Winslowalrob
January-15th-2007, 03:20 AM
I want to start out by saying that Eddie Jordan is a far better coach than most people give him credit for. The NBA is a player's league, and usually a good coach simply has to identify his best players and give them the most PT to be successful. Wait a minute, it seems that EJ already does that! Having Gibby, Caron, and AJ start is probably the best thing any coach can do for this roster, and EJ does not get cute with PT. He takes guys out to prevent injury rather than just kicking up stats. For the love of god guys, when we SLUMPED last year, EJ benched two starters and for some reason, got the team to kick it up a notch, and I have season VERY few coaching moves turn a season around like last year. He got a pretty good set of games from Etan this season (no mean feat). He subs pretty decently considering just how inconsistent a lot of our roster really is, and that we can close leads pretty quickly. Is he the perfect coach? No. Is he the best coach in the NBA? Probably not, but no coach can win anything without having superior players, and no coach can keep a team consistently in the playoffs without having some sort of coaching ability (because lord knows there are GREAT players out there that keep missing a run at the postseason, so its not ALL talent either). Eddie strikes a pretty good balance between a coach that does not try to screw up (playing your best 5 man rotation consistently) and a coach that tries to prepare us for big games (Every team this season has lost some clunkers to bad teams, and you have to admit that we can beat the good teams). And, I find it VERY interesting that Gibby, Antawn, Larry Hughes, and Caron Butler ALL blossomed under Eddie's tutelage. How many All-star games did they go to before they hooked up with Eddie? How come other coaches get lauded for taking no name players and molding them into quality ballers, yet nary a peep is heard about Eddie's abilities? A lot of people want big name players to join our roster, but Eddie does pretty damn good with whatever EG can give him. Either Eddie is a good coach because he has coaxed a lot of talent from unknown commodities or he is a good coach because he gives players we ALWAYS knew were good the most PT (Because I am sure all of you knew that Gibby, AJ, Larry, and Caron would be money before they put on Wiz uniforms). Most importantly, NOT MANY COACHES CAN WORK WITH ARENAS. For whatever reason, Arenas has been playing lights out for Jordan, and he is the type of player that would not mesh well with a lot of great coaches in the league.
Another point is that Gibby plays better defense than most star guards in the league, which is not that much to begin with, and a LOT more than Lebron James (who is not a guard but is in the conversation anyways). Outside of Kobe, no elite guard is a great defender, and you do not have to play defense to be elite (hello Steve Nash, Lebron, Wade, Kidd, etc.) To say the team is mediocre because the best and most important player is not a glorious defender, well then I guess the Suns are mediocre as well. And the Cavs. Remember guys, Larry Bird was not exactly a wall of defense, but he was clutch, which is usually preferable.
As for defense, we are still a bad defensive team. Unfortunately, with our roster we will have to blow up the whole thing (except for Caron) to turn into the Bulls or the championship Pistons. Otherwise, our roster is just as much to blame for our defense as our coach. And as lame as our defense is, we STILL beat the best teams in the league (meaning that it is not out of the question for our playing philosophy to be successful) and the league's rules and officiating are not kind enough to defense to make it a viable strategy. The Mavs do not win because of defense this year, neither do the Suns, and neither do the Lakers. Those teams have decent to good defenses, but they are not "defensive teams." The Pistons are not defensive juggernauts either. The Spurs are the only team I would consider both elite and defensively great. And we beat the leagues' best defensive team in a playoff match up two years ago (Remember Wilbon harping about the Baby Bulls?), so defense will not carry us anywhere in the East. How did the Suns, Mavs, and Heat get so far last year? Because of a suffocating defense, or having their stars take over? Just curious, I would really like to know.
And Gibby can NEVER play SG, he is too short, and for all of the people whining about his defense, wait until he has to guard people that can consistently shoot over him. His fouls will rack up, and the other team will still put up crazy amounts of points. He is a combo guard who has enough poise and leadership to be our point guard. I want the ball in his hands the most out of any player, but I suppose having worse defense and our best player constantly in foul trouble is more important to our armchair coaches.
As I said earlier, see you guys in the Eastern Conference Finals! The Takeover baby!
Another point is that Gibby plays better defense than most star guards in the league, which is not that much to begin with, and a LOT more than Lebron James (who is not a guard but is in the conversation anyways). Outside of Kobe, no elite guard is a great defender, and you do not have to play defense to be elite (hello Steve Nash, Lebron, Wade, Kidd, etc.) To say the team is mediocre because the best and most important player is not a glorious defender, well then I guess the Suns are mediocre as well. And the Cavs. Remember guys, Larry Bird was not exactly a wall of defense, but he was clutch, which is usually preferable.
As for defense, we are still a bad defensive team. Unfortunately, with our roster we will have to blow up the whole thing (except for Caron) to turn into the Bulls or the championship Pistons. Otherwise, our roster is just as much to blame for our defense as our coach. And as lame as our defense is, we STILL beat the best teams in the league (meaning that it is not out of the question for our playing philosophy to be successful) and the league's rules and officiating are not kind enough to defense to make it a viable strategy. The Mavs do not win because of defense this year, neither do the Suns, and neither do the Lakers. Those teams have decent to good defenses, but they are not "defensive teams." The Pistons are not defensive juggernauts either. The Spurs are the only team I would consider both elite and defensively great. And we beat the leagues' best defensive team in a playoff match up two years ago (Remember Wilbon harping about the Baby Bulls?), so defense will not carry us anywhere in the East. How did the Suns, Mavs, and Heat get so far last year? Because of a suffocating defense, or having their stars take over? Just curious, I would really like to know.
And Gibby can NEVER play SG, he is too short, and for all of the people whining about his defense, wait until he has to guard people that can consistently shoot over him. His fouls will rack up, and the other team will still put up crazy amounts of points. He is a combo guard who has enough poise and leadership to be our point guard. I want the ball in his hands the most out of any player, but I suppose having worse defense and our best player constantly in foul trouble is more important to our armchair coaches.
As I said earlier, see you guys in the Eastern Conference Finals! The Takeover baby!