Zach Lowe Says Things We Already Know

[Jangles]

This guy drew up the series deciding play on the wrong side of the court last postseason and his team was swept in the first round with home court this postseason. Is this not enough to get fired?

[JimiCliff]

Same guys on here that demand a massive roster change also demand a better coach.

Which is it?

Commit to something guys, dont just bitch and whine 24/7

I think you people need to go back a year and read the comments. Go back and see how happy you all were.

Its embarrassing for you, you just don't see it because you're on this site 24/7, all together patting each other on the back for how smart you are. But boys, you are missing a nice reality out there.

A coach can lose the battle in the room. That might be the case, and after 14 interviews and then a few more with the staff MU will know this one way or another. But for you guys to simply ignore anything impressive a coach has done, then place your own horribly under educated opinons upon a critique of he capabilities is just wrong.

DC might have lost that room. Masai, for his part might have added few time bombs to a mix that worked..... who knows, but half the reason I am never here anymore is this prevalent, and im sorry, 100% inaccurate and infantile culture of attacking the coach. Even worse, crowning some dude, Zach Lowe, as the fucking final word on all things basketball. What do you think he gets paid? Think he wouldn't be thrilled with a coaching job n the NBA? Assistant???? I wonder why he hasn't got one......

Dollars to donuts Zach Lowe ends up in an NBA front office before all's said and done. Just like John Hollinger.

Daryl Morey, another dude from outside the old boys network who's managed to find sustained, significant success. But still, a Charles Barkley finds it necessary to trash him on national television, because he can't POSSIBLY really know what he's doing.

The idea that reasonably intelligent people who may not have played ball at a high level but who love the game and have watched thousands of hours of NBA ball are not qualified to comment on the game is sadly close minded. You're learning as you watch. What are you learning? Hard to say. But something's being processed. Something's being gained. Do you want to dismiss this gain outright, without exploring its value? Ok cool. Maybe that's fine. Or, maybe you're throwing away something that could have helped you.

[hotfuzz]

^ ugh don't even get me started on Barkley. Guy is such an idiot.

[KeonClark]

Looks like we're getting vintage SuperJudge today!

[Superjudge]

Why can't it be both? The coach isn't good enough, AND the current core isn't good enough.

#Think

#think?

Really?

heh, ok man. did you even read the post?

[Superjudge]

The idea that reasonably intelligent people who may not have played ball at a high level but who love the game and have watched thousands of hours of NBA ball are not qualified to comment on the game is sadly close minded. You're learning as you watch.

NO!

UGH!!!

Ok, you are watching from WAY FAR from the actual game. THE GAME. A person can watch basketball, or any other sport and gain a tonne of knowledge, but it isn't even close to what people who have been professionals for 30 years have.

What ends up happening, is that you formulate idea's and the create "truths" based upon a pretty limited access into what is actually happening. You will notice how much I refer to being a fly on the wall in the room...there is good reason for that, 75% of the whole situation plays out there. I have no doubt some people here are pretty smart, hell I'm pretty smart, but we don't have our finger even remotely on the pulse....so wa can't speak in absolutes.

So how does it affect a message board...... threads like "#firecasey". If you read through from the beginning over months and months you will see a trend of a few guesses, or speculations, that start to pick up steam with ZERO validation, and then BOOM, a collective group allows this idea to become commonplace, and then finally fact. Unfortunately, it started from a idea that was formed with no foundation. I will say this once, I will say it a hundred times, anyone here, on this thread, who feels that they, or anyone else here are seeing anything that Dwayne Casey and his staff aren't seeing is completely off their rocker. They see it, and the make adjustments and they write it down and players will either execute, or they won't. So when the coach talks in a press conference, and tries his best NOT to toss people under the bus, no matter how hard it gets after 90 of the same conference, and you jump on a comment, take it and use it any any context YOU want to to make your OWN point to support an idea YOU decide is fact....That's wrong. Its as old as time, and its bullshit.

