Only saw 5 minutes in the 4th, down by about 15 at the time. Pretty sorry display: sieve-like defense and one on one dribbling and chuck up a 3 pointer offense. I turned it off when Flip got stripped by Eddie House, got out-hustled for the loose ball and they went down for a breakaway layup to break our backs. Terrible. And I haven't seen this kid House miss in like 3 weeks. Didn't we have a chance to sign him in the off-season?
Yeah, I think that he was a free agent but considering our defensive needs I don't think that the liberal shooting Eddie House would have made a drastic impact on this roster. Rick Sund said it best, this team is a carbon copy of the 2003-2004 season, sans the injuries. I thought that I had a pretty good grasp on what the Sonics were all about. The Sonics were getting 8 points and I was absolutely positive that they wouldn't lay an egg against the Suns considering that they had played well the last two games and that we can't afford to give any games away with our below .500 record. Shows what I know. This team needs extra incentive to play the game passionately. Their incentive versus the Blazers was to get their first win in four games and beat their old coach. Their incentive versus the Wizards was to avenge their blowout loss in the nation's capital. What was the incentive for this game? When this team doesn't play with passion we don't play well and it seems as if there isn't much that motivates this team besides excessive losing streaks and sticking it to Nate. Hell even in that game once we got up we lost the motivation and almost allowed for them to have the largest comeback in NBA history. Who do I blame this on? I've waited and I've waited to give this guy the benefit of the doubt but it is obvious that Bob Weiss is over his head in this job. A coach who needs his assistants to challenge the players efforts isn't one who I'd like to go to war with. A coach that goes on the record saying that he isn't in favor of a rotation and at any given time a reserve player can be subject to a DNP-CD regardless of how they've been playing is not a coach that I can endorse. Coach Weiss is a puppet who I believe is torn between his allegiance to his players and his allegiance to management. We have absolutely no identity and rarely does this team play with passion. For get about the fact that we will have possibly 4 free agents next season. Bob needs to get these guys to realize that the only way you can exceed your market value is by winning games--something last year's team was able to grasp. To be honest at this point I'd feel more comfortable with Bob Hill as our coach for the simple fact that he doesn't seem content with losing by 28 points to an undermanned Phoenix teams. Losing is easy when you have an excuse and Bob has been pulling excuses out of his magic hat all season. I know I haven't been as active in this forum in the past but that doesn't mean I'm not intently paying meticulous attention to these Sonics. My job hasn't allowed me to get on this site but believe me this Sonics team has gotten my attention in almost every negative fashion imaginable. Outside of Rashard Lewis (and Nick Collison when Weiss decides to play him) there hasn't been one Sonic who has improved from last season. If we are relying on Reggie Evans for inside scoring you know that the coach is not utilizing our front court players to put them in the best position to be successful.
Some disturbing quotes after last night's game: Ray <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">I told Reggie he played a great game," Allen said. "He didn't respond. But I told him, 'Win or lose, man you played well.' Hopefully he feeds off that. He's young and has a lot of basketball left</div> Moral victories is the last thing this team needs, especially invidividual ones. I'm glad Reggie didn't respond. Vlad: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Just the way we're playing, I don't get it. You want something consistent, consistent improvement. When we play the game the right way, we win. Sometimes we get away from that. We try new things and different things, and you see the results</div> and Luke: <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Every time we take a step forward, we take one back. It seems like we're still trying to find ourselves</div> When you hear things like this you obviously have some coaching problems and issues with the system - for example when Ray overdribbles and flings up a 3 or winds the shot clock down it seems to demoralize the team and question what we're running. And I don't think Weiss has the balls or maybe the authrority to tell Ray to reign it in. Probably where we miss AD in the lockeroom. <div class="quote_poster">Quoting Iron Sheik:</div><div class="quote_post">To be honest at this point I'd feel more comfortable with Bob Hill as our coach for the simple fact that he doesn't seem content with losing by 28 points to an undermanned Phoenix teams. Losing is easy when you have an excuse and Bob has been pulling excuses out of his magic hat all season.</div> Yeah at least he has some fire, and probably no prior relationship with the players that'll hamstring his decisions on the court.
