Johnny Jones is not like Dale Brown

So many times, people make the remark that Jones is Dale Brown 2.0, that he can bring players in but not win with them. This is not the case, and never was an issue with Brown.

People look back at the CJ/Shaq team and use this criticism, but the problem was internal conflicts. I knew members on that team, and we heard a lot of crap. They fought a lot, Wayne Sims gave CJ a black eye. Mo Williamson said he could average 30 pts a game too if he shot the ball 30 times. There was a big rift between the CJ run-and-gun group, and the Shaq/Stanley power down low group (fwiw, I don't think Shaq was an instigator).

Anyway- Brown would have done big things with this team, because he excelled in one thing Jones hasn't yet- bench presence. Last night, we saw the entire team choke up. Daddy Dale would have pulled Mickey, Quarterman and Hornsby out at various points, and you would have seen them on the bench beside the coach for a minute or so. Getting calm, composed, refocused etc.

Brown would get beat with some X and O stuff, but that didn't beat Jones last night. Jones lost because he lost Hornsby for the entire game, Mickey got overwhelmed late, and Quarterman started panicking when he saw his teammates beginning to freeze up. Somehow, Jones needs to become the guy who sees and corrects that.

Now, I will say this encouraged me- the shot of Gray being active on the bench and pumping the guys on the court was nice. I was worried that he might be a guy that might pout when he's out.