Game 40: Detroit Pistons (17-22) @ Sacramento Kings (20-21) - 10:00 PM ET

[Snakebites]

Luke sucking isn't Casey's fault. He's getting chance after chance and does nothing with them. He just floats around on offense. He's giving up tons of break chances because he doesn't cover the backcourt when the other guard drives. Defensively, he's not competing at all. If you are going to make it in the NBA as a marginal athlete, you have to be scappy. You have a to be a step ahead mentally, because you aren't going to make up for bad reads. You have to be the one dictating the action and contact because if the quicker player moves first, you aren't catching up. Guys like Reddick and Korver make it because they are forcing guys to react to them.

Fine....but what about everyone else on the roster (excluding Blake) sucking....is that not Casey's fault either?

Read this today: http://truckthoughts.com/blog/2019/1/10/the-fish-rots-from-the-head-down

So glad that there's at least one other person out there watching the game and not just focusing on the box score.

I'm sure its all Caseys fault that a roster that won 39 wins last game is currently projected to win 37 games. Its not his players its your boy SVG's players. Hilarious you defend SVG after 4 years of under 500 basketball yet a guy whos been here not even half of season coaching the same players SVG just won 39 games with you immediately are ready to put the pitchfork in him.

Caseys records with raptors:

23wins
34wins
48wins
49wins
56wins
51wins
59wins

Do I think Casey has been great? No not at all. Do I think we've got good players and should be a good team? No not whatsoever. This team had a 39.5 win projection coming in. These are SVG guys not his. SVG couldnt win with these turds that he chose no reason to expect Casey too.

A great coach can get more out of a roster that's built in a fundamentally sound way but isn't necessarily the most talented. Rick Carlisle with the 2002 Jerry Stackhouse Pistons comes to mind. They were a team that had some sense of balance to the roster but had no stars nor the balanced offense the mid-late 2000s Pistons had. We basically had 3 guys who belonged in an NBA starting lineup on that whole roster, but we had good depth and the players we had FIT together even though the overall talent wa sunderwhelming. A really strong coach can get extra out of that. It was probably a 45 win team that Rick was able to get 50 wins out of. That's what great coaching can get you (in the regular season at least). What it can't get you is orange juice from squeezing a rock.

I never considered Casey a great coach, but nobody can win with a fundamentally flawed roster that also lacks talent. And that's what we've got. Even moreso when Blake is out.

We've got ONE guy who belongs in an NBA starting lineup on a consistent basis. Drummond is a second guy who does that, at least when he's not checked out mentally. Bullock is debatable at best. Everyone else is bench fodder or a bench warmer. And our pnly 2 guys who at least USUALLY play at a starting level don't fit together. That's a roster unlikely to break 40 wins no matter who's coaching it. The ingredients just don't work, and it doesn't matter how good a chef you have.

[DTP]

Fine....but what about everyone else on the roster (excluding Blake) sucking....is that not Casey's fault either?

Read this today: http://truckthoughts.com/blog/2019/1/10/the-fish-rots-from-the-head-down

So glad that there's at least one other person out there watching the game and not just focusing on the box score.

I'm sure its all Caseys fault that a roster that won 39 wins last game is currently projected to win 37 games. Its not his players its your boy SVG's players. Hilarious you defend SVG after 4 years of under 500 basketball yet a guy whos been here not even half of season coaching the same players SVG just won 39 games with you immediately are ready to put the pitchfork in him.

Caseys records with raptors:

23wins
34wins
48wins
49wins
56wins
51wins
59wins

Do I think Casey has been great? No not at all. Do I think we've got good players and should be a good team? No not whatsoever. This team had a 39.5 win projection coming in. These are SVG guys not his. SVG couldnt win with these turds that he chose no reason to expect Casey too.

A great coach can get more out of a roster that's built in a fundamentally sound way but isn't necessarily the most talented. Rick Carlisle with the 2002 Jerry Stackhouse Pistons comes to mind. They were a team that had some sense of balance to the roster but had no stars nor the balanced offense the mid-late 2000s Pistons had. We basically had 3 guys who belonged in an NBA starting lineup on that whole roster, but we had good depth and the players we had FIT together even though the overall talent wa sunderwhelming. A really strong coach can get extra out of that. It was probably a 45 win team that Rick was able to get 50 wins out of. That's what great coaching can get you (in the regular season at least). What it can't get you is orange juice from squeezing a rock.

I never considered Casey a great coach, but nobody can win with a fundamentally flawed roster that also lacks talent. And that's what we've got. Even moreso when Blake is out.

We've got ONE guy who belongs in an NBA starting lineup on a consistent basis. Drummond is a second guy who does that, at least when he's not checked out mentally. Bullock is debatable at best. Everyone else is bench fodder or a bench warmer. And our pnly 2 guys who at least USUALLY play at a starting level don't fit together. That's a roster unlikely to break 40 wins no matter who's coaching it. The ingredients just don't work, and it doesn't matter how good a chef you have.

I've been so up and down about this team but I'm starting to come down and just accept the reality. What's difficult about this team is yes, it's absolutely a flawed and limited roster, but still with Griffin and Drummond they are definitely better than what they've showed this season and should be a .500 basketball team. I'm okay with being .500 for the next two seasons....it's just fun being in playoff conversations and at least thinking you have a chance. Maybe a deal come along or you get a steal in the draft and that propels you a little bit...you never know. I'm not up for another rebuild right now, not up for tanking....haven't we basically done that the last decade? Dont think this is the fan base/market to deal with it either tbh.

Everyone's quick reaction is to blame the players because they arent playing well, right? What about holding the coaching staff accountable to putting players in the best situation to win and be successful. Casey hasn't done that at all and its been noticeable since day 1. All of Reggie's career he's been a great PnR player, he's not a great outside shooter but he's respectable and even then isn't a great spot up shooter. Casey has basically taken away the PnR and has made Reggie a spot up shooter. Dre has shown all his career he's not very good or efficient at all posting up. Casey has taken away PnR and there are way too many Dre post ups. The guards havent shot well and yeah part of that is on them (Bullock, Kennard, Gallaway- they need to hit their open shots) but there not really involved in the offense enough to get a good rhythm. All are good shooters but all are shockingly so inconsistent in this "offense".....at some point, where do we realize that the offensive system is absolute crap.

You can't implement an offensive system that benefits maybe one player and expect good results. You can't look at the eye test or actual stats and say ANYONE outside of Blake is playing better than what they showed under SVG. The roster is limited but these are still professionals, they don't all just randomly regress for no reason.

Until the offense changes and the coach starts putting them in positions to win, I'm not going to continue to bash players. Reggie is what he is, which isnt ideal but he's still a starting quality point guard in this league when healthy. The last month he's shown that he's getting his bounce back and is looking healthy. Drummond is the best rebounder in the league, and has shown he can be a very good defender when put in the right position to be one. He's not the smartest....sometimes his effort will be inconsistent...but he's the best center in the conference and definitely an all-star quality center in this conference. Stanley is a really good defender, the best defender we have on the team and is 10x the offensive player Brown is. If you're going to start Brown for his defense and accept his horrible offense, start Stanley because he's better defensively and is much better offensively. Bullock, Kennard, and Gallaway are good shooters. There's no excuse for this team to be so bad and it won't change until Casey is held accountable.

Coach performs better and this team is easily a 7th or 8th seed in this conference at worst.