ParticleMan wrote:moonie_mcgee wrote: 
Well that's one favorable source but don't you also recall that most analysts saw our offseason at near the bottom. I don't know maybe I just more of the negative ones. Carry on
Nice round table, and Smitty nails it for me: B+/A-. Getting out from under Kemba's deal while getting back a big who bring defense/passing is a big win. i was happy to see fournier go, especially at that price. resigning smart+TL to fair deals brings stability, and i like the commitment to Smart as the PG, i think that's his best spot. the one negative was i didn't understand why Jrich had to be extended now. and i don't like schroeder in general, though at that price he's great value. plus i think he hit on begarin, 1st round talent in the mid-2nd.
but the move nobody talked about was the thing I think will have the biggest impact on the C's: hiring Ime Udoka.
Ime will be a great coach, you can just tell. he has a presence, an intensity, and relates to guys in a way that brad never could. he's the kind of guy that players will run thru a wall for. and that more than anything is what we need. we are not short of talent on this team, despite our record last year; we were short on intensity and playing like every possession mattered. i get the feeling Ime is not going to stand for guys not giving 100%, whether it's our stars or our deep bench.
Nailed it, especially the part about Udoka.
I think a more casual fan would think "gee, I don't know. For the most part it seemed like Brad did a good job with the talent he had and got to the ECF 3 times. So to go from him to a guy with no head coaching experience is a downgrade"
But a more serious fan would see that over the last 2 seasons a lot of his substitutions and rotations were really questionable, the team's shot selection was really bad, especially in late game situations, we were really bad at playing with big leads, he lost control of the locker room and we needed someone with more discipline who the players respected more. We needed a new voice, cause the players. were tuning out Brad. It seemed like the players and Brad both realized that a role in the front office where Brad could use his basketball knowledge with less player interaction was for the best.
And while Udoka is inexperienced as a head coach, he's well regarded as arguably the most qualified assistant in the league, especially with olympic coaching experience and all the yrs as coach and player under Popovich. And in his interviews since taking the job, he has said all the right things (emphasis on team playing, goal is to rank much higher this year in assists, turn tatum and brown into play makers, have a tough hard nosed team that plays with an edge and plays tough defense and plays together).
And even though Udoka is inexperienced, there's been several first year head coaches who won a title recently. (Frank Vogel, Kerr, Nurse, etc.)
