San Antonio 98 - Clippers 81 - New Coach, Same Old Spurs-Clippers Game
by Steve Perrin on Feb 6, 2010 10:36 PM PST
in Game Recaps
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PrintI feel like I've written this recap before. Oh that's right, I have.
I swear, if Duncan doesn't play the fourth quarter in San Antonio in March, I'm going to scream. I mean, don't the Clippers have a fiduciary responsibility to the rest of the league to tire out the Spurs a little? The Lakers can't be happy about facing Tim Duncan in a couple of nights when Timmy only had to log 19 minutes in this one.
It's really not worth trying to dissect positives and negatives from this game. The 18-0 run in that began a minute into the game essentially accounts for the final margin. Does that mean the Clippers played them even the rest of the way? Mathematically, maybe. But not in reality. When the game was 60-30 early in the second half it was over. It's certainly not a bad thing that the Clippers finally started making some shots at that point, but it's all irrelevant. The game was over, Duncan was on the bench, the lead was never less than 14, it was just 20 minutes of basketball that we had to get through. Did Eric Gordon finish well around the basket? Sure, I guess that was nice enough to see. Did Chris Kaman make a couple of strong moves? Yes. But so what?
It's beginning to look more and more as if the Clippers have to have a strong game from Baron Davis to even be in a game. They need more than that to win, that much is true. But it pretty much has to start with Baron. And Baron struggled mightily tonight.
On the first possession of the game he posted Tony Parker and scored. On the second, he pushed the tempo and made a pretty assist to Kaman under the basket. And it was all downhill from there. In fact, he was hoist on his own petard to some extent. The success of those first two possessions turned into a career-high tying eight turnovers. The next time he tried to post Parker, le petit batard Francais (I think that's what they call him in France, could be wrong) stole the ball from him. When he tried to push the tempo, he turned it over. He pressed the rest of the way, and he never got in sync. He was closing in a triple double when Hughes sat him down - 8 points, 9 assists, 8 turnovers. He'd have gotten it for sure if he'd played in the fourth.
The good news for Hughes is, as I stated in the preview, it's the Spurs so it's basically an automatic loss anyway. I mean, no one wanted or expected it to be this ugly, but it's still just one loss in the standings.
In his post game press conference, he was blunt. He knew they turned the ball over way too much, and worried that they weren't ready to play transition basketball. When Kevin asked him if he thought they had enough ball handlers to play an open court game he was honest: "Perhaps not."
That's the dirty little secret of the MDsr era. It may seem that a by the numbers, playbook driven offense doesn't utilize the open court talents of Baron Davis - but you need more than one player to run. And yes, Eric Gordon and Rasual Butler and Al Thornton can fill lanes, but can they make plays in the open court? Can they make good decisions with the ball in their hands on the fly? And obviously they're professional basketball players and they can play in the open court better than you or me - but can they make consistent, quality plays against NBA competition?
The team's defense was acceptable in spurts, but they got lost in rotations far too frequently, leaving three point shooters wide open. We joked in the preview about Matt Bonner hitting five threes after slumping in 2010 - well, he only made three instead of five. George Hill was well on his way to a career-high (he scored 23 a few nights ago in Sacramento) but settled for 22 in 29 minutes. The Spurs made eleven threes to the Clippers one.
A chorus of boos at halftime and sprinkled throughout the second half is not what this franchise needed in the first game under a new coach after 6 and a half seasons. But it was only the first game and it was against the Spurs. We'll have to wait and see what happens next.
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It's going to take a while
They are going to have to figure out alot of things on the fly in the short term. It will be an interesting ride.
"[Fans are] not technically a lot of times savvy. They don't understand and they don't weigh issues the way that [I] weigh them."
Mike Dunleavy, Sr.
can't wait to play sacramento!
easy beezy, licking my chops
Sactown is very tough
I’ve been following them as well and they usually play very close to their opponents regardless of their levels.
Interesting that we don’t get to play them till 2/20 and we’ll have to play 4 games with them. NBA scheduling, it’s fan-tastic!
Yeah I wouldn't say they're an easy opponent by any means
F**k we lost to the damn Nets and Wolves…we’re the easy competition, not the other way around.
