...and you do realize the two posters I quoted probably aren't those two coaches. judging a 22 year old as worst then Mark Blount or Richard Robey off little news snippets, and barely ten minutes of play seems a bit excessive.
Agreed. TP.
Ultimately we can't determine for sure what kind of coaching tactics they're using. Are they willing to stop practice because Pat is out of place and doesn't know the schemes entirely? Is he even getting PT with a group that knows the schemes? These questions just aren't being answered. Factor in his treatment at Golden State and you see why he would be less motivated to "show up early and stay until late." What's the use of doing so if he's not even getting meaningful minutes in at practice?
The measuring stick for him right now should be the preseason. If he doesn't pan out I'll blame it on the coaching staff, not O'Bryant.
If he fails it's his fault. All I'm saying is it's a bit early to call him a complete failure, and assume he's not getting PT because he's lazy. I think he's just figuring out the type of effort Doc wants.
Doc likes guys who try to get involved in every play, and I don't think that's POB(right now). The guys that fit that bill are guys like Powe, Rondo, T.Allen, and the majority of the long gone young guys who succeeded under Doc (players like Delonte, and Gomes). BBD isn't or wasn't that type of player either, but that doesn't mean he's lazy. BBD was like POB in that his approach was to watch the game, and try to go with the flow, instead of going after it every play.
I took the "Patrick Speed and Celtic Speed" comment as Doc saying Pat needs to try harder. There's a difference between not trying hard enough, and needing to try harder, in my humble opinion. POB is just learning what type of intensity/energy he needs to bring to earn minutes.
Doc is trying to change POB from the guy who watches the ball roll out of bounds to the guy who dives for it. That's the best way I can sum up how I see it. Most players in the NBA are the guys who watch it roll out of bounds, but that doesn't mean there lazy. The Celtics just happen to have a roster full of guys who dive for it, and Doc's letting POB know he's going to have to do the same to get any PT.
You bring up a point I've been trying to make repeatedly here, it's this. What I've been trying to do here is get people not to blame either/or but on the collective efforts of everyone involved... a case-by-case basis. In scholarly terms, if you will, this would be referred to as a "case study."
Let me make the comparison with Gerald, why didn't he pan out for us vs. why is he contributing somewhat for Dallas? Well the situation there vs here was different. There he got more veterans, his attitude going into it was different, the coaching staff could devote more attention to him and he would listen better, the fans don't expect him to become a superstar, etc. Here he didn't have
that as much of that kind of situation and that's why he wasn't able to pan out.
So applying this rubric to Pat would mean that again, it's part of the coaching staff's fault. As I said before, he's fast enough when he gets going. The reason why he isn't getting time IMO is not because he's not trying hard enough but because the staff might have evaluated him somewhat incorrectly. Example #1: raw speed. He's faster and more athletic than Perk, but needs to work on his first step. Therefore, he needs to work on his explosiveness... are they saying this to him? Maybe not. Example #2: Defensive awareness. We already know he can block shots, but the problems I saw in the preseason games was that he didn't know where to go on either offense or defense.. the run-and-gun mentality basically carried over. Is this a problem because he doesn't know the sets well enough or because he doesn't want to listen? I'd like to think the former. So let him work on the sets in practice, do everything you can to familiarize him with them. Is the staff doing this? Maybe, maybe not. I'm inclined to think they're not.
So, in summary, it's not "yes or no" but "case-by-case."
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grammar edit.
