<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">?We lost a game we should have won,? Winter said. ?You can?t give up three offensive rebounds in that situation.? The veteran coach reserved the brunt of his criticism for Lakers 24-year-old center Kwame Brown. ?Brown, he?s not a competitor,? Winter said, pointing out that Brown played with bursts of energy mixed with strange bouts of apathy. ?He just doesn?t know how to compete.? Asked if he thought Brown could improve in the intangibles, Winter said, ?I don?t know. You can?t change spots on a leopard. I don?t know how interested he is in playing.? Sexual assault allegations against Brown may have played a part in his loss of focus for stretches at the series? biggest moments, but Winter said the center seemed to lack enthusiasm in getting the ball. ?Kwame missed four or five easy shots early in Game 7,? Winter said. ?He didn?t even try sometimes to go after key rebounds that we needed.?</div> <div align="center"> Source</div> Wow harsh words from Tex towards Brown. Although, I do agree Brown missed several easy shots during the course of the series. I thought I saw tremendous improvement in his game. Brown has not shown in the past that he takes criticism well so this may further hinder his development. He also has some tough words for Odom in the article as well
damn first MJ calls him a ******, and now Tex is taking shots at him....I must admit (although he's still below average) that Kwame did improve this year.
i like tex winter, hes respected in this league but, blasting at kwame? that will bring kwames atitude down a bit.
damn. wtf? i do agree the guy made some stupid plays, but why bash him for what he didnt do? praise him for what he has done. the guy has improved tremendously since the beginnning of the season, but tex doesnt even mention that. i respect tex, and i think he is a great guy and all, but please. these comments are just stupid and they are uncalled for. if you do bash him, at least point out some of the positives that he has done also, heres tex bashing odom: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">“Odom, he wasn’t a whole lot better,” Winter said. “He’s a great talent, but I’m not sure how comfortable he is in a system. He’s more of an instinctive player.” Having developed and pioneered the triangle offense, Winter is a proponent of system basketball. Odom, a big man with ballhandling gifts, has been more comfortable playing for coaches who allow him to be guided by his substantial instincts. Odom has struggled with the triangle, then seemed to get a stronger sense of the offense at the end of the season. “When it comes time to run our offense and make the right kind of cuts, he just doesn’t do them,” Winter complained. The veteran coach had worked often with Odom this season, trying to get him to vary his cuts, but was frustrated with the results. “When Odom makes a basket cut, he makes it the same way every time, which makes it easy for the defender,” Winter said. “I tried and tried, but I just couldn’t get him to change directions, or to change the pace, with his cuts. I tried to get him to set his man up, so that he could get deeper into the post to set up. But he used the same cut all the time, which meant that he would end up setting up in a mid-post. That made it easier to defend him. I never could get him to change it.” </div> found from the same article. although i do agree odom did not play too well in game 7, he IMO had his best game as a laker in game 6. also, for the last couple of games in the season, i thought he was doing great. so why does tex come out and bash him as well?
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Winter had spent much of the postseason encouraging Jackson to play veterans Jim Jackson and Aaron McKie because of their playoff experience, defensive abilities and their sense of how to run an offense.</div> I also expected to see a lot more McKie and JJ on the floor down the stretch of games. The play in Game 6 when Smush tried to go 1 on 3 and got his shot rejected was a momentum killer. McKie or JJ wouldn't have done something stupid in that situation. Tex Winter has some harsh words, but it's all true. Kwame was lost in the last two games and Odom doesn't move well without the basketball. Neither are fundamentally sound players. Hopefully Winter's criticism motivates these two during the offseason and they take enormous strides in their mental approach to the game.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post"> Hopefully Winter's criticism motivates these two during the offseason and they take enormous strides in their mental approach to the game.</div> i dont know about odom, but i think for kwame it will lower his confidence
statements as strong as this tell me that BOTH those guys are on the block... think about it - if you were Tex would you go public with statements like this knowing that you have to coach them next season? He's basically saying these guys are uncoachable when you say a guy's not a competitor and spots on a leopard, etc.... How do you get over that? Plus if your coach said you werent' a competitor, how would you respond? "Fine then trade me" would be a lot of guys answer I reckon.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting phunDamentalz:</div><div class="quote_post">statements as strong as this tell me that BOTH those guys are on the block... think about it - if you were Tex would you go public with statements like this knowing that you have to coach them next season? He's basically saying these guys are uncoachable when you say a guy's not a competitor and spots on a leopard, etc.... How do you get over that? Plus if your coach said you werent' a competitor, how would you respond? "Fine then trade me" would be a lot of guys answer I reckon.</div> If you're planning on trading a player, I don't think blasting them in an interview helps your cause. This type of criticism only lowers their value because of all the red flags Tex Winter brought out about these two. "Fine then trade me." I agree this type of attitude is killing the NBA product. A lot of players cannot handle any type of criticism in their games, even though most of the time it's constructive. They rather take the easy way out and move on to a less challenging situation. If a player had this type of response after I broke down their weaknesses, then I wouldn't want them on my roster.