Anyways looking forward to seeing Reke! Man am I jealous of the Kings. 6-6 powerful PG, that’s clutch, that’s pretty cool.
Dammit Blake get well already lol.
by dulciusEXasperis on Feb 7, 2010 9:03 AM PST up reply actions
Dunleavy the 10-11 Coach?
Anyone considered this possibility? If Hughes struggles, and the Clippers can’t land anyone, granted this is a remote possibility but it could happen.
no never.....not ever
That’s never happening lol. Not after all that’s happened. He’s done as a coach here. The team will find someone no problem. But even the worst case scenario has Hughes or Lucas taking over.
by dulciusEXasperis on Feb 7, 2010 9:05 AM PST up reply actions
During the summer...
I believe that if this team can get to 30-35 wins, it would be a great improvement for a team coming off a 19 win season. I know alot of people on this blog won’t accept anything less than a playoff spot with the “talent” that we have assembled, but I never thought that was a realistic goal in the West. You always have to learn to crawl before you can walk. And 19 wins last year meant we were flat on our back. With 32 games to go, that 30-35 win mark is still within reach despite this lackluster loss. We’re sitting on 21 wins now and we only need 14 out of 32 to reach 35.
We got to our seats a bit late tonight so I didn’t get to see if Hughes got a big ovation when he was introduced. But the guys seemingly came out with a bit of energy to take a 4 point lead. By the time we sat down, however, San Antonio had reeled off 18 points in a row. When they had reeled off 10 points in a row, I thought Hughes should have taken a timeout. He didn’t. When we had finally called a timeout, we ended up with a Rasual 20 footer with a hand in his face. And the subsequent San Antonio barrage effectively ended the game. There have been blow outs this year, but it seems that the Clippers always made a run somehow to give themselves a chance at some point…closing to single digits for a quarter at least before losing…but not this game. It was a wire to wire blowout. I don’t think we ever got the lead down to less than 14 and the game was over within the first 6 minutes. It was one of the few times this year that the team was booed off the floor at halftime. And there weren’t enough people left in the arena to boo them at the end. In a way, this game harks back to last year disastrous campaign and more ominously, to the hapless Gentry teams that were completely out of synch in the half court.
It was just one game, against a team that we haven’t been able to beat in years. The loss, in a way is acceptable, but our effort wasn’t there, and that is troubling. After getting rid of a coach that is universally despised by the blogosphere, you would think the players would be grateful and come out with some energy. The opposite happened. It almost seems like the players gave up on the season. Our defensive rotations, particularly to the short threes were as atrocious as last year’s squad.
30-35 wins should still be attainable…that is only a .333-.450 winning percentage in our remaining games…similar to our record that Dunleavy attained with this group. Anything less than that and we will be going into the offseason with a bitter taste in our mouth. It is a downward slippery slope that a team like the Clippers cannot afford. Because another bad spiral to end the season will instill the wrong mentality with the young nucleus. There will be less to build on, and guys like Gordon will be itching to leave a sinking ship, as Clippers draft picks of yore. Let’s hope they come out with more effort on Tuesday night against Utah.
its baron davis...its not anyone else
baron davis is immensely talented…nice guy…wonderful to hi family…and he is absolutely a awful, a terrible, a crappy team player…he has never gotten along with ANY coach…do you think hughes will be different…byron scott trashed canned him…golden state wouldnt pay him the $$$$$$$$$$$$ (ie: trashed canned him)…he is a virtuoso in a team game….the 1st two plays were good because NO ONE ELSE WAS INVOLVED…after that, parker just killed him….no one got shots in their spots…at times gordon looked totally lost…camby was non-existent…thornton was a disater…i could on and on by why…as long as baron davis is the point “there will be no point” in expecting a better result.
not just baron...
terrible passing and defense from the entire team
yeah, they gotta work out some kinks
but hopefully they’ll get things going. i hope this new style will refresh them, and they’ll play with energy
by baron davis' beard on Feb 7, 2010 8:56 AM PST reply actions
Disappointing
Too bad for Hughes. It was a tough game for a debut, but better, I guess, than taking over in the middle of a road trip.
