dlpin

Quote: Deep bench? Going into this season the there were exactly 2 things that people said would hold Boston back even after the trades....Defense and Bench. Those bench players weren't supposed to be worth a damn, and neither was the teams defense. Guess what makes average players good and offensive minded guys play defense? That's right...Coaching. Jesus, I've been agreeing with Diesel entirely too much lately. At first the bench might not have been deep, but with Posey, House, Cassel and Brown taking discounts to play for a contender, and the emergence of Bug Baby and Posey as serviceable back up big men, that's changed. As for defense, Tom Thibodeau was the assistant coach in those 90s knicks teams, and those rockets teams of recent memory, when they were top 5 in defense in the league for his entire tenure. If he was able to get a top 5 defense team in Houston with a line up of Bob Sura, David Wesley, McGrady and others, of course he would succeed with Garnett, Rondo, Pierce and others. Not that Doc is completely without merit, he did an ok job during the regular season setting a rotation (not entirely, though, as that was caused more by the blowouts... he still sucked in close games) and he's been amazing at getting everyone to buy into this (Pierce and Allen happy shooting much, much less, Cassel happy in the bench, House and Posey happy as back ups).

Quote: You mean like the best record in the NBA? You think Phil could do better than the best? You guys put waaayyy to much emphasis on 12 or so games against 2, thats right, 2 oponents. For the record, I'd let Woody go for Doc without hesitation. Im a celtics fan, so I would love to exaggerate the meaning of top record in the regular season. But the fact is, regular season coaching doesnt require much, especially with a group of veteran all stars. Look at what doc has done in the previous 2 seasons with a similar set up of the hawks. And dont forget the Tom Thibodeau signing: in his 14 years as assistant, his teams have always been in the top 10 defensively. It's the playoffs when coaching really matters, and you can see whats going on... But let me add this, so that I dont sound like a hater: Doc is the quintessential players coach, and he knows how to handle veterans better than most coaches. From his first season in Orlando to the transition to this year's team, he's been wonderful at getting veteran players to care about the game and put their egos aside. With all the adversity these playoffs, with all the changes in rotation, you dont hear a single peep of discontentment. Which makes him a better than average coach for the Nuggets, Mavs and wizards, but not the hawks...

Actually, I would say he is average AT BEST. Im a celtics fan, and I honestly cant stand the guy. Bill Simmons often writes a lot of nonsense, but read his latest piece on Doc, which most Cs fan believe was for the most part accurate. You know how people constantly talk about Tracy McGrady never winning a playoff series? A good chunk of those losses came with Doc. He's been in Boston for 4 years, and missed the playoffs most of the time, despite having Pierce and other good role players. In 05, we got bounced by a 6th seed indiana team which trounced us at home by 27 points! Game 4 against atlanta and cleveland have been some of the worst coached games Ive ever seen. It doesnt matter if he won 66 games in the regular season if he does something completely different in the playoffs. Everything you guys complain about woodson is similar to doc. You guys complain that he benchers Acie as soon as he misses a shot? That is exactly what he did with Rondo last year. You guys complain that he throws out weird rotations in games that matter? Same with him. Heck, they even have almost identical quotes saying something along the lines of "Im a defense guy, our offense will take care of itself."

refs in the NBA, and especially in these playoffs, have become a joke. Pick any series and the amount of free throws a team gets at home and away are completely different. While that might have always been the case, this time around things have gone too far. Lakers shot 27 more free throws than utah in game 2 at home, and in game 4 it shot 20 fewer fts. Spurs shot 8 more fts at home during game 4, and 15 fewer on the road at game 5. We're talking about a 20 to 30FT differential swing between home and away. And all of this not to mention the "star treatment" that Lebron, Kobe, KG and others get. With Lebron and Kobe its even more blatant. They travel and charge as they please without consequences... And the thing is, everyone can see this clear as day. Heck, its pathetic the lengths that TNT and ESPN have to go through to avoid showing the replays of certain controversial calls. Meanwhile, after all of this and after the Donaghy scandal last year, Stern is concerned about pyrotechnics before the game...

Quote: It would be absurd to fire Woody for Avery Johnson. Avery Johnson has not proven he can develop young talent. He was with a talent laden veteran team in Dallas. One that was outcoached in the post-season I might add. It depends on what you call "proven." He simply hasnt had that many young players under his command. But the ones he did have have turned out better than expected so far. Devin Harris, and, more importantly, Josh Howard and Brandon Brass, have developed nicely.

