Odd Thoughts: Jim O?Brien?s departure
Written by Peck
Link
I received a text message today, a message that I thought I would never see.
I was convinced that Jim O’Brien’s tenure as coach of the Indiana Pacers would not end at the very earliest until after this current season was over with. In fact I was one of the few who actually believed that it was not out of the realm of possibilities that he would return as the head coach next season (whenever next season begins).
To say that I was stunned by the sudden announcement of Jim’s departure as coach would be an understatement.
Look we’ve spent several hours, thousands upon thousands of words and enough vitriol to fuel the*fires of mordor for eons discussing amongst ourselves the fate and would be fate of Jim O’Brien. You might consider further discussion on him as wasted energy and you would probably be right.
However logic and reason have never stood in the way of a good Odd Thought’s piece before so why let it start now.
It was time, it was well past time.
In fact while I won’t complain about the end results I am frankly baffled by the timing and the circumstance regarding the departure. Our record is no worse at this time than it was a season ago. His public criticism of his players is not new. His rotations have not become less erratic over the past three years however he uses the same scheme’s and reasons behind them as he did on day one.
So while I’m thrilled the hammer*has finally fallen, I question the true reasons behind it.
Jim will land on his feet somewhere. Will he immediately get another job as a head coach in the NBA? I don’t have an answer for that but I don’t think it is out of the question. I know some of you guys feel that he will never coach in the NBA again, I’m not sure I believe that.
I think he is a little more respected in the NBA circles than what he is on the Digest, which obviously is little to no respect at all, but I think some G.M.’s would value his tireless work ethic. Only time will tell though.
However I know that Jim O’Brien is not done coaching. He will either be back in the NBA or he will get a college gig. If he had the desire I believe that Jim could be a great coach in Europe.
Either way he won’t be back here next season.
Now however it falls on the players and the remaining coaching staff to prove that the downfall was mostly Jim O’Brien and not them.
That is going to be no minor task.
Right off the bat we do get somewhat of a break in the schedule as the teams we are playing are not the upper echelon of the NBA, but when your team is as bad as ours is at present there are no easy games. In fact teams will look at the calendar facing you and say that the schedule has gotten a little lighter.
I do expect a little bit of a bounce here but how much and for how long is to be determined.
Of course a lot of this will depend on the new coach’s rotations and roster usage. I expect very similar offensive and defensive sets.
Side bar: Again this is one of the reasons thought that I am so vexed about the timing of the firing as there is literally zero time to prepare or even get in one single practice before the next game. Why they did not do this after the loss to the Knicks when they had a five day down time is beyond me.
So with all of this in mind let’s send some thoughts out to some of the players and what they have to do to help right the ship.
Danny Granger: You have the toughest job because this team is your team, rightfully so as you have earned the honor of being the best player. However for this team to right itself there are several things you have to do. Improve your shot selection, while it is better than last season and better than early this season it still is erratic. I will give you somewhat of a break with this as I do believe one of the greatest coaching failures of O’Brien is that he did not teach good shot selection. But he is gone now, you have to do this. Also you have to defend like you did early in the season. Hopefully you will play the small forward. Hopefully the days of you spending lots of time at the four are coming to an end. But you have to defend and rebound and take good shots every game, not just some. I know that is a lot to ask but since you are the franchise we really need you to do this & I truly believe you can.
Roy Hibbert: Defense, defense, defense. If your shot is not falling, and there are just going to be some nights that it won’t, you have got to be an anchor on the defensive end. I pray to God that we go back to giving you a power forward next to you and not a stretch four because I understand that a lot of your fouls come from having to run from side to side having to defend the basket on both sides of the painted area. Work on a mid range game, learn some post up plays other than a hook shot and rebound. While Danny is the face of the franchise and our best player you are our hope and our most important player. Also while I certainly don’t condone Jim’s berating of you at times in the press I also want you to grow some thicker skin as well. Don’t let comments drag you down and don’t let messed plays or missed shots ruin the rest of your game.
Josh McRoberts: Rebound, rebound, rebound. Look you do good work at helping box out usually but for you to take the step and get more time on the floor you have got to start grabbing 7-9 rebounds every game. The rest of your game is really dependant on what the coach does. If you get to play then just make the most of your time and honor the player whose number you wear by being a man in the paint area and take the pressure off of Roy. Starting or coming off of the bench doesn’t matter at this point in time, just as long as you get to play.
Tyler Hansbrough: Work on improving your defensive awareness. If you are going to start for our club then you have got to know how to make a quick defensive adjustment and switch from player to player. Like Josh a lot of what happens here is going to depend on what the coach does with the rotation. But if you are going to start then you have got to make sure that Roy does not have to cover both sides of the paint. Keep up the offensive production though as that is an asset we severely need. As with Josh, starting or coming off of the bench doesn’t matter just make the most of the time you get.
