Coaching decisions: the good, bad and unusual

[Goldstar88]

Yep. Joes the problem. Just like last year. 

[Phantom255x]

I just don't understand the lack of adjustments sometimes. Mitchell, Lillard, Maxey, etc. and these other smaller guards/wings are killing us in games, and yet we just let it happen. No wrinkles, no adjustments, just continue to let them take wide open 3s or easy buckets inside.

Brad Stevens needs to get a backup PF/C because Porzingis isn't reliable health-wise and Queta is still a year away from being a playoff-caliber big. Tillman may not be counted on this year due to injury or just poor play it seems.

[SparzWizard]

I just don't understand the lack of adjustments sometimes. Mitchell, Lillard, Maxey, etc. and these other smaller guards/wings are killing us in games, and yet we just let it happen. No wrinkles, no adjustments, just continue to let them take wide open 3s or easy buckets inside.

Brad Stevens needs to get a backup PF/C because Porzingis isn't reliable health-wise and Queta is still a year away from being a playoff-caliber big. Tillman may not be counted on this year due to injury or just poor play it seems.

Some notable Center free agents this summer:

Rudy Gobert
Clint Capela
Myles Turner
Jalen Duren

Get to work Brad.

[Vermont Green]

I just don't understand the lack of adjustments sometimes. Mitchell, Lillard, Maxey, etc. and these other smaller guards/wings are killing us in games, and yet we just let it happen. No wrinkles, no adjustments, just continue to let them take wide open 3s or easy buckets inside.

Brad Stevens needs to get a backup PF/C because Porzingis isn't reliable health-wise and Queta is still a year away from being a playoff-caliber big. Tillman may not be counted on this year due to injury or just poor play it seems.

Some notable Center free agents this summer:

Rudy Gobert
Clint Capela
Myles Turner
Jalen Duren

Get to work Brad.

Which one of these do you think is going to take the Vet Min contract?  If we trade for one of them, then I think we can sign them to a realistic contract based on Bird Rights, but as a FA, all second apron teams can offer is Vet Min contracts.  I am not sure what it is that you think Brad Stevens can do.  Trade Holiday?  Trade Porzingis?

Plus, I don't think Jalen Duren is going to be a FA in 2025.  DET picked up his option for 2025-26 and after that, he becomes a RFA.

[Roy H.]

I wonder what effect, if any, Charles Lee leaving has had.

[celticsclay]

Did anyone else think the end of clock management in yesterday game was really terrible? We were down 5 with 40 seconds left. I don't mind if we trap and try to get a steal especially since we got one, but I don't think you can let Philly run the clock down to 16 seconds there, it greatly diminishes our chance to win. If they score or get an offensive rebound, the game is 100% over. Even if they miss at the buzzer of the shot clock and we score as fast as possible (which we did) we are down 3 with a miss. We executed perfectly having a three after the first two but we just ran out of time. I get that have some good free shooters, but with how many three point shooters we have we definitely should have tried to extend the game in my opinion. What do you all think?

Also this isn't a specific critique of Joe, Reddick did something similarly ridiculous in the Lakers Pistons game the other night down 3 with a 3.5 second shot clock differential.

[jpotter33]

Atrocious coaching performance by Joe today. Had an excellent first half, and then we completely went away from what was working and started chucking (missing) threes again - to which Joe had no answer to or ability to change. We also literally ended the game with 2 FULL TIMEOUTS remaining, despite letting them go on multiple runs that let the game break wide open.

Joe still has so, so many questions about his ability to help us win close games, as he consistently gets outcoached by other coaches of elite teams in crunch time when it matters. He was as big of a factor in today's loss as any individual player with his refusal to put his team in positions to succeed or adjust to what the team needed, let alone his continued insane refusals to call timeouts and help his guys out with these runs.

Embarrassing in-game management.

[blink]

Atrocious coaching performance by Joe today. Had an excellent first half, and then we completely went away from what was working and started chucking (missing) threes again - to which Joe had no answer to or ability to change. We also literally ended the game with 2 FULL TIMEOUTS remaining, despite letting them go on multiple runs that let the game break wide open.

Joe still has so, so many questions about his ability to help us win close games, as he consistently gets outcoached by other coaches of elite teams in crunch time when it matters. He was as big of a factor in today's loss as any individual player with his refusal to put his team in positions to succeed or adjust to what the team needed, let alone his continued insane refusals to call timeouts and help his guys out with these runs.

Embarrassing in-game management.

yeah that last few min of the 3rd and all of the 4th was one constant OKC run.   we looked gassed and out of sync, sometimes you just gotta call a timeout to try and stop the run / energy.   Nope that never happens.

[jpotter33]

It's time - Joe's seat needs to be getting warm.

He has been a colossal failure as a leader this year thus far and has yet to hold this team accountable for lackluster play, poor effort, and lack of engagement.

