From Distance: I’m Getting Annoyed

four point play….

1. Two weeks of playoff basketball has already taken a bit of life out of the average NBA junkie. An occasional weekend binge, and/or the joy of daily basketball intake is certainly a lovely way to “live one’s best life”. Four games in one night, however, are simply too overwhelming to properly enjoy. I gotta admit, it’s made me a bit basketball salty. It’s a shame really, because this past Wednesday featured some incredible performances.

2. Let’s start with Russell Westbrook and OKC Thunder’s comeback against our semi-beloved Utah Jazz. Oh dear Russ. You really do a fantastic job of solidifying everyone’s arguments. It’s hilarious really.

Pros: Dropped 45, 15, and seven, nailing huge second half bombs in a successful effort to come back from a 25 point third quarter deficit. Westbrook pulled up for nylon on a dime, drove for his own dunks, hand fed teammates for theirs, and generally reminded Donovan Mitchell that he’s still a crazy man capable of winning any game.

Cons: Took 39 shots to get his 45 points, turned the ball over five times, played poor angles defensively allowing easy cross-court passes for wide open Jazz threes, turned a game of five-on-five into two-on-five by freezing out his own teammates in favor of Paul George or his own shot.

Listen, he was spectacular in the second half. When Russ drills his always too numerous attempts, he is every bit as destructive of an offensive player as his supporters claim. When he isn’t hitting, he’s every bit as destructive of an offensive player as his critiques claim.

It cracks me up to see both good and bad Russ demonstrated so strongly in one game. Here’s a fun fact:

In Game 5, Westbrook and George shot the ball 65 times. The entire rest of the Thunder’s roster took 24 shots.

The Jazz are going to win this series. They are the superior team. Had Gobert not picked up some cheap first half fouls, the series would probably be over. Still, it might be in their best interests to check Jae Crowder’s green light a bit.

Ending 14 possessions with a Crowder three doesn’t smell like the recipe for success, open shot or not. Our old buddy, Jae did drill six of 14, but if I’m Billy Donovan, I would take… Oh never mind. Billy Donovan is hardly paying attention.

3. Speaking of coaches that are hardly paying attention, let’s do a quick coaching ranking from best to worst of those left in the playoffs.

The Good Ones!

Steve Kerr: I’m not going to bother explaining this. If you question whether Kerr is a great coach, you probably aren’t going to be swayed by anything I could write in this space.

Quin Snyder: He’s been doing a fantastic job for a few years now. His consistency in approach and as a leader has gone a bit under the radar until this season. His hair has always been on point.

I’ve been impressed by Snyder’s ability to make the twin tower lineup work up front while allowing Donovan Mitchell and Ricky Rubio to play their respective games. It’s not an easy line to toe.

Synder likes to play with a system, but like Popovich, he is able to make adjustments based on his personnel. Snyder knows Favors and Gobert are two of his five best players. He put them on the floor and with great focus on big to big passing, Snyder has given those guys a chance to succeed. Oh, and he’s featured Joe Ingles. Man, I love that guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Znv8lz4iOEU&t=1s

Brad Stevens: I can already hear Evil Genius screaming “what has he ever won!” Fair point. And really, I almost thought about bumping him down into the next group after he strangely decided to take Aron Baynes out of the starting lineup.

I understand the Bucks went more mobile with Thon Maker, but that shouldn’t scare Stevens out of playing his best starting lineup. Let Maker beat you from deep if he can. It didn’t end up costing them points at the start of the game, but I believe the tone that Aron Baynes sets is crucial for the Celtic’s success. They weren’t as physical in Game 6.

Other than that, Stevens has only made practically every player who has ever played for him perform between 10 and 100% better than the player played previously or subsequently. He knows what he is doing.

Brett Brown!!

updated because he is awesome and somehow I forgot to put him in here:

A rare example of an organisation that sticks with a great coach despite a lack of conventional success. Brown has his Sixers playing phenomenal defense at every level. His offense led the East in passes per game this past season.

The way Brown has led his young players through the “Process” was impressive enough. His flow offense is another level of fun. Sheesh. How I forgot him in the first draft of this piece is beyond me.

The Boring Middle

Dwane Casey, Alvin Gentry, Nate McMillan, and Mike D’Antoni don’t even deserve bold face type at the moment.

They are good when they have the right players, good assistants, and are paying attention. They are below average, but fine when they don’t have those things.

