This is why I said wait until the end of the season. I actually saw progress and direction under Smart when he was working with a TRADITIONAL LINEUP. Evans was learning his role, Cousins was pretty dominant and coming of age. You saw what "could be" against San Antonio and OKC. So at the time, I thought the potential for solid improvement was there. I figured that he would be the coach to help our players reach their individual potential, then we would be arguing about whether or not he could "take us to the next level" in a year or two.
Then, for some reason, he went to smallball. Doubly so, knowing that we were making progress the other way - despite the outcries of the fans who want more points on the board. You become a running team, and you negate the big nasty (oh wait, can't call him that), the big boogie in the middle who needs a set offense and to establish positioning in order to be at his best. I really want to know why Smart thought that it would be a good idea to tiny up the team, especially with this roster. But you know what? I'm a fan, and can want all I want, but I'm not going to get answers. Because of that, I have to judge what I'm seeing on the floor. And I'm seeing a regression. Complain about dribble-dribble-dribble all you want, but it's playoff basketball. In fact, you can stop complaining about it because Evans was getting so much better at running an offense, with sets, right before the switch. Why do you think Cousins was so happy? He knew (and most knew) where they would be getting the ball within the flow of a half-court offense.
This team is so young, you can't just **** with the lineup and change up things the way you want. You can't give someone 15 minutes one night, then 35 the next. You can't purposefully set up a team to be at a disadvantage, then complain when they don't rebound or defend well. This actually looks more like read and react Westphalian debauchery than it does anything else as of late. We're putting up points because it's easier for guards to "read and react" against larger players.
Having coached for over a decade (crap, I'm getting old), I know that good coaches adapt to their personnel - they don't try to shoehorn them into a system. Are you willing to expand your comfort zone, or stick to what you know, regardless of the outcome. Bringing in a shooting coach and a big man coach is a good step in the right direction. Having Smart go back to a lineup that suits this personnel would be big, but he won't do it because of pride. All he has to do is say "we need to go back to making defense a priority, and I'm making some changes that will hopefully address the issue."
