There's a real risk in benching Cuz like that. I fully understand sending the starting lineup a message, and hey, guess what, it worked. 2nd unit came in and did some serious damage, got us back to within striking distance, 3pt game at one point but as anyone who follows this game knows and would have predicted, it fizzled, they tired and didn't have enough to push through until the end, much less doing it against the Memphis starting lineup.
Then it turned into more of a message sent than having the main objective being to win the game. But beyond that, who's the message sent to exactly? That's the risky part when you attempt to send a message to an entire lineup. Why? Because not everyone played equally as well or as bad as the next guy. Some did better than others. What exactly was the message sent to Cuz? He did pretty well when he actually got the ball. Is it his fault the starting unit is below average defensively? Is it his fault no one in the starting unit can hit a shot to spread the floor and provide more room for him to operate? Is it his fault our offense went away from him?
When you bench an entire unit like this you're punishing everyone equally, even though the performances were far from equal. And it's not as if this is even an average level starting unit who didn't show up. It's markedly below average. So when you bench Cuz like this through the end, you're somewhat penalizing him for playing with a below average unit full of below average talent. And the risk is, does he accept that or not. Malone threw the game to make that point. The point could have easily been sent to that unit and Cuz could have still been subbed in when it was a 3pt game. The other four still would have gotten the same message had it been only Cuz being subbed back in. There's a great risk in sending messages to and treating your franchise player the same way you do Vasquez/MLM/Mbah/JT.
And spare me the Popovich does it crap. He wasn't doing that 9 or 10 games into his coaching career. His success allowed him that freedom along with having Duncan completely buy in and he does it when guys Parker/Manu aren't playing well either. He doesn't bench Duncan when surrounded by Vasquez/MLM/Mbah/JT level talent. But there's plenty of personalities which wouldn't go along with it, Shaq/Kobe/Lebron/KG/Westbrook/Rondo/Love to name a few, and it isn't some mark against them because they wouldn't accept being benched with guys similar to what Cuz is surrounded by. You have to know the personality you're dealing with and Cuz doesn't strike me as the type who'd be ok with his coach throwing a game in order to send a message to his unit, to the point he doesn't even get a chance to re-enter and fight for a win in a 3pt game.
Then it turned into more of a message sent than having the main objective being to win the game. But beyond that, who's the message sent to exactly? That's the risky part when you attempt to send a message to an entire lineup. Why? Because not everyone played equally as well or as bad as the next guy. Some did better than others. What exactly was the message sent to Cuz? He did pretty well when he actually got the ball. Is it his fault the starting unit is below average defensively? Is it his fault no one in the starting unit can hit a shot to spread the floor and provide more room for him to operate? Is it his fault our offense went away from him?
When you bench an entire unit like this you're punishing everyone equally, even though the performances were far from equal. And it's not as if this is even an average level starting unit who didn't show up. It's markedly below average. So when you bench Cuz like this through the end, you're somewhat penalizing him for playing with a below average unit full of below average talent. And the risk is, does he accept that or not. Malone threw the game to make that point. The point could have easily been sent to that unit and Cuz could have still been subbed in when it was a 3pt game. The other four still would have gotten the same message had it been only Cuz being subbed back in. There's a great risk in sending messages to and treating your franchise player the same way you do Vasquez/MLM/Mbah/JT.
And spare me the Popovich does it crap. He wasn't doing that 9 or 10 games into his coaching career. His success allowed him that freedom along with having Duncan completely buy in and he does it when guys Parker/Manu aren't playing well either. He doesn't bench Duncan when surrounded by Vasquez/MLM/Mbah/JT level talent. But there's plenty of personalities which wouldn't go along with it, Shaq/Kobe/Lebron/KG/Westbrook/Rondo/Love to name a few, and it isn't some mark against them because they wouldn't accept being benched with guys similar to what Cuz is surrounded by. You have to know the personality you're dealing with and Cuz doesn't strike me as the type who'd be ok with his coach throwing a game in order to send a message to his unit, to the point he doesn't even get a chance to re-enter and fight for a win in a 3pt game.
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