Overall, not a bad game at all. He had a stretch there where he couldn't be stopped, he made some nice passes, got his double-double. I actually liked him and nance out there together. Yeah, he needs to stop going 3 on 1 to the hoop, but I think that will come, we saw Russ seeming to explain that to him after he did it. I still continue to like what I see, he plays hard, those rebounds are certainly not empty stats.
^^ Agreed, Weezy. Nice game for Julius despite a couple regrettable turnovers in the first half, but then everyone was turning it over at that time (7 TOs in the first quarter alone for the team). 14 and 11 and those three dimes were noice! Plus the two steals. Another solid outing. Double double machine.
I'm okay with a few tough turnovers if it means we get to see him thinking about creating more. I thought he had a couple really nice drive and dish assists and those are open to him a lot because of the attention he gets on drives. Besides a jump shot, finding teammates off of his moves is the next step in his offensive evolution. I don't need Julius to average 20/10 if he can average 15/12/4 with hopefully eventually a steal and a block a game.
Agreed and I think that's a very achievable goal for him as well as what he should be trying to do. If we can fill out this roster with a capable pick and roll big and an SF with 3 point range we don't need Julius to score 20 per game. He naturally has those instincts for dishing and I want to see more of it with a couple more guys who can do something with the ball when they catch it. Yeah, re: the turnovers - I don't mind if they come where he's looking to set up others, either. What I don't like the last two games is they are coming from lazy passes, not instances of drive and kick. He needs to clean that up. They are in the backcourt or coming up court, just lazy not seeing the defender jump into the passing lanes and are leading to layups or dunks on the other end. A lot of guys have been guilty of it in the past couple/few games. Our first quarters particularly haven't been sharp at all. Just sloppy play to start these games for some reason. We are climbing back into these games but we are handicapping ourselves by giving up double digit leads to teams in the first quarter.
You're right. He and Jordan and D'Angelo seem to head into these games dejected. Maybe they've heard Byron will be around another year and are pouting. I wouldn't blame them, but I'd like to see them more focused.
And Clarkson's been extremely cold the last few games. I'm thinking the same - they all seem so unfocused, and we're all hearing the horrible "Scott will be back" talk. Maybe it's sinking in and bumming them out or something. I'd be bummed too. What am I saying? I AM bummed already even thinking about it as a possibility. This guy coaching our young core again? It's just pathetic if true. After all the crap he's pulled on them this season?
Not just them but Huertas, Bass at times, and for the love of God why is Tarik Black not a rotation player? He's on his way to the worst coach of all time, but we're talking about bringing him back. What does that make us?
I really do not know. That's the million dollar question right now. Again, the only thing I can think of to justify it is if he was in on the tank and they are rewarding him by letting him finish his contract out. That would be reason for them saying they think he can do better next year because maybe he'll actually be trying to win? I mean if this was just the complete incompetence that it looks like, how would he not be fired? He's given us the two worst records in franchise history. That's not a small failure - that's a huge one, especially as we are supposed to be attracting free agents and also developing our young core, which he's seemingly fought tooth and nail. Was the reluctance because they also gave us the best chance to win games? The scary thing is that it's so hard to tell whether this is deliberate or just complete failure. If they are tanking on purpose and Scott is in on it then it's been a pretty good job of subterfuge. Sorry we're bringing this back to a Scott discussion.
I think it's quite clearly deliberate failure from the FO's perspective. They've failed to help the roster whatsoever. Even now Vander Blue is playing extraordinarily well in the D-League and could play some SG/SF for us, but instead we're putting Ryan Kelly out there... They've allowed Byron to make mistake after mistake in the rotations. Most importantly though: they've let Byron stay at all. He should have been fired a long time ago, but they let him stay so they could tank. I don't know if Byron is purposely tanking. I can't determine that or not. It's entirely possible he's just this incompetent which is in itself terrifying. It's all just evidence of exactly how far we've fallen. I'd be shocked if Julius, D'Angelo, and Jordan don't go to Mitch or Jeanie or Jim or freaking somebody at some point and ask exactly what Byron Scott is doing here.
Another good double double, but man does he lose focus easily at times. His lazy passes are a direct result of this. Not just last night's game but I've seen it throughout this year.
The FO is definitely content with tanking. Not sure why they value that pick so much, maybe they are planning on using it for trade or maybe they really do think they are going to land Simmons or Ingram - I don't know. Maybe it's as simple as saving face somehow with such a terrible season, just getting something out of it. But they are definitely cool with the tank. Which is a bit odd considering that they are officially on the clock right now. That makes the whole not firing Byron thing strange, too. This guy clearly can't win - he's shown us he can't properly utilize a pretty decent roster.
True. He does have a little bit of trouble with focus at times on both sides of the ball. I'm not overly concerned about it yet though as it's his first year playing NBA ball and he has the worst coach in the entire world.
Yeah the FO is a complete mess. Either they don't care about that timeline Jeanie has them on or they know something we don't because this season has been a disaster. We've failed in every aspect of what we set out for this season. We didn't make the playoffs, we didn't make a "splash", we didn't attract FAs, we didn't develop the young players quickly, we didn't even win more games than last season... How can anyone fail this much and keep their job? We really ought to riot if he's not fired before the lottery drawing. I don't understand their strategy either because there's almost equal odds we lose the pick to keeping it... THAT is what we've looked forward to this whole season? A coin flip?
So Boogie is the voice of reason in Randle's life as opposed to his head coach. Damn, Byron. When Boogie beats you on interpersonal skills, that is a pretty low bar.
Players from Green to Cousins, have always praised Randle's game. I completely agree with them, he does have to read the defense better & slow down at times, but I'll give him a break being that it's basically his rookie year.
