Bottom Line: Sink/Swim with this team

[heypartner]

Challenge to this Thread
What would you do as coach with the players you have to maximize wins this year and build to the future, without mentioning player moves or Drew as the fix-all solution (enough!!).

Regarding major Trades
Go to Clutch's thread to discuss, not here.

Our Problem with Replacing Rudy Ball IMHO
Hakeem is a terrible passer, nor has he shown me he can cut to the basket properly to play high post in a new system. This dog cannot be taught new tricks.

Barkley is our best passer, but is a terrible defender at Power Forward in this talent-laden Western Conf. I love the man, but he's not tall enough. He doesnt' have the defense to ever fit in a Rudy Ball system

So, this is the dichotomy: Dream has always needed Rudy Ball (it was designed for him), but Barkley takes the key ingredient of defense out of Rudy Ball--so he needs a new system.

My Solution
I believe improving our defense will have the greatest impact on this season and next. It will give something the whole team can take pride in, give Rudy something to preach that we know he can, and give the team a central philosophy.

Further, as the coach, I would primarily focus on my youthful nucleus at this point. Francis & Cato...PG/Center nucleus. What do you want to build around it? Build Defense around Cato, and slowly improve the transition game off of that defense to suit Francis and your other runners. This is standard Riley-esque ball.

I say focus the rest of the year on fielding the best defensive/rebounding unit you can, while giving Barkley his 33 minutes. Doing the math, this must lead to Dream, Sir and Cato on the court together for at least 10 minutes. I say don't worry about not fielding a true small forward for those 10 minutes--like Barkley can guard PF's anyway.

Forget about the effect this has on offensive sets...we are 2-10 for godsakes.

I'm crying in my seats for a home win...at least give me a rallying cry.

Defense Defense Defense