1) Tom Thibodeau and Derrick Rose in Thursday’s Game against the Knicks
The Knicks spent the first three quarters of Thursday night’s game building a 21 point lead due to some remarkable marksmanship from Danilo Gallinari and Toney Douglas. The game appeared to be out of reach, so Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau inserted his second unit consisting of CJ Watson, Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver, Taj Gibson and Omer Asik and took out Rose and Luol Deng out with 9:31 left on the clock. The bench unit played well and cut the lead to 9 with five minutes left in the game. This would appear to be a perfect time to reinsert your best three players (Rose, Deng, and Noah) to finish the comeback against a notoriously porous Knick defense. Apparently this wasn’t obvious to the rookie head coach as he left the bench in as they stalled and lost the game 120 – 112.
You can’t say Thibodeau forgot or didn’t realize Rose was on the bench either, as the crowd began a chant “We want Rose! We want Rose” at around the 5-minute mark. Apparently defensive intensity was the key; according to the coach “That group (the second unit) was playing pretty well. We had gone with the starters a little longer to start the second half. When we got down 15 is when I subbed them. The second unit, I thought, fought hard to close [the gap]. I wanted to see what they could get out of it. The way the Knicks' guards were shooting, I thought the energy to get out to the line was what we needed … I thought about putting the starters back in, but the second group was getting out to the 3-point line pretty well." Hmmm, okay. If you really think that Omer Asik, CJ Watson, and Kyle Korver give you a better chance to win the game than Noah, Rose, and Deng then you need to check yourself into the closest mental facility. It wasn’t as if these three weren’t playing well either. Derrick Rose had a career night assist-wise with 14 and added 24 points in 35 minutes; Noah had 12 points, 13 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks in 33 minutes, and Deng finished with 17 points and 4 rebounds.
Don’t try to get cute Thibodeau, play your best players with a chance to win the game. Noah is a Defensive Player of the Year candidate; I highly doubt that Omer Asik (Who???) gives you a better shot at winning the game. Derrick Rose is a top-5 point guard in the league and your best scorer; you don’t think he could have lead an 8 point run over the likes of Toney Douglas and Raymond Felton? Like Charles Barkley said on Inside the NBA, there is a reason the bench players are on the bench, because they are not finishers. They did a great job cutting down the lead, but when the chips are down, you have to play your top guys. There is no excuse for that stupidity except for a coach’s ego, desire to teach a lesson, or that he wanted to limit his star’s minutes for tonight’s game in Boston against the Celtics. The latter is the only reason that is somewhat forgivable. If Thibodeau really thought they had no chance at coming back against the Knicks and wanted to save his stars’ legs for the second game in a back-to-back against a rival, then at least I can understand the logic. But he needs to come out and say that, because you can’t expect the fans to buy that he really thought the second unit gave Chicago a better chance of winning.
2) Kurt Rambis and Kevin Love thus far in the Season
As a young coach in the league trying to earn respect while coaching a team that went 15 – 67 last year, why on earth would you not play our former #5 overall pick power forward who is one of the best rebounders in the league already? Well, you might guess, maybe the coach has another big man who has more talent. Nope, your GM traded away Al Jefferson for a new washer/dryer and a bag of balls. Well maybe the team plays better without him, you might guess. Nope, with Love the team is a little better. In games Love has played more than 30 minutes the Wolves are 14-38 which translates to a winning percentage of .269. In games where Love plays less than 30 minutes, the Wolves have a 40-128 mark (.238). Lastly, maybe the fans don’t like the player, or maybe he is a bad apple off the court. That isn’t the case with Kevin Love, the fans love him and called/emailed the Timberwolves front office more than 100 times after Kevin played only 24 minutes in the season-opening loss to the Sacramento Kings and was pulled in favor of D-League All-Star Anthony Tolliver for the entire fourth quarter in what ended up being a one-point loss.
That leads me to one conclusion; Kurt Rambis should not be an NBA coach. He obviously lacks the strategy and knowledge to succeed. If that wasn’t evident from last season’s horrendous attempt to run the triangle with a team lacking shooters and loaded with point guards who thrive when penetrating to the hoop, then it is definitely evident during this season’s 1 – 4 start that includes a 42-point loss at the hands of the Orlando Magic. Love has averaged 16.8 points and 10.8 rebounds (8th in the league) in 26.4 minutes a game. If you projected those stats as if Love played 36 minutes, Love would roughly be averaging 23 points and 15 rebounds a game. That would place Love at the top of the list in rebounds per game. But hey, who would want one of the most prolific rebounders in the game who also has an effective offensive game to play more than 26 minutes a game on a team with no other legitimate NBA big men? As much as I want to blame David Kahn for this discrepancy, this one falls on the Phil Jackson wannabe, Kurt Rambis. I guess I can’t expect much more from a guy who has 16 wins total over his coaching career.
