I am starting to believe coaching is a major issue

[MoonKnight]

Let's compare last year to this year. Last year we lost games due to injuries and lack of talent. We never lost games last year for lack of hustle or heart. This year we clearly are a very talented teams and have played with little injuries. It appears to me that we are losing with a lack of intensity and heart. It is not the losses that are bothering me at this point in the season but the manner in which we are losing that is bothering me. At some point in the game the team is challenged and then the Hawks throw in the towel. They appear unwilling to match intensity with the other team. What can cause a lack of desire and intensity? Either the players are tuning out Lon or he is unable to motivate the team anymore or something has changed among the players that has caused them to lose intensity. Is Big Dawg that bad of a chemistry killer? Is Theo a chemistry killer? I don't see enough evidence to point to the new additions as the culprit. However I do notice that these intensity lapses occur after timeouts or after halftime or change in a quarter. These lapses also occur after we recieve a stiff momentum challenge. So IMO, the cause points to coaching, especially how the patterns occur consistantly. If this pattern continues through this month, I will be sold that we need a coaching change. If so, we cannot affort to wait too long. We still have time to make the playoffs if the team is properly motivated. Thoughts?

[Iman]

It's funny, we looked better the first part of this season than we have lately. My take on it is that we were coming around then a few pathetic losses (starting with folding against Boston) killed our confidence and we just cant get back going. Whenever we play well for a portion of a game, we still lack confidence that we can sustain. Next thing you know the other team gets momentum and we fold!!

I dont think it's a hustle thing, I think we have just lost our confidence. With some good coaching we'll turn around our turnover problem. We'll stop some of our other in game mental breakdowns and next thing you know we'll win a few and get our confidence. Really I thinks it's just a matter of us coming together as a team.

Unfortunately I'm not sure the mentality of some of our players in combination with our coaching is gonna work. Even if we do right the ship and slide into the playoffs under Kruger I still think we will be underachieving. I'd like to think that if we lose a few more "should win" games that management will step in and shake things up with a coaching change. I think that would be best for us in the long run. However I agree with Jaywalker's comments, Kruger is probably here for the year.

Looking at our schedule, I can almost see us losing another 5 or 6 in a row, especially if we dont beat Washington. I wonder if a 9 game losing streak with 4 near all-star level starters would be enough for us to make a coaching change?