I have no doubt there are better coaches out there, but they are hard to find, and even harder to sign. I assure you they are always open to a superstar coach. I'm also sure that whatever worked last year changed wit personnel changes made in the off season. A few injuries and a couple players under achieving, 2-3 rogue shot hogs and you get cracks in the foundation. Maybe a problem in the room starts, who knows, and maybe the coach is caught in the middle....BOOM, he loses the room because they ain't kids, they are grown men and there is pride, and stubbornness, and straight up vindictiveness happens. So maybe guys stop caring about each other a bit, stop trusting, stop wanting to hit the floor for each other.... and its over.

This happens.
This is what that magic word chemistry is about. And it starts at the top..... owners, down to the towel boy. Its the hardest thing create and maintain in pro sports and any championship team will tell you it was the hugest part of why they won.

Coaches play a big part in all that. Professional coaches, in all sports, don't get there is they have low IQ for their sport. Dwayne Casey is a smart guy, and a pretty good coach. His play calling is fine... his defensive systems are all fine. he can, and has done the job wonderfully, nobody watching last year could argue against that. BUT. It crashed. So there has to be changes, and he might be one of those changes. But, my good friend Jimi, don't think for a moment its because he is missing anything on the floor, or that the good folks at Raptors Republic here are better qualified....they aren't. Its not even close enough for there to be a discussion. We're smart fans. That's it, that is the extent and that's where it ends. and Zach Lowe.... he's a decent analyst, but get him to commit 100% to saying ANY coach is inept, or that he knows what is happening in their room.... he won't. because he can't. And he is smart enough not to extend himself past his own limitations. Its called being a pro....but he isn't a pro basketball coach just yet, so lets just simmer down on that idea.

[Mindlessness]

I'm only here because Superjudge is here.

I'll wait in the corner eating popcorn.

[JimiCliff]

NO!

UGH!!!

Ok, you are watching from WAY FAR from the actual game. THE GAME. A person can watch basketball, or any other sport and gain a tonne of knowledge, but it isn't even close to what people who have been professionals for 30 years have.

What ends up happening, is that you formulate idea's and the create "truths" based upon a pretty limited access into what is actually happening. You will notice how much I refer to being a fly on the wall in the room...there is good reason for that, 75% of the whole situation plays out there. I have no doubt some people here are pretty smart, hell I'm pretty smart, but we don't have our finger even remotely on the pulse....so wa can't speak in absolutes.

So how does it affect a message board...... threads like "#firecasey". If you read through from the beginning over months and months you will see a trend of a few guesses, or speculations, that start to pick up steam with ZERO validation, and then BOOM, a collective group allows this idea to become commonplace, and then finally fact. Unfortunately, it started from a idea that was formed with no foundation. I will say this once, I will say it a hundred times, anyone here, on this thread, who feels that they, or anyone else here are seeing anything that Dwayne Casey and his staff aren't seeing is completely off their rocker. They see it, and the make adjustments and they write it down and players will either execute, or they won't. So when the coach talks in a press conference, and tries his best NOT to toss people under the bus, no matter how hard it gets after 90 of the same conference, and you jump on a comment, take it and use it any any context YOU want to to make your OWN point to support an idea YOU decide is fact....That's wrong. Its as old as time, and its bullshit.

I have no doubt there are better coaches out there, but they are hard to find, and even harder to sign. I assure you they are always open to a superstar coach. I'm also sure that whatever worked last year changed wit personnel changes made in the off season. A few injuries and a couple players under achieving, 2-3 rogue shot hogs and you get cracks in the foundation. Maybe a problem in the room starts, who knows, and maybe the coach is caught in the middle....BOOM, he loses the room because they ain't kids, they are grown men and there is pride, and stubbornness, and straight up vindictiveness happens. So maybe guys stop caring about each other a bit, stop trusting, stop wanting to hit the floor for each other.... and its over.

This happens.
This is what that magic word chemistry is about. And it starts at the top..... owners, down to the towel boy. Its the hardest thing create and maintain in pro sports and any championship team will tell you it was the hugest part of why they won.