Also tough for the Dunleavy haters who might have naively expected that once he was gone from the sidelines everything would be sweetness and light. I’m not sure that those people actually exist, and everybody must know that a transition is going to be a process. But there was some material for the “be careful what you wish for” argument last night, as the Clippers were worse than sloppy, and didn’t seem focused or determined or even particularly skilled. It was a tough opponent, of course, and ideal in one way, as it’s easy enough to go to the fact that Duncan didn’t have to play in the 4th quarter against Dunleavy’s squad either. Utah is playing well and will slice and dice a loose and uninspired team, so it might not get better anytime soon.
But let’s forget the negative for a moment. The things to look for are small changes in the rotation and what they might mean. The most obvious was the DJordan minutes. Maybe this was matchups and the game out of hand, and it took the air out of Craig Smith, who was flourishing recently, but it was great to see DJ getting so much run.
Another thing was the early call for Mardy Collins, who matched up with Ginobili and kept him quiet. Collins is still in the rotation because Telfair is out, so it’s hard to judge. But he might be moving ahead of Ricky Davis as well.
There wasn’t much to like. Unfortunate.
it's not fair to
characterize those of us who think we would be better off without MDSr as “Dunleavy haters.”
We are actually Clipper fans (many of us for over 20 years) who have as much claim to that title as anyone else. We just believe that MDSr is not a good coach and shouldn’t be involved with the team because we want the team to succeed. I assume that this is what you would want as well. Describing such fans as “Dunleavy haters” is a generalization, overly simplistic and just flat out wrong.
By implication, what you are saying is that you and those that didn’t think MDSr should be axed are “Dunleavy lovers.” I don’t think that this is what you meant. I think that all of the long-suffering Clipper fans deserve respect, not just those who you apparently seem to think are more worthy.
Turning to the specifics of your post, you seem to indicate that some thought that life without MDSr would immediately approve. Who really thinks that? The team has gone so far down the wrong path in terms of coaching that it is going to take a long time to climb out of that hole and right the ship. The “be careful what you ask for” argument is only interesting to those who wanted to retain MDSr in the face of a sub .400 record for 6.5 years (were you one of those?), to make themselves feel better I guess, and to those who want to use the argument to bait, because believe me no one else is listening.
Finally, you seem pretty critical of Kim Hughes after one game. I wish more had been so critical of MDSr after six years.
This is a time when Clipper fans should come together as one to support our team going forward, not to try to point fingers at each other in “I told you so” fashion.
"[Fans are] not technically a lot of times savvy. They don't understand and they don't weigh issues the way that [I] weigh them."
Mike Dunleavy, Sr.
"not to try to point fingers at each other in "I told you so" fashion."
Why not? Not feeling confident about how that is going to work out for you?
Its strange how you and others are so full of excuses now.
Coaches don't matter. - Bill Simmons, The Book of Basketball
How come so vindictive, John?
I don’t think anyone needs to be defending their opinion of Dunleavy at this point. Personally I have zero excuses. Nothing has been proved at this point. We lost one game. We could lose 10 in a row and I would still say that this is the best decision for the team looking forward. I’m still very happy and excited for the rest of the season and beyond.
At least I'm also a Redskins fan... oh wait. My sports life sucks.
It's really not worth debating with that village idiot
"[Fans are] not technically a lot of times savvy. They don't understand and they don't weigh issues the way that [I] weigh them."
Mike Dunleavy, Sr.
by Jax on Feb 7, 2010 8:33 PM PST up reply actions
I told you so Jax
You also previously had ripped Kaman and Randolph, now both are having career yrs. I also ripped Kaman too….he has surprised me. Randolph should have to been given a chance in LA…but then Kaman would not get so many touches…..I am counteracting all my points.
Anyway, why shy from the Dunleavy hater title? Definitely not a MDSr lover. Anyway, moving forward. what are your thoughts on personnel moves for the Clips? How shall we spend away Camby’s expiring contract? It is kinda funny I remember after the Brand debacle, the Clips were supposed to be in the market for Josh Smith…which the majority of Clips Nation opposed. Oh well.
This is going to be my team, and we're going to rise together.
