Would You Replace the Coach?
Posted: Fri May 12, 2023 1:50 pm
the Suns were doomed by the very high probability of injury to one or more of their 4 injury prone stars -- and Monty's weaknesses. I like him, he deserved the coaching award for the good will and culture he brought to the team, but, imo, he'll never be playoff savvy and he can no longer motivate and lead this team:
1.he's being out-strategized (evident in the last 2 blowouts in the Dallas series and this Denver series, and Bucks collapse). While the opposing coaches looked involved and animated this year, Monty just looked worried sitting on the bench during play.
2. lack of play calling in crunch time, leading to Booker ball. When teams know Book is controlling the ball they can control him. He's only unstoppable when he's hot and in the game flow. (unlike some other superstars who can still be physically overpowering like Jokic, Embiid, Giannis, or rely on consistent cat-like skills like Jordan, Kobe, Morant, etc..)
3. Monty naively said at the start of these playoffs, "when you've got Durant and Booker you can give them the ball and let them figure it out." As if Durant (and Harden and Kyrie and others) didn't fail over and over playing hero-ball alongside other superstars. Durant won within the Warriors SYSTEM. Jordan won within the Bulls system. Kobe and Shack too -- under Phil Jackson's team system.
4. lack of being able to motivate Ayton (which may be impossible for anyone but you have to wonder why he couldn't get Ayton to attack the rim more instead of settling for jump shots. Was he over focusing on keeping Ayton out of foul trouble?)
we're cash strapped, but it's likely to hurt more than help to sacrifice to get out of Ayton and Paul's contract. And replacing Monty with an established coach is expensive even if one can be found. So my radical solution is to:
1. Work a deal with Paul to divert most of his salary to taking over the coaching position with the option to also play (during some 4 quarters, when his IQ is still valuable). Unlike Nash, Paul has both a high offensive and defensive mind-set.
2. instead of getting garbage or nothing for Ayton let Paul have a crack at him for one season. Ayton did credit Paul with his turnaround 2 years ago and perhaps he still respects Paul more than Monty.
1.he's being out-strategized (evident in the last 2 blowouts in the Dallas series and this Denver series, and Bucks collapse). While the opposing coaches looked involved and animated this year, Monty just looked worried sitting on the bench during play.
2. lack of play calling in crunch time, leading to Booker ball. When teams know Book is controlling the ball they can control him. He's only unstoppable when he's hot and in the game flow. (unlike some other superstars who can still be physically overpowering like Jokic, Embiid, Giannis, or rely on consistent cat-like skills like Jordan, Kobe, Morant, etc..)
3. Monty naively said at the start of these playoffs, "when you've got Durant and Booker you can give them the ball and let them figure it out." As if Durant (and Harden and Kyrie and others) didn't fail over and over playing hero-ball alongside other superstars. Durant won within the Warriors SYSTEM. Jordan won within the Bulls system. Kobe and Shack too -- under Phil Jackson's team system.
4. lack of being able to motivate Ayton (which may be impossible for anyone but you have to wonder why he couldn't get Ayton to attack the rim more instead of settling for jump shots. Was he over focusing on keeping Ayton out of foul trouble?)
we're cash strapped, but it's likely to hurt more than help to sacrifice to get out of Ayton and Paul's contract. And replacing Monty with an established coach is expensive even if one can be found. So my radical solution is to:
1. Work a deal with Paul to divert most of his salary to taking over the coaching position with the option to also play (during some 4 quarters, when his IQ is still valuable). Unlike Nash, Paul has both a high offensive and defensive mind-set.
2. instead of getting garbage or nothing for Ayton let Paul have a crack at him for one season. Ayton did credit Paul with his turnaround 2 years ago and perhaps he still respects Paul more than Monty.
