esqtvd wrote:I don't really care whether Doc dodges blame or not. People have a right to defend themselves. And Zu DID have an effectiveness problem past 24 minutes. Still does. That was a basketball FACT, not a slag on Zu as a person. Doc was being attacked for not playing Zu more minutes, so he explained his thinking. Otherwise he sits there and takes the attacks from morons without response? Nobody does that.
The IRONY here is Hot Take Redick screaming like a madman and throwing DOC under the bus to try to build HIS brand.
A lot of Doc's former players love him. The ones who don't are IMO the guilty ones. After Pandemic P shat the bed, he tried to blame Doc. Doc handled it as well as can be expected, and better than PG deserved.
"The way I was being used, I felt Doc was trying to play me as like a Ray Allen or like a JJ Redick, all pin-downs. I can do it, but that ain't my game," George said.
Rivers responded with a somewhat muted response.
"Hey, listen, I enjoyed coaching him. So not a lot to say there,” Rivers said. “Listen, we lost the game, and I think everybody needs to take ownership. [Me] obviously. We can always do better. Players can play better. So as far as I'm concerned, I'll leave it there."
Screaming about Doc doesn't build his brand, lol
Redick just got triggered by Doc's statements in a way none of the other participants who weren't coached by him and then had their team thrown under the bus would understand. Hence why Redick's wife even told him after that show that he needs to stop yelling, because it's not making him look good. He went on his own podcast and admitted that his delivery was not good, but he got wrapped up in the situation and context.
His Clippers guys wouldn't have said much about him if he didn't start revising history and then suddenly, they are like, come on, really? Doc brought it upon himself, that's the thing, it's not random and out of nowhere, he brought issues where there otherwise wouldn't be any, and weren't any for 8 years, not because he was trying to, but because when he gets questioned, at some point he will come up with some rationalization that he technically doesn't have to come up with. Like I said, this is simply a personality trait, it's just his means of self preservation.
Doc saying that those Clippers teams could never have won and he never thought they could have won because they never got along and didn't have cooperation hit all of them by surprise. First because that's not what they believed, especially as Jamal said, as a team who knocked out the Warriors the season before and knocked out the defending champs. Also they all have agreed that their chemistry was actually great in 13-14 and 14-15, sure they had issues here and there like every other team, but they enjoyed playing together, and it was in 15-16 and 16-17 when they had no chance to win anyways just based on health, etc that chemistry was declining, but Doc's comments made it seem like they never got along.
JJ had a much different disposition towards Doc before that, and Jamal probably wouldn't have made his "Doc is a great coach in the first year comment" on the TNT panel after the Bucks hired him. It's just what it is, you reap what you sow. Doc does not feel like he gets the respect he believes he should get as a coach, hence the "you wouldn't ask Pop that" comment, and he therefore tries to protect his coaching legacy and perception by some of the comments he makes after the fact.