Camden wrote:I wish you'd stop calling Pekovic a one-way player. It leads to the thinking that he's poor on defense when that's not true at all. Is he a shot-blocker? No. Is he good on defense? Yes. The frustration with Brewer and Martin make some sense, though.
Cam -- I hear what you're saying about Pekovic, but I'm not impressed with Pek's defense and it's not just the absence of shot-blocking. Nevertheless, I'll amend my comment and call Pek a one-and-a-half way player. :).
Camden wrote:He didn't actually say that to my knowledge, but it sounds like him.
He has said it before. How Barea and Cunningham make sense to Adelman for more than 15 minutes a game leaves me dumbfounded.
It's infuriating Doper. I can't understand why he insists on putting an undersized lineup on the court for half the game. There is simply no reason not to be getting Dieng on the court for at least 15 minutes a night. Particularly when both Amare and Chandler are out for the knicks.
Why were Chase or Martin on the court in the fourth? If Ricky had played like them, he wouldn't have gotten off the bench in the fourth. I don't know what Rick was waiting for while he was watching the game slip away again in the fourth quarter. Cory's defense was atrocious in the first half, and Martin might as well have sat down at midcourt. Ricky had 6 TO's because we have players that can't catch a BB that is literally placed in their hands. I am still trying to figure out why he even sat Love or Ricky. Neither looked winded, and we were ready to take a lead.
sjm --- I agree with you completely. My girlfriend was at the game with me tonight and said she thinks Adelman took a 5-minute nap at the start of the 4th quarter. I agree with you that Corey's defense on Melo was horrible tonight. But Adelman needed to get Corey some help. No one can guard Melo one-on-one. At least Corey gave a great effort. Unfortunately, "effort" is not a word I'd use to describe Martin on either end of the court, especially the defensive end. The guy almost never crashes the boards, can't fight his way thought picks, etc. And you are absolutely right about Ricky's turnovers being primarily due to the failure of his teammates to hold onto catchable passes. Anyway, I've ranted enough.
lipoli390 wrote:sjm --- I agree with you completely. My girlfriend was at the game with me tonight and said she thinks Adelman took a 5-minute nap at the start of the 4th quarter. I agree with you that Corey's defense on Melo was horrible tonight. But Adelman needed to get Corey some help. No one can guard Melo one-on-one. At least Corey gave a great effort. Unfortunately, "effort" is not a word I'd use to describe Martin on either end of the court, especially the defensive end. The guy almost never crashes the boards, can't fight his way thought picks, etc. And you are absolutely right about Ricky's turnovers being primarily due to the failure of his teammates to hold onto catchable passes. Anyway, I've ranted enough.
This wasn't the first game Adelman came back late with the starters in the 4th. I may be the top Adelman knocker on this board but it isn't because I think he is a bad coach. I simply think he is way too philosophical for this team. I think we need someone a bit more freewheeling and unconventional. Adelman seems to have a rule about rotations that won't change when it comes to the second team minutes in the 4th. I don't remember a game all season where the bench was yanked after 2 minutes for not performing. Waiting until there was a 12 pt deficit to put the starters back in was inexcusable. Ricky had it working in the 3rd. He alone should have had a quick rest and been in after the lead dropped to 6. Just total bullshit.
Camden wrote:I wish you'd stop calling Pekovic a one-way player. It leads to the thinking that he's poor on defense when that's not true at all. Is he a shot-blocker? No. Is he good on defense? Yes. The frustration with Brewer and Martin make some sense, though.
Cam -- I hear what you're saying about Pekovic, but I'm not impressed with Pek's defense and it's not just the absence of shot-blocking. Nevertheless, I'll amend my comment and call Pek a one-and-a-half way player. :).
Pekovic definitely is a one way player. So is Martin, so is LRMAM, so is Budinger, so is Love(try to deny it) .... You should get the theme. Sure, every once in awhile Pek and Love hold their own in the post, but how many more times do you see uncontested layups, floaters, etc. By those two?? In today's league your team defense will never be good without a big who can fill the lanes, forcing opponents to alter shots or kick the ball out (see chi) allowing the wings to contest the much lower percentage long range jumpshots. Love is a matador. Pekovic is a matador. Martin is a matador ( by far the worst as he doesn't even attempt to play defense. He shows no enthusiasm and is just collecting his paycheck at this point. Worst defender in the league for his size). Budinger is a matador, though the effort from him is there and I appreciate that. Having 2 or 3 completely helpless players on defense will never allow us to win over 50 percent of the time. I for one am hoping we lose more than we win and keep our pick. It gives more of a reason for flip to fire the joke that is now adleman and allows us a chance to add a 2way wing in the draft to replace the selfish martin. Anyone trying to convince themselves that this season has been anything but a bunch of gauze thrown on a major bleed is completely kidding themselves. There is no upside to this team unless we fix major issues. These players will not do better next year. Martin, Barea, LRMAM need to go this summer no matter what. Pekovic should be seriously shopped. The rest make for a good foundation if we can add a few 2 way players to them.
Don't know if anyone read this article on the Mavs. This is the point I have been making about Adelman all year. Taken from Carlise's quote.
"I made a conscious decision as a coach a few years ago to always do my best to take the personnel that I have and put them into the right system," he says, "and not be someone that is very stringent about the type of system that he runs. So, when you get a guy like Monta, you gotta tweak some major parts of it, because he is now our leading minutes guy, and he and Dirk get the most shots, so you have got to adjust, and we have."
The article says alot about how analytics function in todays game and the nuanced differences between experience and statistical data. This quote sums up why I believe Adelman was outcoached on various occasions this season. I believe Adelman is a fit guys into his system type of coach in comparison to what Carlise is saying here, and what you may get out of some of the other great coaches of our generation like Jackson and Pop. Anyway it is a great article. Hard to argue the success of Dallas and even their improvement as the season progressed, No one pegged them to have their record. We really look like we could dominate them early in the year but then the later games were far more competitive. Hats off to Carlise and the fine job he and the Mavs have done this year. One more interesting thing I saw with this article was that the only teams to have approached Ellis were Dallas, Charlotte and Sacramento. This means we didn't even kick the tires. I think the message is quite clear in this that our franchise doesn't believe that it is competent enough to mould and develop obviously talented players with perceived attitude problems. I can't see how Ellis couldn't have been viewed on a the same level to Martin in the offseason. Instead we opted for the Adelman system guy and got a season full erratic play.
