Uh-oh... Official 2019/20 Chicken Little thread
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After listening to Christie's analysis today I called up their show and underscored and articulated some of the points Christie made.
First, the Kings are in a transition from a team that runs and guns and jacks up shots to a team that actually knows how to play the game - screen, cut, pass, etc. Transitions tend to be painful. Undoubtedly, there are some Kings who are looking at last year's "success" and rebelling against the process of learning how to play basketball. They probably think they had success and all the have to do is more of the same. The problem with this line of thinking is that they won't be able to have sustainable playoff basketball success until they learn how to play basketball. Christie agreed with this point and said that's why so many players change teams - they rebel against learning how to play the game, thinking they already know. I said the Kings are just going to have to suck it up during this transition period and learn how to play the game. Christie, agreed and said, "No pain, no gain."
First, the Kings are in a transition from a team that runs and guns and jacks up shots to a team that actually knows how to play the game - screen, cut, pass, etc. Transitions tend to be painful. Undoubtedly, there are some Kings who are looking at last year's "success" and rebelling against the process of learning how to play basketball. They probably think they had success and all the have to do is more of the same. The problem with this line of thinking is that they won't be able to have sustainable playoff basketball success until they learn how to play basketball. Christie agreed with this point and said that's why so many players change teams - they rebel against learning how to play the game, thinking they already know. I said the Kings are just going to have to suck it up during this transition period and learn how to play the game. Christie, agreed and said, "No pain, no gain."
My feeling is that he can do it. But I doubt it's going to be easy or in a few games. It's going to require a lot of determination by players, coaches and management to transition from the "hooper" running and gunning team (Christie's word) to a running team that also knows how to play the game of basketball.
Where did you get this thought process from? There is zero evidence Walton has ever been a teacher of X's and O's. Whether or not we thought it was the best system, Joerger had a track record of playing in a strict system and tweaking that system based on his players. Magic complained that Walton had no system. Saying that the Kings are transitioning from a free for all system to a real X's and O's type system is nothing but a fantasy. If anything it's the complete opposite.
I wouldn't say that Walton has no system, but the system he has is actually a lot less structured than Dave Joerger's. It appears he wants the players to read the defense and react rather than following a prescribed series of cuts to set up looks in specific spots. The offense looking like a bunch of one-on-one in the first 3 games comes down to the lack of natural playmaking across the roster. A similar ethos (the system itself is very different but both place an emphasis on player reads) worked to perfection when executed by guys like Vlade, CWebb, Peja, Mike, and Doug but therein lies the problem. We ran all game last season because that was the game plan. And while it might be true that the half-court offense was not yet very nuanced, it was undoubtedly tailored for the personnel on the roster. It's possible it's just going to take awhile to get the mental requirements of this scheme up to game speed, but from what I've seen so far this season and the previous 2 seasons (when we got our first look at Fox and Buddy on the floor together)... I have a hard time seeing Luke's read-and-react offense ever working with these players. Maybe if Giles gets back on the floor and Bagley gets his long-range jumper dialed in and Barnes commits to staying outside the 3pt arc. All of that could realistically happen but we still need to see a complete 180 on players moving the ball instead of hunting their own shot.
The thing that bothers me about what happened this summer is that it wasn't about basketball. Dave Joerger was fired because he wasn't getting along with the front office (and, presumably, Marvin Bagley?) I get that. There's no question Coach Joerger knows basketball though. So as a front office that's lacking in actual management experience and (so we're told) striving to be better, they probably would have been better served sticking with the coach they had and resolving those differences instead of offering the job to someone else without an interview or any kind of coaching search. Now we know that we have a GM and coach who are on the same page (for now) but what if it's the wrong page? What if the issues that drove Joerger out remain unresolved? Dave Joerger was Vlade's hire 3 years ago, after all. It's a little shocking how quickly he gave up on him despite the on-court performance moving in the right direction. While I was initially excited to see guys like Bobby Jackson and Peja returning to the organization, it's starting to look a little like Vlade has just assembled a group of friends to run the team and anyone who disagrees with them gets the boot. We start winning again and none of this matters. It's a little worrying though when we're on everyone's list as a borderline playoff team on the rise and instead look like the worst team in the league. Get this fixed or everyone's going to be answering a lot of uncomfortable questions.
The thing that bothers me about what happened this summer is that it wasn't about basketball. Dave Joerger was fired because he wasn't getting along with the front office (and, presumably, Marvin Bagley?) I get that. There's no question Coach Joerger knows basketball though. So as a front office that's lacking in actual management experience and (so we're told) striving to be better, they probably would have been better served sticking with the coach they had and resolving those differences instead of offering the job to someone else without an interview or any kind of coaching search. Now we know that we have a GM and coach who are on the same page (for now) but what if it's the wrong page? What if the issues that drove Joerger out remain unresolved? Dave Joerger was Vlade's hire 3 years ago, after all. It's a little shocking how quickly he gave up on him despite the on-court performance moving in the right direction. While I was initially excited to see guys like Bobby Jackson and Peja returning to the organization, it's starting to look a little like Vlade has just assembled a group of friends to run the team and anyone who disagrees with them gets the boot. We start winning again and none of this matters. It's a little worrying though when we're on everyone's list as a borderline playoff team on the rise and instead look like the worst team in the league. Get this fixed or everyone's going to be answering a lot of uncomfortable questions.
But likewise the coaches are going to have to learn the players because Vlade has gone out of his way to sign somewhat one dimensional vets and you can't teach old dogs new tricks. Heck, hate to say it but even some of the "young" players are literally on the front doorstep of their prime. They need to know their personnel. Clearly they don't know Dedmon yet.