-Clipper Darrell
I agree with you on Kaman and have said as much
Re Randolph, eh. I think they need to get a good young GM in here and go from there. I’d trade Camby at this point since they likely aren’t going to make the playoffs.
"[Fans are] not technically a lot of times savvy. They don't understand and they don't weigh issues the way that [I] weigh them."
Mike Dunleavy, Sr.
by Jax on Feb 7, 2010 8:31 PM PST up reply actions
"I'm not sure that those people really exist"
I added that, after the first sentence, to avoid being specific and to suggest that there might not be such a thing in reality as “the Dunleavy haters,” especially the naive ones. So I was trying to make a useful generalization, just to make the argument.
Don’t mean to stir it up, and just trying to see both sides. In truth, I don’t think there are pure Dunleavy haters and Dunleavy lovers, especially at this point. There are just two sides to the issue.
I guess I could call Bill Simmons a pretty pure Dunleavy hater. He’s trying to get laughs, and needed the right straw man.
You might have been trying to see both sides, but
in my opinion your post comes off as very one-sided, and the line you refer to seems like a throw in that you don’t really believe given the rest of your post.
Frankly, I don’t have a side. I just want the Clippers to win. I think that everyone can be in agreement that they weren’t winning under MDSr.
I think I understand why you are not comfortable with this. By axing MDSr, the Clippers have foregone optimism (at least with the current regime). You were all about trying to make things work from the inside. Some of us realized long ago that this was never going to work with MDSr. It appears that upper management (whoever that is) has finally come to the same conclusion. It doesn’t appear that you ever did.
"[Fans are] not technically a lot of times savvy. They don't understand and they don't weigh issues the way that [I] weigh them."
Mike Dunleavy, Sr.
by Jax on Feb 7, 2010 8:50 PM PST up reply actions
Both sides now
I’d like to think I don’t have a side either.
“I just want the Clippers to win. I think that everyone can be in agreement that they weren’t winning under MDSr.” Agree and agree.
I’m actually fine with MDSr stepping aside. More than fine: I’m very happy with it and I’m looking forward to the future. My comment in the immediate aftermath was that to me it seemed to be well-timed.
Optimism has been gone for a long time. It obviously took a major hit when Griffin couldn’t suit up on opening day, and then it was officially retired when Eric Gordon went out for 6 games and the Clips became mired well below .500. It threatened to come back going into infamous Memphis game, when the Clips might have reached .500 and Griffin was coming back within days, but we all know how that worked out. The doors to Club Optimism had been closed for weeks, but that was when the building was officially emptied out.
I think you’re still hanging on to the idea, rather unfortunately, that MDSr. wasn’t a big part of this decision, that “upper management” finally figured it out. What I think—looking at it from both sides—is that “upper management” set out contingency plans. We remember hearing that MDSr was in deep jeopardy going into the Denver game, which the Clips surprisingly won. At that point, it appears, MDSr wanted and got more time, but it was with the idea that he would resign and install an interim coach if the Clips weren’t going to make the playoffs. Then you get the critical Memphis game, and the New Jersey game after that. After the Atlanta game, on the way home, MDSr knew it was over.
I don’t necessarily want to buy MDSr’s story chapter and verse, and we know how he likes his spin, as you’ve often pointed out about the FElton debacle. But at this point there’s no alternative narrative being proposed. Just want to mention that. All we know is that there were conversations with “upper management” after the Memphis and New Jersey games. MDSr knew it was all over on the flight home.
When you say that “it doesn’t appear that you ever (realized that it was never going to work with MDSr),” I have to take exception. I just thought we were stuck with MDSr, because of his contract. I knew that change would come eventually, and it became more obvious as the sequence of crucial bad games (above) played itself out. I think that this has played out exactly the way I thought it would, although the timetable has moved up a few weeks. I thought (and wrote, I think) that if the Clippers weren’t going to make the playoffs, MDSr would resign and install an interim (I would have guess Lucas, probably), and stay on as GM until his deal was up. I continue to believe this is true because he wants the “credit” for drafting Griffin and assembling the roster around him. He also wants to shape that roster through the trade deadline, the draft and free agency, which should be interesting.
