FFBlitzace wrote:I want to talk about Maurice Harkless. I know he's not very popular on this board right now, but let's be fair for a minute. He started the year out of the rotation. When JV finally put him in there, he played pretty well, I thought. He was active on the glass, he was running the floor, etc. Wasn't shooting the 3 well, but he was doing everything else well and making a visible impact. But instead of being rewarded with a consistent spot in the rotation, even in limited minutes, he was once again buried on the bench. In his appearances since then, he hasn't been good.
Let's rewind to the beginning of last season. Andrew Nicholson came out very strong. His rebounding and defense were both visibly and quantifiably improved, and he even added a 3pt shot. But then, in the blink of an eye, he was buried on the bench for no apparent reason (I'm lying. Glen Davis is too large a man to not be apparent.). And in his very sporadic appearances over the remainder of the season, he wasn't good.
Why has history basically repeated itself here? The knock on Harkless is his lack of energy and aggressiveness, but I feel like he was playing with good energy early on. So why was he benched while Willie Green played backup SF for several weeks? Playing it extremely badly, I might add. And now, despite JV being quoted as saying that he "still believes in Moe's abilities, and Moe knows that," the situation has culminated in Harkless being deactivated for rookie Devyn Marble. Sure, it's Moe's job to remain professional and not let that impact his approach to the game. That's totally valid. But he shouldn't have been benched like that to begin with. That's horrible mismanagement by JV, and horrible awareness of the type of personalities he's coaching. That's not some form of next-level psychology designed to motivate Harkless. If it is, it's woefully incorrect. Harkless has shown a fragility in his confidence level, and moves like that aren't likely to yield positive results with him. Maybe it worked once or twice, on a much smaller scale, in the past. But if it ever did truly work, the well has run dry on that strategy. Besides, he was playing well. But instead of solidifying that and building on it, JV literally crushed it in the palm of his hand. Much like Nicholson last season.
But wait a minute...speaking of last season, wasn't Tobias Harris (who is having a pretty darn good year by anyone's standards) coming off the bench less than one calendar year ago?! Yes, he was. Behind Maurice Harkless. What kind of rationale could possibly be presented that would legitimately explain this turn of events? Either JV was making a terrible mistake last season, or he's making a terrible mistake this season. There can be no inbetween. (Obviously Harris is the right call, but that's not the point I'm trying to make.)
You know what I think? I've been citing Occam's Razor in regards to JV for 3 years now. I don't think we should attempt finding some kind of deep meaning behind his seemingly incomprehensible logic. Because I don't think such a thing exists. The simple answer is, he has no idea what he's doing. He mismanaged Nicholson. He mismanaged Harkless (both of which were first round picks, by the way. Hardly throwaway assets you don't care about.). He has no semblance of a system on offense. Our defense isn't as good as it probably should be. There's no identity. Every night is a crapshoot, nothing is consistent. I take that back. The one thing we can count on every night is being able to scratch our head at his decisions.
I'm perfectly willing to believe that he had been, and would be, a great assistant coach. Players would almost certainly like him and enjoy working with him in that role. But he is not an NBA head coach.
Well said Blitz. As far as Nicholson. I still remember that Pacers game last year where he was killing only to be benched the rest of the game.
