Head Coach JJ Redick Discussion: Spazzing Out

He's got big flaws IMO - the timeouts have gotten better but i hate relying on analytics guys who don't believe in momentum when the hot hand theory is actually true statiscally this is behind the times. Thibs like with his big guns in terms of minutes, not playing young gusy

But damn does he get buyin from his players like all of his players (Vando has kept engaged for examples - bench to stars including one of the all greats is willing to fit into the system). When you get Lebron to play the draymond role and Luka to play defense that a big plus and extremely challenging to due in coaching. The long leash (way too long IMO) maybe part of this buy in from the team. You work hard and you listen he'll give you chances, probably too many

His ETO plays are excellent

He's willing to listen to assistants

he should absolutely get a tremendous amount of credit for the zone/man hybrid he's created. It's a unique system that hides a lot of physical limitations of his player but extentuates their strengths (basketball IQ). As he gets more experience with it, this has a chance like Riley's two man trap to be a defining winning defensive strategy that is difficult to replicate and hard to prepare for

Anyways - I think he has the potential to be frankly a great NBA coach but I just worry he won't be able to get over that Thibs-like hump where his stubborness has cost him title chances. The similarities to Thibs are eerie tbh

 

several draftees (e.g., zubac, clarkson, nance, wagner, bryant, you could probably include randle here, tbh) were mostly unceremoniously dumped and went on to play well for others.

rui was looking like a success story until he (seriously) regressed this year.

anyway, could have played any guard but gabe all year long, gotten the same production (jack s***) and maybe gotten some real development opportunities.

definitely could have found thiero more time on the varsity with rui and vando both being nearly unplayable for a lot of the season as well.

and redick's not the only coach guilty of leaning on pretty useless vets, but he definitely said player development was a thing he's way into, and i see basically zero evidence of that to this point. no, i do not credit him with reaves or hayes (who's basically the same guy he sort of scapegoated in the playoffs a year ago, tbh).

anyway, it's really my only gripe with him. but it's legitimate, and i won't be told it's silly.

 

Hayes is the same player he’s always been- a lob threat at the rim. He hasn’t developed any post game whatsoever, or a mid range shot, or a three ball, and still often picks up quick, bad fouls.
Sure, JJ did help Austin get more scoring opportunities by taking the ball handling duties away from LeBron, but I don’t consider this to be “player development.” If he were traded two seasons ago, his increase in production would have improved under any other coach, who would have given him the same, if not even bigger role.

 

Oh, so we’re talking about guys who were let go like 5+ years ago. So not anything to do with JJ. And Austin’s big improvement has nothing to do with JJ, but Rui’s regression does. Makes sense.

It seems to me like you dont put any responsibility on the player to actually show something when they do get to play. NSJ has appeared in 29 games this season and averaged 12.3 minutes per game. So about 356 total minutes. In how many of those minutes did you say hey, this guy showed me something. He had that Blazers game early in the year, after which he was given more minutes, and he did nothing with them. I don’t think I’ve been impressed with him once since then. It seems to me like your version of “player development” is a young guy getting some minutes, not playing well, getting some more minutes, still not playing well, and then for some reason being rewarded with even more minutes. The difference with a vet like Gabe is that he was, at one point, a pretty good role player. Someone like NSJ or Bufkin has never been a competent NBA player, and when they actually got to play in games this year still did not look like competent NBA players.

 

Rui has become a dependable shooter, but hasn’t added any other offensive moves to his game, is still a bad rebounder and poor defender.
Jake has regressed offensively, but is still good defensively.
Koloko, Lewis, Jemison, Olivari, Traore, or JHS never developed into NBA players.
Goodwin did, but wasn’t kept.
I guess Christie is the exception, but 1 for 8, when you claim to be into “developing players,” is bad.
He’s given Bronny a chance, but young James is still far from being a dependable role player in the NBA.

 

Regarding Jaxson …. this is not a good take from you. Disagree on almost all of your points but especially he is the “same” player.

 

So, he HAS added a jump hook, mid range shot, three ball shot, AND stopped making stupid fouls?
Hmmm, I guess we are talking about a different player then.

 

Actually he has scored with some nice touches in the restricted area multiple times aside from dunks, and maneuvered in there to create some shots. Who knows if he could shoot 3s if asked to do so. Hasn’t he not missed on 2 or 3 this year? Or did I miss a finally miss. Not what JJ wants clearly. Better defender, more strength to hold his positions and has fired some nice passes. If you want to be sarcastic yeah I guess we are not looking at the same player.

 

yeah Hayes has definitely improved - he's better then he was last year and his last year was better then in any NO
His touch around the basket, off ball movement, etc