No worries on the conversational side. As long as there are substantive and thoughtful responses, I’m good, and I value your point of view.
I thought your post was pretty balanced zhiv...
some people here are thin skinned, so I wouldn’t worry too much about upsetting them. And as we all know, guys like Jax wont’ really listen to whatever you have to say anyways…and he’ll regurgitate the same argument over and over again ad infinitum. Just write your unvarnished opinions and don’t worry about upsetting the delicate sensibilities of certain members . Alot of us appreciate your insight and opinion. You’re pretty sober in your analysis, imo. KA has a good post on his blog too btw.
Michael
Thanks for your post. I’ve generally refrained from publicly discussing most of your posts, although believe me I’ve thought about it.
To be clear, I’m just discussing the issues here with Zhiv. He knows that and is an excellent writer and can handle a frank discussion. We’ve been having these same discussions long before you were here (or likely were a Clipper fan). However, if in the future he needs a psychophant, I guess he knows where to find one.
I understand that you’re upset by what’s happened. Don’t worry – just give it time and let it play out. It’s all for the best.
"[Fans are] not technically a lot of times savvy. They don't understand and they don't weigh issues the way that [I] weigh them."
Mike Dunleavy, Sr.
Did you mean...
sycophant? Because I don’t think psychophant is actually a word. Typos are one thing, but when you use words you’re not familiar with, it just makes you look damn ignorant. I won’t hold it against you, but others might. At any rate, there is alot of drivel in the blogosphere, alot of sound and fury signifying nothing. So when I read a well considered post that tries to be balanced in a screaming asylum, I try to give credit where credit is due. People have done the same for me occasionally, so I just think it’s good etiquette.
At any rate we had this discussion before in other places, and I don’t really have any desire to reignite the same flame war with you here…you have John R and many others for that. Suffice it to say, I don’t have any problem with making wholesale executive changes. I do have a problem with making changes with no consideration for the next step or having a suitable replacement in mind. From my experience, it generally leads to disaster…the not looking before you leap thing. Sometimes the mob of angry fans/shareholders occasionally get lucky. But I wouldn’t put alot of money on luck.
Thanks for not responding to my posts by the way, I will also avoid your posts in the future. I usually hate having to scroll through hundreds of flame posts between you and your foils, so it would be good to keep the message board clean and not contribute to the clutter. I also don’t have the luxury to scan and post on these blogs as much as some of you guys, so it might seem like I’m not much of a fan in terms of number of posts. But I’ve been attending Clippers games since the Sports Arena days and have been a season ticket holder for many years. We started out in the 300 section before steadily moving down to the 100 level over the years. And in that time, we’ve met some great, loyal, patient and critical fans. We are one loyal tribe, and for the most part, serious basketball junkies.
Thanks for catching the spelling error
Everyone makes them. Apparently everyone except for you. Sorry to appear so ignorant in your eyes. You must be a really really really smart guy and of course you should be deeply offended by seeing a poster misspelling a word on a basketball blog.
The reason why I don’t respond to most of your posts is that they tend to reflect a certain holier than thou attitude, i.e., that your position is better or more reasonable than the next guy’s. You seem to have a certain need to tell us all what’s right and to at least implicitly denigrate those who have different viewpoints that are in reality just as reasonable as yours if not moreso. I certainly didn’t realize until now that you consider yourself to be the arbiter of what’s reasonable around here.
Since you seem to be a smart fellow (indeed, you basically tell us that alot), I would respectfully suggest that you check your attitude at the door. After all, we’re all Clipper fans here. Even those of us Clipper fans, longtime or otherwise, who might not be as “great, loyal, patient and critical” as you claim to be.
Case in point – the Zhiv discussion above. Perhaps my style is too abrupt at times for some. But I wasn’t flaming him and that should be obvious to someone as smart as you so clearly think you are. I was taking issue with something in his post that in my view tends to place the Clipper fans into camps instead of pulling us all together in these trying times. Since you’re so smart, I wonder why you didn’t see the post for what it really was intended to be.
"[Fans are] not technically a lot of times savvy. They don't understand and they don't weigh issues the way that [I] weigh them."
