This Team Is Learning How To Lose

[venom_7]

I'm all for not winning in terms of protecting a logical rebuild plan and developing our young players.

But this, this is ridiculous.
Our young guys are learning how to lose in the NBA.

Game after game, you see them struggle to a close finish, playing their hearts out, only to absolutely collapse down the stretch. I am a Reggie fan, but a lot of this has to go on the coach.

We saw this a lot last year, and we blamed it on a lack of leadership.
I do not think leadership is necessarily the issue here, at least from a player-player perspective; coaching composure is the culprit.

While it's great we are solidifying our draft pick, it comes at the expense of a winning mentality that needs to be instilled in our young guys.

I'd like to see us pull these tough ones out just for the sake of establishing the fact that they can win.

It's not about having a go-to guy.
Its about not needing a go-to guy.

 

[SacTownKid]

Uh, I saw young players watching the VETS teaching them how to lose.

If them losing these types of games affects them all that severely we have much bigger problems on our hands. These guys have egos. The ones that make it in the NBA have unshakable egos.

 

[Kev.in]

The young guys are learning what it feels like to lose. Thompson, Hawes, Greene and Brown aren't the ones shooting airballs, fumbling the ball out of bounds, getting T'd up in OT, missing free throws with less than minute left, etc.

These are the types of failures that will make our young guys hungry to get better. Thompson, Greene and Brown aren't even really on the floor in crunch time so they have something to prove. Hawes is there but he's not really seeing the ball in position to score at the ends of games. Mostly he's just staying out of the way of Udrih, Salmons and Miller.

We'll see whether they're winners or not in a few years when the team is "theirs" and Kevin Martin is in the lineup, plus a few more draft picks and a free agent signing or two.

 

[6th]

The young guys are learning what it feels like to lose. Thompson, Hawes, Greene and Brown aren't the ones shooting airballs, fumbling the ball out of bounds, getting T'd up in OT, missing free throws with less than minute left, etc.

These are the types of failures that will make our young guys hungry to get better. Thompson, Greene and Brown aren't even really on the floor in crunch time so they have something to prove. Hawes is there but he's not really seeing the ball in position to score at the ends of games. Mostly he's just staying out of the way of Udrih, Salmons and Miller.

We'll see whether they're winners or not in a few years when the team is "theirs" and Kevin Martin is in the lineup, plus a few more draft picks and a free agent signing or two.

Excellent post and one I agree with.

Sounds like the best of both worlds to me. I am watching exciting, entertaining basketball and those who want a good draft pick are happy with the exciting basketball that still results in a loss.

While I want to win, it's the game itself that we still have a chance to win at the end that makes me happy. I may be disappointed that we did not pull it out, but I am no longer angry about it.

 

[JoMama]

The young guys are learning what it feels like to lose. Thompson, Hawes, Greene and Brown aren't the ones shooting airballs, fumbling the ball out of bounds, getting T'd up in OT, missing free throws with less than minute left, etc.

These are the types of failures that will make our young guys hungry to get better. Thompson, Greene and Brown aren't even really on the floor in crunch time so they have something to prove. Hawes is there but he's not really seeing the ball in position to score at the ends of games. Mostly he's just staying out of the way of Udrih, Salmons and Miller.

We'll see whether they're winners or not in a few years when the team is "theirs" and Kevin Martin is in the lineup, plus a few more draft picks and a free agent signing or two.

Good take. Maybe it's time the young guys were on the floor in crunch time. They can shoot the airball and turn it over in traffic as well as these fumbling vets.

 

[fnordius]

You can lose without developing a culture of losing, or Garnett would be Olowokandi II by now, and Gasol would be a liability to the Lakers. Or look at Atlanta, suddenly playing at the same level as Detroit (.643). Whatever culture of losing they had, must have been very weak, despite many years of extreme suckage.

You don't become the Clippers in a year or two -- exceedingly few teams ever manage to become the Clippers at all. And if there's a time to lose, it's when you're a rookie, isn't it?

So I'm comfortable with how this season's going. It's to be expected when rebuilding, and most teams do it on their way up.