77 replies to this topic

[SBTarheel]

Yeah, with a healthy Gallo, they beat GS this year IMO. But not SA.

 

And yeah, it's amazing. They're so fun to watch. Watching Pop's plays out of timeouts is just totally hilarious they're so good. I thought Duncan was pretty much done about 3 years ago, but he's come back now and is playing literally as well as he did in his prime. If he can keep that up one more year, they aren't going anywhere. 

i don't recall the specifics, but Simmons mentioned in a recent column that Duncan's stats every year are virtually the same, and it's been like that since 1998. Just incredible.

[PD24]

i don't recall the specifics, but Simmons mentioned in a recent column that Duncan's stats every year are virtually the same, and it's been like that since 1998. Just incredible.

 

Yep. BTW - Bill Simmons is best sports analyst IMO. 

[SBTarheel]

Yep. BTW - Bill Simmons is best sports analyst IMO. 

Love his stuff..in fact, I give his "book of basketball" a lot credit in getting me back into the NBA.

[BSLMikeLowe]

I hear what you're saying. But again, how can we hold it against a guy to not get out of the first round if he hasn't been a favorite? How is that his faul? 

 

If Buck Showalter doesn't get out of the first full round the next 5 years with the O's if they make it as a WC all 5 years, is that his fault? Is it an indictment on him? Or is it good on him to get a team without the normal playoff talent to the playoffs 5 years in a row? 

I said I won't bring up Seattle anymore, and I won't. His time in Milwaukee was relatively short....he did make the conference finals one season there, but the Eastern Conference overall was even more pathetic back then than it is now. But in his 9 seasons in Denver, only once has he gotten past the 1st Round. And it's not like all of those seasons were where they barely made the playoffs and had to face a #1 or 2 seed right away. I'm sure many will put some blame on Carmelo, and that's not entirely unfair....he's one of the most overrated "stars" in the league who does not make the others on his team better. But I still think there have been times they underachieved. And that doesn't include this season, since injuries obviously played their part.

[SBTarheel]

I said I won't bring up Seattle anymore, and I won't. His time in Milwaukee was relatively short....he did make the conference finals one season there, but the Eastern Conference overall was even more pathetic back then than it is now. But in his 9 seasons in Denver, only once has he gotten past the 1st Round. And it's not like all of those seasons were where they barely made the playoffs and had to face a #1 or 2 seed right away. I'm sure many will put some blame on Carmelo, and that's not entirely unfair....he's one of the most overrated "stars" in the league who does not make the others on his team better. But I still think there have been times they underachieved. And that doesn't include this season, since injuries obviously played their part.

Everywhere he's been (with the exception of Cleveland) he's improved the team, hell, he even took the Warriors to the playoffs in the late 80s (the Sleepy Floyd game was on NBA TV the other night), and Milwukee was awful before he got there...But for some reason, he can't get to that "next level". It's somewhat mind boggling in my opinion.

[BSLMikeLowe]

Everywhere he's been (with the exception of Cleveland) he's improved the team, hell, he even took the Warriors to the playoffs in the late 80s (the Sleepy Floyd game was on NBA TV the other night), and Milwukee was awful before he got there...But for some reason, he can't get to that "next level". It's somewhat mind boggling in my opinion.

That sums it up for me. Or as someone earlier in this thread said, he's the Marty Schottenheimer of the NBA. Given how few truly good coaches there are in the league, Karl being one of them I'd certainly hire him to run my team if I didn't already have one of the very few better ones. But the playoff thing is a hump that his teams just never seem to get over.

[SBTarheel]

That sums it up for me. Or as someone earlier in this thread said, he's the Marty Schottenheimer of the NBA. Given how few truly good coaches there are in the league, Karl being one of them I'd certainly hire him to run my team if I didn't already have one of the very few better ones. But the playoff thing is a hump that his teams just never seem to get over.

Yep. Mind boggling.

 

I'm a fan and hopefully he gets that championship one day.

[Oriole85]

If I'm Josh Kroenke, I tell Masai Ujiri to step it up and build a team that has a legit chance to win a championship. I don't see why you aren't getting that. This team has NO chance to win a championship, and in each and every series Karl has coached in Denver that they've lost, they've been underdogs aside from this year. 

 

Last year in game 7 vs. #3 seed LA, the Nuggets were down 1 going into the 4th at LA. Again, NBA coaches don't go around winning as underdogs very often. Their lack of playoff success has nothing to do with George Karl. 

