Zach Lowe's piece on the raps

[white men can't jump]

From my perspective it doesn't matter a damn which coach it originates from. The coaches are a team too, at least they have to be. The key point is that all the screaming for Casey's head because of the very poor offense, was misdirected. People are now saying "wow, where did this offense come from?", which is giving Casey a chuckle at the fan fickleness, that pinned all the blame on him, when he's been running the same offense all along. Nothing has changed but the players. As some people say, there's far too much finger pointing at the coach, whether things go bad or good.

I actually think from a coaching perspective, the best thing that's happened for Casey is the Gay trade not because of losing Gay, but because the influx of the new guys Masai got in the deal has basically forced him into a certain rotation. Casey's biggest weaknesses all along have been more about in-game management related to rotation, and also set plays out of timeouts/dead ball situations.

-He's basically forced into a 4 big rotation, with Patterson being a shooting big so he's not enticed to use a specialist like Novak too much, or desperately grasp at fringe guys like Daye to give him something unexpected.
-Salmons is a veteran wing with a solid mental game that he can play over Ross in crunch time, but isn't good enough to really bench Ross a lot, forcing Casey to rely on the youngster. Fields is clearly not going to get time with his wonky shot. Just like with the bigs, Novak doesn't fit in great to overuse as a SF since he has better 2-way options that can shoot decently enough.
-Vasquez in has steadied the PG situation which was in flux every game.

Casey's rotation has basically been dictated by management with the players they've given him. Far less moments where you see him make a sub and you're like "wtf is going on Casey?".

Would still like to see the team execute better out of timeouts and similar situations. But meh....the rotations were always the most annoying part, because they seemed to also not really make sense in terms of accountability.

Apart from starting 5, the 4 guys getting good burn are PP, Hansbrough, Salmons and Vasquez.

Guys not getting burn are Novak, Fields, Daye, Buycks, Stone and Hayes. The last 4 there should never get minutes unless it's an absolute emergency. Novak will still see the floor occasionally. And well...poor Fields with his messed up elbow just seems like a sad case where by default he becomes an emergency guy like the aforementioned 4 end of benchers.

[iblastoff]

From my perspective it doesn't matter a damn which coach it originates from. The coaches are a team too, at least they have to be. The key point is that all the screaming for Casey's head because of the very poor offense, was misdirected. People are now saying "wow, where did this offense come from?", which is giving Casey a chuckle at the fan fickleness, that pinned all the blame on him, when he's been running the same offense all along. Nothing has changed but the players. As some people say, there's far too much finger pointing at the coach, whether things go bad or good.

of course no one here including me can know for sure, but theres no way the offense has been the same its always been. how would that account for derozans sudden surge in sharing the ball? did he all of a sudden become more than a one dimensional player practically overnight? i remember in one of the player interviews, apparently casey had set a minimum # of assists per goal for the team. clearly that minimum goal wasn't set there before, or players just didn't listen to him till after gay left.

[p00ka]

I actually think from a coaching perspective, the best thing that's happened for Casey is the Gay trade not because of losing Gay, but because the influx of the new guys Masai got in the deal has basically forced him into a certain rotation. Casey's biggest weaknesses all along have been more about in-game management related to rotation, and also set plays out of timeouts/dead ball situations.

-He's basically forced into a 4 big rotation, with Patterson being a shooting big so he's not enticed to use a specialist like Novak too much, or desperately grasp at fringe guys like Daye to give him something unexpected.
-Salmons is a veteran wing with a solid mental game that he can play over Ross in crunch time, but isn't good enough to really bench Ross a lot, forcing Casey to rely on the youngster. Fields is clearly not going to get time with his wonky shot. Just like with the bigs, Novak doesn't fit in great to overuse as a SF since he has better 2-way options that can shoot decently enough.
-Vasquez in has steadied the PG situation which was in flux every game.

Casey's rotation has basically been dictated by management with the players they've given him. Far less moments where you see him make a sub and you're like "wtf is going on Casey?".

Would still like to see the team execute better out of timeouts and similar situations. But meh....the rotations were always the most annoying part, because they seemed to also not really make sense in terms of accountability.

Apart from starting 5, the 4 guys getting good burn are PP, Hansbrough, Salmons and Vasquez.

Guys not getting burn are Novak, Fields, Daye, Buycks, Stone and Hayes. The last 4 there should never get minutes unless it's an absolute emergency. Novak will still see the floor occasionally. And well...poor Fields with his messed up elbow just seems like a sad case where by default he becomes an emergency guy like the aforementioned 4 end of benchers.

Some good points, but if recent successes are strongly attributed to being "forced" by the roster he has, wouldn't the same apply to being "forced" to deal with the the roster he had before the trade, including rotations? Let's face it, even a Popovich sends out some fugly line-ups when his players aren't executing, in an effort to get SOMETHING working. He's not facing that often at all, but Casey was.

At the end of the day, far too much criticism goes the coach's way when things are bad, and far too much credit goes to coaches when things go good. For it to go good, whoever the coach is, he needs to have:
A) the horses
B) them horses to execute

Rudy's very high TO, ball stopping, very inefficient ISO ways were never part of the game plan, and the fallout from it was affecting the entire offense, including the mentality of teammates. The sets are exactly the same now, but the players are executing what was being preached, and very unselfishly.

