We are like a giant Mr. Potato Head. One part gets broke or is missing you just plug in another piece and keep on moving. It may not be pretty and it may not even look like what you want it to look like but it still functions.
Danny Granger missing? Move Paul George to the 3 spot and watch the team not only survive but thrive (after a period of adjustment). Paul George out with the flu? Play Lance Stephenson a lot at the 3 spot and watch the team continue to click right along.
All Hail Frank Vogel!
I try not to bring up Satan anymore because we are way past him & this is a totally different team than what he had but I use him tonight and for that matter I will throw in Mike “Mr. Pringle” D’Antoni as examples of coach’s who refuse to adjust and ask you to compare and contrast what Frank Vogel has done with our team.
Go back to his initial press conference and even go into the beginning of this season, what did he talk about? He talked about how we are a smash mouth power post offensive unit. You know we were going to post up Roy first David second and whoever else third.
At the beginning of this season we tried that, it worked on occasion but more often than not it didn’t.
So what did Frank do? Did he tell the players to believe harder in his system and still force the offense to go that way? No.
He saw the players he had and their capabilities and he adjusted and created a new offense to fit their skill set. We still run post ups, we always will. But the fact that he saw what wasn’t working and changed it up is just so damned refreshing after years of rigid one way offense. Also I’m not just talking about Satan there either; frankly Rick did a lot of that as well. Now not nearly to the insane level that Satan did but he would also be pretty rigid whenever O’Neal was on the floor (totally different when he wasn’t btw).
I say all of that to point this out. While David West was one of our leading scorers & overall bad *** did you notice that our offense was focused on our wings & p.g. scoring? West ran a high post offensive clinic and our three guards benefited.
I guess I’m just trying to point out that I believe we are truly a dangerous team and we are only going to be more so when Danny get’s back because Frank takes the motto of “Improvise, Adapt & Overcome” to heart and our team has taken on the image that Frank is presenting.
Was this an ugly game? You bet.
Would I prefer to not play like this? Well other than win, no really this isn’t my cup of tea.
Do I think we would have beaten a better team on a night like tonight? Yes, honestly I do.
We are so far removed from the beginning of this season that it is really hard to stay grounded and objective. I mean part of me is already trying to figure out a way to stay in the top 3 of the East the rest of the season and maybe even climb higher. I’ve not started sizing up my championship plaque that I want or anything yet but sadly I’ll admit that a deep playoff run right now really seems possible.
In fact anything less than at least a very hard fought 7 game series losing to the eventual title winner in the second round right now would seem to be a devastating blow. But I understand the euphoria of the moment is overtaking me, or is it my flu? I don’t know but either way my head is spinning right now.
This was a trap game, a game that many teams would lose and honestly almost everybody on this board would have been willing to come on here and say “hey they’re all sick and very tired so we can accept this loss”. But guess what the players weren’t willing to accept that and to me that shows a depth of character that will take us far.
Ok, I’ve blathered on enough. There is not a whole lot to really talk about that hasn’t already been said so I’ll just throw out a few bullet points for tonight’s Odd Thoughts.
• David West is a B.A.M.F. (full credit to Naptown Seth for the name)
• Why we are not talking more about Tyler Hansbrough blocked shot is beyond me. It was really a good blocked shot.
• Going to start wondering out loud if Mahinmi is now taking some of Roy’s min. because of Roy’s slump and Ian’s improved play.
• Lance Stephenson can ball. 17 points on above 50% shooting with 7 boards and 4 steals.
• Gerald Green, yea…. Um…..
• Ian Mahinmi is the best back up center in the NBA; let’s see reasons as to why not.
• George Hill still looks a little under the weather to me but again full credit for going with all of this. Hopefully we can get him some rest after tomorrow.
Ok there really wasn’t that much to say but man is this team playing at a very high level right now.
I normally like to change it up but until it no longer is the case I’m rolling with it, the Bobcats were on the tracks and the train rolled right over them.
Danny Granger missing? Move Paul George to the 3 spot and watch the team not only survive but thrive (after a period of adjustment). Paul George out with the flu? Play Lance Stephenson a lot at the 3 spot and watch the team continue to click right along.
All Hail Frank Vogel!
I try not to bring up Satan anymore because we are way past him & this is a totally different team than what he had but I use him tonight and for that matter I will throw in Mike “Mr. Pringle” D’Antoni as examples of coach’s who refuse to adjust and ask you to compare and contrast what Frank Vogel has done with our team.
Go back to his initial press conference and even go into the beginning of this season, what did he talk about? He talked about how we are a smash mouth power post offensive unit. You know we were going to post up Roy first David second and whoever else third.
At the beginning of this season we tried that, it worked on occasion but more often than not it didn’t.
So what did Frank do? Did he tell the players to believe harder in his system and still force the offense to go that way? No.
He saw the players he had and their capabilities and he adjusted and created a new offense to fit their skill set. We still run post ups, we always will. But the fact that he saw what wasn’t working and changed it up is just so damned refreshing after years of rigid one way offense. Also I’m not just talking about Satan there either; frankly Rick did a lot of that as well. Now not nearly to the insane level that Satan did but he would also be pretty rigid whenever O’Neal was on the floor (totally different when he wasn’t btw).
I say all of that to point this out. While David West was one of our leading scorers & overall bad *** did you notice that our offense was focused on our wings & p.g. scoring? West ran a high post offensive clinic and our three guards benefited.
I guess I’m just trying to point out that I believe we are truly a dangerous team and we are only going to be more so when Danny get’s back because Frank takes the motto of “Improvise, Adapt & Overcome” to heart and our team has taken on the image that Frank is presenting.
Was this an ugly game? You bet.
Would I prefer to not play like this? Well other than win, no really this isn’t my cup of tea.
Do I think we would have beaten a better team on a night like tonight? Yes, honestly I do.
We are so far removed from the beginning of this season that it is really hard to stay grounded and objective. I mean part of me is already trying to figure out a way to stay in the top 3 of the East the rest of the season and maybe even climb higher. I’ve not started sizing up my championship plaque that I want or anything yet but sadly I’ll admit that a deep playoff run right now really seems possible.
In fact anything less than at least a very hard fought 7 game series losing to the eventual title winner in the second round right now would seem to be a devastating blow. But I understand the euphoria of the moment is overtaking me, or is it my flu? I don’t know but either way my head is spinning right now.
This was a trap game, a game that many teams would lose and honestly almost everybody on this board would have been willing to come on here and say “hey they’re all sick and very tired so we can accept this loss”. But guess what the players weren’t willing to accept that and to me that shows a depth of character that will take us far.
Ok, I’ve blathered on enough. There is not a whole lot to really talk about that hasn’t already been said so I’ll just throw out a few bullet points for tonight’s Odd Thoughts.
• David West is a B.A.M.F. (full credit to Naptown Seth for the name)
• Why we are not talking more about Tyler Hansbrough blocked shot is beyond me. It was really a good blocked shot.
• Going to start wondering out loud if Mahinmi is now taking some of Roy’s min. because of Roy’s slump and Ian’s improved play.
• Lance Stephenson can ball. 17 points on above 50% shooting with 7 boards and 4 steals.
• Gerald Green, yea…. Um…..
• Ian Mahinmi is the best back up center in the NBA; let’s see reasons as to why not.
• George Hill still looks a little under the weather to me but again full credit for going with all of this. Hopefully we can get him some rest after tomorrow.
Ok there really wasn’t that much to say but man is this team playing at a very high level right now.
I normally like to change it up but until it no longer is the case I’m rolling with it, the Bobcats were on the tracks and the train rolled right over them.
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