What has surprised me with Joerger is his stubbornness with the starting five and his rotations.
Jerry Sloan was really rigid about those things too and it worked for him (players developed chemistry and guys knew when they were being subbed out) but I didn't expect it from Joerger who has had to make do with makeshift lineups from his minor league days and last year with the Grizzlies. I guess I expected more flexibility and more decisions based on the opposing lineup and the flow of the game.
Yet he starts Boogie and Koufos against undersized perimeter frontcourts that drag Cousins out of the paint and who KK can't punish inside on the other end. And Ben inexplicably still has a starting role while Malachi can't get a real look. Casspi was glued to the bench early and keeps ending up in the doghouse for some reason.
Just stuff that makes no sense. I go back to that Raptors game in which briefly abandoned the KK/Boogie pairing and he started Collison and Lawson because they'd played well together to finish out the previous game. But why you'd have eiither the 5'11" Lawson or the 6'1" Collison guarding the 6'7" DeRozan (who was then the league's leading scorer) I have no idea.
Ultimately the Kings won that won and limited DeRozan to 11 or 12 points but nearly all of his damage was done early against that mismatch before Joerger was forced to sub.
I've been trying to give Joerger the benefit of the doubt but many of his decisions simply don't make any sense to me. This is a bad basketball team, sure but it feels like he's often handicapping it further.
Jerry Sloan was really rigid about those things too and it worked for him (players developed chemistry and guys knew when they were being subbed out) but I didn't expect it from Joerger who has had to make do with makeshift lineups from his minor league days and last year with the Grizzlies. I guess I expected more flexibility and more decisions based on the opposing lineup and the flow of the game.
Yet he starts Boogie and Koufos against undersized perimeter frontcourts that drag Cousins out of the paint and who KK can't punish inside on the other end. And Ben inexplicably still has a starting role while Malachi can't get a real look. Casspi was glued to the bench early and keeps ending up in the doghouse for some reason.
Just stuff that makes no sense. I go back to that Raptors game in which briefly abandoned the KK/Boogie pairing and he started Collison and Lawson because they'd played well together to finish out the previous game. But why you'd have eiither the 5'11" Lawson or the 6'1" Collison guarding the 6'7" DeRozan (who was then the league's leading scorer) I have no idea.
Ultimately the Kings won that won and limited DeRozan to 11 or 12 points but nearly all of his damage was done early against that mismatch before Joerger was forced to sub.
I've been trying to give Joerger the benefit of the doubt but many of his decisions simply don't make any sense to me. This is a bad basketball team, sure but it feels like he's often handicapping it further.