Pull a Tennessee and let’s get this coaching/GM tandem canned

[Eman5805]

So who do people want to be coach and GM after Demps? Can we start that discussion in earnest, please?

[Mythrol]

You really think Benson makes this decision or did you mean Mickey Loomis?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Benson has final say, yes. Nor do I think Loomis would risk it either.

[billfromfinance]

Unless the team completely fell apart and players hung gentry out, odds would be in Gentrys favour. He has a team option on the final year of his contract doesn't he? So surely season will just play out and fans can continue to stay silent during the winning periods and then facemelt when we drop a few.

[Bricklayer]

DeMarcus--heal thine self! Playing the "right way" would start with you being on the block 90% of our possessions, hustling back on defense instead of jaw boning the refs over the calls you don't get and cutting out the hero-ball turnovers.

That's the system, sorry. Well, except for the jawing with officials, which is Boogie 101.

These are the highlights of Boogie's 55pt beatdown of the Blazers last season with Dave Joerger/Sac. Watch where the catches come. That's the difference between a Dave Joerger system, a coach who knows and has coached great bigs, and a Gentry/Finch "modern NBA" pace and space system.



But as I have mentioned multiple times before, complaining about the Pels OFFENSE...is amateurish I guess I'd call it. It's not my preferred offense, but it's gotten so prolific that it looks, and notice I said "looks" because I do not fully trust it, but it looks right now like one of the most prolific offenses the NBA has seen. It's really gotten spectacular. And Boogie, as one of the truly unique big man talents the league has seen, is right at the heart of it. A 6'11" 270lb guy that you can play like a guard, play inside out, outside in, use him to run big-big pick and rolls with his fellow Tower, etc. Complaining about the Pels offense, or Boogie's offense this year, doesn't show much historical perspective.

Here are the last dozen MVP seasons by big men in the NBA, all the big men MVPs since 1980:

Nowitzi '07 -- 36.2min 24.6pts (.605TS%) 8.9reb 3.4ast 0.7stl 0.8blk
Garnett '04 -- 39.4min 24.2pts (.547TS%) 13.9reb 5.0ast 1.5stl 2.2blk
Duncan '03 -- 39.3min 23.3pts (.564TS%) 12.9reb 3.9ast 0.7stl 2.9blk
Duncan '02 -- 40.6min 25.5pts (.576TS%) 12.7reb 3.7ast 0.7stl 2.5blk
O'Neal '00 --- 40.0min 29.7pts (.578TS%) 13.6reb 3.8ast 0.5stl 3.0blk
KMalone '99 -- 37.4min 23.8pts (.577TS%) 9.4reb 4.1ast 1.3stl 0.6blk
KMalone '97 -- 36.6min 27.4pts (.600TS%) 9.9reb 4.5ast 1.4stl 0.6blk
Robinson '95 - 38.0min 27.6pts (.602TS%) 10.8reb 2.9ast 1.7stl 3.2blk
Olajuwon '94 - 41.0min 27.3pts (.565TS%) 11.9reb 3.6ast 1.6stl 3.7blk
Barkley '93 --- 37.6min 25.6pts (.596TS%) 12.2reb 5.1ast 1.6stl 1.0blk
MMalone '83 -- 37.5min 24.5pts (.578TS%) 15.3reb 1.3ast 1.1stl 2.0blk
MMalone '82 -- 42.0min 31.1pts (.576TS%) 14.7reb 1.8ast 0.9stl 1.5blk

would this performance really look out of place on that list?:

Cousins '17 --- 35.5min 26.2pts (.587TS%) 12.5reb 5.2ast 1.5stl 1.5blk


And that's also why, while this is not the way you run a big man team, and it's not the way I would use Boogie, the "fire Gentry for the sake of the bigs" angle really doesn't hold water after you start to look at it. All Gentry's bigs are doing is putting up MVP caliber numbers (a testament to their modern versatility really -- needless to say this system wouldn't work if it was Moses Malone and Bob Lanier out there). Of all the issues, that isn't one of them.

[pr1840]

would this performance really look out of place on that list?:

Cousins '17 --- 35.5min 26.2pts (.587TS%) 12.5reb 5.2ast 1.5stl 1.5blk

Need to add turnover numbers for each to see why Cousins is probably not on MVP level - not being used as efficiently as he should be.

[Mythrol]

Need to add turnover numbers for each to see why Cousins is probably not on MVP level - not being used as efficiently as he should be.

Have you not seen the last few seasons and who were MVP candidates? Cousins probably fits in even more with current mvps with his high rate. Lol

[PELICANSFAN]

Cousin's defense is very frustrating. Watching McDermott get 3-4 shots with Cousins standing right next to him and not even putting up a hand was infuriating. He does not want to use his energy on the defensive end.

[Mythrol]

Cousin's defense is very frustrating. Watching McDermott get 3-4 shots with Cousins standing right next to him and not even putting up a hand was infuriating. He does not want to use his energy on the defensive end.

AD has had a big issue with this too.

[Bricklayer]

Jazz announcers have been reading my stuff -- spent the second half of the quarter discussing whether Cousins was an MVP candidate, and bringing up historical comparisons.

[AusPel]

Bricklayer? More like Truthlayer amirite

[PELICANSFAN]

AD has had a big issue with this too.

Cousins has made comments before about today's NBA being more about offense than defense and I think his attitude is wearing off on AD. Not sure Cousins has been a positive influence.

[Pelicanidae]

Cousins has made comments before about today's NBA being more about offense than defense and I think his attitude is wearing off on AD. Not sure Cousins has been a positive influence.

I'm not entirely sure about that. Obviously AD has been responsible for some boneheaded defensive plays this season, there's no doubt about that.

But has his defense overall actually declined that much? He's on pace for more defensive win shares than last season. His defensive rating on the season is 104.6, which is of course not great but also far from disastrous. He's averaging the second best block/foul ratio of his career. In fact, Steve Shea (one of the pioneers of NBA analytics) has a new defensive metric which has AD as the second best defender in the league:

Perimeter, interior and total defensive ratings are back. Currently, Draymond is on top. https://t.co/1cZxvKE8zP pic.twitter.com/ulEymubo4g

— Steve Shea (@SteveShea33) January 1, 2018

The issue to me is his consistency. In the fourth quarter of the Knicks loss, his defensive rating was an astronomically poor 134.4. Yet, the two previous fourth quarters had a defensive rating of 88. Which is awesome. I'm too lazy to check and see if there's other common factors in place surrounding his poor performances, or certain lineups that unlock his defensive prowess, but hopefully the coaches are less lazy than I am and they can figure out how to produce that consistency.