Gentry Deserves Some Credit

This is a very good staff overall and Brandon Ingram becoming the closer will make Gentry look a lot smarter.

He does.

He deserves every bit of the credit he could possibly receive. This team could've quit on him and they did not. After losing 13 straight everyone expected him to be fired and for this team to just pack it in and call it a year. But they rallied and found their swagger and now will almost assuredly be in contention to make the playoffs if this team remains healthy. Cannot wait to see whats in store the rest of the way out.

My biggest issue with him has been he asks way too much of players/teams out the gate while not being the most disciplined manager of time and people. Made worse is he is often doing so to really young teams without a lot of experience together.

And I think that is reflective in his consistent slow, janky, frustrating starts to pretty much every season.

He wants perfect basketball: pace like the Nash Suns, decision-making on the break like the peak Warriors(but with even less turnovers than they commit), three point shooting like the Rockets, passing like the ultra efficient Spurs team that wiped out the Heat. Then on defense he asks for fast pace and tenacious dedication, and this year to execute a much more complex defensive system. In a coaching environment that is much more laid back and seemingly less intensely focused then most.

To me it isn’t a surprise that the net benefit was suddenly a major positive when Gentry and Co. took to heart the constructive criticism of the players(I think way too late into the season) and dialed some stuff back and made some compromises.


But he gets credit for not letting his ego get in the way and for keeping this team from emotionally falling apart. Adjusting his rotations to better align with what was working and what wasn’t. For tweaking his team system overall, if a bit later than he should have, and doing so in a way that has effectively turned us into one of the hottest teams in the league without two, sometimes three or four, of our best 5 players.

I tried to tell folks to just wait until the team got healthier.

Practically whole new team.
Zion, Favors, Ingram, Lonzo, Jrue...practically the whole team missed a ton of time to start the year. There was no reason for the overreaction until Favors and Zion got back.
Even if injuries didn’t happen it was going to take time to figure out the rotations and for all the new folks to get used to each other.

“Fire Gentry” was always a huge overreaction.

quote:

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He wants perfect basketball: pace like the Nash Suns, decision-making on the break like the peak Warriors(but with even less turnovers than they commit), three point shooting like the Rockets, passing like the ultra efficient Spurs team that wiped out the Heat. Then on defense he asks for fast pace and tenacious dedication, and this year to execute a much more complex defensive system. 

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works for me.
Optimum ceiling.

Expect the best.

Fwiw a lot of those warrior turnovers were people trying to entertain and make espn highlight reel rather than making the best basketball play.
They had a 7 foot eastern euro palooka trying to globetrotter. Kerr finally sat his arse.

Uncle Al has always done a good job steering the ship through rough waters. That is why he is going to make a hell of an embassador for this team in the near future.