I've been very confused lately. I don't know what the problem is, necessarily, but I'd love to hear someone explain it for me. What we're seeing with this team is not just losing, or a losing culture or whatever you want to call it- although that's certainly part of it. It seems like we're not putting ourselves in position to succeed and as far as I'm concerned, at the pro level, that has to fall largely on the coach. I don't know what points are being emphasized in the huddle, what they're trying to teach and how they're trying to convey the message, but the execution is very poor imo. It seems like my 'confusion' as an observer is only a reflection of theirs as a team.
Last night in Oakland was dreadful. The Warriors dropped 125, a lot of the time it seems without breaking a sweat, but my question is
why. Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, even Jarrett Jack all pushing it down 'our' throats- and we only created 14 turnovers? It's one thing to not stop the ball consistently against a team that breaks midcourt within 3-4 seconds avg, many times without even utilizing the dribble, but even in the halfcourt the Raptors lose their man as a
rule, and they're so help-conscious that we see two or oftentimes
three guys run out at the ball wildly as if they don't know who's supposed to do what. I wouldn't say the communication is nil because they are indeed talking, but they're not organized. They're almost trying too
hard- as if they're not prepared; as if they have the will but not the way. 60 games into the season, man, I'm starting to question how they're picking up the lesson. On the one hand, I commend the coaching staff for keeping the team in gear because they certainly haven't thrown in the towel (historically the toughest job for any lottery team... on the road here during a slump, no less); on the other, they look as lost as I've ever seen them, almost beyond explanation.
I'm going to say something that may offend some people, but I want to make it clear that I'm not hating on the guy: Jonas has been playing with his hands a lot lately. A
lot. Something's gotta give and in some ways I don't blame DC for sticking him to the bench during crunch time- he's not been effective lately and his lack of composure is increasingly evident. At the same time, this is not the notorious "rookie wall" imo, we're 60 games in, it stands to reason that opponents are not designing and exploiting game plans for his 20 mpg, his problem at this point should not be too
much fuel in the tank, too
much urgency- but for some reason it is. He will unquestionably become a solid contributor (and sooner rather than later) but with each added game of experience he should be getting more useful imo- not less. I can only drop this plateau at the feet of the coaching staff because it simply feels like JV's been fumbled to date. At least it does to me.
I can't blame the coaches for absolutely everything, of course- although today part of me wants to
- but there's one more thing that's been troubling me lately and was on full display last night. I wouldn't say we had problems putting points on the board, obviously we scored nearly 120 ourselves, but I do think some of our offensive execution raises questions about the leadership of the team. Just like Derozan was virtually unstoppable versus Cleveland last week (for his standards, anyway), Andrea Bargnani was dominating last night. Some of you might complain about how he shot 3/11 from 2-pt in; I'd rather focus on the fact that he dropped 24 on his first 12 FGAs: he was feeling it, especially in the 3rd, he was in rhythm and uber-efficient, and Jax didn't have an answer.
And in both cases, instead of feeding the fire, we see Gay (and even Lowry at times) remaining oblivious, seemingly operating in a parallel universe and swallowing the ball. Derozan is an awesome teammate, and he chose to play through it last week although I reckon he was not pleased. Bargnani, though- he wanted the ball. He was awfully demonstrative last night for the player we know- and what do we do? We run dysfunctional isos without even calling a play, while Andrea is yelling and waving his hands (remember, we're talking about ANDREA BARGNANI) on the weak side. We come up empty in most every case, and Bargnani and Demar- both flabbergasted and frustrated- jaunt back to the bench at the next timeout like dispirited soldiers, now draped in cold towels. Different days, same result. What is that about? It exemplifies one of two things imo: either Gay is showing a me-first attitude by refusing to relinquish his perceived role for even a short time while his peers are getting the job done, or it's just ignorant basketball. One or the other. I personally don't see Rudy Gay as an attention-starved pro, so it falls to the latter by default- in which case you'd think the coaching staff would show some initiative to not waste an opportunity and to get the ball to Demar and Andrea until they run cold themselves, as opposed to shutting them out (effectively shutting them
down) like they did.
Either way, I haven't been impressed with the past few games. I don't think it falls to the rotations, I think the problems run somewhat deeper than that, but there appear to be some serious questions regarding this team's preparation, their regression defensively which cannot be easily ignored, not to mention the (albeit early) signs of a potential locker room power struggle. I really don't even know if they're moving in the right direction anymore.
I hope they shut me up tonight, though.
peace
