Pretty self explanatory. In my mind, we aren’t in panic mode, we are in a dire situation. The club is run by someone who is all flash but has no ability of building a quality team within the salary cap. Calls for this team to enter the luxury tax are all well and good, but the history of what Bryan Colangelo does with money at his disposal during his time here is hardly uplifting. Don’t get me wrong, I do think Hedo will snap out of his funk (whether this funk comes from his own personal issues or being underutilized by the coaching staff is for you to decide) and I think DeRozan was a fine pick. However, when I said back in training camp that this is not a playoff team and the only way they would be one is if the bench overperforms, I meant it. Depth is more than just having a full roster, it means you have some form of talent, at least 12 players deep. We don’t and we haven’t for years. One man is responsible for that.
The coaching staff also needs to be tougher. Breaking clipboards doesn’t cut it. Many will remember how I also wasn’t a supporter of how Jay took a snit fit last year with Joey Graham, left the huddle and sat down. That’s not being a tough coach, that’s being an adolescent acting a fool. You want to be tough on a guy? Stand in front of him on the bench and yell, point, be demonstrative, make sure each and every one of your guys see you calling that player out, then you bench him. Hell, do more than that…make him sit beside one of your assistants the rest of the game and demand they listen to them. On-the-bench training. Show them what they SHOULD be doing and let the TV cameras catch you doing it. None of these guys want to be called out and once you do it a few times, I’d be amazed if they don’t sit up and take notice.
Minute by minute, I change my mind on if changes need to be made by firings being done. I’m not sure it will help, to be honest. In this past weeks podcast I questioned the intelligence of our players while Arsenalist questioned their physical abilities in the coverages being demanded of them. It’s probably a bit of both. It isn’t working, so, as Arse says, try zone a bit more, work little things in during this road trip and, once back home, try and come up with something. Colangelo should be demanding this. He should be requesting that the coaching staff provide him with a defensive strategy to make this team better. If the coaches don’t believe the current roster can live up to simple defensive principles, Colangelo should heed those comments and make changes. If he refuses to, he should be fired. If the coaching staff cannot provide a new plan, they should be fired.
We all scream about how this roster can’t sustain or isn’t putting forth effort, but at the same time, this franchise is lacking in accountability. Nice suits and the hiring of a national coaching icon only goes so far. It’s times like these that make a coach and a general manager. Work through the issues as a front-office team and come out stronger. If you can’t do it, only one person has made decisions for this franchise since 2006 and been around to see the team on a constant downward path.
As much as this season started off being one that questioned the return of Chris Bosh, it could possibly end off being one that starts the search for a new leader in a new suit.
