. |
I have no idea what your fascination with Alvin Gentry is, but at the point you have convinced yourself that you'd rather have Alvin Gentry than DeMarcus Cousins, you've got some serious issues. Gentry is nobody. He's a passive personality. An energy sap to all of his teams. He's borderline competent, but he has never driven a single team to anything. And that is coaching. Getting + value where there is none.
And Cousins was the only guy who came to play tonight, so it's even more nonsense.
P.S. And I eviscerated that Sacto B.S. argument on any number of occasions over there. I'm not going to let it even fester here. It's B.S. Complete B.S. The only reason Sacramento broke 20 wins for half a decade was because of Cousins. They won at a 17 win pace when he wasn't healthy. Cousins BTW is 7th in the entire NBA in RPM this season. That is to say, the 7th most impactful player in the league. But yeah, it's him.
And you have a fascination with Cousins to the point you will defend no matter what.
I'm not defending Gentry, but I've always believed players have the bigger impact. This team continues to lack focus and effort. That is not on Gentry. Everyone has said they need to come out with energy, and every game they do not.
No 7 footer in NBA history has ever been asked to play at this pace! I lean to forgiving Cousins for being exhausted than to forgiving the coach who asks him to play like Paul George.
It's that the Hornets unashamedly quit so quickly in Game 4 after fans in New Orleans showed up this season with greater regularity than the team could have ever dreamed, shaming misinformed know-it-alls like me who kept telling you that local residents couldn't possibly invest their time and money into something as trivial as rooting for the local basketball team while still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. - Mark Stien ESPN
alright, I see you are going to insist, so let's go ahead and do this.
Pelicans defensive stats (note Red = "THE PROBLEM") :
Defensive Win Shares
1) Cousins 2.1
2) Davis 1.5
3) Holiday 0.9
4) Cunningham 0.5
5-7) 3 guys tied at 0.4
Defensive Box Plus/Minus
1) Cousins 3.1
2) Davis 1.5
3) Cunningham -0.5
4) Holiday -0.7
5) Moore -1.2
Defensive Rating
1) Cousins 103
2) Davis 106
3-6) Allen/Rondo/Holiday/Diallo 111
Defensive Rebounding %
1) Cousins 31.8%
2) Asik 27.8%
3) Diallo 25.7%
4) Davis 24.3%
5) Jones 17.1%
Steal %
1) Cooke 2.7%
2) Cousins 2.1%
3) Allen 1.9%
4) Rondo 1.7%
5) Holiday 1.7%
Block %
1) Davis 4.9%
2) Cousins 3.5%
3) Crawford 2.2%
4) Holiday 1.2%
5) Cunningham 1.1%
Has anyone got the keys to the tank, I think it's time to take it out for a spin.
If you Jimmer it, they will come.
Not wanting to fire Gentry mid-season because I don't think we have the coaches on the staff to hold things together doesn't mean I'm defending Gentry.
If we fired Gentry and Dell this summer, I'd be totally fine with it. I don't think either has done enough to keep their job.
But we have the best center and the best power forward in the league, and the team can't get it up while fighting for a playoff spot against the 4th spot team when we had them on the 2nd night of a back to back. If anyone thinks just replacing Gentry will fix our problems, it won't. This goes much deeper. Until the players decide for themselves that they are going to give it their all every game then it won't matter who the head coach is.
And hey, let's followup by going over to NBA.com's hustle board, and see how Cousins does there:
Deflections Per Game
1) Holiday 3.0
2) Cousins 2.4 (#33 in NBA, LeBron averages 2.5)
3) Rondo 2.0
4) Davis 1.9
5) Moore 1.8
Loose Balls Recovered Per Game
1) Cousins 1.4 (#8 in NBA)
2) Rondo 1.3
3t) Holiday 1.2
3t) Davis 1.2
3t) Moore 1.2
Charges Drawn
1) Cousins 19 (#2 in NBA)
2) Davis 8
3) Nelson 4
4t) Cunningham 1
4t) Rondo 1
Shots Contested per Game
1) Davis 13.1 (#2 in NBA)
2) Cousins 12.7 (#6 in NBA)
3) Holiday 8.2
4) Cunningham 6.8
5) Miller 6.0
-- and BTW the fact that Boogie and Brow are #2 and #6 in the NBA in shots defended should help to underline the REAL problems with the defense, which is that the little guys can't stay in front of anyone at all and never met a pick they couldn't get caught on, forcing the bigs to constantly help almost every single play. Aside from the unpredictable burst from Jrue where he gets up into somebody, there are only 2 players on the Pels who have to make virtually any stop that is going to be made.