Darren Collison: It will be interesting to see what the new coach has in mind for our offense. Jim did make adjustments to allow you to play more to your strengths but that was only after he was drug there kicking and screaming by all of the players saying the offense wasn’t working. However to help the new coach, honestly you have got to improve your defense. While ball gawking has been an issue, just keeping your man in front of you would go a long way in helping. You have got to come up with a way to defend the bigger stronger guards in the NBA. Nobody is faster but there certainly often is a height issue, something that you must and can overcome. We’ll probably see the real Collision next season but for the rest of this year it is imperative that you be the on court leader of the club.
Brandon Rush: STOP SLACKING OFF!!!! I thought we were past this; you started out the year so wonderfully. You were drawing fouls; you were invested in driving the lane and shooting the ball to only once again start to fade out. Yes your defense is good but guess what, Paul George isn’t that far behind you in that department and he is already a more polished offensive player. I have a feeling you have once again*worked your way into the trade sweetener department. But assuming that you are still here the rest of the year I will say you have got to never EVER have a dead moment on offense when you play. That doesn’t mean you have to average 18 points a game or anything but you have got to be involved in the offense and you can never just go hang out in the corner.
Paul George: Just keep on being you. Yea he’s getting off light but if you have watched the kid play you know that we are onto something special here. Ok, I guess I better throw out something to do for him as well. Don’t settle for the three point shot. There is nothing wrong with using it as a weapon and you have the talent and range to do so, but just be very cautious of falling into the trap of settling for three’s when you can drive as smoothly as anyone we have ever had.
I could go on to each player but really these are the ones I wanted to focus on.
In closing I want to thank Jim O’Brien. No I’m not going to give some cute comment about thanking him for leaving or anything like that. I will just say that when he did come aboard there very much was a “lunatics were running the asylum” type of feel going on here. I believe that he did play a large part in changing that culture as well as making certain that we did not complain to the referee’s every single time down the floor. Again this was prevalent when he arrived. For your part in helping shape the culture in the public view from criminal to good guys I will also thank you.
However I am not going to be hypocritical and pretend that I didn’t do a happy dance when I heard about this either.
Onward to a new Pacers season that starts Monday versus the Toronto Raptors. I’ll be there, will you? If you live to far away will you be watching and logging onto Pacers Digest to support the team?
Here comes the sun
![](http://www.inkity.com/shirtdesigner/prints/clipArt1/S7114202.png)
Written by Peck
Link
I received a text message today, a message that I thought I would never see.
I was convinced that Jim O’Brien’s tenure as coach of the Indiana Pacers would not end at the very earliest until after this current season was over with. In fact I was one of the few who actually believed that it was not out of the realm of possibilities that he would return as the head coach next season (whenever next season begins).
To say that I was stunned by the sudden announcement of Jim’s departure as coach would be an understatement.
Look we’ve spent several hours, thousands upon thousands of words and enough vitriol to fuel the*fires of mordor for eons discussing amongst ourselves the fate and would be fate of Jim O’Brien. You might consider further discussion on him as wasted energy and you would probably be right.
However logic and reason have never stood in the way of a good Odd Thought’s piece before so why let it start now.
It was time, it was well past time.
In fact while I won’t complain about the end results I am frankly baffled by the timing and the circumstance regarding the departure. Our record is no worse at this time than it was a season ago. His public criticism of his players is not new. His rotations have not become less erratic over the past three years however he uses the same scheme’s and reasons behind them as he did on day one.
So while I’m thrilled the hammer*has finally fallen, I question the true reasons behind it.
Jim will land on his feet somewhere. Will he immediately get another job as a head coach in the NBA? I don’t have an answer for that but I don’t think it is out of the question. I know some of you guys feel that he will never coach in the NBA again, I’m not sure I believe that.
I think he is a little more respected in the NBA circles than what he is on the Digest, which obviously is little to no respect at all, but I think some G.M.’s would value his tireless work ethic. Only time will tell though.
However I know that Jim O’Brien is not done coaching. He will either be back in the NBA or he will get a college gig. If he had the desire I believe that Jim could be a great coach in Europe.
Either way he won’t be back here next season.
Now however it falls on the players and the remaining coaching staff to prove that the downfall was mostly Jim O’Brien and not them.
That is going to be no minor task.
Right off the bat we do get somewhat of a break in the schedule as the teams we are playing are not the upper echelon of the NBA, but when your team is as bad as ours is at present there are no easy games. In fact teams will look at the calendar facing you and say that the schedule has gotten a little lighter.
I do expect a little bit of a bounce here but how much and for how long is to be determined.
Of course a lot of this will depend on the new coach’s rotations and roster usage. I expect very similar offensive and defensive sets.
