Having watched this team sputter all season, at times lunging forward, and at other times stalling out on 59 causing a furious storm of agitated fans...I think some of the key observations I can make are as follows: 1. There is enough talent to advance to the second round now. I use to think we had too many scrubs surrounding t-mac and yao...I don't any longer. this is the best collection of talent since 1997 we've had. With the additions of Scola and Brooks....and Wells finally in shape, we're much deeper then last year....and I still think Francis will contribute once he is fully healed. 2. We have the right pieces. Every position is covered by at least two guys. Yao and Deke, Hayes and Scola, Alston/Brooks/Francis, T-mac-Head, Wells-Battier. We can go defensive, we can go small and quick, we can go offensive, and we can even bring in a Novak for a few killer treys. With Landry, we might even at times...be able to look a bit athletic. 3. The offense continues to look better. yes it stalls at times, but ya know what, every offense in the league stalls at times. We just pay more attention to our own. Basketball is a game of runs....and a few games can be blown out of perspective - wins and loses. You have to look at the long term trends. And the trend is we are winning without t-mac and this team is playing well.....that's a big difference. So what does it all mean after two losses and a tough match-up on Saturday. It means this. Yeah, making the playoffs is going to be tough, but the key for these guys now isn't toughness, heart, or any other kind of overused cliche except one: chemistry. What we need from this team is to just play with confidence. There's so much pressure and expectation, it's like they over think every move. They play tight. The best I see them play is win everyone wrote them off and they started loosening up and started winning again. We lost in Philly because we tightned up in the 4th QTR because we lost our confidence after a tough New Orleans game. These guys need to loosen up, Yao has to understand that there is no sinking ship. That there's more to life then winning, as long as you do everything you possible can do to win. After that, it takes a bit of cockiness and just believing in yourself. When you say the ship is sinking - that doesn't sound like the attitude of a winner to me. It doesn't make your team mates play better. It just adds more pressure on everyone - pressure they already feel and isn't making them better but probably worse. How about - I believe in my teammates. I've seen the improvement, I'm frustrated, but I still have hope and I'm going to keep trying Maybe that's Chemistry 102.
"These guys need to loosen up, Yao has to understand that there is no sinking ship. That there's more to life then winning, as long as you do everything you possible can do to win. " When you have that sort of mentality, you might as well rename your franchise to the Clippers or the Hawks. Yao has every right to express his opinion and look at things from a pessimistic view. It could either affect team chemistry in a good way or a bad way...it has yet to be seen. But successful teams like the Spurs and especially the Patriots in the NFL always look for ways to improve their play and pursue perfection. I've never heard Pop ever say, "We're satisfied with our play, we don't need to improve." He constantly yells at Duncan, Manu, and Parker if they turn the ball over or run a play the wrong way. Oh and I think Herm Edwards would disagree with you whole heartedly. "You play to win the game!"
That would be a lie. How about I've seen enough of Rafer and he's the iceberg that 's sinking this ship.
exactly. since when having a sense of urgency is a bad thing? there's more in life than winning games? to us fans this is true, but to pro athletes, winning games should be ALL their lives in a season. too bad not everyone of them thinks the same.
that's very true. but there are many ways to inspire your teammates. michael jordan was a spectacular leader and motivator. he wasn't a "hey go out there and try your best" type of motivator. i don't know of many successful leaders who go by that mantra. go look it up. michael jordan has called out so many teammates in the past. he got into a beef with kerr, who weeks later made the game winning shot in a pivotal playoff game of which I forget unfortunately. michael jordan was a dick, but he was a winner.
i never said they should have a try your best attitude. That's obvious. What I am saying is that MJ had faith in Steve Kerr to take that shot. He made his teammates better because he believed in them. Sure he yelled at them, but he didn't yell at them for missing shots, he yelled at them for hesitating or not playing like they believed in themselves. Do you see the difference? Winning takes a strong believe in yourself. It takes confidence. Right now, these guys don't have that, and that's why we're losing. And Yao and T-mac don't have faith in these guys either, and that's why they can't execute. The role-players are playing too tight, especially in the 4th qtr. They are playing hard, but too afraid to lose and make mistakes - and when you do that, you lose and make mistakes. Yao saying the ship is sinking doesn't do anything good. All it does it make guys further lose confidence. He's got to call out guys on being hesitent and not playing with gusto...with not believing in themselves. But he doesn't, instead he says the team is a sinking ship. If t-mac has failed as a leader, and he has, so has Yao. This team doesn't have a leader and deperately needs and wants one.
I think maybe there are different point of views about this issue in different cultures. In my Chinese culture, we may say the doom is coming; we are in the corner so let's fight back to come over it. But maybe someone can't handle the truth, they will panic to death. like L. head in the 4th q. of last game, he dard not to pass to Yao and hesitated to shoot. So basically, it doesn't matter what you say, but what you do. In NBA, everybody has some great talents. If you're a competitor, you will fight through. Else you are a loser. Here I really think coach JVG did a great job to maxmize the players' efforts. JVG never had enough talents to concur Dallas or Utah. In 2005-06 season, dallas won 58 regular season games. (You tell me how many teams less tan a 58-rsg records had won WC.) JVG used RBo to start at playoff. Last playoff series JVG had to use 7 player rotation with Head and Juwan H. at bench and Jazz was hang around top 4 seeds with other 3 60+ win teams in most of the season untill last minutes. But this year with player's update, it should be a 60+ season. loss of JVG is huge.
