22,23
Bridges, PJ, LaMelo, Bouk/Kai, Mark
Also, I really don't blame Cliff for the year. He has been playing the young guys a decent amount IMO. I would be fine moving on from him as the coach and giving him a role in the front office, but nothing close to GM level. Seems like MJ, Mitch and Cliff are aligned though, so I would give him something like World Wide Wes has in Knicks, Senior Basketball Advisor.
Ideally, I think Mitch as President of basketball ops with a younger GM is the move. That way MJ can't bully the new GM, Mitch can play the mediator to prevent us from making dumb moves.
