Probably already been discussed else where, but Fox's face, talking, and hair give up his attitude. Last year he was a chatterbox with smile and giggles all the time. This year there is nary a smile and he rarely talks up his team mates or opponents.
His short hair goes along with this change. No longer the brash youngster twirling his locks, he has become the sour vet. Something serious is up with him as if he has lost the joy in the game. Of course, losing night after night despite his efforts might do that to anyone.
Wow this is the biggest of reaches I've seen on here. "twirling his locks" what the heck? "giggles all the time?" "nary a smile?" For a min I thought I was reading little women.
All creditability is lost if a hair cut is part of your argument. BTW Fox was smiling plenty for 7/8 games when they were rolling over teams. While it may seem like a long time ago. Its only been about a week. Have you ever heard of this guy Michael Jordan? Well here's a little story about this Jordan guy. He wasn't smiling that much during his first 7 years while he was getting his head kicked in. I don't think he smiled that much in general btw cause he was always trying to kill people himself. It took Jordan 7 years to win his first title. Side note Fox isn't Jordan. Jordan was also 28 when he won his first title. Fox is 23!!!!!! Also the first time Jordan made the playoffs the teams record was 38-44. The second time was 30-52!!! So keep in mind we play in the West and its a death march right now. Its not as easy a path as it was for Jordan in the beginning.
Theres nothing serious going on with Fox right now. Its a fact that he just sat out a game hurt. I'm pretty confident hes not 100% right now, but.... because WE ALL KNOW and he does too. That if he sits we have no chance. So he's playing anyway. Also if Holmes sits we're pretty screwed also. We don't have the talent to have key players injured or out. We got lucky for most of the year avoiding injuries. It sucks that its basically hitting everyone now at the same time.
This team wasn't a serious playoff team right now in the west.
Things to consider or things that matter are:
#1 Fox takes that next Superstar step. I think he proved that before he hurt himself literally doing everything for 8 games.
#2 Bagley stays alive and also takes that next step. Look if you told me he was gonna stay healthy and shoot 39% from 3 this year I'd consider that a huge victory. We know he can rebound and without question hes improving defensively. What else can you ask for? Hes on the right path.
#3 find more talent. AKA the draft. Tyrese is a stud. Potentially a star himself in a few years (kinda one right now).
#4 this team doesn't have a SF still. THATS A PROBLEM. Barnes truly is best (when healthy) at the 4. This team needs better wings. Maybe Woodard in the future? but right now its a major weakness.
Anyway this all is making Monty's job easier and his direction clear. I'd wait till the trade deadline before I start making judgments about things being all doom and gloom. We have a legit Front office for the first time basically ever. The trade they made that was shot down was encouraging as far as talent for us. It wasn't our fault it failed. Its also not his fault Giles and Bogdan were lost.
Ok so to come full circle. I think Fox's locks or nary a smile aren't the problem. I thinks hes fine. For the first time in forever I have faith that the people in charge are competent. The problem is talent around Fox and its gonna take a min to sort out and fix.