Side bar: Again this is one of the reasons thought that I am so vexed about the timing of the firing as there is literally zero time to prepare or even get in one single practice before the next game. Why they did not do this after the loss to the Knicks when they had a five day down time is beyond me.
So with all of this in mind let’s send some thoughts out to some of the players and what they have to do to help right the ship.
Danny Granger: You have the toughest job because this team is your team, rightfully so as you have earned the honor of being the best player. However for this team to right itself there are several things you have to do. Improve your shot selection, while it is better than last season and better than early this season it still is erratic. I will give you somewhat of a break with this as I do believe one of the greatest coaching failures of O’Brien is that he did not teach good shot selection. But he is gone now, you have to do this. Also you have to defend like you did early in the season. Hopefully you will play the small forward. Hopefully the days of you spending lots of time at the four are coming to an end. But you have to defend and rebound and take good shots every game, not just some. I know that is a lot to ask but since you are the franchise we really need you to do this & I truly believe you can.
Roy Hibbert: Defense, defense, defense. If your shot is not falling, and there are just going to be some nights that it won’t, you have got to be an anchor on the defensive end. I pray to God that we go back to giving you a power forward next to you and not a stretch four because I understand that a lot of your fouls come from having to run from side to side having to defend the basket on both sides of the painted area. Work on a mid range game, learn some post up plays other than a hook shot and rebound. While Danny is the face of the franchise and our best player you are our hope and our most important player. Also while I certainly don’t condone Jim’s berating of you at times in the press I also want you to grow some thicker skin as well. Don’t let comments drag you down and don’t let messed plays or missed shots ruin the rest of your game.
Josh McRoberts: Rebound, rebound, rebound. Look you do good work at helping box out usually but for you to take the step and get more time on the floor you have got to start grabbing 7-9 rebounds every game. The rest of your game is really dependant on what the coach does. If you get to play then just make the most of your time and honor the player whose number you wear by being a man in the paint area and take the pressure off of Roy. Starting or coming off of the bench doesn’t matter at this point in time, just as long as you get to play.
Tyler Hansbrough: Work on improving your defensive awareness. If you are going to start for our club then you have got to know how to make a quick defensive adjustment and switch from player to player. Like Josh a lot of what happens here is going to depend on what the coach does with the rotation. But if you are going to start then you have got to make sure that Roy does not have to cover both sides of the paint. Keep up the offensive production though as that is an asset we severely need. As with Josh, starting or coming off of the bench doesn’t matter just make the most of the time you get.
Darren Collison: It will be interesting to see what the new coach has in mind for our offense. Jim did make adjustments to allow you to play more to your strengths but that was only after he was drug there kicking and screaming by all of the players saying the offense wasn’t working. However to help the new coach, honestly you have got to improve your defense. While ball gawking has been an issue, just keeping your man in front of you would go a long way in helping. You have got to come up with a way to defend the bigger stronger guards in the NBA. Nobody is faster but there certainly often is a height issue, something that you must and can overcome. We’ll probably see the real Collision next season but for the rest of this year it is imperative that you be the on court leader of the club.
Brandon Rush: STOP SLACKING OFF!!!! I thought we were past this; you started out the year so wonderfully. You were drawing fouls; you were invested in driving the lane and shooting the ball to only once again start to fade out. Yes your defense is good but guess what, Paul George isn’t that far behind you in that department and he is already a more polished offensive player. I have a feeling you have once again*worked your way into the trade sweetener department. But assuming that you are still here the rest of the year I will say you have got to never EVER have a dead moment on offense when you play. That doesn’t mean you have to average 18 points a game or anything but you have got to be involved in the offense and you can never just go hang out in the corner.
Paul George: Just keep on being you. Yea he’s getting off light but if you have watched the kid play you know that we are onto something special here. Ok, I guess I better throw out something to do for him as well. Don’t settle for the three point shot. There is nothing wrong with using it as a weapon and you have the talent and range to do so, but just be very cautious of falling into the trap of settling for three’s when you can drive as smoothly as anyone we have ever had.
I could go on to each player but really these are the ones I wanted to focus on.
In closing I want to thank Jim O’Brien. No I’m not going to give some cute comment about thanking him for leaving or anything like that. I will just say that when he did come aboard there very much was a “lunatics were running the asylum” type of feel going on here. I believe that he did play a large part in changing that culture as well as making certain that we did not complain to the referee’s every single time down the floor. Again this was prevalent when he arrived. For your part in helping shape the culture in the public view from criminal to good guys I will also thank you.
However I am not going to be hypocritical and pretend that I didn’t do a happy dance when I heard about this either.
Onward to a new Pacers season that starts Monday versus the Toronto Raptors. I’ll be there, will you? If you live to far away will you be watching and logging onto Pacers Digest to support the team?
Here comes the sun
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