Originally Posted by
Pelicanidae
No, you're in the really strange part where you refuse to listen.
Nobody has said that the players alone are responsible for every bad habit that the team is in. I've already acknowledged and agreed that habits are obviously established through practice. Nobody is questioning that. Literally no-one has said to you that there is zero blame to be put on Gentry.
The argument is that while Gentry does have an element of responsibility, at the end of the day the actual execution of plays rests upon the players. When we were winning, we weren't turning it over. That was under the same coach, the same assistant coaches, the same training staff, the same system, and the same plays that we are running now. The difference is in the decisions that are being made on court, because literally every single off court member of personnel is still there.
It may well be the case that the system we play is sub-optimal for our on court personnel; I wouldn't disagree that this is very probably the case. It may be that our coach is not a great coach; I'd agree with that totally. It may be that the way our team is coached and instructed during practice is not the best possible way to give good habits and low turnovers. All of this is true.
None of that changes the fact that Gentry has nothing, literally nothing to do with when Jrue throws a pass so high that Manute Bol would struggle to reach it, or when Anthony Davis dribbles the ball off his own knee. Those instances are the result of players failing to execute. It might be that the play they're being told to execute is one which is entirely beyond them, in which case yes, it's Gentry's fault and he should be running different plays. But the fact that they are messing up things we have repeatedly seen them do before successfully is on them.
Again, comparing anyone to the Spurs is a terrible comparison because Pop is one of the best coaches of all time, and has had much the same in the way of staff and assistants for years. He's had two of his core players on his team for over a decade, and has had multiple years with several of the others.
Coming into this season we had:
Rondo - New
Clark - New
Boogie - Essentially New
And through the course of this season, we've added:
Okafor
Mirotic
Liggins
Solo returning from injury.
That's literally half our team. Half of our team has either been a completely new addition, or an addition that came halfway through the season.
Finch is also new, and he's supposed to be our offensive co-ordinator.
And guess what? Despite all of that stuff which is completely in the Spurs favour, and completely against us, we're still only 2 games behind the Spurs. So I'm willing to assume that the recent rash of bad play isn't a complete burial of the coach, but probably more of a reflection of the growing pressure towards the end of the season, the injury that our star player is going through, the struggle of re-incorporating Hill, two games without Rondo, and Mirotic still not finding his shot with us consistently. It just so happens that those things are issues with the players, not the coach.
You've got me of all people defending Gentry. I've called for him to be fired about thirty times this season, and even I think that you blaming our turnovers and stuff on him is a little out there.