Part of the reason that expectations were so low coming into the season was that 17/18 was a monstrosity of a season where broken-down veterans were emphasized on a rebuilding team and the players that now make up our future were badly misused. Good thing we moved on from *checks notes* Coach Dave Joerger. To his credit this year, he recognized his personnel and the changing state of basketball and picked up the pace, which has been a success.
His problem as a coach is that his decision-making happens on the scale of geological time periods. He makes a decision and needs overwhelming evidence over an excruciating length of time in order to change it. This is good for long-term strategy; you don't want to just change things up all the time for no reason. Certainly, the overall development curve of the team is positive. We can't know what all goes on in practices and coaching sessions, and there is no control testing group to see how players would have developed in another situation, but the fact is that our key young players are developing well, so I can only give Joerger credit for that.
Where slow decision-making is a detriment is on the smaller scale, during games and from game-to-game over the season. When I see a coach who is slow to act to cut bad momentum short, who fails to return to combinations that were working in a game, who fails to adjust to opposing coaches' adjustments, I am concerned. If you're playing Rock Paper Scissors and you know that, not only will your opponent throw Rock but will continue to do so for the next 20 rounds even if you throw Paper, you have a tremendous advantage. When I see a coach take a trade that should have been additive, shoring up a long-time team weakness, and uses it to fundamentally alter what the team has been doing for the worse, I am concerned.
Now, it could be that Joerger, after have a long think over the Summer, will come back next season with a brilliant scheme that incorporates our current and added personnel in a way that takes us up another level on the way to contender status. He's changed course before, so I couldn't put it past him. Maybe the roster weaknesses will be shored up to the point that the consequences of putting out the "wrong" lineup are not as dire.
I don't know whether the Kings should make a coaching change. There's no guarantee what we will get in return and maybe it screws up the long-term arc of development. I am concerned about how far we can go with this coach though. The playoffs, where we hope to go, are all about adjustments. From moment to moment, not from month to month. My gut is that we are probably stuck with him unless and until we reach a point where there are no more excuses and it is undeniable that the team should be achieving at a certain level, but we fail to do so. Chances are that I am going to be frequently frustrated for a while. Maybe if we're all lucky, it will pay off in the long run.
