Ford not on court when he expected (IndyStar)

[Sookie]

Re: Ford not on court when he expected (IndyStar)

"He's our best go-to guy right now offensively from the standpoint if we need a one-on-one move with a short clock," O'Brien said. "I have a lot of confidence in T.J. How long we end up doing this remains to be seen."


*head/desk*

Seriously? How many freaking games does TJ have to LOSE for this team in order for JOB to see that TJ is not the best option at crunch time. In fact, at this point, Diener..broken toe and all, is a better option.

[Brad8888]

Re: Ford not on court when he expected (IndyStar)

TJ has one key problem - awareness. He has almost no sense of what other players want to do, where they can or will go, how they can work with him and most importantly how he can set them up.

His version of PG is "I break em down, get into the paint, maybe shoot or kick it to you because you're probably open if I'm in the lane with the ball".

TJ is, unfortunately, a manifestation of a large part of O'B on the court, but is properly utilized only as a player to draw fouls as a penetrating shooting guard.

Be fast, don't let the defenders set up, don't ever pull back if you commit to a drive, attack the paint from the top, no shot is ever a bad shot if you have your defender out of position regardless of the game situation and who the defender is.

O'B will probably give TJ more minutes due to his wanting to be more aggressive.

Maybe that will allow us to become stagnant in totality on offense, making us even easier to defend on offense while leading to more fast break opportunities for our opponents.

Maybe then we can get rid of both of them out of fear for the financial future of the franchise due to nobody even being willing to attend severely discounted games due to the ugliness that even casual NBA fans can probably recognize.

Byron Scott or Lawrence Frank, please. After the season ends and we have properly secured a high draft pick to augment our expiring contract trades.

Make it so? I dunno. I am not sure that I could take that as a basketball fan.

[Thesterovic]

Re: Ford not on court when he expected (IndyStar)

I'm done with TJ, JOB, and to an extent Troy Murphy. At least it's not Troys' fault he has to close out games. We are so weak on a talent standpoint.

TJ would play only 15 mpg on a good team
Murphy a 7th/8th guy off the bench
Dunleavy (OUR STAR PLAYER) 6th/7th man
Jones 20 mpg defensive energy player and good leader
Hibbert 1st big off the bench.
Hans, role player
Watson is a nice backup.

The rest of these guys wouldn't sniff the floor on a good team. Is this what poor Dannys' supposed to work with?

[Jonathan]

Re: Ford not on court when he expected (IndyStar)

Slowly but surely it has to sink in that JOB is not the right coach and that TJ and Murph are a waste of space?

I disagree with your thoughts. JOB is not a terrible coach. I do not blame him, yes his substition patterns are very questionable. But face the facts no coach could or would win over 45 games with this roster.

The league has changed for the worse under Stern. They favor big market teams and superstars. The Pacers have neither!! The years of the 6 year 30 mill contract are over but Donnie Walsh did pass too many out & we have to deal with what we have contract wise.

Troy Murphy and TJ will be expiring contracts next year. Combine that with a top ten pick, Hansbrough and Roy getting a year better and Danny Granger and we have a playoff team.

The season is not yet over and the majority of teams in this league are under .500 right now.

[Speed]

Re: Ford not on court when he expected (IndyStar)

What?!? Is this in another thread? If so he's a dolt. Has he not seen Troy Murphy throwing away pass after pass in his own backcourt. Outlets AND in-bounds, for easy TO and scores. He had 7 TOs last night and several were of this variety.

I get that sometiems you throw an outlet pass to the other team, but 1-2 times every game for weeks at a time??? It's almost like he's throwing the game at times.

But he and TJ get all the JOB trust. It's beyond my understanding now with those 3.

I thought at the time, why is this group in? I'd have Dunleavy inbound and put some scorers and a rebounder in.

[Justin Tyme]

Re: Ford not on court when he expected (IndyStar)

If TJ doesn't like it, he's got a player option for next season.

YES YES YES!!! Wouldn't that be wonderful, 8.5 mil less in salary a year early!

Then reality sets in, who is going to pay Ford that kind of money next year? No team with a smart GM.

