So Al had 30 points last game, shooting 11-14 from the field and 5-7 from 3pt. He was by far the most efficient scorer for the C’s. Tonight he has 7 shot attempts. How does that happen?? In the 8 games of this postseason, Horford is shooting 56.5% from the field, 53.5% from 3pt and 80% from the line. I triple checked, not a typo: 56.5% from the field, 53.5% from 3pt and 80% from the line. Someone seriously needs to let Ime know, because he clearly doesn’t. How do you not get a player putting up those kind of numbers involved in the offense EVERY game? Again, this is just bad coaching.
I'm just curious, why is it you think it's always the coach's plan/fault when certain players get the ball or not? I don't think Ime is the guy holding the Xbox controller deciding "I'm not going to let Al get the ball". Sometimes it's on Al to call for the ball or get himself in a position where he can score. Sometimes it's on the players to decide to get their teammates involved. Sometimes it's how the other team's coverages work out, clearly Milwaukee didn't want Al to do another special on them. Sometimes it's just the way the ball bounces and doesn't find people.
The players aren't puppets on strings, they need to ask themselves if certain players aren't getting the ball in scoring positions. They're the ones on the court with the ball.
This reminds me of the Kyrie Irving comments when he was talking about the Nets not really needing a coach and that he, KD and Harden could just run the show.
Do teams not have a playbook? Or are the players free to audible out there on every possession and do whatever they want? I was under the impression that the coach is the one creating/calling the plays, strategizing, setting lineups, and making adjustments/substitutions throughout the game. If he’s not doing that than I guess Kyrie would be correct.
There's a difference between not needing a coach and understanding that there are many variables that go into a team's performance. The way I always saw it, the coach sets the blueprint for the style of play the team wants to use, they establish some general sets and patterns of play to use, and he picks the rotation of players that he wants to execute that, and he works with the assistant coaches to train the players to do that, and as he has command responsibility he has to hold the team accountable for their performances. I would expect that during the game he would manage the substitution process to determine who should be on the floor based on which combinations work best, and to reinforce to the players the style of play they want to play with and to address any significant deviation from that.
But in the ebb and flow of the game I expect the players to do a lot of that in game management themselves. That's historically been the role of the point guard, to get people involved and to run the sets. Ime can remind them, he can threaten them during timeouts, but at this level the players shouldn't have to be told to "get Al involved" or having to be told what to do all the time like an NFL coach calling up plays every down. Al needs to get himself involved. Or if they are guarding him a certain way he can run decoys, he can set screens, there's other things he can do to get involved.
It's just a difference in philosophy on coaching I think...the coach obviously has command responsibility, but I think his circle of influence shrinks when the ball is actually on the court and the players have to take a lot more responsibility. Other people may feel that he should still be able to actively machinate from the sidelines even while the ball is being dribbled.
The reason I'm reluctant to blame Ime for this is because this isn't the first game where I've seen Al tend to go passive. He's a little like Hayward in that respect, because he's not a selfish player, he's never going to yell for the ball. So the ball can often pass him by. He had 58 touches last game based on NBA.com, just below Jaylen, but most of them were DHOs. Also, he was guarded a lot more tightly to make sure he wasn't able to pop for open 3s like he did in game 4.
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