a new coach!? i think this is good....?

There's a lot on my mind today, as I reflect on the blazers game last night and Randy Wittman's first game as head coach. I'm having trouble getting over Jaric's never-ending blunders, but I feel as if I've spoken on him enough. I would like to reference his pass into the arms of the Blazer front court and his shimmy-ing defense on the fast break on Jarret Jack though.

One of my major points of contention with the team and management has always been its poor handling of the Flip Saunders situation, and its poor replacements (McHale and Casey). After a year and a half Casey had yet to teach his team to defend the pick-and-roll, or how to space the floor on a fast-break. I'm glad to see this change, but it really doesn't make much sense. Rick Bucher and practically all other NBA analysts continue to remind me that the Wolves were supposed to be a sub-.500 club, so the fact that they're the 8th seed in the playoffs right now is quite an achievement by the coaching staff. However, in the McHale press conference, he accurately pointed out that the club lacked any kind of consistency. Going 7-1 to start January, including victories over Detroit, San Antonio and Houston was great, but following it up with a loss to a decrepit Atlanta team days later are proof enough.

McHale is finally right to realize that they're something bigger going wrong in the organization, something above the players. Coaching has been a major deficiency since Flip left, and since he's left he's exposed some serious problems above the coaching stratosphere. Maybe next time it'll be owner Glen Taylor who's at the podium saying his GM is a great teacher, but a terrible GM.

A coaching move motivated by inconsistency seems overdue. In the post-Flip Saunders era the team has never really played at a consistent level, or with a singular identity. The Wolves are no longer an offensive club, but aren't really the slow tempo defensive team that I think Casey has tried to make them (I would say this didn't happen because the Wolves have no halfcourt sets). Casey's offense was usually a high screen set by KG and nothing more. The fact that they never established an identity makes them the NBA's first chameleon--the team that plays to the level of their opponent, or usually one step lower. We could run with the Suns (as we did Monday) for about three quarters, we could bang with the Pistons into OT (twice in January), and we could still get blown out by the Hawks. The Hawks?

I hope that Wittman can create halfcourt sets that allow KG to get the ball in the post (instead of the 3-point line), sets that utilize spacing and screens to let our guards get to the paint and find wide-open shooters for 3, and sets that don't just burn shot clock time. We'll see soon enough.

Marko Jaric: assist/turnover of 1.3

At the last Wolves game my friend tried to convince me that Jaric was no longer the piece of shit no-guard player that he was last year. At times I've seen spots of basketball intelligence from him, those times usually come just after he jumps into a passing lane to steal the ball in the open court. Jaric runs into the open floor at least two full strides ahead of the next guy on the other team, but by the time his over-sized, slow-ass gets into the paint he no longer has an open layup because the defender has caught up. At this point a wise veteran would pull the ball back and watch for the next teammate to make a cut to the rim--not Jaric, he jumps in the air on the baseline, turns his head around and throws the ball into the chest of the defender. He clearly has basketball awareness equivalent to the kind of trout that swim upstream by jumping out of the water and shaking. His offensive awareness is atrocious, he has no idea of where his teammates are on the floor and last season when he'd play the point, he always needed help in the backcourt just to dribble up the floor since the smaller guards would try to steal the ball. When he got in the frontcourt he'd stand around with his back to the 3-point line and waste shot clock time. He'd usually take a few dribbles forward and, because he thought that the defense was collapsing on him, he'd throw the ball like a hook shot over his head to a defended and mediocre 3-point shooter.


sometimes he even wears his jersey backwards youtube

Jaric's defense is comparably disgusting. Even though his height should make it easier to defend other guards, his complete lack of agility and quickness allow typical one and two-guards to always put him on his heels. At the same time he's not built well enough to defend the small-forwards with any semblance of a post-up game. He's kind of like Wally Sczerbiak in this respect, embarassingly white.

Jaric is dwarfed by the decisive powers of high school players, and he continues to show that for every good play he makes, he must commit one turnover, at least. He leaves his feet with the ball, attempts impossible passes, wastes shot clock time and is a huge defensive liability. On top of all those glaring character flaws, he's never afraid to showcase his cocky tough-guy personality. Thank God he doesn't start anymore, but I won't be satisfied until he's gone. Cut him, waive him, trade him for a sandwich or draft rights to me, I don't care, but please please just get rid of him.

inauguration

There are so many places that I could start. I'd like to start by outlining a list of issues that need to be dealt with, and with time, I hope to retain the diligence to address them all.

1. General Management
2. Coaching
   
3. Overpaying crap players
4. Trading away all assets of any trade value
5. Coaching the fast break
6. Defending the pick-and-roll
7. Boxing out on the glass
8. Hiring an overachiever assistant coach from Seattle to run KG's final years
9. Marko Jaric (need I say more?)
10. The Joe Smith blunder

I'll think of more later, but let's just start with these 10.