So again. Outside of leading the team in virtually every advanced defensive stat, being all over the top of the NBA's hustle board stats, no doubt it is DeMarcus Cousins, by Real Plus/Minus the 7th most impactful player in the NBA, who is somehow causing all of his teammates to refuse to guard their men. He's a tricky guy that one. See him out there yelling at Rondo to leave his man wide open, tugging E'Twaun out of the way of his opponent, pinning Dante's arms to his side, shoving Darius into people. I'm pretty sure he dopes Jrue's water at the beginning of games too and stunted Jameer;'s growth as a child with a nasty witch's brew.
Last edited by Bricklayer; 01-06-2018 at 10:54 PM.
We were really just one or two plays away. Just unlucky. 9/10 we could do the exact same and only get slightly blown out.
Good positive energy.
But also, yo mama's fat.
I hope Cousins has you on retainer because you love defending him more than a paid lawyer.
Who does Cousins think is to blame for their bad starts and lack of energy on both sides of the ball. Here's a quote from Cousins himself:
“It’s just about us coming out being ready to play,” DeMarcus Cousins said. “That’s on us as players. That’s our jobs, to come in every night ready. There’s really no excuse not to.”
So sure, go ahead and pretend it's all on coaching if you want but even your beloved Cousins doesn't buy that trash.
Boogie gives up on a play pic.twitter.com/ltBDj12Scs
— The Render (@TheRenderNBA) January 7, 2018
Maybe in college, but this is the Pros. Not only that but this is something like the 3rd oldest team in the entire NBA. This isn't a team that should need to be sha-sha'ed every night so they can play good. These are some of the best players in the world and they can't get it up with 3 days rest while fighting for a playoff spot without someone giving them a high school pep talk before every game? Get out of here with that.
At some point we have to just acknowledge we are asking players to do the impossible.
No amount of coaching is going to turn Moore into a different player that isn't going to get taken to task when he is trying to guard Wiggins and getting switched onto Butler.
Our starting lineup had only one path to success and that is straight up outscoring the other team. Because Rondo and Moore are not even average perimeter defenders, and the back court trio is not fundamentally sound at protecting the boards. And like we have seen time and again, the Wolves ended up with 4 offensive rebounds in the first quarter and out-rebounded the team by 6. Wiggins and Butler combined for almost half of their first quarter points on 50% shooting. Add Jrue turning it over three times and you have the ingredients for a really ugly start.
The bench is not any better. Miller gives you better size but he isn't fundamentally sound and gets no breaks from the refs(he gets at least1-2 fouls a game he absolutely shouldnt be getting). Nelson can't guard anyone at his age and size. Cunningham has been an enigma after his solid output last season.
Kings did us an unexpected favour by beating the Thuggets
1) I don't have to defend him. The numbers all defend him. All I have to do is know what the numbers say.
2) Despite his reputation, aside from George Karl, who was a well known **** who alienated every HOF player he ever coached except Gary Payton (probably because of a certain similarity in being ****s) and who created the feud when he went sliming around during the summer and tried to get Cousins traded not only behind Boogie's back, but even behind the front office's at the time, DeMarcus Cousins loyalty creed has extended to his coaches as well. Michael Malone wasn't only his coach, he was his friend, and he in no way shape or form wanted him fired. He asked the front office not to fire Ty Corbin despite the disaster of his short post-Malone reign. He liked Dave Joerger, but of course Sac couldn't have that either. He still goes over to Calipari's for dinner when he passes through Kentucky. He apparently likes Alvin Gentry as a person so no he's not going to point those fingers at the coaches.
Last edited by Bricklayer; 01-06-2018 at 11:28 PM.
I think it's become pretty clear how big of a factor the Solomon Hill injury has had on this team. Even to a lesser extent the Tony Allen injury. We just don't have a guy on the team who can shut down bigger wings.
That does not excuse the complete lack of energy and effort to start games though. These players come out sleep walking as soon as the buzzer sounds.
https://www.theringer.com/platform/a...-anthony-davis
“Cousins is the common denominator in a long line of bad defenses”
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)