I think Popovich and Carlisle and even guys we've let go like Snyder could get this team on the same page at least. Right now they're lost.
Right. All that playoff talk was just pipe dreams from all of us who are tired of losing. I'll honestly just accept consistent effort from a team that doesn't look clueless at this point.
not playoffs but they wouldn't look completely lost like they do now, I doubt Luke has any of his own concept, just copy cat coach
hey, i wanted atkinson, said it at the time. and i wanted snyder over the mikes, but that's all ancient history now. anyway, this is hardly a luke problem. it's a FO problem, imo. they claim they want to win, but they didn't make a lot of moves that suggest it. people will point to lopez, but shortly after the trade, the gm basically called it a salary dump in public. there's a message sent there. we then tell our underperforming 2nd year player (whom we nonsensically kept out of trade talks) that he needs to become something he's not...right now! by protecting one player in trade talks (and not others), you're also sending a message (to clarkson and randle). just bad practice all around. i've got very little confidence that this group has a good plan and is executing it. rather, i think they believed they were smarter than others, found out they weren't, and are scrambling. we don't even have a veteran pg on the roster. hell, we don't have a third pg, period. who does that? rick carlisle's got like, nine of them!
Don't get me wrong, I'm not done with Luke here and he's definitely got to work with the hand he was dealt. I do think he's gotta step it up though. I liked Atkinson and Snyder too though. As far as the front office, well, I think our takes on everything they have done has been similar all summer long and I again agree.
I was asking for a vet pg all summer and what do they do, give Caruso a shot after his summer league performance. Brought it up again recently and was told by a few here that Ennis wasn't that bad. Ball is a rookie with a frail body (SL injury and now the ankle). We need a vet pg that can take control a little when the team looks lost. Brook is a big man for that but we also need a steady pg there too. I'm just really annoyed right now. I bought into the hype that Magic, Rob and co were selling but it's clear the product is defective. We need to use the rest of the preseason productively. We were promised competitive/entertainment every game, 0/3 so far.
I still think Luke was / is the right pick for HC. But he NEEEEEEDS a top level defensive specialist coach on his staff.
^^^ This seems so obvious. Does he even have one person that is tasked more than all the others allegedly to be that guy? Who is it FFS? If not then WTF .... why not by now?
Randle and Clarkson will not give you 100 percent effort every night. BI might but I don't know if a hang nail may sideline him for a week. The guy is a giant pansy. Lonzo and Kuzma are my dogs. I'm gonna enjoy those two balling and hope Lopez can play 70+ games.
This team is still garbage on defense. After all these years I'm not sure what to say... Different coaches, different players, different owners, different courts... One consistent thing which is awful defense. I dunno what to say... I know youth is a big part of our defense but damn... Guys like Randle, Clarkson etc. are vets now, it's their 4th season...
they're just not sharp basketball players (randle and clarkson). others are too young or athletically deficient. i'm also a firm believer in the very lame (but very true) "you gotta want it" theory. to a man, your team has to want to play defense. we don't have that. that's another FO problem, though.
