I kind of just hope we flame out completely. Everything at this point is fool's gold, so it's just extending out the pain. Sure it would be fun to have a nice run to end this series and move forward, but we will just get pounded in the 2nd round. The odds are astronomical that we have any kind of a deep run this year. We are so obviously broken it isn't funny, and I see no way this gets repaired in time to salvage much of anything from this playoffs. Mitchell seems disinterested in anything, Gobert is playing like he is walking in mud, the starters in general are playing like they just don't give a ****, outside of I would say Bogey who is the only started showing any kind of fire, but of course we can't or won't go to him when the matchup is favorable.
Mitchell, imhfo, is fully into diva-ball. I suspect this is the beginning of the end for him, as he is far enough into his career that this is just kind of who he is, it isn't changing. He has fully embraced the spirit of AI with a lower talent level and drive.
I believe what we are seeing with Gobert is just the overall frustration with the situation, one of those things you get from good employees who work hard but management doesn't hold anyone else accountable, so eventually even the really great employees start slacking off. If they won't work, neither will I, kind of thing. I think he is just frustrated for being the only guy to carry everyone on defense and he is sick of it, so he is checking out.
I hope we trade everyone this off-season except Gobert, House, Paschall, Butler, Clarkson, Juancho and find a way to hold onto Whiteside. With Mitchell, Royce, Conley, Gay, Bogey we could get a decent haul and retool without exploding. Imagine a Trey Young kind of player feeding Rudy, or something like that. Add a PG that will involve the team, and can play D, and surround the rest of 3&D wings with some attitude and we could take this back up next year.
I could get behind trading Gobert if we can hold onto Whiteside at least as a stop-gap. He has been a breath of fresh air this year, despite his being an off and on again air-head. But frankly we are getting a LOT more for Mitchell than we would for Gobert. Mitchell we could get plus assets, Gobert we will be lucky to break even, and likely we will take back less in terms of assets and players as his skill set is so specialized no one values it the way they will Mitchell. If we are keeping one, it should be Gobert.
And drop Quin. He has completely lost the team. His system is good for regular season wins, terrible for playoff ball, and he is clueless as to what to do about it. I don't even think it is just rigidity, I really think he doesn't know what to do when the other team makes changes or adjustments. Look at him on the sideline and in huddles, where he just kind of throws out platitudes and doesn't drive with any fire or give any answers. Seriously every time he is "mic'ed up" it seems all he ever says is "everything is fine, this is all fine, do it harder, play better". The coach that screamed "wake up" at his team isn't there any more. And as soon as his team decides to take it into their own hands, they are completely lost. No creativity, no effort to share the ball, no ****ing clue how to involve the guy with an NBA-record high FG% of all time. Heaven forbid we learn how to get him involved. Nope, hero ball makes a lot more sense, because, you know, Rudy sucks on offense and Mitchell shooting 17% in the 4th quarters is way more effective than trying to give Rudy the ball anywhere he can do something with it. Buncha ****ing morons with that thought. And heaven forbid Quin teach them how to do just that. Good coaches devise schemes to get their best players involved, period.
Really I don't think Quin is the genius savant everyone thought he was. He is just an ordinary guy who is a middling NBA coach. His system is good enough that when everyone buys in, we can rack up the wins, but it relies so entirely on perfect execution that as soon as players stray or lose focus it just plain collapses, or if the other team gives them a look they aren't ready for, it all falls apart. And I do not mean just on one end of the floor, as a coach he needs to be preparing his team to play both offense AND defense, and it is obvious he is relying on "funnel to Rudy" to suffice as a defense, and he has focused nearly entirely on his offensive system.
For a guy that was supposedly a defensive-minded coach, his defensive chops are basically non-existent. He does nothing to instill that in his team, and when they play any other defensive scheme except straight man-to-man they seem lost and confused. Heaven forbid we learn how to work a basic zone defense. Let alone switching, holy **** don't get us started on switching. You would think their heads are going to explode trying to figure that out. Quin just has not given them the tools to compete on the defensive end, and he hasn't devised a system to minimize their weaknesses. That is what a good coach does. Instead Quin just says "funnel everyone to Rudy", then when they are just standing there watching their guys run at Rudy en masse they say "see, Rudy isn't a good defender". And this is all on Quin. I would be surprised to see him land anywhere big or see much success after this. Other teams see what the coach is doing, and it is obvious he has no clue and has lost the team. Why would another team want that?