Mike Dunleavy, Sr.
by Jax on Feb 8, 2010 1:00 PM PST up reply actions
Pyschophant is a cool word
And I give Jax some credit for coming up with it, even if it was a brain slip.
There’s nothing to fight about here. I thank MC for the support, and Jax knows how he gets into it with some folks. Just sticking to the issues It’s all tough enough to figure out—it’s the Clippers!
Reflecting on my comment from the other day, which prompted Jax’s response, I think I was just bummed that the Hughes era didn’t get off to a better start. I suppose I wanted to take out the frustration on the radical, thoughtless edge of the fire dunleavy crowd. Dunleavy had to go, no doubt about it, eventually, and it was a long wait for it to happen. And figuring out the next phase is going to be tough. But I should make it clear that I think the change is a good one, and I’m excited about it. Not excited about starting it with San Antonio and losing and now Utah, but excited.
psychophant not pyschophant - get the newly coined word right!!
"[Fans are] not technically a lot of times savvy. They don't understand and they don't weigh issues the way that [I] weigh them."
Mike Dunleavy, Sr.
by Jax on Feb 8, 2010 5:12 PM PST up reply actions
my bad
funny. how about sickophant? Jaxophant? Zhivophant? Elephant?
LOL...
well I don’t mind typos, punctuation, and spelling errors at all, I probably make them as much as the next guy. But I thought it was damn hilarious that your attempt to denigrate me as a sycophant reflected so badly upon you. It’s one thing to mistype or mispell it like sychophant, sycopant, etc but spelling it psychophant makes it seem as if you’ve never seen the word on a printed page before. That you meant it as an insult made it even more hilarious. Also, I find it ironic that you easily take personal affront when someone like Zhiv uses the term “Dunleavy-hater,” as if he was talking about you specifically, but you liberally denigrate others all the time. On this post alone, you called me a sycophant and John R a “village idiot.” You ever wonder why you get into endless flame wars with so many people on this blog Jax? Maybe the problem isn’t everybody else who is intolerant…but yourself, specifically?
Let’s just agree to ignore one another’s posts in the future. Thanks. Keep up the good posts zhiv, I agree with most of your comments. There’s alot of gray areas and not alot of black and white with the Dunleavy, Kim Hughes situation.
You're a funny guy
Unfortunately, you’ve not yet heeded my advice. That’s too bad, because it would help you. .
But you are very defensive so you keep on the attack.
Why did my misspelling of a word reflect poorly on me? Because you say so? Um, ok.
You are also incorrect that I took personal afront to what Zhiv said. Wrong again.
Finally, you suggest that I get into “flame wars” with people. Wrong yet again. Just John R.
Once again, I would respectfully suggest that you stop trying to attack those who may call into question your preconceived notions of what is reasonable and not reasonable and the like, and just engage. We are all Clipper fans.
Thanks,
Jax
"[Fans are] not technically a lot of times savvy. They don't understand and they don't weigh issues the way that [I] weigh them."
Mike Dunleavy, Sr.
by Jax on Feb 8, 2010 5:17 PM PST up reply actions
One thing I do not understand
Cage, in professional sports reguardless of this gray area you speak of, a team performs poorly the coach has to go, and furthermore with Dunleavy’s past history I do not want him even as GM. Forget the so called great thing he has done with the franchise taking them to the second round, (something that I believe every other franchise has already accomplished not to mention the fact that everyone gets lucky once and a while.) Can everything really be credited to Dunleavy? Doesn’t increased revenue from people who can’t afford Laker games have anything to do with them actually acquiring a spot in the Staples Center to play? There may be gray area but it would be silly as us fans to go against 7 losing seasons if he has indeed turned around the culture.
by the way
no need to hate on each other but it is pretty entertaining.
Good point JJ...
win-loss record ultimately determines the effectiveness of the franchise under any regime. I don’t think any of us think that Dunleavy is a great coach, or that he is solely responsible for the Clippers current transition from laughingstock of all professional sports to a semi-respectable NBA franchise. But now that Dunleavy’s tenure is over as coach, you do have to consider where the organization was and where it is now.