He's also took Mazzulla Ball to an unsustainable extreme and ruined how this team knows how to play offensive basketball. And defensively - I don't even know what to say. This team doesn't look like they've every played together before defensively, and they're clearly not playing their hardest and largely just going through the motions. Joe is supposed to be this excellent defensive coach, but we look like the Wizards out there and he's done nothing to improve us on that end. In fact, it's been worse.

It's time for Joe to step up and be the leader of this team and hold these guys accountable and not just excuse away every poor performance.

[tenn_smoothie]

I just don't understand the lack of adjustments sometimes. Mitchell, Lillard, Maxey, etc. and these other smaller guards/wings are killing us in games, and yet we just let it happen. No wrinkles, no adjustments, just continue to let them take wide open 3s or easy buckets inside.

Brad Stevens needs to get a backup PF/C because Porzingis isn't reliable health-wise and Queta is still a year away from being a playoff-caliber big. Tillman may not be counted on this year due to injury or just poor play it seems.

Some notable Center free agents this summer:

Rudy Gobert
Clint Capela
Myles Turner
Jalen Duren

Get to work Brad.

We do need help inside, but a trade is not going to fix the incompetent head coach.

[Roy H.]

Coaching is part of the reason for the current slump, no question.  Joe hasn't been able to make adjustments that have worked, and the team doesn't seem motivated or focused.

[GreenEnvy]

Coaching is part of the reason for the current slump, no question.  Joe hasn't been able to make adjustments that have worked, and the team doesn't seem motivated or focused.

Part of the challenge of defending is staying motivated throughout a long season. If they start turning up the effort and focus after the all-star break and you see them win something like 18 of 20 or something like that, then there?s no reason to believe they can?t lock in when necessary.

It?s got to be difficult taking everyone?s best shot nightly while not being able to get up for most of these teams.

[Roy H.]

Coaching is part of the reason for the current slump, no question.  Joe hasn't been able to make adjustments that have worked, and the team doesn't seem motivated or focused.

Part of the challenge of defending is staying motivated throughout a long season. If they start turning up the effort and focus after the all-star break and you see them win something like 18 of 20 or something like that, then there?s no reason to believe they can?t lock in when necessary.

It?s got to be difficult taking everyone?s best shot nightly while not being able to get up for most of these teams.

Sure, if they can "flip the switch", then there's no major problem.

But, what if they can't?  They're losing and struggling against bottom feeders and look broken on both ends.  At what point do those bad habits stick?

[Vermont Green]

Coaching is part of the reason for the current slump, no question.  Joe hasn't been able to make adjustments that have worked, and the team doesn't seem motivated or focused.

Part of the challenge of defending is staying motivated throughout a long season. If they start turning up the effort and focus after the all-star break and you see them win something like 18 of 20 or something like that, then there's no reason to believe they can't lock in when necessary.

It's got to be difficult taking everyone's best shot nightly while not being able to get up for most of these teams.

Sure, if they can "flip the switch", then there's no major problem.

But, what if they can't?  They're losing and struggling against bottom feeders and look broken on both ends.  At what point do those bad habits stick?

The team has played bad for about a month now.  The coach gets some of the blame for this.  There have been some adjustments, 3PA are down.  But whatever adjustments have been made hasn't fixed the problem yet.  Joe is a young coach.  This is a tough situation that he has not faced before.  Not all that many coaches can say they have experience coaching the defending champion.  In any case, none have been able to repeat lately (were Kerr and Phil Jackson the last 2?).  But Joe is the coach and the team should be playing better than it has lately.

I don't  know what is going on.  White, Brown, Holiday, Horford, Hauser, all playing well below last season.  Porzingis too really (although his box score stats aren't all that bad). Tatum has generally played well, but he can't do it all.

[Roy H.]

Coaching is part of the reason for the current slump, no question.  Joe hasn't been able to make adjustments that have worked, and the team doesn't seem motivated or focused.

Part of the challenge of defending is staying motivated throughout a long season. If they start turning up the effort and focus after the all-star break and you see them win something like 18 of 20 or something like that, then there's no reason to believe they can't lock in when necessary.

It's got to be difficult taking everyone's best shot nightly while not being able to get up for most of these teams.

Sure, if they can "flip the switch", then there's no major problem.

But, what if they can't?  They're losing and struggling against bottom feeders and look broken on both ends.  At what point do those bad habits stick?

The team has played bad for about a month now.  The coach gets some of the blame for this.  There have been some adjustments, 3PA are down.  But whatever adjustments have been made hasn't fixed the problem yet.  Joe is a young coach.  This is a tough situation that he has not faced before.  Not all that many coaches can say they have experience coaching the defending champion.  In any case, none have been able to repeat lately (were Kerr and Phil Jackson the last 2?).  But Joe is the coach and the team should be playing better than it has lately.

I don't  know what is going on.  White, Brown, Holiday, Horford, Hauser, all playing well below last season.  Porzingis too really (although his box score stats aren't all that bad). Tatum has generally played well, but he can't do it all.

The weirdest thing for me is how ineffective the starters have been as a unit.  I don't think it's a physical / talent issue; those five still seem to fit together perfectly.  Is it motivation?  Focus? Fatigue?