Coaches play a big part in all that. Professional coaches, in all sports, don't get there is they have low IQ for their sport. Dwayne Casey is a smart guy, and a pretty good coach. His play calling is fine... his defensive systems are all fine. he can, and has done the job wonderfully, nobody watching last year could argue against that. BUT. It crashed. So there has to be changes, and he might be one of those changes. But, my good friend Jimi, don't think for a moment its because he is missing anything on the floor, or that the good folks at Raptors Republic here are better qualified....they aren't. Its not even close enough for there to be a discussion. We're smart fans. That's it, that is the extent and that's where it ends. and Zach Lowe.... he's a decent analyst, but get him to commit 100% to saying ANY coach is inept, or that he knows what is happening in their room.... he won't. because he can't. And he is smart enough not to extend himself past his own limitations. Its called being a pro....but he isn't a pro basketball coach just yet, so lets just simmer down on that idea.

Nice reply.

If Bill James had read this 40 years ago and taken it to heart, who knows, maybe we'd still be treating all RBIs as equal, and thinking that Ozzie Smith was a defensive genius.

I'm never going to stop chirping about what I'm seeing when the raptors are on the floor mainly because it's fucking fun. Of course, I know that all those guys I see on tv have forgotten more about basketball than I'll ever know.

I also know that there's an absolute shit load of people in the world who have positions of power not because of competence or qualification, but because they know the right people/are from the right family/ interview well/look the part.

[DogeLover1234]

We are fans. When we write stuff down that is our opinions. It isnt meant to be treated as fact. By saying that someone is isnt entitled to their opinions because they arent a profesional is just insane to me. Obviously we not as well informed as someone who is in the locker room everyday but that doesnt mean that someones ideas are useless or invalid. If you disagree with someones post then explain why basketball reasons. if you are looking for informed decisions dont go on a message board lol.

Also i dont get the argument that casey is a professional so therefore i can't criticize him. Profesionals arent immune to mistakes. Can someone explain that to me??

[Jangles]

"Pretty good coach"? Must mean relative to the average man and not his nba peers.

[Superjudge]

mr. boooooojangles.

thers a song in here somewhere

[Axel]

When does the Superjudge off-season begin?

[golden]

NO!

UGH!!!

Ok, you are watching from WAY FAR from the actual game. THE GAME. A person can watch basketball, or any other sport and gain a tonne of knowledge, but it isn't even close to what people who have been professionals for 30 years have.

What ends up happening, is that you formulate idea's and the create "truths" based upon a pretty limited access into what is actually happening. You will notice how much I refer to being a fly on the wall in the room...there is good reason for that, 75% of the whole situation plays out there. I have no doubt some people here are pretty smart, hell I'm pretty smart, but we don't have our finger even remotely on the pulse....so wa can't speak in absolutes.

So how does it affect a message board...... threads like "#firecasey". If you read through from the beginning over months and months you will see a trend of a few guesses, or speculations, that start to pick up steam with ZERO validation, and then BOOM, a collective group allows this idea to become commonplace, and then finally fact. Unfortunately, it started from a idea that was formed with no foundation. I will say this once, I will say it a hundred times, anyone here, on this thread, who feels that they, or anyone else here are seeing anything that Dwayne Casey and his staff aren't seeing is completely off their rocker. They see it, and the make adjustments and they write it down and players will either execute, or they won't. So when the coach talks in a press conference, and tries his best NOT to toss people under the bus, no matter how hard it gets after 90 of the same conference, and you jump on a comment, take it and use it any any context YOU want to to make your OWN point to support an idea YOU decide is fact....That's wrong. Its as old as time, and its bullshit.

I have no doubt there are better coaches out there, but they are hard to find, and even harder to sign. I assure you they are always open to a superstar coach. I'm also sure that whatever worked last year changed wit personnel changes made in the off season. A few injuries and a couple players under achieving, 2-3 rogue shot hogs and you get cracks in the foundation. Maybe a problem in the room starts, who knows, and maybe the coach is caught in the middle....BOOM, he loses the room because they ain't kids, they are grown men and there is pride, and stubbornness, and straight up vindictiveness happens. So maybe guys stop caring about each other a bit, stop trusting, stop wanting to hit the floor for each other.... and its over.

