You really don’t care about defense at all. Your takes consistently ignore that said of the ball - Cam, Lamelo, DMo, etc. All one way players with offensive skills. You have a type, but it’s not a winning type. But normally you like shooting also. Lamelo is a horrible shooter. Nothing about this makes sense.
Lamelo may not be a good defender but on Houston he would be surrounded by defenders. It's like saying Curry would not be good on the Warriors despite the warriors being one of the best defensive teams
This shows a basic misunderstanding of Ime's defensive philosophy. Ime simply doesn't believe in the concept of high usage heliocentric players being asked to do less on defense compared to their teammates. Part of Sengun's and Jalen's scoring efficiency issues are a product of being asked to constantly switch on to ball handlers and play high level defense or be benched. That drains a lot of energy to where things like your touch around the rim or jump shot become more inconsistent. Have you guys ever actually tried taking a jump shot while huffing and puffing when your heart rate is at like 180 bpm vs just casually taking set shots outside game situations? Do you not feel the massive difference in your shot consistency?
Of course I do, but I understand that balance wins championships......we are far too defensively oriented to win anything, we need some elite offense to go with our defense. That is why Luka is so valued, or Jokic, or Lebron - elite offense is better than Elite defense.....Elite OFFENSE wins.....Elite defense keeps you in the games but fails against elite offense. Two ways of dealing with this, you remove players that are security blankets like Tate etc, and bring in offensive players, that is what Stone has been trying to do, but Ime won't play them, so Stone needs to trade mediocre talent for better offense first players to balance the roster. Or, you fire Ime and replace him with a coach that understands offense is just as important as defense, it is not all about "Play harder" clap clap.... DD
Agree that crutch players need to be moved but firing Ime should not be the solution. Hiring an offensive assistant makes more sense, as well as acquiring more efficient offensive players.
https://hoopshype.com/lists/nba-int...m-kyle-kuzma-raptors-wizards-76ers-mavericks/ •The availability of Hornets guard LaMelo Ball is one of the stars several executives who spoke with HoopsHype will be monitoring on the trade market this summer. Looking ahead, Ball wants to start winning. Thus, is Ball willing to endure more losing and lessen his chances of individual accolades as the Hornets continue rebuilding under the new regime of executive Jeff Peterson and coach Charles Lee? Will the Hornets equally want to pay Ball, who’s in the first year of a five-year, $204 million contract, while the team has yet to win with him as the face of the franchise and is in the early stages of a rebuild? If Charlotte puts Ball on the trade market, the Hornets could kick start a complete tear-down rebuild by trading him and clearing his maximum salary off the books long-term while adding cheaper young talent and several future first-round draft picks. •The Atlanta Hawks remain in the thick of Play-In Tournament contention ahead of an important offseason for the long-term direction of the franchise as All-Star point guard Trae Young – who’s owed $46 million for the 2025-26 season and has a $48.97 million player option for the 2026-27 season – is eligible for a four-year, $229 million extension this summer. Thus, the question on the mind of executives around the league is whether or not Atlanta will commit a long-term extension to Young this summer or look to move him before having to pay him more money. Conversely, Young has talked about winning a championship with coach Quin Snyder in Atlanta. With Atlanta four years removed from the Conference Finals and declining in the playoffs since, will Young continue to believe that’s possible in Atlanta as he enters the prime of his career, or would a change of scenery be necessary to chase a title? Atlanta is ideally not looking to go over the luxury tax threshold next season, HoopsHype has learned, which will play a role in the team’s roster construction this summer and the futures of those veterans. How this all affects Young’s future remains to be seen, but it’s a situation that executives will continue to monitor in the coming months.
I am concerned that Ball is fragile, doesn't shoot well enough, or play defense worth a damn. Other than that, he's great!
The only problem with the whole assistant stuff is that Ime is under no obligation to turn over the offense or to even listen. The buck stops with the head coach. If the offense does not improve, he will have to be fired whether you hire an assistant or not.
I didn’t say right now. If he runs FVV out as the starting PG next year, then he should be fired unless the offense miraculously improves. You can’t win a championship without a good offense and Ime hasn’t proved he can coach offense.
IDK when I watch LeMelo he doesn’t seem to play with any structure. It’s like watching an all star game where one player wants to keep shooting and doesn’t care if they actually win. And his shooting percentages isn’t much of an upgrade over Green. I can only imagine what the board would be saying if Green shot 32% from the field with 28% from 3s which are Lamelo’s averages for February. In today’s game, defense wins and I’m not seeing the effort there from LaMelo. He seems lost most of the time. Feels like it would take 2-3 years for him to adapt to Udoka’s system. But the biggest concerns I would have his is ability to stay healthy, he’s played in less than half the games of his 5 year career so far.
Depends on the price. I wouldn’t necessarily be against it. Idk what he would look like under Ime. One thing for sure is we would finally be able to run a functional fast break.
