re: Is Monty Really Learning?

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I think it's more notable for the faster pace and dedicating time to the Finishing Five (last 5 minutes of the quarter. Monty was definitely treating the fully healthy team differently than the BRob lead Pelicans.

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Yet you brought up the record. Let's say that the team is healthy and goes 9-6. That's a 0.600 winning percentage and puts you at 49 wins. That is currently good for 7th in the Western conference right now and only 1 game ahead of 8th.

Again, I am happy to see the play improved all around and especially Davis and Evans' development, but I can't realistically give Monty much credit here. Even if it were something he figured out, look at how long it took him. What happens next season when he has to re-mesh the starters all together?

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Why is it a shite roster? He has Davis who is playing out of his mind, Tyreke is a legit player, Gordon despite his issues is a legit player, and a bunch of decent talent. They looked like "shite" as you call it because they were misused. Hell, Philly beat Miami earlier in the season, does that mean their coach is great or their talent isn't that bad?

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Umm, you have a PG rotation of Brian Roberts and Austin Rivers. In the frontcourt, you have Anthony Davis playing with several guys who will have to fight to stay in the NBA. What's hard to figure out?

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When Monty makes the same mistakes next year (i.e. player rotations, in game coaching, lineups) what will be the excuse then?

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What does it need to be to make you happy? Just go with that.

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Umm, you have a PG rotation of Brian Roberts and Austin Rivers. In the frontcourt, you have Anthony Davis playing with several guys who will have to fight to stay in the NBA. What's hard to figure out?

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These teams have looked poorly coached for 2.5 years and everyone simply said it was talent. Now we have several playmakers, and you want to focus on the PG position. Who is starting Roberts so much? Please tell me? If he is so horrible, shift players around. Hell let Gordon play the 1 and Evans can shift between the 2 and 3 with Rivers and others giving time at the other.

You can't simply praise him when a nice run happens and ignore everything else. This team with Jrue was still 0.500 most of the season. To get into the playoffs, they need to be at least 0.600, so I seriously doubt Monty's PG options right now is the sole reason.

I think it's really hard to say if Williams is learning or not. The problem isn't when he runs out of options and is forced to use whatever talent he has left. The problem is when he does have options. I'm actually scared to think what he'll do next season when everyone is healthy again.

Will he move Evans back to the bench? Will he force Evans into an offball role like earlier in the season? Will he run his offense through a back up? I think there will be a lot of questions that needs to be answered.

Williams has certainly bought himself another season. With the current development pace of Davis, I don't think any GM in the league would fire him right now.

We're just going to have to wait and see if Williams can evolve form this season. It'll be an important season for both him and the team next year.

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I want discussion, what I was hoping to avoid was emotional lashing out where even the slightest hint of disagreement makes someone an enemy. Kind of like what's going on here where you're treating me like some Monty apologist when I started this thread which basically calls Monty out.

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You have to know your audience. This board (your audience) is largely irrational and emotional.

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I started this thread saying I didn't think Monty was actually learning despite the recent success. I asked for opinions on both sides, I want discussion, what I was hoping to avoid was emotional lashing out where even the slightest hint of disagreement makes someone an enemy. Kind of like what's going on here where you're treating me like some Monty apologist when I started this thread which basically calls Monty out.

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I am not saying you are. Actually it's this Galactic Inquisitor chap that is the emotionally reacting one. Nothing negative can be said against Monty according to him because he hasn't had crap to work with and nothing is his fault.

I agree with you, there isn't much we can do unless Benson sees the same thing and is willing to buyout Monty. I just disagree with those saying Monty is learning or proving his worth at this point. Guy is simply in over his head and I seriously doubt he's the one responsible for AD's development.

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I seriously doubt he's the one responsible for AD's development.

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Even if he wasn't, his staff would be right? If he gets fired, you'd have to assume that his entire staff goes with him. You have to believe that Williams or his staff played a huge role in Davis development. That's enough for me to keep him on board for another season. No one... not even us fans expected Davis to become a top 10 scorer in 1 year. That's just absurd any way you put it.

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Even if he wasn't, his staff would be right? If he gets fired, you'd have to assume that his entire staff goes with him. You have to believe that Williams or his staff played a huge role in Davis development. That's enough for me to keep him on board for another season. No one... not even us fans expected Davis to become a top 10 scorer in 1 year. That's just absurd any way you put it.

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I agree his staff has done a reasonable job, but how much of it is coaching and the other experience pushing his development? The kid was very young and still shifting his game, but just because Monty and staff happen to be his coaches while he develops doesn't mean all of his development is thanks to them. Do you think Paul Silas or Mike Brown are responsible for Lebron James' development?

As for a top scoring player in year 2, it's not so shocking if you realized the kid's talent. Just because he wasn't scoring 30 ppg in college doesn't mean he didn't have the ability. At UK he was simply surrounded by a ton of talent and they spread the ball around to everyone. If you watched those teams, Davis clearly could've scored at will much of the time if he wanted to do so.

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As for a top scoring player in year 2, it's not so shocking if you realized the kid's talent. Just because he wasn't scoring 30 ppg in college doesn't mean he didn't have the ability. At UK he was simply surrounded by a ton of talent and they spread the ball around to everyone. If you watched those teams, Davis clearly could've scored at will much of the time if he wanted to do so

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You're absolutely wrong on his scoring ability coming out of college. He had nice form on his jumper, but his handle and moves with the ball were a mess. He was a dive man and garbage man coming into the league.

Last year he could not create a shot for himself on a regular basis. Many analysts doubted we would see that from him for a few years, if ever. That he's doing it now at high volume AND high efficiency is astounding.

His ceiling is limitless from what we've seen over 100+ games.