06-24-2021, 05:22 PM
I've always been a huge fan of Rick as a coach and thought it was always clear that he was a hard head (and he was always a bit of an asshole to the media in my opinion) but trusted him enough from a basketball standpoint to think that if a player (Rondo, Collison, Wright, the list goes on for a while) had noticeable issues with him or lost playing time that it was always on them.
It's getting to the point though where there is a ton of smoke to this fire and it would make a ton of sense for free agents not to want to play for a coach who has this reputation. I mean every free agent we've ever gone after would have known someone who is close to them who has played for Rick at this point (I mean, imagine how many free agents first phone call about the Mavs was to Rondo, who's well respected by pretty much all players). Now I'm starting to think that Indiana may have made a bad hire based on all this news considering their last coach was very not player friendly and that's why he's gone. I mean, it was a long time ago but Rick basically got ran out of Detroit for not playing Tayshaun Prince and they went on to win the championship the very next year. That feels like hard headedness as opposed to trying to put the best basketball product on the court.
All this to say that I will miss Rick the tactician but I am starting to become optimistic that better days are ahead of us. At the end of the day, this is a players league and if Rick was pissing everyone off then (and I can't believe I currently feel this way) good riddance.
It's getting to the point though where there is a ton of smoke to this fire and it would make a ton of sense for free agents not to want to play for a coach who has this reputation. I mean every free agent we've ever gone after would have known someone who is close to them who has played for Rick at this point (I mean, imagine how many free agents first phone call about the Mavs was to Rondo, who's well respected by pretty much all players). Now I'm starting to think that Indiana may have made a bad hire based on all this news considering their last coach was very not player friendly and that's why he's gone. I mean, it was a long time ago but Rick basically got ran out of Detroit for not playing Tayshaun Prince and they went on to win the championship the very next year. That feels like hard headedness as opposed to trying to put the best basketball product on the court.
All this to say that I will miss Rick the tactician but I am starting to become optimistic that better days are ahead of us. At the end of the day, this is a players league and if Rick was pissing everyone off then (and I can't believe I currently feel this way) good riddance.