#Don'tFireCasey

[LJ2]

A couple of people on this board is not "a lot". Not many people on this planet would take Washington's backcourt over ours. Do you think Nene was more talented than JV or Amir last season too?

Def think JV was still gaining experience and was playing against seasoned vets. Amir was hobbled all of last season wasn't he?

[Barolt]

Def think JV was still gaining experience and was playing against seasoned vets. Amir was hobbled all of last season wasn't he?

Are we using 'JV was still gaining experience' as a euphemism for 'JV had his ass stapled to the bench by Casey' now?

[Nilanka]

Even factoring out that Wall and Beal are top 3 picks in their respective drafts...say if both pairings were healthy, whom do you think from an outside perspective and not as a fan would be considered the more talented. Now go back to last years playoffs when Wall/Beal were healthy and our best player was playing injured. I dunno, seems pretty clear that talent as well as health was an issue. Gortat/Nene, Pierce, some good bench players....they seemed to be "all in".

If all four guys are healthy and in their prime, I'll admit it's a toss up. But factor in team record to help make a decision.

[LJ2]

Did anyone see the timeout late in the fourth last night where Casey drew up a play and Lowry shook his head and took over telling the team what to do. He then looked like he was jawing with Casey and left the huddle early when everyone else (minus demar too) put their fist in. Is it possible that Lowry is being professional on the surface but behind the scenes is not getting a long with Casey or is only pretending to in order to maintain peace?

Seen them argue a few times on the floor. Notably when Casey calls a timeout at times when Lowry wants to push the ball. Definitely don't think Casey and Lowry get along as well as is reflected in the media.

[Axel]

There was nothing Casey could have done to get us past Washington last season. Lowry was clearly exhausted and injured, or at least hurt. He is our best player and leader, the team goes where he goes, and he was playing like a bag of smashed assholes. If this seasons Lowry had shown up for that series last season, would have been very different. I doubt we would have won, but we would have taken some games for sure. Their strengths were our weaknesses, and Lou was easily handled. They shut down Lowry, shhut down Lou, and made it extremely difficult for Derozan. That was the recipe for beating the Raps, and WAS executed it well. I`m not sure there were any adjustments Casey could have made that would have changed that series.

There was plenty Casey could have done, and most of it he should have done starting in October. Good teams know that the regular season is a long fight, so you have to use it to prepare to be in the best place possible for playoffs. This means schemes, rotations, roles throughout the season are used to prepare the team for the real test. Using JV more would have decreased the burden on KL/DD to create offence. Installing an offence (note that I didn't even have to use the disclaimer of a good/real/intelligent offence because we had none) would have allowed more players to be involved and wouldn't have relied on a few players to create the entire offence. It also would have helped guys who aren't shot creators (like Ross and PPatt) to carry move offence.

Once the playoffs started, we were behind the 8ball because of Casey and his decisions (or lack of decisions). He then chose to use rarely seen lineup combos (GV at SF) or weird assignments (Hansbrough on Pierce while JJ sat). He tried nothing to help us win when in the playoffs you should be trying anything and everything.

Do you think anyone would take Lowry over Wall? Even a lot of our own fans would rather have Beal than DeMar. Washington, whether flawed or not are much more of a talented team than we were and you could argue are still.

This is a team game. Our team beat their team every time they faced off in the regular season. No justification for how poorly we played in the playoffs.

[slaw]

What?

I'm sorry, but you've gotten this complete ass backwards. Talent is more likely to propel you to wins in the regular season, but once the playoffs come, the talent gap shrinks and it comes down to strategy and execution for the most part; of which coaching is a huge part of that (creating the appropriate strategies and adjustments for your personnel and getting players in the best position to execute that strategy).

Exactly. The team with the most talented player rarely, if ever really, wins in the playoffs. It usually boils down to a coach changing his substitution pattern or defensive tactics. That's precisely why Lebron James has been to 5 straight Finals cause Eric Spoelstra and David Blatt are simply amazing strategists and tacticians. That's what it really comes down to. It's the reason why those guys make ~$2 million a year and Lebron only makes ~$20 million.

Do you guys seriously believe that talent doesn't rule in the NBA? All the lessons and evidence of 30 years of the modern NBA have taught you that winning in the playoffs is a result of strategy and tactics?

[Mess]

Not sure why you gave a longwinded rambling answer to a simple question.

What a coach says to the media has ZERO to do with who he starts, his rotations, his schemes or any of the myriad other functions of coaching,.

Of course. But I have to believe that no one here is actually upset by what Casey says about Scola, they're upset that he's still starting him.



Anyway, the rest of my rambling reply to your rhetorical question was just explaining "what's the point?", to myself I guess.

[KeonClark]

Seen them argue a few times on the floor. Notably when Casey calls a timeout at times when Lowry wants to push the ball. Definitely don't think Casey and Lowry get along as well as is reflected in the media.

As Nilanka said, they don't need to be best buddies. They just need to make it work, which they are. Lowry will never be a "coach's player". As far as his maturity has come, that's just not in his nature. He's not a yes man, he's a hard headed Philly boy. And that is a huge part of what makes him so great. He's also renowned around the league for his knowledge of other teams schemes and the x and o's of basketball. Casey is a people manager, and his floor general is a schematic master. It's a good situation.

[Barolt]

Exactly. The team with the most talented player rarely, if ever really, wins in the playoffs. It usually boils down to a coach changing his substitution pattern or defensive tactics. That's precisely why Lebron James has been to 5 straight Finals cause Eric Spoelstra and David Blatt are simply amazing strategists and tacticians. That's what it really comes down to. It's the reason why those guys make ~$2 million a year and Lebron only makes ~$20 million.

Do you guys seriously believe that talent doesn't rule in the NBA? All the lessons and evidence of 30 years of the modern NBA have taught you that winning in the playoffs is a result of strategy and tactics?

