Yes, I was thinking the same thing. But WHY is the chemistry gone? Can't have been McGrady. Coaching staff is the same. The only core players that have changed are Martin instead of Landry, and we added an overpaid aging center in Miller...not much else. Can Martin/Miller have such a negative impact? How is this possible?
I suck, you suck, we suck, they suck, what up with that? What up with that? He sucks, she sucks, it sucks, oh shucks, what's up with that? What up with that? Spoiler
The worst part is I don't see a franchise player in college who we can draft #1. I wouldn't mind a Barnes or a Hamilton, but Jesus Cristo.
On limited examples to compare it to, it seems when you take out a defensive coach and go offense, some of the defensive principles are still carried over (Detriot going from Larry Brown to Flip Saunders, Bulls after Scott Skiles). The team might not be elite defensive, but still good. But after a couple seasons the remnants of the old coach are all but dissolved.
This thread makes me think of Ron: <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/S8GzOgnkWfE?fs=1&hl=zh_TW"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/S8GzOgnkWfE?fs=1&hl=zh_TW" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
No, this would never happen under JVG. Rick is without a doubt a HOF coach, but red flags went up in my head while he was quarreling with the Kings owners. They held him accountable for the team's poor defense and his response was something along the lines of "If you want a good defensive team get me some defensive players." I thought his Kings teams played good defense, certainly a hundred times better than what we're playing now. The high point totals they sometimes allowed were just a byproduct of how quickly they played, IMO. But that quote tells me that he leaves defense up to the players. Without communication, without a plan any team will get burned. Look at the immediate impact JVG and Scott Skiles have had on their teams. Neither of them had stacked rosters, but both have had top 5 defenses every year. That's right, throughout all the injuries JVG maintained a top 4 defense in Houston every season. With Rick, the Rockets have gotten worse defensively every year. With Artest, Battier, Yao, Lowry, and Deke on the same roster we were only the 7th best defense under Adelman. Imagine what JVG would have done with that team. JVG was clueless on offense, but RA is almost equally clueless on defense.
Do we care about defensive ranking or wins and losses? You can emphasize defense more, but how good you are depends on the players you have. There are 2 ways to be good defensively - 1) have good defensive players, 2) over-emphasize that end of the court by sacrificing in other areas. Or there may be a third way - be so good offensively like the Kings that other teams are constantly playing from behind and forcing bad shots. There's no magic formula for taking bad defensive players and turning them into good ones without losing any of their effectiveness on the offensive end.