I don't think you should treat Kwame any differently just because he's sensitive. How is he going to develop a thick skin if everyone keeps on treating him how everyone else has treated him? Even though he's showing signs of improvement, he shouldn't be spared criticism moreso than any other player. Although I don't believe coaches should be blasting their players in public either. If you're going to criticize him, tell him to his face. You don't have to air out all your dirty laundry in public.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Eclipse:</div><div class="quote_post">I don't think you should treat Kwame any differently just because he's sensitive. How is he going to develop a thick skin if everyone keeps on treating him how everyone else has treated him? Even though he's showing signs of improvement, he shouldn't be spared criticism moreso than any other player.</div> im not saying that you shouldnt criticise kwame. what im saying is, if tex winter is pointing out all his weaknessess, why not point out some of his positives? like how much he has improved throughout the season. im pretty sure kwame will get a big confidence boost to hear something good from someone like tex
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting Brian:</div><div class="quote_post">im not saying that you shouldnt criticise kwame. what im saying is, if tex winter is pointing out all his weaknessess, why not point out some of his positives? like how much he has improved throughout the season. im pretty sure kwame will get a big confidence boost to hear something good from someone like tex</div> Tex Winters doesn't sugar coat anything, he tells it as it is. From the interview, it sounded like the questions he was asked revolved around why the Lakers lost. He was just giving his point of view of why the Lakers collpased in Game 6 and Game 7.
either way this is going to be an intriguing offseason, there's no telling what they're going to do. similar to the knicks.
Kobe needs to be blasted for his Game 7 performance, dont get me wrong i've been a Kobe fan for years, but he didnt even try to score at all. Not even once. he wasnt even try to attack. he was just sitting there. I think the old Kobe came back. If he is trying to send a message that is a pretty pathetic way.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting TheHitman:</div><div class="quote_post">Kobe needs to be blasted for his Game 7 performance, dont get me wrong i've been a Kobe fan for years, but he didnt even try to score at all. Not even once. he wasnt even try to attack. he was just sitting there. I think the old Kobe came back. If he is trying to send a message that is a pretty pathetic way.</div> He was double and triple teamed in the second half by the Suns, he did the right thing by passing to his teammates. They missed wide open shots and point blank looks at the basket. Forcing his offense against three defenders isn't smart basketball. Again just like Tex Winters said, the offense wasn't the issue, it was the defense that cost the Lakers both Game 6 and Game 7.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting shapecity:</div><div class="quote_post">He was double and triple teamed in the second half by the Suns, he did the right thing by passing to his teammates. They missed wide open shots and point blank looks at the basket. Forcing his offense against three defenders isn't smart basketball. Again just like Tex Winters said, the offense wasn't the issue, it was the defense that cost the Lakers both Game 6 and Game 7.</div> Yeah but the question is when isn't Kobe double and triple teamed? Everytime he gets the ball, the opponents will send 2-3 defenders to try and stop him. He still scores. He didn't win the scoring title with one man guarding him all season long. In that game 7, i and my friends were asking "Where is Kobe?"
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting WadeDynasty:</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah but the question is when isn't Kobe double and triple teamed? Everytime he gets the ball, the opponents will send 2-3 defenders to try and stop him. He still scores. He didn't win the scoring title with one man guarding him all season long. In that game 7, i and my friends were asking "Where is Kobe?"</div> The Suns made a concious effort to get the ball out of Kobe's hands in the second half by sending hard double and triple teams at him. Once Kobe touched the ball the Suns sent a secondary defender at him, if Kobe made a move to split the double team, there was third defender in his path. So if you want to visualize it, the Suns played a Triangle defense on Kobe Bryant the entire second half. It's up to his teammates to make baskets to break the pressure of the defense Phoenix was using. Smush's inability to hit his jumpshot allowed Steve Nash to play free safety on defense. He was the third man to rotate over to get the ball out of Kobe's hands. So the situation is Kobe being guarded by Raja Bell, which is already a tough matchup. Then the Suns send Diaw or Marion to double team, with Nash cheating over in the event Kobe splits the double. The right play for Kobe to make in that type of defensive pressure is swing the ball to his open teammate. In the regular season Kobe attacked double and triple teams because they didn't come as quick or hard. And when he did attack a hard double team he took a low percentage shot.
that is a bit harsh for Tex to say that. I agreed with him, Kwame seems to lose interest in the game, especially after the charge. I expect Kwame to play consistent and with a pride on both end of the floor every night next season.
I'll say it, Kwame and Smush are garbage. We knew they were garbage coming into the season, yet somehow along the way they fooled us into becoming believers, only to pull the rug from under us. Kwame's a solid post defender but despite his solid offensive numbers, he is just horrible on that end of the floor. He gets credited for 3 TOs a game but really is the cause of 7. He shoots 50+% but really should have shot higher considering the looks he had. Blown layups and bobbled passes is what Kwame does and I dont blame Tex for blasting him. The problem here was that the Lakers changed their strategy with Brown for the suns. All year, Brown was supposed to be our Dennis Rodman, go defend, rebound and that's it. But I think the Lakers made a mistake trying to turn him into an offensive threat, and as a result, that just threw off the everything. I wouldn't mind seeing him on the team next year if he goes back to his regular season role and that is stay clear of the skilled players and go do your dirty work. As for Smush, he gets his hands on a lot of balls but in the end, he's a bench player. Ideally, we can snatch someone up in free agency this year but worst comes to worse, I would consider letting Sasha challenged Smush for the starting spot ... at least he can shoot .