D’Antoni probably deserves to be at the top of this list for his innovation, but his lifelong aversion to defense makes it hard for me to give him too many props for his offensive success. Morey did a great job of giving D’Antoni plus level defenders who can shoot. The Rockets’ major uptick in defensive efficiency has far more to do with personnel than it does scheme.

Casey and Gentry have done decent jobs at times and have been awful at times. Eh. Fine. I’d go with Gentry if I had to choose, but I wouldn’t be happy in that restaurant.

Nate McMillan is a confusing case study. He’s one more competent season away from deserving some high praise. I loved him as a player, he did a good job in Portland, but until this past season, he had been underwhelming in Indiana. Here’s hoping he doesn’t improve his resume in the upcoming week.

The “Where Am I?” Guys

Billy Donovan: Apparently, he is good in player development. Great. Only, that’s not really what NBA head coaches do. It’s hard to completely judge Billy when he is saddled with a guy like Russell Westbrook. That being said, part of being a good head coach is precisely that ability to turn inefficient talent into high level play.

Last year’s triple double palooza may have been directly ordered by the OKC ownership. Perhaps they told Billy, “this season is all about Russ. We don’t care about anything else”. If that was the case, Donovan did a great job. I doubt that was the case. In general, Donovan has been poor with rotations and weak in player management. But, boy does he dress well!

Scott Brooks: Probably the worst coach in the league. It’s hard to rip Brooks for the same reason as it is for Donovan, but I’m not going to blame Russ for everything.

Brooks is bad. He doesn’t make in game adjustments. He still favors an incredibly conservative defensive scheme even though he actually has players with the length and speed to play aggressively. In his entire career, he has yet to run a coherent offense that doesn’t just rely on two ball dominant guards taking turns. It’s ridiculous.

I was shocked when Brooks got another coaching gig after his stint in OKC. Surely, there are better basketball minds out there just waiting for their shot. Instead, DC has had the good fortune to have employed Randy Wittman and Scott Brooks. No wonder the players wear black all the time.

4. Ty Lue: Lue is a step above Brooks, but it’s hard to see how he is any better than Billy Donovan. One can, (and likely will) shot out “championship!”

Yes, Ty Lue was the head coach of an NBA Champion. It still sounds weird and I covered the whole thing. I won’t make fun of him for his high chair of for his goldfish like appearance. It adds to the frivolity of his personage, but those things have nothing to do with his coaching acumen.

I don’t even mind his regular season relaxation. Lue has allowed the players to be in full-fledged “chill-mode” for the last two regular seasons. That’s ultimately fine as long as they flip the switch in the playoffs.

His scheme adjustments in seven game series have been relatively solid from one game to the next. Lue isn’t fantastic in game with defensive scheme adjustments, but he and his coaching staff have shown the ability to make decent changes over the course of a series.

What I do mind, is his complete inability to play his best guys! I’m getting to a point of “blog boy” rage in this one. Look, I understand we are all a bit biased. We throw our hats in the ring with certain guys and hope they succeed. I did it with Mathew Dellavedova and I’ve done it again with Cedi Osman.

Is my belief in those guys a bit stronger than it should be? Perhaps, but I’d like to find out! Every week that Jeff Green gets minutes over Cedi Osman and Ante Zizic is a week that I’m going to complain about Ty Lue.

The Cavs have the talent to make the Finals again. LeBron James is a benevolent basketball god, raining game winning threes and blocking (or goal-tending, whatever) the opposition’s chance at victory.

Maybe LeBron is sure that Jeff Green gives the team a better chance and Lue doesn’t have the courage to change his mind? I don’t think so. James has been open to all sorts of changes throughout his career.

It shouldn’t matter. A great coach would see what is happening, and make adjustments to the rotation that help team ball. I’ve said it before and I will say it again. It seems Lue prefers guys who are good at one-on-one over guys that are good at five-on-five. It’s idiotic. There isn’t enough season left for this nonsense. There will be even less left if Lue doesn’t get the memo.

Thank you, LeBron, for playing a historical game 5, one that should silence any whispers about your level of engagement. You are a living masterclass in basketball. Could we bother you for one more favor?

Pull Ty aside, tell him you need guys who play hard and have brains. Get Green and Clarkson out of there. I’m blog boy begging you.

Note: Joe Prunty is also a coach. The NBA world seems to forget his name. I thought it fitting to reflect that by my omitting him from the list above. Because, comedy. He’s probably a “boring middle guy”, but we don’t know yet.