Anybody who saw Casey pulling out his hair on the sideline or on the bench has to realize that what the team was doing wasn't what he had in mind, and was preaching. It's like Josh Smith driving multiple coaches to Atlanta rubber rooms over the years. A gifted athlete who just refused to execute anything other than his own idea of being an outside shooting SF, game plan be damned.

[planetmars]

But those post-Melo teams never got by the first round, and Ujiri was open during his tenure in Denver about his desire to land a top-10 overall star — either through the internal development of one, or by trading a pile of assets for one in a James Harden/Kevin Garnett–style deal. As we approach the trade deadline, Ujiri will evaluate all these factors in setting a course for his new team.

This is the first I heard of MU (when in Denver) looking to land a top-10 player via trade. I always thought of Denver as a team that just had a lot of depth and was going to try to win with that depth.

If MU is really looking at the Morey model of collecting assets and then using those assets to get a top-10 player then that's pretty exciting.

The only top-10 guy I see that might become available in the short term is Love. Minny is 3 games back from 8th seed and is below .500. Can't be a happy situation for Love when he wants a championship.

Tony Parker could be another one depending on if SA blows it up once Duncan and Manu retire. Tony is also a friend of Drake's

[psrs1]

DeMar's passion for winning trumps his friendship with Rudy. I admire how badly we wants to bring a winning culture to Toronto.

All the more reason to keep him moving forward.

[psrs1]

Makes me want to with hold my judgement on Casey, because the offence certainly looks different.

Don't get sucked. Casey is not a great coach. Let him finish out the year but we should look at other options for next year.

[Mediumcore]

This is the first I heard of MU (when in Denver) looking to land a top-10 player via trade. I always thought of Denver as a team that just had a lot of depth and was going to try to win with that depth.

If MU is really looking at the Morey model of collecting assets and then using those assets to get a top-10 player then that's pretty exciting.

The only top-10 guy I see that might become available in the short term is Love. Minny is 3 games back from 8th seed and is below .500. Can't be a happy situation for Love when he wants a championship.

Tony Parker could be another one depending on if SA blows it up once Duncan and Manu retire. Tony is also a friend of Drake's

The make up of this team would indicate that our strength lies in our defense. I think Love would hurt that and I can't picture Parker leaving San Antonio. I feel like if are going to acquire an elite player it would have to be at one of the wing positions. To me that would best compliment the current roster.

[Mediumcore]

All the more reason to keep him moving forward.

I love his passion, but imo it's not enough of a reason to keek him.

[planetmars]

The make up of this team would indicate that our strength lies in our defense. I think Love would hurt that and I can't picture Parker leaving San Antonio. I feel like if are going to acquire an elite player it would have to be at one of the wing positions. To me that would best compliment the current roster.

Defense is key and Love is pretty brutal at it, but I'm not sure where else we would find a top 10 talent that also brings the D, especially one that plays the wing. Assuming the draft is out of the question. I'm also assuming that we'd want this talent in 1-2 years.

[Masai Ujiri]

This is the first I heard of MU (when in Denver) looking to land a top-10 player via trade. I always thought of Denver as a team that just had a lot of depth and was going to try to win with that depth.

If MU is really looking at the Morey model of collecting assets and then using those assets to get a top-10 player then that's pretty exciting.

The only top-10 guy I see that might become available in the short term is Love. Minny is 3 games back from 8th seed and is below .500. Can't be a happy situation for Love when he wants a championship.

Tony Parker could be another one depending on if SA blows it up once Duncan and Manu retire. Tony is also a friend of Drake's

Love could be a possibility, but only if the lakers don't have cap space for him.

[The Great One]

That "Ross for Afflalo" bit kinda came out of nowhere.

No way i'd trade Ross for Afflalo.

[Masai Ujiri]

Defense is key and Love is pretty brutal at it, but I'm not sure where else we would find a top 10 talent that also brings the D, especially one that plays the wing. Assuming the draft is out of the question. I'm also assuming that we'd want this talent in 1-2 years.

You don't need an elite defender at every position. Love defends about as well as dirk does (in fact he's better because he's a beast on the glass) and he has a championship. Of course for that to work, Jonas would need to become an anchor inside,which is something a lot of people here are projecting for him.

[Nilanka]

Love could be a possibility, but only if the lakers don't have cap space for him.

I like Love's game, but I'm not convinced he's the type of franchise player that's capable of turning a team around. Doesn't seem to make the players around him better.....unlike Pau Gasol did all those years in Memphis, or even KG in Minnesota.

[mountio]

I like Love's game, but I'm not convinced he's the type of franchise player that's capable of turning a team around. Doesn't seem to make the players around him better.....unlike Pau Gasol did all those years in Memphis, or even KG in Minnesota.

Agree with this. Hes out of excuses in Minny - another stat stuffing year and another losing year for the team. Obviously hed help any team, hes a very good player, but hes proven he cant be the #1 guy and lead a franchise to success.

[isaacthompson]

I like Love's game, but I'm not convinced he's the type of franchise player that's capable of turning a team around. Doesn't seem to make the players around him better.....unlike Pau Gasol did all those years in Memphis, or even KG in Minnesota.

Another thing with Love is that he's starting to earn the name of a stat-stuffer (the bold does well to reaffirm this). If you read some of Zach Lowe's other stuff, he says he's seen Love give up defense/boxing out to go for a rebound too many times.