Apologies...I rushed to get this out before tonights game, excuse any typo's ya boy's not perfect.....Enjoy
In this post:
Breaking news....Coaching mismatch: Donavan vs Jim Carrey…I mean Rick Carlisle
Let’s start by stating the obvious, Rick Carlisle is a fantastic coach. This fact is generally accepted across the league. His teams routinely outperform their talent level in both the regular and post season.
For example, look at the performance of his 2014 Mavericks a completely out-talented team that pushed the eventual champions to 7 games. One could chalk that performance up as an aberration, or attribute the Spurs difficulty to playing down to the competition. The latter might partly be true, but Carlisle influence on that series shouldn’t be understated. I’ll spare you the gory details…..But, to shut down the Spurs “beautiful game” (built on precise ball and player movement) he employed a switching strategies that had the Spurs tripping over themselves for 7 games. His coaching opponent in that series wasn’t some “green” interim coach. One could argue that he out-coached possibly the greatest coach ever for multiple games.
More recently the performance of the Mavericks in this most recent regular season might be an even greater indication of his coaching prowess. He helped drag an old broken down roster of cast-offs to a 7 seed. Seriously….look at this roster:
Dirk is a hall of fame player, but he can hardly move and my legs hurt just trying to watch him run up and down the court. Parsons their “max” player is out with a knee injury. Matthews other “max” player was coming back from Achilles injury and simply has not returned to his pre-injury form. That about sums up their non-rookie and cast off players.
The rest of their rotation is as follows:
JaVale McGee – just google this dude….summaries of his exploits are impossible in this space
Raymond Felton – was fat and out of shape & ran out of New York and Portland
Devin Harris – past his prime guard, who averaged about 7 pts a game
Dwight Powell – 2nd year player, best talent = dunking when close to rim
Justin Anderson – promising rookie
JJ Barea – a shrimp of a PG who was cut from the Twolves last year, did marry a Miss Universe contestant though…
Charlie Villanueva – ran out of Detroit after massively underperforming his contract
Jeremy Evans – dunk over a portrait of himself once
Zaza Pachulia – good defender, incredible agitator, better as a soundbite
Deron Williams – oft injured and over the hill rumored coach killer, bought out of New Jersey
Salah Mejri – rookie, main skill - energy & height
David Lee – bought out of Boston
Due to injuries Carlisle completely revamped the way the team played 2/3 of the way through the season by drastically slowing the pace and all but eliminating turnovers. Under the tutelage of Carlisle, Dirk and Barea dragged the rest of this scrap heap to 7th seed in West, and a date with OKC Thunder.
Now let’s take a moment to consider the Thunder. A roster comparison shouldn’t take long. They have 2 top 10 players (Durant and Westbrook) that are more talented than the entire Mavericks roster, combined. Both of these guys are legitimate MVP candidates on a yearly basis, but before we further we can agree, both of these players are not perfect.
Westbrook is the Tasmanian devil incarnate on the basketball court. He’s 100% effort 100% of the time. Part of what makes him so attractive is you can tell how much he freaking cares about winning. However, this hyperactivity bleeds into suboptimal shots (pull up 3 pointers) and lack of ball movement because he has so much confidence in his supreme athleticism.
Durant is a 7 foot small forward with an improved handle, and almost unlimited range. He too has improved as a passer from when he first entered the league. I think his greatest weakness is that he settles for difficult shots and struggles when capable physical defenders body him up. Too many possession end with a long pull up 2.
Both of these guys aren’t perfect, but no one is (Steph Curry excluded). The issue is other teams have systems that highlight their player’s strength and bend the defense to create efficient and open looks. This is where the Thunder fall short. They have 2 top 10 players, but what they don’t have is a coach anywhere close to Carlisle’s level. For years their old coach (Scotty Brooks) was roasted for his lack of an offensive system and inability to competently stagger Westbrook and Durant’s minutes. He was fired at the end of the last season and replaced with Billy Donovan.
The NBA at large held its breath, hoping this change signaled the opportunity for Durant and Westbrook to work under a coach who could truly maximize their other worldly talent. The results would suggest otherwise. Donovan eventually figured out how to stagger Durant and Westbrook’s minutes (not exactly rocket science) but the lack of offensive continuity continued.
The Thunder destroyed the Mavs in game 1 so reacting to their game 2 loss is neither intelligent nor necessary. It would be illogical to believe that the Mavs can win this series. Carlisle is an incredible coach, but he’s not Jesus, so he isn’t turning water into wine and he’s not going to be able to coach the Mavs to 3 more victories. That is unless Durant continues to miss around 30 shots a game. However, this doesn’t mean that the coaching disparity between Carlisle and Donovan isn’t incredibly apparent. Carlisle’s squad stole a game on the road by depending on Ray Felton down the stretch. He should receive coach of the decade honors for this alone.
The type of issues mentioned above can be masked during a long regular season, but are magnified in the playoffs when teams potentially play each other 7 times in 2 weeks. Furthermore, Durant and Westbrook’s incredible 1 on 1 ability often is enough to beat 95% of teams in the NBA. The playoffs, with better teams and coaches (usually), is a different story. When the opposing team can put all of their resources on identifying and neutralizing the opponent’s every tendency, the ability to adjust is paramount. This is when coaching ability is truly demonstrated. The Thunder can’t install a brand new offense during the playoffs, but it isn’t hard to make small adjustments.
- Better lineup decisions in crunch time
- Having players screen each other away from the ball
- Backside cuts
- Getting the ball up the floor and into the offense quicker.
I’ll be interested to see if Donovan has the ability to adjust going forward. This might not be necessary in this series. Fat Felton and the immortal Dirk can only take the Mavs so far. The Thunder might render crunch time irrelevant by simply overwhelming an inferior talent. But in the next series against Pop and the Spurs the Thunder’s “my turn, your turn” 1-on-1 offense simply will not be sustainable in close games. Talent usually trumps coaching, hence OKC's ability to maintain success with limited coaches. However, the truly elite teams, the ones that win and not simply aspire for championships usually require excellent coaches. Even Golden St. didn't reach their new found heights without first upgrading their coaching staff.
Long story short, Carlisle is a better coach, in a league driven by star players it's interesting to see how big of a difference coaches make come playoff time.