This happens.
This is what that magic word chemistry is about. And it starts at the top..... owners, down to the towel boy. Its the hardest thing create and maintain in pro sports and any championship team will tell you it was the hugest part of why they won.

Coaches play a big part in all that. Professional coaches, in all sports, don't get there is they have low IQ for their sport. Dwayne Casey is a smart guy, and a pretty good coach. His play calling is fine... his defensive systems are all fine. he can, and has done the job wonderfully, nobody watching last year could argue against that. BUT. It crashed. So there has to be changes, and he might be one of those changes. But, my good friend Jimi, don't think for a moment its because he is missing anything on the floor, or that the good folks at Raptors Republic here are better qualified....they aren't. Its not even close enough for there to be a discussion. We're smart fans. That's it, that is the extent and that's where it ends. and Zach Lowe.... he's a decent analyst, but get him to commit 100% to saying ANY coach is inept, or that he knows what is happening in their room.... he won't. because he can't. And he is smart enough not to extend himself past his own limitations. Its called being a pro....but he isn't a pro basketball coach just yet, so lets just simmer down on that idea.

Another Craig solliloquy. Love it, bro. But, unfortunately, you are missing a few major points. Chemistry doesn't always change because of some interpersonal behind the scenes stuff. It can change because the players stop believing in the system.

I experienced this chemistry vs. system effect personally in business. We had a company where the chemistry was almost utopian - outsiders who came in couldn't believe how together everybody was. We had a hot new product and in the early days, everything was great. People worked massive overtime for no pay and hung around together - everybody loved everybody, genuinely. But then the market shifted, and management wasn't quick enough to change our product line to react to the competition; however, management kept pushing the old product which became a dead-end. Eventually the key sales and technical people stopped believing in management and stopped giving their best efforts, because they knew they were in vain.

Point being: it was the management strategy and lack of adjustment itself that killed the company chemistry. Losing, led to finger-pointing and blaming each other, and management never adapted in time to right the ship before permanent damage to the chemistry was done. Does this sound familiar?

Footnote: eventually we turfed the CEO, developed some new products and effective re-started the company, but not before having to let go about 80% of the staff. All of that could have been avoided if management had recognized the competitive shift earlier and adapted to the market by investing in new development.

You are posterior extracting theories big-time and always try to make it look like there's some behind-the-scenes NBA professional stuff that we message board warriors can never know, so STFU. I can pull stuff out of my butt, just as easily and so can everybody else on this board.. and please do, btw.

So another grand unified theory as to what went wrong with this team is simply that the players stopped believing in Casey's system both on offense and defense, and just stopped giving max effort. They understood that the league had figured them out. Casey wouldn't adjust (aka. Pound the Rock) and got called out by JJ, and possibly challenged by Lowry, and the players simply gave up knowing that the system was destined to fail.

Secondly, the idea that message board warriors can't comment on anything that experts do is ludicrous. It's like me not being able to challenge the principal of my kid's school because the school's provincial ranking has slipped for 3 straight years.

Casey is not being judged against us message-boarders, he's being super-judged against his peers. Professional sports is a different animal. At any one time, 1/3rd of the coaches are doing great, 1/3rd are mediocre and 1/3rd suck - depending on your criteria: (1) regular season wins, (3) playoff wins, (3) player development, etc...

So, it's fair game to say that Casey is a decent regular season coach in a weak division, but he sucks as a playoff coach. Them's just the facts, bro. But for some reason, message board warriors aren't allowed to say that? But you are allowed to say that he's a good coach? Double standard there and again, missing the bigger point that these coaches and GM's are failing all the time (relative to each other).

What the heck are message board warriors actually allowed to talk about and comment on, then?

[Superjudge]

naked girls.

[golden]

naked girls.

Hahahahaha. Brilliant.