Commenter Petey responds to the recap of yesterday’s Phoenix game with a very timely and appropriate reference to a post on Eric Musselman’s blog:
“I don’t have any answers. Maybe that high S/R should be run with EJ and Camby. Maybe you feed Thornton in the post and lure the Phoenix bigs out of the lane [though with Brian Skinner, there's little incentive for them to follow and, besides, Thornton probably can't execute the sort of pass necessary to exploit a rotation].”
Via Musselman’s interesting blog, an anonymous coach notes:
One of the first clinics I ever went to Hubie Brown talked about having to admit that he “couldn’t win with just anybody.” He had just come off a season with the Knicks where his star Bernard King was hurt and so were other key players. I tell young coaches the number one key to coaching is to have better players. I like the saying, “It ain’t the x’s and the o’s, it’s the Jimmys and the Joes.”
You folks could use use B-Diddy and Z-Bo on the floor during crunchtime.
I think Petey’s — and Brown’s and Musselman’s — basic premise is dead on, and one reason I wrote that “the Clippers simply don’t have the able-bodied personnel to get good shots against smart defensive team.” Brian Skinner, while being a useful player in a reserve role, simply doesn’t force the defense to make difficult choices. In the same vain, a defense will give allowances to Freddie Jones that they’d never afford Steve Nash. And few teams will run under a screen for Baron Davis, even if he happens to be shooting 36%. And nobody will leave Zach Randolph uncovered anywhere inside 20 feet.
Until the Clippers have the offensive talent on the floor that makes opposing defenses pick their poison, they’re going to lose a lot of basketball games. But you didn’t need me to tell you that.
12 Responses
In other news, water is wet and the sky is blue.
Posted on January 12th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
As long as we are talking about coaches…
In the NBA Power Rankings, I found an interesting tidbit:
“…coach Mike Dunleavy has more Ts (nine) than wins (eight) this season.”
Posted on January 12th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
The coach needs to devolope his young players…Thorton would be a good start….
Posted on January 12th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
The current team is what it is. A bunch of scrubs who are playing their asses off but just dont have the horses to get it done. I hope they lose 40 in a row and secure a top 3 pick. Here are 2 appropriate quotes off the top of my head…
Dennis Green:
“They are who we thought they were…”
.
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Butthead
.
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“You can’t polish a turd, Beavis.”
bootstrenf Reply:
January 12th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
sad thing is, there’s no one really worth tanking for…..last years draft had players like rose and mayo…..
this year, i think the best player will be harden, but i don’t think he is a superstar, franchise saving type player…..
i know, everyone thinks griffin should go #1, but i just like harden’s game a lot better…..
and the crappy thing is, rubio will probably not even declare this year…..if we wanted to tank, we should’ve done it last year….
but, dunleavy with his lack of foresite won a few meaningless games and took us out of lottery contention…..and this year, when we are likely to get a high pick, there will be no one worth taking…..
and that is the luck of the clippers…..most of us long time fans are used to it by now…..
oh well…
ian Reply:
January 12th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
What does this mean? Our draft pick from last year consistenly sees double teams…. He & Camby are our only decent players.
cliptakular Reply:
January 12th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
He’s saying that we could’ve moved higher in the draft if they just tanked all those meaningless games by the end of the season.
Have you seen OJ Mayo play?
Posted on January 12th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
We dont need to tank….The Clippers will lose withou t tanking…..
cliptakular Reply:
January 13th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
touche
Posted on January 12th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
You don’t learn how to win by losing… The team needs to continue to compete. The players need to improve, because like it or not, some of them will be staying.
I used to think Kaman was going to be a big time player… Maybe he will be… There are plenty of guys who had injury riddled early careers, then stayed healthy for a long time… Marcus Camby is one… There are also a lot of Sam Bowie’s out there.
Posted on January 12th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
The injuries have come at a very opportune time. It’s a great excuse for all the losing. But the fact is, besides the back to back wins against Portland and Houston, this team has been losing all year even when healthy.
clipseshow Reply:
January 14th, 2009 at 11:58 am
I agree. The coaching staff and the fans need to stop making excuses. This team has lost its heart…We need a regime change. Get Dunleavy out and bring in someone new!
Look at what happened in Miami. After years of poor play with Riley, they are soaring this year with their new young coach!
Posted on January 14th, 2009 at 10:32 am
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