I can't think of a single reason that an executive with a chance to win another ring would change his mind about a successful coach midstream...unless he believed said coach was doing something harmful to the organization in the long run.
Kevin Love got hurt. Due to big minutes? Looked to me like he was almost deliberately hurt by Olynyk. That kind of thing can happen any time a player is on the court. Roll your eyes at that.
Dated May 18, 2012 What about Friedells article, and the one about the Warriors that was posted yesterday? Those are more current.
With Boozer, he was quite productive his first two seasons with the Bulls. What I see with him is a normal curve of increased production followed by decreased production due to age. Korver is an interesting case, and one of the few times that a guy played better on another team than he did with the Thibs Bulls. But you also have to lump the Sloan Jazz and the Sixers into that mix. Why does a guy have his best season ever at age 33? Was he just misused all that time? I don't think so. More like the league has changed to value jump shooting and is officiated in a way where a guy like Korver can get to his spots easier and not get banged around as much as before. Also, an offense like the Hawks used the threat of him quite well to create space for others. Funny thing is, that type of offense is considered to be an innovation to beat the Thibs defensive innovations. That being said, this season he had a PER of 14.8 and the last season with the Bulls he had a PER of 13.6. Not a huge difference. His usage rate was actually higher with the Bulls, which is also interesting. The Bulls would have to adopt the offense of the Hawks (swept by Lebron) to get the most out of Korver, since much of their offense centered around Korver's movements and the threat of Korver. Didn't work out well for the Hawks though. Marco is a guy that has a career PER of 12.3 (below average) and was a 10.4 with the Bulls (even more below average). You are right on this one, he had a bad year production wise with the Bulls. He's a below average player and remained a below average player with the Bulls.
I don't think Thibs is excessively harsh, not at all. I think he gets the most out of his players far more often than not, gets them paid, wins basketball games, runs a good locker room and is a NBA innovator. I also don't know what Thibs actually feels about sports analytics. I think he does feel that there should be a line between the front office and the coach / player relationship, doesn't play office politics well and doesn't suffer fools. I think a lot of the pushback comes from wanting to preserve that line. Too many outside influences / voices = distractions. Distractions are no good. We saw that this season. Jen Swanson saying "are you sure he's acting in your best interest?" isn't a good thing. John Paxson smearing the leader of the team isn't a good thing either. I'll take Thibs over a guy that loads up the players with more wearable tech than the Terminator and checks with the Jen Swansons of the world before making decisions but isn't very good at the things Thibs is excellent at. The wins and losses in "the modern NBA" speak for themselves. Not being able to get by Lebron James doesn't discount all the success here. That philosophy also won a ring for the Celtics. The Heat were heavy minutes team, they just won a bunch of rings as well. There are a lot of things that are important to winning. Until I see otherwise (definitive research), I'm skeptical as to the importance of Jen Swanson ball versus the other factors which I'm pretty certain are quite important to winning. Watching a gimpy Hawks team get throttled by the Cavs didn't make a very strong case for that approach.
This season, winning a championship was clearly secondary to waging a PR smear war and getting Thibs fired.
As will I! Hopefully GarPax and Hoiberg know what they are doing and we see a great leap forward next season.
This is where I need to see actual research. For instance, in distance running, intuition says that running more miles leads to more injuries. As it turns out, its not that simple at all and experts disagree quite a lot on what on the surface seems like a simple thing. Intuition is often wrong.
Post the Warriors article. What's the link? Also, any research you are willing to ferret out and post I'll be interested to read. Quips and emoticons are funny and all, but I'd really be interested in reading what the latest research actually is, if its publicly available.
Of course I believe it. Shedding good players for money reasons is a pretty huge clue as to their intentions.
Luol Deng on Thibs ‘‘I feel like there’s always something to write about,’’ Deng said Sunday. ‘‘To me, it’s crazy; it’s stupid. I just think that he’s one of the best coaches in the league. I really think if you get rid of someone like that, it’s going to be a lot of rebuilding coming afterward. ‘‘He just does such a good job in terms of structure and keeping everything tight. An example is how great Pau Gasol is playing. It’s also how everything is organized. It allows a player to really focus and be at his best, and everyone else in the locker room is held to a high standard to bring their best every day. ‘‘Whatever your job is, Thibs will make sure you stay focused and on top of it. So you really don’t lose focus over a long season.’’
Weird. Why be a fan and spend time reading and talking about a team if you think management is out to undermine the team? I'd do something more productive with my time.