That we, as fans, expect to make the playoffs at all each season is a marked departure from the past 25-30 years, where we just hoped that we don’t finish last in the league or in the West. The state of the franchise, with regards to salary cap and personnel, is actually pretty good, and that is testament to Dunleavy’s ability as a GM. If you think about the transition from the Brand-Maggette years to where we are now, we actually rebuilt the squad very quickly without taking on crippling long term contracts. The only remaining player from that Cassell-Brand-Maggette team is Kaman, and the current squad is so competently assembled that even Dunleavy haters on the site believe that the team has enough talent to make the playoffs.
As I stated above, I never thought that we ever had a realistic chance at a playoffs spot this year, after coming off a 19 win season against Western conference competition. I did believe that the team should aim for a resonable improvement of around 30-35 wins, which they are on track to do. Most coaches in professional sports, even good ones, eventually lose their effectiveness with one team. The only exception might be the great ones like Phil, Pop, and Sloan. Even Riles grated on his Magic led team after leading them to multiple championships. Dunleavy’s effectiveness as Clippers coach probably ended three years ago. That doesn’t mean that he is the worst coach in the NBA or the worst GM in the league, he’s probably mediocre in both respects. There are worse coaches/GM than Dun and there are better ones. But the Clippers track record in hiring competent front office personnel over the years haven’t been good, due to DTS.
For better or worse, the Dunleavy years have come to an end. Like zhiv, I’m not sorry to see Dunleavy step down as coach, though I would prefer if there were a clearly defined plan for succession and the franchise can maintain some stabillity going forward. I think ClipfanSD made a good fanpost about how teams like the Clippers cannot take their recent stability for granted, especially with our past history of changing coaches every 1.5 season.
We just have to hope that Kim Hughes has what it takes to be a successful coach in the league, or that we are able to hire an excellent coach like George Karl (if Denver don’t sign him) or Byron Scott (but he doesn’t get along with Baron) over the summer. But realistically, there are very few good coaches out there without jobs. Finding great personnel in any industry is much easier said than done. Having a great owner helps. Unfortunately, I don’t think DTS qualifies as being a very good owner.
good points
I think stability is what ultimately made us improve little by little until it culminated in a playoff birth. However, as we all know shelf life of your average coach is not very high. The one thing that really irked me was DTS decision to make Dunleavy GM and coach. It really just shows that we haven’t changed that much as a franchise, just more revenue. Reguardless of a team, in my honest opinion I think all fans should want their team to win it all every year no matter how realistic that goal may seem, then again I cannot vouch for old school fans like yourself.
I guess you can call me an apprentice fan?
anyways keep up the good work
by JJClipperfan on Feb 8, 2010 10:47 PM PST up reply actions
Own your wars Jax
To suggest that you only get into it with John R is just not true. Unless you have a different definition of flame war than anyone else. Does the current exchange with MichaelCage count?
I am somewhat reminded of a guy I played pickup basketball once. His pet move happened to be to step one way, then cross back the other way… but he almost always did so before he dribbled. So we called him for traveling. After several calls, he was getting pretty pissed and could be heard to say “Same damn thing, everywhere I go. Idiots calling traveling on me.”
In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd
hahaha
that’s a pretty good analogy SP. I hate scrolling through Jax’s endless flame wars in general, so I don’t want to contribute to the same aggravation that others might feel by getting baited into a flame war with him. I think it’s best if we just both mutually agree not to read/respond to each other’s posts in the future, Jax. And please, try to stop name denigrating people (even John R) or making personal attacks on them if you don’t agree with their point of view. Thanks in advance for your consideration in this matter.
BTW, keep up the good work, SP and zhiv.
Once again, my man
Why not take a moment and respond to my suggestions about your posting. They aren’t flames, they are merely suggestions. It would really help you in the future on this board and in life.
Thanks in advance for your courtesy and cooperation.
"[Fans are] not technically a lot of times savvy. They don't understand and they don't weigh issues the way that [I] weigh them."
Mike Dunleavy, Sr.
by Jax on Feb 8, 2010 6:06 PM PST up reply actions
Thanks for the support Steve
"[Fans are] not technically a lot of times savvy. They don't understand and they don't weigh issues the way that [I] weigh them."