The Knicks spent the first three quarters of Thursday night’s game building a 21 point lead due to some remarkable marksmanship from Danilo Gallinari and Toney Douglas. The game appeared to be out of reach, so Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau inserted his second unit consisting of CJ Watson, Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver, Taj Gibson and Omer Asik and took out Rose and Luol Deng out with 9:31 left on the clock. The bench unit played well and cut the lead to 9 with five minutes left in the game. This would appear to be a perfect time to reinsert your best three players (Rose, Deng, and Noah) to finish the comeback against a notoriously porous Knick defense. Apparently this wasn’t obvious to the rookie head coach as he left the bench in as they stalled and lost the game 120 – 112.
You can’t say Thibodeau forgot or didn’t realize Rose was on the bench either, as the crowd began a chant “We want Rose! We want Rose” at around the 5-minute mark. Apparently defensive intensity was the key; according to the coach “That group (the second unit) was playing pretty well. We had gone with the starters a little longer to start the second half. When we got down 15 is when I subbed them. The second unit, I thought, fought hard to close [the gap]. I wanted to see what they could get out of it. The way the Knicks' guards were shooting, I thought the energy to get out to the line was what we needed … I thought about putting the starters back in, but the second group was getting out to the 3-point line pretty well." Hmmm, okay. If you really think that Omer Asik, CJ Watson, and Kyle Korver give you a better chance to win the game than Noah, Rose, and Deng then you need to check yourself into the closest mental facility. It wasn’t as if these three weren’t playing well either. Derrick Rose had a career night assist-wise with 14 and added 24 points in 35 minutes; Noah had 12 points, 13 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks in 33 minutes, and Deng finished with 17 points and 4 rebounds.
Don’t try to get cute Thibodeau, play your best players with a chance to win the game. Noah is a Defensive Player of the Year candidate; I highly doubt that Omer Asik (Who???) gives you a better shot at winning the game. Derrick Rose is a top-5 point guard in the league and your best scorer; you don’t think he could have lead an 8 point run over the likes of Toney Douglas and Raymond Felton? Like Charles Barkley said on Inside the NBA, there is a reason the bench players are on the bench, because they are not finishers. They did a great job cutting down the lead, but when the chips are down, you have to play your top guys. There is no excuse for that stupidity except for a coach’s ego, desire to teach a lesson, or that he wanted to limit his star’s minutes for tonight’s game in Boston against the Celtics. The latter is the only reason that is somewhat forgivable. If Thibodeau really thought they had no chance at coming back against the Knicks and wanted to save his stars’ legs for the second game in a back-to-back against a rival, then at least I can understand the logic. But he needs to come out and say that, because you can’t expect the fans to buy that he really thought the second unit gave Chicago a better chance of winning.
2) Kurt Rambis and Kevin Love thus far in the Season
As a young coach in the league trying to earn respect while coaching a team that went 15 – 67 last year, why on earth would you not play our former #5 overall pick power forward who is one of the best rebounders in the league already? Well, you might guess, maybe the coach has another big man who has more talent. Nope, your GM traded away Al Jefferson for a new washer/dryer and a bag of balls. Well maybe the team plays better without him, you might guess. Nope, with Love the team is a little better. In games Love has played more than 30 minutes the Wolves are 14-38 which translates to a winning percentage of .269. In games where Love plays less than 30 minutes, the Wolves have a 40-128 mark (.238). Lastly, maybe the fans don’t like the player, or maybe he is a bad apple off the court. That isn’t the case with Kevin Love, the fans love him and called/emailed the Timberwolves front office more than 100 times after Kevin played only 24 minutes in the season-opening loss to the Sacramento Kings and was pulled in favor of D-League All-Star Anthony Tolliver for the entire fourth quarter in what ended up being a one-point loss.
That leads me to one conclusion; Kurt Rambis should not be an NBA coach. He obviously lacks the strategy and knowledge to succeed. If that wasn’t evident from last season’s horrendous attempt to run the triangle with a team lacking shooters and loaded with point guards who thrive when penetrating to the hoop, then it is definitely evident during this season’s 1 – 4 start that includes a 42-point loss at the hands of the Orlando Magic. Love has averaged 16.8 points and 10.8 rebounds (8th in the league) in 26.4 minutes a game. If you projected those stats as if Love played 36 minutes, Love would roughly be averaging 23 points and 15 rebounds a game. That would place Love at the top of the list in rebounds per game. But hey, who would want one of the most prolific rebounders in the game who also has an effective offensive game to play more than 26 minutes a game on a team with no other legitimate NBA big men? As much as I want to blame David Kahn for this discrepancy, this one falls on the Phil Jackson wannabe, Kurt Rambis. I guess I can’t expect much more from a guy who has 16 wins total over his coaching career.
