lol, I started my post by saying what I dislike about Luke's coaching, so i'm far from a Luke apologist. I just don't see any available coaches that would come in, pick up where Luke was, and give us better results.
Lebron should not have played after the 1st quarter. The team was better without him out there. His solution was to bulldoze into the paint with no vertical and either throw up a prayer, knock people out of the way for a clean look, or hope someone was open for a pass. It's not an offense. It's a hail Mary. I also saw him ready to complain and blame a teammate if his wide open guy he was supposed to be defending dropped in a three. He missed, so he chilled, but it was offensive to even see it welling up in him. He's an a**.
I don’t believe Magic at all, Luke is so gone. He’s not Magic’s guy, not Rob’s guy, and not LeBron’s guy. He’s only Jeanie’s guy, and that will only go so far. I think he’d be fired already if there were a better coach available, but there isn’t so he might last a little longer because of that. If it were just him he’d be fired, but there’s no way we want one of his assistants to take over, the ones not running any offensive system and that have us playing zero defense. I just hope we don’t do something stupid like hire Lue now that he’s available, his system was give LeBron the ball over and over.
Per Ohm: So it appears it was more about our defensive system. So I guess admonish was more like "add man, ish!"....enter Tyson Chandler.
Oh brother. The team could play better without a coach. This is embarrassing and we’re wasting the rest of Lebron’s prime with an unproven coaching staff. Unacceptable
He knows how to use a Lebron for sure. We could do worse, and he’s a former Laker! But I also think Lebron gave him anxiety. He demands greatness from everyone around him. For Lue to step in for Blatt and win was damn impressive.
Someone actually logged the number of set plays we ran. Nine against the Raptors tonight, and 10 against the Blazers last night. League average estimated to be 30-35. Inexcusable even with the higher pace. Proof: Link if the spreadsheet doesn't embed
BTW Magic saying he is going to finish the season is pretty much the equivalent of saying he will be fired after the season lol. The correct wording would have been something like "Luke is our coach and we have complete trust in him. He has a long term contract and we are very happy with his work". In contrast: "He will finish the season and won't get fired if nothing drastic happens"...that's confirming he is on the hot seat and will be re-evaluated once the season is over. I'm not mad at Luke. His team isn't ideal, a bunch of misfits on one year deals along with a few underachieving 20 year olds... He is in a tough spot, especially with Magic and Rob overrating their summer signings. They wanted to add "tough-minded playmakers and defenders"...now that we are rock bottom defensively and suck at shooting the ball, they think its Luke's fault.
Lebron was the absolute worst part about last night. Give it a rest and call a spade a spade. Lebron should be embarrassed with his performance. As the leader of the team and your proclaimed greatest of all time, he sets the tone. He came out looking like trash and the rest of the team followed.
If you re-watch the game and focus just on LeBron, you will see he is a master at not wasting any excessive energy. For his age and mileage and role on the team, I found what he was doing perfectly acceptable. You need young legs to lead the charge on the second night of back to back.