Every problem we have as a team is directly correlated to our lack of talent...........................
So all these criticisms of lack of heart, lack of effort, Beno bashing, firing of Reggie Theus, lack of leadership, extended losing streaks, lack of pride are all symptomatic of a lack of talent. Pure and simple.............
Pardon me, but I beg to disagree. I think coachie's insight is partly right. Our guys are just simply playing, and not playing to win. I've seen this team win when they wanted to win. I've seen the kind of winning efforts both on offense and defense on those wins.
I don't know why we weren't able to develop the consistency in effort to win. I tend to blame the coaching staff for what has happened to this team. The team had gradually developed the losing mentality.
IMO, WE DON'T LACK TALENT. We have had enough talent at the very start to even make it to the playoffs. We could have actually done it - IF....
1.) we had the luxury of having a complete and healthy roster from the very beginning, so that the team could have developed the winning chemistry by now
2.) the young talents were given appropriate playing time for their accelerated development, and...
3.) most importantly if our guys were playing to win.
The last two of these reasons are all symptomatic of a poorly managed and poorly coached/motivated team.
This team has 3 big men ( Miller, Hawes, and Thompson ) who are capable of getting double-double ( pts and rebs ) every game, but it is not happening. These 3 could have had solved the previous problem of this team in the rebounding department.
Player on the high and low post? Miller is one of the better centers able to play the high post with great success. We all know how deadly Miller can be at the high post when he is fully motivated. He can shoot and/or make those pin-point passes from that area. If Hawes ( who had shown above average talent at the low post ) was developed early in the season to have the confidence to play low post, by now he could have been commanding a double team defense at the low box.
The team is not lacking talent on offense too. We have one of the most capable scorers who can command a double team defense from the opponents in the NBA. His name is Martin. Salmons is also not that bad when he does not force his offense. Miller, Hawes, Beno, and Garcia are capable scorers. Thompson can also contribute in scoring with not much need to have the ball in his hands. He could have been the second coming of Dennis Rodman who's deadly offense centered around picking up garbage and put backs.
We also know that last year, Beno had shown he was a decent point guard and decent defender in that position. And with Miller contributing in the facilitation of offense, and Hawes showing he could be another good passing BIG with his passing skills, Beno or even Brown does not have to be a 10-assists per game point guard for this team to win.
And defense which is the worst problem of the team?
We have an able center/power forward who can get 2-5 block shots a game in Hawes. Salmons had shown he can be an excellent defender against the best scoring guards in the league. Miller can also give at least a decent defense using his body when fully motivated. Garcia and Beno had shown they can defend if they want too. Martin is gifted with quickness he can use in defending. But somehow, all these guys are not playing their best to play defense to win. The teams' defense looks like the one in a non-bearing/exhibition game. No passion at all.
IMO, we have enough talents. The talents weren't developed and utilize the right way in the very beginning and upto now.
Moore who can't get 3 rebounds a game and yet stupidly favored to start for a long time, ahead of Hawes and Thompson?
And lately Hawes not even playing that much minutes?
I think Coachie is right. Players aren't playing to win. They are just playing. It is almost like saying the team had developed a losing mentality. I hope the damaged brought about by poor management/coaching can still be reversed before it's too late.
Bizarre comments. Had to have been taken out of context.