[OakMoses]

Re: Ford not on court when he expected (IndyStar)

YES YES YES!!! Wouldn't that be wonderful, 8.5 mil less in salary a year early!

Then reality sets in, who is going to pay Ford that kind of money next year? No team with a smart GM.

No one. If we want Ford to leave, we're going to have to trade him. To leave he'd have to accept at least a $3 million pay cut, and that's not going to happen no matter how much he hates it here.

[Justin Tyme]

Re: Ford not on court when he expected (IndyStar)

I disagree with your thoughts. JOB is not a terrible coach. I do not blame him, yes his substition patterns are very questionable. But face the facts no coach could or would win over 45 games with this roster.

He11, Jimmy is on pace to only win 27 games with this team let alone the being optimistic of 45!

[gummy]

Re: Ford not on court when he expected (IndyStar)

We all know Brandon has had his problems shooting the ball this year (though lately he has improved his percentage, increased his movement in general and made more moves to the basket). That aside, he plays good D and I've not seen him botch an in bounds pass this year. So the Coach is gonna criticize Brandon for mistakes he might make now? I'm kind of flabbergasted about that, especially because I have seen all the same plays Seth referenced and there wasn't a word from JOB about them.

The more I listen to O'Brien the more I think he is very much inside Rush's head, and not at all in a good way. No, I'm not saying Rush isn't ultimately responsible for his own approach to the game and actions. I think Obbie is not helping at all though and I don't agree with the way JOB handles speaks about the guys in public, especially the younger players. I have lost most of my faith in the coach and would like to see him gone but up until now I've thought that it would be best to ride out the season with him for a variety of reasons. I'm wavering on that now because I am wondering how much damage is being done to team chemistry and the development of the young guys by the coach's erratic comments and decisions.

[Major Cold]

Re: Ford not on court when he expected (IndyStar)

TJ is, unfortunately, a manifestation of a large part of O'B on the court, but is properly utilized only as a player to draw fouls as a penetrating shooting guard.

Be fast, don't let the defenders set up, don't ever pull back if you commit to a drive, attack the paint from the top, no shot is ever a bad shot if you have your defender out of position regardless of the game situation and who the defender is.

O'B will probably give TJ more minutes due to his wanting to be more aggressive.

Maybe that will allow us to become stagnant in totality on offense, making us even easier to defend on offense while leading to more fast break opportunities for our opponents.

Maybe then we can get rid of both of them out of fear for the financial future of the franchise due to nobody even being willing to attend severely discounted games due to the ugliness that even casual NBA fans can probably recognize.

Byron Scott or Lawrence Frank, please. After the season ends and we have properly secured a high draft pick to augment our expiring contract trades.

Make it so? I dunno. I am not sure that I could take that as a basketball fan.

Just because we are frustrated with the coach and our PG does not mean that the PG is a manifestation of the coach we do not like. If that were the case why is the manifested coach benched?

Obviously TJ has no been used the way TJ wants. But like last night TJ wouldn't know if he wants to pass or shoot. I think he has the desire, but lacks the IQ to execute whatever crazy gameplan that JOB is NOW trying to do.


JOB has changed his game plan. Head's minutes is prove of a change of gameplan. Since Dun has hit the fatigue wall (which I thought would happen a little later) I think JOB is in panic mode to get points.

[Sookie]

Re: Ford not on court when he expected (IndyStar)

The more I listen to O'Brien the more I think he is very much inside Rush's head, and not at all in a good way. No, I'm not saying Rush isn't ultimately responsible for his own approach to the game and actions. I think Obbie is not helping at all though and I don't agree with the way JOB handles speaks about the guys in public, especially the younger players. I have lost most of my faith in the coach and would like to see him gone but up until now I've thought that it would be best to ride out the season with him for a variety of reasons. I'm wavering on that now because I am wondering how much damage is being done to team chemistry and the development of the young guys by the coach's erratic comments and decisions.

He's weird.

