Minnesota Sports Forum

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Phenom's_Revenge wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

Camden wrote:Watch the Hawks hire Kenny Atkinson.

I was thinking the same thing. That Rosas wanted his old buddy who shares his philosophy. Never mind that Atkinson was DLO's head coach in DLO's one all-star caliber season.

There is a quote from DLO that seemed like a shot at Atkinson where he does not give Atkinson any credit for his growth. As soon as I saw that I knew Atkinson wouldn't be an option here. I'll see if I can find it later.

This quote?

"I'm not going to give it to Kenny," he said. "I still don't think he knew what he had, honestly. I don't think he knew what I was capable of in the fourth quarter."

But this blurb from a NYT piece about Atkinson's firing hit me a lot harder...

Last year's team was greater than the sum of its parts. It was routinely competitive because of its above-average defense even when outmatched in talent. Atkinson would not hesitate to bench his best player, D'Angelo Russell, if he did not like his effort. ... Players on other teams noticed the hard-nosed play. On a podcast in October, Durant said, "They've got the championship mind-set already."

Demanding accountability is mentioned in almost every piece about Kenny Atkinson. Obviously, that's not something that's ever been a priority for this organization.

Love that quote from Durant since we are talking about Kenny Akinson...

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Phenom's_Revenge wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

Camden wrote:Watch the Hawks hire Kenny Atkinson.

I was thinking the same thing. That Rosas wanted his old buddy who shares his philosophy. Never mind that Atkinson was DLO's head coach in DLO's one all-star caliber season.

There is a quote from DLO that seemed like a shot at Atkinson where he does not give Atkinson any credit for his growth. As soon as I saw that I knew Atkinson wouldn't be an option here. I'll see if I can find it later.

This quote?

"I'm not going to give it to Kenny," he said. "I still don't think he knew what he had, honestly. I don't think he knew what I was capable of in the fourth quarter."

But this blurb from a NYT piece about Atkinson's firing hit me a lot harder...

Last year's team was greater than the sum of its parts. It was routinely competitive because of its above-average defense even when outmatched in talent. Atkinson would not hesitate to bench his best player, D'Angelo Russell, if he did not like his effort. ... Players on other teams noticed the hard-nosed play. On a podcast in October, Durant said, "They've got the championship mind-set already."

Demanding accountability is mentioned in almost every piece about Kenny Atkinson. Obviously, that's not something that's ever been a priority for this organization.

Accountability...yeah, not enough of that in this franchise's history. We're still in the honeymoon period with Finch (although not a very good honeymoon at 0-5 with 4 blowouts), so I'm giving him a pass on the lack of accountability he has shown so far. He's getting to know his players, and perhaps doesn't want to come off as a hard ass before he has even had a chance to practice with this team.

But we can only hope that Finch uses the next 8 days not only to put in some new offense and defense, but more importantly to sit down with his team and explain there is a new sheriff in town...a new philosophy where the players do what the coach is instructing or they find their entitled asses on the bench. And target number 1 has to be Anthony Edwards. This kid has enormous potential, but he's not going to reach it without some disciplined coaching. Finch had publicly stated his desire that Ant keep his 3's to less than 1/3 of his shot attempts, but so far Ant isn't getting the memo. Last night Ant made his first three, but then proceeded to brick his next 9 finishing a disastrous 1-10 from beyond the arc. His 10 threes were almost half of his 23 shot attempts, far beyond the ratio his coach has asked for. And he made 7 of his 13 2-point attempts plus both of his free throws. So, Ant scored 16 points on the 14 times he attempted a shot inside the arc, and only 3 the 10 times he fired from long distance. And this is not an aberration, as almost half of his shots in his last 10 games are 3's, and he's only making 26% of them. That's killing this team, especially since Ant's defense is far from good also. If I'm Finch, I do with his prize rookie what Atkinson wasn't afraid to do with DLO, when he would bench him if he didn't think he was putting in the proper effort on the defensive end...it's no surprise to me that DLO's most productive season was with the coach who was toughest on him. Finch needs to sit Ant down and clearly explain his expectations, and make it crystal clear that Ant will find a seat on the bench if he drifts back into his old habits.

monsterpile wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Phenom's_Revenge wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

Camden wrote:Watch the Hawks hire Kenny Atkinson.

I was thinking the same thing. That Rosas wanted his old buddy who shares his philosophy. Never mind that Atkinson was DLO's head coach in DLO's one all-star caliber season.

There is a quote from DLO that seemed like a shot at Atkinson where he does not give Atkinson any credit for his growth. As soon as I saw that I knew Atkinson wouldn't be an option here. I'll see if I can find it later.

This quote?

"I'm not going to give it to Kenny," he said. "I still don't think he knew what he had, honestly. I don't think he knew what I was capable of in the fourth quarter."

But this blurb from a NYT piece about Atkinson's firing hit me a lot harder...

Last year's team was greater than the sum of its parts. It was routinely competitive because of its above-average defense even when outmatched in talent. Atkinson would not hesitate to bench his best player, D'Angelo Russell, if he did not like his effort. ... Players on other teams noticed the hard-nosed play. On a podcast in October, Durant said, "They've got the championship mind-set already."

Demanding accountability is mentioned in almost every piece about Kenny Atkinson. Obviously, that's not something that's ever been a priority for this organization.

Love that quote from Durant since we are talking about Kenny Akinson...

Ha. Well... sure... Durant was quite probably one of the two guys responsible for getting Atkinson fired. But that's irrelevant to my narrative.

That was just because Durant didn't want to be held accountable!

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

monsterpile wrote:

AbeVigodaLive wrote:

Phenom's_Revenge wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:

Camden wrote:Watch the Hawks hire Kenny Atkinson.

I was thinking the same thing. That Rosas wanted his old buddy who shares his philosophy. Never mind that Atkinson was DLO's head coach in DLO's one all-star caliber season.

There is a quote from DLO that seemed like a shot at Atkinson where he does not give Atkinson any credit for his growth. As soon as I saw that I knew Atkinson wouldn't be an option here. I'll see if I can find it later.

This quote?

"I'm not going to give it to Kenny," he said. "I still don't think he knew what he had, honestly. I don't think he knew what I was capable of in the fourth quarter."

But this blurb from a NYT piece about Atkinson's firing hit me a lot harder...

Last year's team was greater than the sum of its parts. It was routinely competitive because of its above-average defense even when outmatched in talent. Atkinson would not hesitate to bench his best player, D'Angelo Russell, if he did not like his effort. ... Players on other teams noticed the hard-nosed play. On a podcast in October, Durant said, "They've got the championship mind-set already."

Demanding accountability is mentioned in almost every piece about Kenny Atkinson. Obviously, that's not something that's ever been a priority for this organization.

Love that quote from Durant since we are talking about Kenny Akinson...

Ha. Well... sure... Durant was quite probably one of the two guys responsible for getting Atkinson fired. But that's irrelevant to my narrative.

That was just because Durant didn't want to be held accountable!

I am still upset we did not hire Atkinson.