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- Aug 26, 2011
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With those three extra minutes, he scored 53 more points, grabbed 17 more rebounds, and blocked ten more shots. He was a freshman with obvious upside and Onuorah was a stopgap grad transfer who had no role in our future plans.
Of all the things you can second guess Ollie on, this will be the toughest for his supporters - which I am to a point - to defend. I get that minutes are determined based on more than stats. Trust me I do.
But this wasn’t a case of us being a better team with Onuorah on the court, it was a prime example of Ollie not knowing how far to push and when to stop. When he plays the role of disciplinarian, he ends up looking like an idiot who doesn’t know his best players from the walk-ons and is actively trying to throw games. When he takes the Mr. Sunshine approach, guys end up cutting corners and taking advantage of him (I.e. our effort on defense all season).
He needs to be coaching adults. Right now, he looks like a substitute teacher praying for the bell to ring. Part of me wants to give him a chance to figure it out. Part of me doesn’t think we have time to take that risk.
But reality is reality: he’s not reaching these kids. This isn’t about whether he can coach. He obviously can. This is about his inability to grab a 19 year old kid by the balls and say listen son, next time your man nails a three while you’re drifting I’m putting you on a tee and sending you to mars. There is a reason he loves the grad transfers. Onuorah might not be good, but he’s been coached. The problem is that he seems to solve for his own insecurities by playing him over guys who can be good but need to be coached. I don’t know whether Cobb and Kwintin are hard workers, slackers, good kids, punks...either way those type of things get lost in translation when your head coach looks like the world’s biggest victim.
Our best five was Adams, Anderson, Vital, Larrier, Diarra. He knew it, I knew it, you knew it. He didn’t have the guts to play them together until it was too late because he thought doing so would be conceding to his team. And he might have been right. Regardless, he struggles - recruiting or coaching - with the political part of the job. He has no control over the team.
Does he come back? I’m pretty much indifferent. If he can find some guys to play for him that believe in him, hold themselves to a high standard, and have already been coached, fine. Give Ollie a team of five Antoine Anderson’s (love the kid) and he will over-achieve. He can take over the right NBA team tomorrow and hold his own. If that type of situation isn’t in the cards and we need to bring in a scumbag like Hurley, which I say endearingly, do that. Given the choice I’d rather ride with the guy I love, the guy who played here and the guy we won a championship with...but it can’t be this bad. We are entering we have no choice territory.
Of all the things you can second guess Ollie on, this will be the toughest for his supporters - which I am to a point - to defend. I get that minutes are determined based on more than stats. Trust me I do.
But this wasn’t a case of us being a better team with Onuorah on the court, it was a prime example of Ollie not knowing how far to push and when to stop. When he plays the role of disciplinarian, he ends up looking like an idiot who doesn’t know his best players from the walk-ons and is actively trying to throw games. When he takes the Mr. Sunshine approach, guys end up cutting corners and taking advantage of him (I.e. our effort on defense all season).
He needs to be coaching adults. Right now, he looks like a substitute teacher praying for the bell to ring. Part of me wants to give him a chance to figure it out. Part of me doesn’t think we have time to take that risk.
But reality is reality: he’s not reaching these kids. This isn’t about whether he can coach. He obviously can. This is about his inability to grab a 19 year old kid by the balls and say listen son, next time your man nails a three while you’re drifting I’m putting you on a tee and sending you to mars. There is a reason he loves the grad transfers. Onuorah might not be good, but he’s been coached. The problem is that he seems to solve for his own insecurities by playing him over guys who can be good but need to be coached. I don’t know whether Cobb and Kwintin are hard workers, slackers, good kids, punks...either way those type of things get lost in translation when your head coach looks like the world’s biggest victim.
Our best five was Adams, Anderson, Vital, Larrier, Diarra. He knew it, I knew it, you knew it. He didn’t have the guts to play them together until it was too late because he thought doing so would be conceding to his team. And he might have been right. Regardless, he struggles - recruiting or coaching - with the political part of the job. He has no control over the team.
Does he come back? I’m pretty much indifferent. If he can find some guys to play for him that believe in him, hold themselves to a high standard, and have already been coached, fine. Give Ollie a team of five Antoine Anderson’s (love the kid) and he will over-achieve. He can take over the right NBA team tomorrow and hold his own. If that type of situation isn’t in the cards and we need to bring in a scumbag like Hurley, which I say endearingly, do that. Given the choice I’d rather ride with the guy I love, the guy who played here and the guy we won a championship with...but it can’t be this bad. We are entering we have no choice territory.
