LogGrad98
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I share your sentiments about AK, but frankly having him as the PF on this team would be epic. Just like Hayward is exactly the kind of player we need, but I would rather have a colonoscopy from Orin Scrivello sans anesthesia than have him back again.This is a huge beef I have with Quin. He sees the direct consequence of specific things, but doesn't ever look at how dynamics change after that. He assumes that if you change one variable, then all other variables remain static and when we melt down in the playoffs, he's so baffled why all the other variables in the equation changed. It's like the idea having a center who shoots 32% from three. The initial thought is that this is not a great percentage. But it's not really about that percentage. It's about the changing dynamics of running that on the floor and how it changes the game when the defense has to make small adjustments depending on what's happening. Quin can't see all of the secondary and tertiary defensive issues that arise from teaching people to just do take fouls. Likewise, this is the big issue with "Rudy can't ____." Quin runs a system that makes funneling to Rudy be the main action. And the problem isn't just funneling to Rudy, it's that the entire defense doesn't work with rotations because everyone is taught that Rudy is the helper and you never help another guy. This is really where our defensive system comes crashing down. It's not because "Rudy can't be in multiple places at once" (well, it is, but that's not it). It's because nobody is accustomed to covering for another guy. When someone gets burned on the perimeter, how often are all the other guys just ball watching? The idea is to have Rudy do that because "he's the best at it, yada, yada," but it spreads Rudy too thin. We have an entire defensive system where nobody is mentally checked in on what they need to do and how the coverage changes over the course of a possession. We employ nobody helping because Quin sees the initial idea of "why don't we just have Rudy always be the helper because he's the best at it," and then we go creating issues because the offense knows they can exploit by only having to account for Rudy. I have loathed to talk about AK and have mentally excommunicated him from the franchise, but damn wouldn't having him on the floor for help coverage with Gobert be exactly the kind of crutch that could make Quin look competent. I absolutely hated his man-to-man defense, but him being the secondary guy that's supposed to cover from the weak side while Rudy is at the rim.