The Indy Talks To Himself (NBA) Thread.

I mean honestly. I guess Mark Jackson must have really pissed him off.

 

Uh oh

 

Steve Kerr hadn’t lost a Western Conference playoff series until this year. He’s probably a pretty good coach, regardless of players.

Again, if you watch the games, you see it. Giannis going nuclear has nothing to do with coaching. That’s what won them the title. There are coaching decisions that affect outcomes, and Bud hasn’t been great at those decisions.

 

The coach might as well head to the locker room at the 5 minute mark then, I suppose. Not like they’re needed down the stretch!

 

NBA Draft = rigged

 

This Lakers/Nuggets series looks like it's going to be a blast. Having Rui guard Jokic should allow AD to rim protect better and should also keep Jokic off the glass and limit second chance points. Both teams seemed to shoot better than normal, though I feel a bit better about the Lakers continuing to hit open looks than I do the Nuggets continuing to hit their super highly contested looks at the shot clock buzzer.

If LeBron can play like last night for the entire series, Lakers probably win it. Just don't know if that's possible.

 

Seems Spoelstra agrees with me. Does he know what he’s talking about or no?

 

Is this a serious post? What is he supposed to say? “Yeah, all those guys who had the same job as me deserved to be fired?”

 

It’s 2023, and Kevin Love is starting for the team currently winning game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Wild.

 

You saying he’s lying?
Spoelstra and I agree. You disagree. I’m good with that.

 

I’m saying there’s nothing else he can or would ever say about it, as a head coach in the NBA. Honestly can’t believe you think it supports your stance.

 

Guess the Lakers should have stuck with Vogel too.

 

So you believe Spoelstra thinks the firings were warranted. Gotcha. Agree to disagree.

 

He should’ve done a Rick Pitino vote of confidence in Wade Houston style quote

 

I believe it's nonsensical to put any stock whatsoever into what one NBA coach says, publicly, to reporters, about the firings of other NBA coaches.

If Spoelstra was texting you privately saying the same thing, then you'd have a point. But he's not, and you don't.

Are you going to whine and cry if Miami beats the Celtics, and the Celtics fire Joe Mazzulla despite making the conference finals in his first year as a head coach? Because those of us who keep up with the league and watch the games won't be surprised. We will point to his lack of adjustments negatively impacting his team in the playoffs in general, and how his focus on analytics (3's and layups) has turned Tatum into a 2 dimensional scorer who can't dominate matchups in the same way that a 3 level scorer like Jimmy Butler can (see last night).

 

Whine and cry…lol. I’m glad “those of you who can see it..” are good.
Tatum is a top player in the world, as is Butler, and you are blaming a first year HC on his lack of development because he won’t shoot midrange.
I sure do hope Celtics coach does a better job of calling plays for tatum and Brown, since I see them looking over at him on every possession and are yelled at during possession to identify isos with his help after high picks and switches…
And if he wins, your brilliance will point out they won despite him. So 2 of the last 3 champs will have won despite their coach, and Kerr would win without Steph and Klay making bombs, easily getting it done to Giannis.
This is good stuff. You think these nba coaches coach like kids coaches yelling instructions every second. It’s called joysticking and no nba coach does it.

 

Tatum had a decent/developing midrange game, and it has disappeared. The numbers are out there. People who pay attention think it's largely due to the new coach being heavily focused on "winning the numbers game" and pushing for 3's and layups. But you don't have to be a basketball savant to notice that Jimmy Butler is picking out mismatches, backing them down, and attacking them in the midrange, while Tatum just can't because he hasn't developed the skill set. Why hasn't he developed a midrange skillset? You can say it's on him, but midrange jump shots don't fit into the general philosophy of his head coach.

And that's just one example. Tons of stuff about in-game / in-series adjustments, not calling time outs, weird rotation stuff (where the hell is Grant Williams?). Anyone who picked Miami in this series largely did so because they expect Spoelstra to coach circles around him.

Do you think these sort of adjustments don't happen? Who do you think made the decision to switch Rui on to Jokic in the Lakers/Nuggets game the other night, which fueled the comeback? Who do you think made the decision to start Schroder in game 6 against Golden State to annoy Curry all game? Who do you think is pulling all the strings on one side to make sure AD stays as close to the paint as possible, and on the other side where they're trying to get him away from the paint as much as possible. Coaching matters, man.

The Celtics have the most talented roster in the East, and maybe the entire league. They struggled to close out Atlanta, were down 3-2 on the road to Philly, and now they are down 1-0 to Miami. They may win the entire damn thing, but it shouldn't be this challenging with the roster they have. I think Tatum is overrated, myself, but coaching has been questionable. The dude is in over his head. If they win, it will 100% be despite him rather than because of him.

I don't know what "easily getting it done to Giannis" means. The Steve Kerr stuff is weird. Dude has 4 rings and was undefeated in the Western Conference playoffs over the course of like, 10 years until last weekend. Sure, Steph and Klay help with that a TON. But Klay has been out of his prime for a while, Steph has always been a defensive liability, and Draymond can't score. We gonna pretend Wiggins was a superstar prior to getting to Golden State and shining? Kerr gets no credit for that? Just silliness.

 

I skipped most of the middle but I’m fine with Kerr getting credit. You seem to want to pick and choose which coach does.
Not every player has a midrange game or is built for it. And to make one of my points, Butler gets his mismatch, gets the ball and to his spot, without Spoelstra having to tell him or any player on the floor, going back to your point about blaming the coach for Embid not getting the ball.

 

And re Tatum “used to have a midrange and now doesn’t due to Mazzula”
Tatum is at career high in points (by 4 pts), 2 pt shooting % by .5, and ft attempted, while shooting 3s and 2s at the same rate he has the last 3-4 years. This talk about his coach ruining his midrange game while he’s setting career highs in scoring and 2 pt% seems like it would come from someone who has no idea what he’s watching while watching games.