12-19-2021, 10:48 AM
(12-19-2021, 08:31 AM)Kammrath Wrote: I literally came to post this same thing. It is CRAZY. JR even has a positive plus/minus.
Honestly there is only one common thread for all those guys: Luka (please tell me if I am wrong here).
Which makes me ask two questions:
1) Is defending the wing alongside Luka a really terrible job that is almost impossible to succeed in?
2) Is shooting alongside Luka a really difficult job that a good number of shooters cannot succeed in?
The trend is alarming. I am not saying "it is all Luka's fault"...but I simply don't have an explanation other than playing alongside him at this point.
Wow!...just wow! This is a team sport. Within a team are individual expectations and performances. This includes players, coaches, ball boys, towel girls (politically incorrect? I don't care), etc. If there are problems on a team one must focus on what the team is doing wrong. It is easy to blame a single person...and a single person is easy to replace. But if the team problems are not addressed...they will remain. And the team will continue to do the same thing year after year.
Carlisle's basketball philosophy was apparently very simple, easy...and predictable: offense...score more points than the other team. Which is why the TEAM didn't fare well in playoffs (except for one year when it seemed the players took hold and DIRK played like the basketball God he was/is). I'm not going to go down the list of coaches...but Avery Johnson seemed to be a great gym coach, and a below average in-game coach. Nelson?...why do I like him?...I do.
Back to now. Kidd has a coaching philosophy as well. I'm not sure what it is yet, but he has...one...I think. I hope. I'm pretty sure it involves defense, which is good, because, trite as it is...you can't win championships without defense. You also need to score more than the other team, but it is what it is. Whatever it is...it isn't working...yet. You can tell by the confusion of the players on the court, and the clanking of the ball from around the perimeter when the game is slipping away (Carlisle's teams did this too). This brings us back to the grand circle of coaching. The jury is out, still, on Kidd.
Some individual players may play bad in certain schemes. Often due to confusion, lack of interest...or they are just bad. But to infer that the problem is a future HOFer, possibly a generational type of player that any team would give their left testicle for is really reaching, searching, or trying to generate strife...when there should be none.
My opinion only: The team should be built around the strengths and weaknesses of Luka...incorporating the coach(es) philosophy as much as possible. This doesn't mean Luka shouldn't improve and work on his weaknesses every year. He doesn't get an easy road to travel. But if other players can't work or fit with him...then they SHOULD be replaced. Luka Doncic is the least of the Mavs problems.
...and somebody please tell KP to play low post. The high post doesn't work for Ichabod...I mean...Kp. Those early clock logo 3 point shots are flashy...but are they good for the TEAM?
...trade KP before he is injured...again...