It is clear this team has issues. But I am not convinced they are beyond an ability to salvage a respectable and momentum building year. But HCCM is going to have to adjust and fast.
HCCM likes grinders — defensive guys with an engine who just wear you down. While that isn’t the most exciting brand of basketball to watch, it can certainly be effective.
But in our scenario, the grinders and the scorers aren’t as complimentary of each other as they need to be for us to be successful.
Dru Smith is clearly a top tier player capable of grinding and scoring. Tilmon can be effective in both of those areas on a good night and can be a detriment in both of those areas on a bad night. Right now Mark Smith and Watson are liabilities on both sides of the ball, and it’s killing our chances to win any meaningful games. If they’re not hitting perimeter jumpers, we clearly have a serious scoring problem.
If I were Cuonzo, I would *seriously* shake up the starting lineup in one of our next few games against a team we should (obviously none are a given at this point) beat.
I have to assume there is a reason why McKinney has barely seen the court, but no doubt the dude could provide a spark if given a little space to develop. What would 4-6 minutes of a McKinney, Dru Smith, Mark Smith, Parker Braun and Tilmon lineup look like. Honestly, no freaking idea if it would be any better, but relying on a lineup of grinders in the critical moments of tonight’s debacle clearly didn’t work...in part because no one could score the ball. If they gave up 68, they should have scored 90. Clearly that wasn’t the case.
Tonight’s loss is absolutely inexcusable, but there are still some nice pieces on this team. Cuonzo is going to have to get out of his box of hard-nosed, grinding defense leading to just enough points to win. That is clearly not a recipe for success for this cast of characters and it really is up to HCCM to recalibrate and work to figure out what the right recipe is. And he better do it fast!
HCCM likes grinders — defensive guys with an engine who just wear you down. While that isn’t the most exciting brand of basketball to watch, it can certainly be effective.
But in our scenario, the grinders and the scorers aren’t as complimentary of each other as they need to be for us to be successful.
Dru Smith is clearly a top tier player capable of grinding and scoring. Tilmon can be effective in both of those areas on a good night and can be a detriment in both of those areas on a bad night. Right now Mark Smith and Watson are liabilities on both sides of the ball, and it’s killing our chances to win any meaningful games. If they’re not hitting perimeter jumpers, we clearly have a serious scoring problem.
If I were Cuonzo, I would *seriously* shake up the starting lineup in one of our next few games against a team we should (obviously none are a given at this point) beat.
I have to assume there is a reason why McKinney has barely seen the court, but no doubt the dude could provide a spark if given a little space to develop. What would 4-6 minutes of a McKinney, Dru Smith, Mark Smith, Parker Braun and Tilmon lineup look like. Honestly, no freaking idea if it would be any better, but relying on a lineup of grinders in the critical moments of tonight’s debacle clearly didn’t work...in part because no one could score the ball. If they gave up 68, they should have scored 90. Clearly that wasn’t the case.
Tonight’s loss is absolutely inexcusable, but there are still some nice pieces on this team. Cuonzo is going to have to get out of his box of hard-nosed, grinding defense leading to just enough points to win. That is clearly not a recipe for success for this cast of characters and it really is up to HCCM to recalibrate and work to figure out what the right recipe is. And he better do it fast!