Rush, he blasts in the press.
Roy, always complains about matchup issues, and Roy's not the type of center JOB likes.
Hansborough, he's complained about Tyler's defense..and used his defense as an excuse to play Troy (cause that makes sense)
Price, he's always said really nice things about AJ. "Will be a terrific player" "gets the best of the veterans in practice" "Steal of the draft"

...it's kind of ironic.

[Brad8888]

Re: Ford not on court when he expected (IndyStar)

Just because we are frustrated with the coach and our PG does not mean that the PG is a manifestation of the coach we do not like. If that were the case why is the manifested coach benched?

Obviously TJ has no been used the way TJ wants. But like last night TJ wouldn't know if he wants to pass or shoot. I think he has the desire, but lacks the IQ to execute whatever crazy gameplan that JOB is NOW trying to do.


JOB has changed his game plan. Head's minutes is prove of a change of gameplan. Since Dun has hit the fatigue wall (which I thought would happen a little later) I think JOB is in panic mode to get points.

TJ may have been benched, but his minutes are about the same as Watson's, and finishing games is what is the most important to O'B, and O'B has stated a while back something to the effect that he doesn't understand why some of his players think starting is so important. So, I doubt that O'B believes that he is diminishing TJ's role very much regardless of what TJ thinks.

I would guess O'B has decided to use him as a closer when O'B abhors ball and player movement down the stretch in games because to him drives to the basket are always the highest percentage shots, while making TJ feel more important as the "man" at the end of games, while using Watson as a starter to keep him happy, making sure that their minutes are similar.

[NuffSaid]

Re: Ford not on court when he expected (IndyStar)

This team - ANY basketball team - works better when they have a pass-first PG running the offense. IMO, a PG worth his salt knows when to pass the ball and when to attack the basket and/or create shot opportunities for himself. But first and foremost, an outstanding PG knows how to get his teammates involved and keep them engaged in the game. TJ Ford just doesn't do that, IMO. Bu his own admission, he's more focused on being aggressive and attacking ALL THE TIME rather than finding his teammates and passing them the ball in positions where they can become more effective scorers.

PGs like Steve Nash, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul all have that unselfish about them to pass the ball first and create shot opportunities for themselves later. They prob the defense, looking for areas of weakness, forcing the defense to collapse on him and at that right moment when you think he's going in for the layup - WHAM!! The ball goes the other way out of his hands into the hands of one of his teammates who was open and in a far better position to score than he was. These guys don't force the issue. Instead, they make an issue out of ball movement off of penetration. That's why I prefer having Earl Watson and Travis Diener out there (when Travis is healthy enough to play). TJ Ford makes me nervous ALL THE TIME whenever he's on the floor (along with Dahntay Jones for the matter) because I know of two assurances whenever the ball is in his hands:

1. He's going to dribble the shot clock down to next to nothing.
2. He's going to keep the ball for himself and not pass it unless he find himself in trouble (traffic).
3. He'll force the shot (in traffic) and likely cause a turnover (ball stripped away).

When his shots are falling I breath a sigh of relief, but I swear every time he has the ball I get nervous especially at crunch time.

[90'sNBARocked]

Re: Ford not on court when he expected (IndyStar)

What?!? Is this in another thread? If so he's a dolt. Has he not seen Troy Murphy throwing away pass after pass in his own backcourt. Outlets AND in-bounds, for easy TO and scores. He had 7 TOs last night and several were of this variety.

I get that sometiems you throw an outlet pass to the other team, but 1-2 times every game for weeks at a time??? It's almost like he's throwing the game at times.

But he and TJ get all the JOB trust. It's beyond my understanding now with those 3.

Seth,

obie said on his post game show "Brandon Rush inbounding the ball is not an option "

[90'sNBARocked]

Re: Ford not on court when he expected (IndyStar)

He's weird.

Rush, he blasts in the press.
Roy, always complains about matchup issues, and Roy's not the type of center JOB likes.
Hansborough, he's complained about Tyler's defense..and used his defense as an excuse to play Troy (cause that makes sense)
Price, he's always said really nice things about AJ. "Will be a terrific player" "gets the best of the veterans in practice" "Steal of the draft"

...it's kind of ironic.

Exactly. Obie the Politician

always talkin shhht but signifying nothing