Keth Smart like this team is finding himself

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sactownfan

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I want to break down Smart in categories...

Rapport/Chemistry:
Positivity! Listening to Smart talk about players and games is always encouraging. Unlike the coaches before him he just seems so positive, calm and collected. Westfail/the others always seemed rattled and baffled. I cant stress enough how clearly awesome his team bonding idea in COL was, and the effect that will end up having on this teams chemistry in the long run. Clearly he's played a huge role in ringing in Cousin's, and allowing him to become a 20-10 player, something Westfail couldn't. There is zero doubt that this team wants to play for him and each other more than they ever had perviously.

verdit- Smart is a big time improvement and solid in this area

Defense:
The biggest most glaring weakness of this team.... Now i realize that we're only one reg season game into it + preseason. But this teams effort even for such a small sample size is like nothing we've seen in years. While not on the Chi Bulls level. Smart's impact on this teams defensive effort is undeniable! We lack the top defensive talent but the effort is on a level that will keep us in games and equal more wins this season.

verdict- Smart has so far using the lack of natural defensive talent on this team made strides in this area... so far... losing a lot could really affect this effort down the line.

Offense:
For starters.. this isn't the most ideal roster... obviously... even Greg Pop would be confused by the collection of talent on this roster. Evans alone is a tough guy to figure out and this roster at the time he was drafted was in even more disarray. However Give Smart big time credit for playing him at the 2 which is what everyone on the board wanted and having the balls to stand up to a MT level player and bring him off the bench which again seemed like according to this board was the thing to do. Especially after a MT was coming of a year starting and being effective. He also deserves credit for inserting a real PG and allowing Thomas to explode. This offense is obviously leaps and bounds improved from the Reggie T. and Westfail days. Still a work in progress, and is really just waiting on Cousins figuring out this whole foul problem thing. HE NEEDS TO BE ON THE FREAKING FLOOR... A LOT!!!.... when he goes down with fouls the bigs on the Bench are not at a point of hanging with the elite of this league. If cousins stays on the floor last night we could have won for sure. we still almost won! but he was out of rhythm and pressing after all the time on the bench. That will be a reoccurring theme this year. Spacing is better and the "duh" standing around moments are less frequent. But the roster is still not ideal. having a SF with 3pt range and the ability to defend would do much for this team.

verdit- Smart cant totally control cousins fouls. offense has a real PG now. Evans is at the 2 and MT is 6th man... the starting 5 makes complete sense for once. big time improvement. Smart doesn't have total control with whos on the roster.

Rotations:
Smarts biggest flaw. LOL!!! Evans coming out for waaaaayyy tooo looong. going small. like the title says. Smart is finding himself. This is the area he needs to improve... I dont think Smart is dumb... hahaha... i expect it to improve. positives from last night. no outlaw starting, no jimmer. so i guess thats baby steps forward. Again the starting line up is just how all of us here wanted it so thats gotta be progress too right?

verdict- slowly getting better. needs to improve how players are rested and lineups during the game.

Play calling:
this needs to flat out improve. still looking for better plays at the end of quarters and inbounds. set plays seem to be bad right now. but this isn't as pressing as rotations because if it comes down to it just give Evans the ball and let him drive. We got a million players that can iso score.

verdict- needs to improve.


OVERALL--- I like Smart . I think hes improved this team. But like the team needs to work some issues out... hes showing improvement from last year. baby steps!!!
 
The issue is he's a "learning" Coach, coaching a "learning" team.

I like him, i think he's done a lot of things right, but he has his foibles that can frustrate onlookers.

tbh though even if we had Pop here there'd undoubtedly be someone complaining about something he was doing.

I'll say it again though, you can't blame Smart for everything, we're not in those huddles, how we do we know he's called a "bad play" Did we hear it? No, It's only a bad a play if it's completely rudimentary (easy to read) or goes against matchups, most of the time it's bad execution and thats on the players.

He might well be calling the most advanced, stunning playbook in the history of Basketball but if the players botch every play he can't be blamed.
 
The issue is he's a "learning" Coach, coaching a "learning" team.

I like him, i think he's done a lot of things right, but he has his foibles that can frustrate onlookers.

tbh though even if we had Pop here there'd undoubtedly be someone complaining about something he was doing.

I'll say it again though, you can't blame Smart for everything, we're not in those huddles, how we do we know he's called a "bad play" Did we hear it? No, It's only a bad a play if it's completely rudimentary (easy to read) or goes against matchups, most of the time it's bad execution and thats on the players.

He might well be calling the most advanced, stunning playbook in the history of Basketball but if the players botch every play he can't be blamed.

Smart is improving... as far as the plays. those are things they should be drilled over and over again.. every team needs a few "go to" plays for certin points... and we can execute ever on those... thats on the players so so ... but def the coach
 
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We've gone to the triangle, apparently, and we definitely have moved the ball more of late, IMO anyway, but the spacing is still iffy for me. The triangle is all about maintaining spacing and we sometimes see 2 players standing next to each other or the dreaded everyone stares at Cuz/Reke/IT/MT.