Quote: So there is a coach that can't get his young star player to take the ball to the hole and stop shooting long jumpers? Mike Brown should be fired immediately! Its not so much "can't get" as it is "explicitly designs plays where that is the only option because the player he picks to set the screen is useless offensively and everyone else was just asked to stand around and do nothing." You have to admit that that may not be the worst in the league, but is certainly the worst remaining in the playoffs. When you keep calling the same play for 2 entire games and it never works, there is something wrong with you. Guys like Josh Smith taking reckless 3 pointers is a lack of discipline, and dont get me wrong, that is bad coaching as well. But Cleveland running the same play over and over, and running the same play from the exact same spot, is just outright stupidity. Cavs offensive game plan is basically: Z, Wally Z, and Gibson stand around and dont move an inch. Ben Wallace or Varejao set a halfassed pick where they are already moving and avoiding contact before Lebron is in the other side. As long as pierce or posey stand in front of him, and garnett denies him the paint, the cavs wont score more than 75 this whole series.

Philly only has 34 million in salaries committed to next season: http://hoopshype.com/salaries/philadelphia.htm Which means that they could offer a max deal to someone. Now, considering they have to resign Andre Iguodala and Andre Miller, and only have 9 players under contract for next season, I doubt they would use a max deal on Smith (Billy King is not there anymore). In any case, isnt Smith too young and inexperienced (only 1 head coach for his career) to be called uncoachable?

well, its hard not to settle for jumpers in that situation. The celtics are basically lining up to keep him out of the paint, and leaving him by himself to shoot. And holy cow, I thought Doc Rivers was bad, but Mike Brown takes the prize as the worst coach still in the playoffs. Lebron gets the ball in the exact same spot every play, with Varejao setting the screen without any commitment whatsoever. Its almost like Varejao is shying from contact. And never mind that it doesnt really make sense to have Varejao and Ben Wallace doing the picks... That allows Boston to double LJ without leaving any of the 3 point shooters open. I am a celtics fan, but I am realistic. I don't think Boston will win it all this year. Not because of talent on the court, which I think we still have the best. But because of coaching. Doc has shown time and time again that he has no idea of how to make adjustments in the middle of a game. We can come out of the east because all coaches left in the east are very, very weak. But any of the 4 left in the west (Popovich, Sloan, Scott, Jackson) are far superior to Doc, and will adjust their game plans in the middle of the game, while Doc will insist on doing nothing (like when the cavs went on an 11-0 run in the first game and Boston was scoreless for 6 minutes, and he didnt even call a timeout)

If Lebron does not develop a consistent jumpshot, he will never have success in this league. The spurs found the key last year, and the celtics are using it, and if defenses dont start respecting his jumper, all good teams will keep closing the lane and giving him the open J. I may be overly optimistic, as I am a Celtics fan, but the only way the celtics blow this is if Lebron goes on a serious hot streak from afar. And I mean hot, not his usual self. Just as an example, his effective FG% (efg%) from jumpshots is below 40%. http://www.82games.com/0708/07CLE13A.HTM

Hello, all. Im a Celtics fan who has lived in GA for 7 years, and as such grew fond of the hawks. Ive lurked this forum for a while, but this Billy King situation made me want to register. And I am sorry, but Billy King is absolutely the worst GM the hawks could get. Besides the well known bad contracts, he is simply impatient, trading away young players and draft picks for overpriced veterans. 10 years in Philly got him one finals appearance, and that was it. The guy had to rebuild several times. Additionally, in his 10 years there, he had 5 different headcoaches. When you consider Brown was there for 5 of those years, hes had 4 coaches the past 5 years... Of course, you dont need to believe me. Heck, considering this is my first post here I expect that much. But just check this out: http://hoopshype.com/general_managers/billy_king.htm He's been GM since 98. I wont go into the aforementioned bad contracts, but look at the highlights: 1998- passed on Paul Pierce and Nowitzki to select Larry Hughes for a team that already had Iverson and Stackhouse As a lottery team, traded away a future 1st rounder for a player drafted 29th (Nazr) traded another 1st rounder for Mirsad Turkcan (who?), and then a few months later traded Mirsad Turkcan for a Milwaukee (then a playoff team) for their first round. 1999- -traded a first rounder for Jumaine Jones - traded Hughes into his 2nd season with the team, plus Bowen, for a 31 year old Kukoc. 2000- -traded McLeod and a 1st round pick to the Celtics for Jerome Moiso, who averaged less than 2ppg in his rookie season, and was DNP-coachs decision for most of it. Then, less than 2 months later, traded Moiso away. - let Todd MacCulloch walk, only to trade for him later 2003- traded, among other things, a 1st round pick for Glenn Robinson All in all, he traded away many of his 1st round picks, only to reacquire other 1st round picks from better teams, of the 1st round picks he did keep, he most often traded the players within 2 years for older players. With such potential for the hawks, and such an impatient GM as King at the helm, Id be scared...