VERY interested to see if the team does NOT play .600 ball when CJ and Nurk return, where the blame goes.
Well, I do think I could go poster by poster and give you the answer, so yeah, you are right. My gut tells me its going to be on Stotts for not figuring out how to make Nurk and CJ play better or something.
I can't speak for everyone who is anti-Stotts, but I think we have a good record despite him right now based on having one of the easier schedules in the league up until this point. The schedule is much tougher from here on out. I don't base my analysis on regular season results simply because Dame bailed him out from losing to a bunch of crappy ass teams. So the Stotts blame will be consistent with what I've been saying for years, not because he can't make Nurk and CJ better.
Since it's been 9 seasons with Dame/Stotts, to me what seed they get doesn't matter if they lay an egg in the post season and aren't prepared to conquer some issues that have plagued them in the playoffs.
I agree, but its possible the teams that beat them in the offs is simply better. Lakers were the better team last year for sure. Im for change if people will give it at least a couple years. Winning all the way through the playoffs is very hard to do and requires some luck. When Nash gets the Nets to play defense collectively without sacrificing their O, Im all for looking at a younger coach with a knack.
Could be. Does the 'strength of schedule' philosophy work for the amazzzzing New York Knicks defense? They have had the easiest schedule in the NBA so far.
Knicks are in a rebuild and don't have a top-10 or even top-20 type player so they're held to a different set of standards, IMO. I fully expect them to come down to Earth a little bit, but even then the defense is much improved over last year which is a coaching based thing.
I'm confident most people will step back, look at each game objectively, not factor any prior bais, and provide a thoughtful, multifaceted conclusion.