The players need to commit to it, once they've swung the ball one time, they'll generally just go one on one instead of moving into the next phase of the offense with some down or cross screens.
 
I want to break down Smart in categories...

Rapport/Chemistry:
Positivity! Listening to Smart talk about players and games is always encouraging. Unlike the coaches before him he just seems so positive, calm and collected. Westfail/the others always seemed rattled and baffled. I cant stress enough how clearly awesome his team bonding idea in COL was, and the effect that will end up having on this teams chemistry in the long run. Clearly he's played a huge role in ringing in Cousin's, and allowing him to become a 20-10 player, something Westfail couldn't. There is zero doubt that this team wants to play for him and each other more than they ever had perviously.

verdit- Smart is a big time improvement and solid in this area

Defense:
The biggest most glaring weakness of this team.... Now i realize that we're only one reg season game into it + preseason. But this teams effort even for such a small sample size is like nothing we've seen in years. While not on the Chi Bulls level. Smart's impact on this teams defensive effort is undeniable! We lack the top defensive talent but the effort is on a level that will keep us in games and equal more wins this season.

verdict- Smart has so far using the lack of natural defensive talent on this team made strides in this area... so far... losing a lot could really affect this effort down the line.

Offense:
For starters.. this isn't the most ideal roster... obviously... even Greg Pop would be confused by the collection of talent on this roster. Evans alone is a tough guy to figure out and this roster at the time he was drafted was in even more disarray. However Give Smart big time credit for playing him at the 2 which is what everyone on the board wanted and having the balls to stand up to a MT level player and bring him off the bench which again seemed like according to this board was the thing to do. Especially after a MT was coming of a year starting and being effective. He also deserves credit for inserting a real PG and allowing Thomas to explode. This offense is obviously leaps and bounds improved from the Reggie T. and Westfail days. Still a work in progress, and is really just waiting on Cousins figuring out this whole foul problem thing. HE NEEDS TO BE ON THE FREAKING FLOOR... A LOT!!!.... when he goes down with fouls the bigs on the Bench are not at a point of hanging with the elite of this league. If cousins stays on the floor last night we could have won for sure. we still almost won! but he was out of rhythm and pressing after all the time on the bench. That will be a reoccurring theme this year. Spacing is better and the "duh" standing around moments are less frequent. But the roster is still not ideal. having a SF with 3pt range and the ability to defend would do much for this team.

verdit- Smart cant totally control cousins fouls. offense has a real PG now. Evans is at the 2 and MT is 6th man... the starting 5 makes complete sense for once. big time improvement. Smart doesn't have total control with whos on the roster.

Rotations:
Smarts biggest flaw. LOL!!! Evans coming out for waaaaayyy tooo looong. going small. like the title says. Smart is finding himself. This is the area he needs to improve... I dont think Smart is dumb... hahaha... i expect it to improve. positives from last night. no outlaw starting, no jimmer. so i guess thats baby steps forward. Again the starting line up is just how all of us here wanted it so thats gotta be progress too right?

verdict- slowly getting better. needs to improve how players are rested and lineups during the game.

Play calling:
this needs to flat out improve. still looking for better plays at the end of quarters and inbounds. set plays seem to be bad right now. but this isn't as pressing as rotations because if it comes down to it just give Evans the ball and let him drive. We got a million players that can iso score.

verdict- needs to improve.


OVERALL--- I like Smart . I think hes improved this team. But like the team needs to work some issues out... hes showing improvement from last year. baby steps!!!

Nice overall assessment. Like you, I see his rotation philosophy as being the most problematic. I did like the comment made by Grant (I think) that pointed out the right players were on the court at the end of the game. I've never been hung up on "starter" labels and I'm glad that Smart doesn't seem to be either. I know it's not the popular opinion, but I think "finishers" are what should count.

He's got a tough job and he seems to be handling it with confidence and respect for his players, something I didn't feel with a couple of other coaches since Adelman. We're still a long way from getting back to the playoffs but I get the feeling the players are buying what Smart is selling, and that's a major step in the right direction.

As an aside? I like how MSE is marketing the team thus far this year.
 
I like Smart's emphasis on defense. And they had a very nice defensive game for game 1. But we're going to have to wait and see how they sustain it over the longer term. It's one thing to start the season with that kind of effort; it's quite another to see it 20 games into the season. And then let's see if the offense can get some cohesiveness. If we get even a 10% improvement in offensive performance in the Chicago game we win that game, no problem.
 
I think this team needs games like vs. Chicago that end with a win, when looking back it's obvious you sucked on offense and your defense got you the W.
 
I just hope this organization doesn't allow him to kill Jimmer's early career.
Let it go, man. It's one game in. I'm waiting a week before I pull the pitchfork out from the shed-you should too. There were plenty of good reasons why Jimmer didn't play vs. Chicago, and the logjam in front doesn't help.
 
Let it go, man. It's one game in. I'm waiting a week before I pull the pitchfork out from the shed-you should too. There were plenty of good reasons why Jimmer didn't play vs. Chicago, and the logjam in front doesn't help.

Ya I hear you, I just get frustrated. They definitely showed me something defensively, though...a great sign.
 
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