Spo is a very, very good coach. I think Blatt is a good coach too.

[Axel]

Exactly. The team with the most talented player rarely, if ever really, wins in the playoffs. It usually boils down to a coach changing his substitution pattern or defensive tactics. That's precisely why Lebron James has been to 5 straight Finals cause Eric Spoelstra and David Blatt are simply amazing strategists and tacticians. That's what it really comes down to. It's the reason why those guys make ~$2 million a year and Lebron only makes ~$20 million.

Do you guys seriously believe that talent doesn't rule in the NBA? All the lessons and evidence of 30 years of the modern NBA have taught you that winning in the playoffs is a result of strategy and tactics?

Did I say that talent doesn't matter in the playoffs? (The answer is no, I did not).

But all the teams in the playoffs are talented, so scheme and matchups play a much larger part in determining who wins. We aren't talking about losing to LeBron James, so perhaps we should limit examples to players who actually took the court in our historically poor performance.

[white men can't jump]

Exactly. The team with the most talented player rarely, if ever really, wins in the playoffs. It usually boils down to a coach changing his substitution pattern or defensive tactics. That's precisely why Lebron James has been to 5 straight Finals cause Eric Spoelstra and David Blatt are simply amazing strategists and tacticians. That's what it really comes down to. It's the reason why those guys make ~$2 million a year and Lebron only makes ~$20 million.

Do you guys seriously believe that talent doesn't rule in the NBA? All the lessons and evidence of 30 years of the modern NBA have taught you that winning in the playoffs is a result of strategy and tactics?

It's not that talent doesn't rule, but there aren't that many LeBrons....

You can say Cleveland is clearly more talented, they have the best player and other all-stars on top of it...You can say similar things for GSW, SAS and OKC...all very talented and deep with all-time greats on their roster. Last year you might have wanted to throw Chicago, LAC and Houston in there...maybe....but they're all obviously more flawed and less talented than the aforementioned.

There is no such gap between Toronto and Washington. And gaps are generally quite small between such teams if there at all. You know what other kind of cliché is said about the league...there are a handful of teams that are obviously less talented, a handful of teams that are obviously more talented, and a bunch in the middle where the differences are small and the advantage goes to the team that plays harder and executes better. We are in that middle pack. So was Washington. And yes, Lowry playing like crap likely means we lose the series every time...but Lowry playing like crap shouldn't mean us getting swept very badly.

[LJ2]

Good description of Lowry right there. I think you just have to take note of his dislike for ref's to to realize he has some sort of grown up issue for authority figures, lol. I actually didn't know he was renowned around the league for his knowledge of other teams schemes. He is a very smart player so I wouldn't doubt it. I just wonder if this thing between he and Casey can last though.

[LJ2]

It's not that talent doesn't rule, but there aren't that many LeBrons....

You can say Cleveland is clearly more talented, they have the best player and other all-stars on top of it...You can say similar things for GSW, SAS and OKC...all very talented and deep with all-time greats on their roster. Last year you might have wanted to throw Chicago, LAC and Houston in there...maybe....but they're all obviously more flawed and less talented than the aforementioned.

There is no such gap between Toronto and Washington. And gaps are generally quite small between. You know what other kind of cliché is said about the league...there are a handful of teams that are obviously less talented, a handful of teams that are obviously more talented, and a bunch in the middle where the differences are small and the advantage goes to the team that plays harder and executes better. We are in that middle pack. So was Washington. And yes, Lowry playing like crap likely means we lose the series every time...but Lowry playing like crap shouldn't mean us getting swept very badly.

I just think that without Lowry, this is a very mediocre team. He is the one player that propels us to a competitive level. Last season was anyone talking about DeMar being a worthy All Star? JV, was still being taken advantage by veteran players and looking lost in a lot of defensive schemes, Ross was having a terrible year.

[slaw]

Did I say that talent doesn't matter in the playoffs? (The answer is no, I did not).

But all the teams in the playoffs are talented, so scheme and matchups play a much larger part in determining who wins. We aren't talking about losing to LeBron James, so perhaps we should limit examples to players who actually took the court in our historically poor performance.

When a team gets swept 4-0 and is blown out in 3 of the games a few tactical or even strategic adjustments by a coaching staff aren't going to suddenly turn the tables. They didn't lose by 2 points here or there where tweaks and adjustments would have made a difference. Raps lost because they were one of the worst defensive teams in the league and one of the worst rebounding teams in the league by the end of the season. Raps lost because their best player (Wall) thoroughly outplayed the Raps best player (Lowry) in every respect. Same could be said for Beal vs. Derozan and Gortat/Nene vs. JV.

Could Casey have done a better job? Sure, but they didn't lose the series because they were outcoached, they lost because Washington was, at that point of the season, a far, far better team. The writing was on the wall long before that series ever started. Raps would have been hard pressed to beat anyone the way they were playing by the middle of April.

[tDotted]

When a team gets swept 4-0 and is blown out in 3 of the games a few tactical or even strategic adjustments by a coaching staff aren't going to suddenly turn the tables. They didn't lose by 2 points here or there where tweaks and adjustments would have made a difference. Raps lost because they were one of the worst defensive teams in the league and one of the worst rebounding teams in the league by the end of the season. Raps lost because their best player (Wall) thoroughly outplayed the Raps best player (Lowry) in every respect. Same could be said for Beal vs. Derozan and Gortat/Nene vs. JV.

Could Casey have done a better job? Sure, but they didn't lose the series because they were outcoached, they lost because Washington was, at that point of the season, a far, far better team. The writing was on the wall long before that series ever started. Raps would have been hard pressed to beat anyone the way they were playing by the middle of April.

So the coach has no effect on things like team defense? Interesting