Mike Dunleavy, Sr.
by Jax on Feb 8, 2010 6:04 PM PST up reply actions
Thinking about your post, Steve
I wasn’t engaged in a flame war . I just made a serious and thoughtful response to Zhiv’s post when Cage decided to get himself involved and tell us who’s reasonable and who’s not. Plainly he misunderstood.
And this is your input? Good stuff.
"[Fans are] not technically a lot of times savvy. They don't understand and they don't weigh issues the way that [I] weigh them."
Mike Dunleavy, Sr.
by Jax on Feb 8, 2010 6:11 PM PST up reply actions
MC got published...
over at CB…
http://clipperblog.com/2010/02/09/between-intuition-and-structure/
Roger Sterling: To my knees, Don. They're bringing to my knees!"
Just read it
How did you know it was MC?
Great well written piece.
by Michael White on Feb 9, 2010 4:16 PM PST up reply actions
I am assuming it's him
he uses the same handle over at cb.com and KA asked him to write up something really deep about nba tempos…
Roger Sterling: To my knees, Don. They're bringing to my knees!"
I think it's him and I thought the post was well written
"[Fans are] not technically a lot of times savvy. They don't understand and they don't weigh issues the way that [I] weigh them."
Mike Dunleavy, Sr.
by Jax on Feb 9, 2010 6:24 PM PST up reply actions
Thanks for the compliments guys...
It was a fun piece to write.
by MichaelCage on Feb 10, 2010 12:11 AM PST up reply actions
Wait a second...
I babelfished it. Really? That can’t be right can it? Why would they call him that? They like him, right?
loaf of bread is pretty close....
I didn’t bother to get all the accents in properly, but you got there eventually. BTW, I made that up. They do not, as far as I know, call him the little french bastard. That’s just me.
In this world, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant. Well, for years I was smart. I recommend pleasant. - Elwood P. Dowd
by Steve Perrin on Feb 8, 2010 11:56 AM PST up reply actions
After this game is is obvious that we need help at the 2 Guard,
our 3pt. defense is awful and BrickSoolButler has to go!
Everything starts out New, Gets Old and Dies or is Destroyed.
I was offered a free ticket to this game.
Boy, was I glad that I didn’t take it. After Dunleavy was fired, I felt as if a burden had been lifted. As usual, the Clippers react differently to situations than most teams would. While it’s not necessarily uncommon for a team to take a step back in the wake of a fired coach, I don’t think that it was unrealistic to expect a positive reaction. After all, Baron Davis, the unquestioned leader of this team, had criticized Dunleavy’s structured offense and had yearned for more freedom. After scoring the first basket of the game and assisting on the second, nothing went right. As Steve pointed out in the recap (which captured the game perfectly, sorry you have to keep writing these), just because the team seems as if it’s built to run doesn’t mean it can. This is especially true when the team has played primarily in the half court for over six years.
Instead of going into more detail about how bad the first game of the Kim Hughes era was, it will suffice to say that this was a disappointing loss. I’m not going to look to much into one game. Hopefully, the Clips can look past this and right the ship in the games to come.
by WestsideBrandon on Feb 7, 2010 12:44 PM PST reply actions
Something I did like about last night...
One thing I saw last night that I thought that should of been done by MDSr long ago was the rotation of the bench players. MDSr is so intent on winning he usually leave the starters in for way too long and by the 4th quarter they are usually spent. Giving mins to the bench gives them the much needed experience to develop and mesh.
Why didn't we see more of Rhino?
Why did this guy, who has been playing the best ball of any Clipper the past 10 game, sit out so much?
For all you MD bangers, be glad that he is still the GM. Otherwise, this team is going to slide faster than the mud up in La Crescenta……
Braved the rain from San Diego...
and was not too impressed. Still had fun at this one though. Third quarter was probably the highlight for me.
Hate to Beg, But
Like many, I’ve been laid off, but going downtown LA this week for job fair at Convention Center. Love to take in Clips game, haven’t recently (unless 1 pre season game counts). Any Nation members with single ticket to sell for 2/9 game at reasonable price? Lower level please, bad knees not conducive to waling many steps.
dont bother
the jazz are the hottest team in the league (maybe after cavs)
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