 

The only reason the Nuggets were a higher seed than GS this year is because of George Karl. Without him, unless you're bringing in an equally good regular season coach, this team drops below LAC, Memphis, and quite possibly GS. 

 

Karl also develops a system to fit the personnel that he's given, and that system isn't conducive to winning in the playoffs, but he does what he needs to do to win with the team he's given.

 

I don't really see where you're going with this. Hiring a new coach would serve no purpose. 

I get what you're saying with the GM. Do you get what I'm saying that Karl has been there through three other GMs? He's the common denominator with the Nuggets through the last decade. I also get what you're saying about Karl getting so close, the bottom line is besides one set of playoffs, he hasn't achieved much.

[Oriole85]

And Seattle was 21-games better than them in the regular season and was up 2-0 in the series. That, along with Dallas in 2007, goes down as two of the biggest playoff chokes I've ever seen in the NBA.

 

 

And let me be clear, I like George Karl as a coach. In fact, if you check the preseason predictions thread, you'll see I picked him for COY. And I think Denver should keep him as long as he wants to be there. That said, there clearly is a perception that his teams do not perform up to expectations in the playoffs. I won't harp on that Sonics team anymore, but Karl's playoff history since then, which consists of more one-and-dones than not, only fuels that perception.

I got no problems here with this, it's a regular season award. Peter, it should be noted that the GM you keep blaming was also Executive of the Year. How bad it can be when you have both the EOY/COY?... just ask the Nuggets.

[Oriole85]

Everywhere he's been (with the exception of Cleveland) he's improved the team, hell, he even took the Warriors to the playoffs in the late 80s (the Sleepy Floyd game was on NBA TV the other night), and Milwukee was awful before he got there...But for some reason, he can't get to that "next level". It's somewhat mind boggling in my opinion.

And he should absolutely get credit for taking teams to the next level. However, that doesn't make him an elite coach.

[Oriole85]

I hear what you're saying. But again, how can we hold it against a guy to not get out of the first round if he hasn't been a favorite? How is that his faul? 

 

If Buck Showalter doesn't get out of the first full round the next 5 years with the O's if they make it as a WC all 5 years, is that his fault? Is it an indictment on him? Or is it good on him to get a team without the normal playoff talent to the playoffs 5 years in a row? 

They have been a favorite, including this year even if they were only a slight. Didn't every ESPN analyst pick them? (atleast Mark Jackson said so) As has been pointed out, they were a 7 and 8 every year. But I'll take what you say at face value, how can you blame him for not getting out of the first round more than once in a decade because an elite coach would overachieve. That maybe just 2 or 3 of those times, that they'd go for a run that wasn't expected. If not, find the coach who can do that.

 

In terms of Buck, I think he'd be a victim of his own success and good chance he'd be shown the door. In terms of your Baltimore sports double standards, you think it would be tolerated if Harbaugh couldn't get out of the first round 5 years in a row or even the second round for that matter? I actually think a few more years of not getting to the SB and he might be gone if he hadn't won this year.

[SBTarheel]

Popovich

 

 

Thibs

Vogel (love the way the Pacers play, with literally no stars)

Rivers

Carlisle

 

 

i think Mark Jackson is awful to be honest..Their end of game (besides today) play has been atrocious in the playoffs..Mike Malone (former Loyola Greyhound, and future head coach) is the brains behind their success in my opinion...Oh, and Steph Curry too.

Malone got the Kings job tonight!

 

Good for him!

[bnickle]

Well Tarheel is right about Jackson being a pretty bad coach.

[SBTarheel]

Well Tarheel is right about Jackson being a pretty bad coach.

Good motivator, not great on the bench..

[Pedro Cerrano]

Careful, if he had a 100% healthy David Lee he might be coaching in the Finals right now.

[mweb08]

The loss of Lee wasn't much of a loss at all in that series.

[Oriole85]

Good motivator, not great on the bench..

Isn't that part of the job? I mean if they can consistently make deep runs in the playoffs, that's a reflection of him. To a lesser extent, it's like the coaches who can't coach but can recruit. It's more than X's/O's, not as much as the college level.

[SBTarheel]

Isn't that part of the job? I mean if they can consistently make deep runs in the playoffs, that's a reflection of him. To a lesser extent, it's like the coaches who can't coach but can recruit. It's more than X's/O's, not as much as the college level.

Oh, absolutely it is. I don't mean to take anything away from it, but I'm not sure he's even a fair X's and O's guy...We'll see how they do without Malone on the bench next year... I followed them quite a bit this past season, because of Barnes, and one thing that was talked about a lot (on message boards, local papers..etc) was Malone's influence with in game strategy