Coaching Pet Peeves
Being a professional coach is hard; in no way do I think I could step in and do the job. The amount of information hey have to weight and process in designing offensive and defensive sets, scouting matchups and determining rotations is daunting to say the least. But much like NFL coaches (aside from Riverboat Ron Rivera) can't quite grasp moderately complex time, clock and score management principles as well as your friendly neighborhood Madden addict can, NBA coaches have certain blind spots on relatively simple matters which drive me absolutely insane.
I'm not even talking about run of the mill anti-analytics viewpoints, failures of X's and O's, or even the media message sending nonsense. I mean actual in game and/or season-long trends. Here are my top 4 peeves with some examples.
Peeve #1: Yanking Guys' Minutes Around
Basketball is all about anticipation and reaction. The more one anticipates and the quicker one reacts to situations, the better chance of successful play. A great way to reduce players' ability to read and react quickly is to introduce conscious thought to their games. The instant I think "wait, where am I supposed to go now" I'm already late. NBA players are generally speaking rational human beings, they want to get appreciated (and thus paid) as highly as possible. The main factors in getting paid are minutes and shots. So what better way to get them thinking about the game instead of playing than introducing uncertainty about both?
This isn't to say that sometimes guys can play their way out of a role or even into a greater one, but these decisions can't be haphazard and certainly shouldn't be on a game to game basis. Thomas Robinson played his way out of the backup 4 role in Portland, but this was not a knee jerk reaction by Terry Stotts. He saw what Robinson was (and more importantly wasn't) giving them over the course of about 20 games and decided Meyers Leonard would be a better fit.
Contrast this with Brian Shaw in Denver, who seems to be juggling starting lineups, rotations and roles on a game to game basis. Is it really surprising that the Nuggets seem to be fraying at the edges with one player (Andre Miller) blowing up publicly and who knows how many grumbling behind the scenes? Larry Drew's recent performances also deserve a mention here, as game to game, who knows who is going to play for the Bucks? And for what purpose? They are deep lottery bound, yet have a few young guys with potential, who Drew seems intent on burying.
This isn't to say that sometimes guys can play their way out of a role or even into a greater one, but these decisions can't be haphazard and certainly shouldn't be on a game to game basis. Thomas Robinson played his way out of the backup 4 role in Portland, but this was not a knee jerk reaction by Terry Stotts. He saw what Robinson was (and more importantly wasn't) giving them over the course of about 20 games and decided Meyers Leonard would be a better fit.
Contrast this with Brian Shaw in Denver, who seems to be juggling starting lineups, rotations and roles on a game to game basis. Is it really surprising that the Nuggets seem to be fraying at the edges with one player (Andre Miller) blowing up publicly and who knows how many grumbling behind the scenes? Larry Drew's recent performances also deserve a mention here, as game to game, who knows who is going to play for the Bucks? And for what purpose? They are deep lottery bound, yet have a few young guys with potential, who Drew seems intent on burying.
Peeve #2: Super Controlling Timeouts
Aside from the Greek Freak, the Bucks are pretty much unwatchable. Drew's random, mid-transition piercing two-finger whistles to call timeouts certainly don't help. These guys are trained professionals, let them play a bit. Though more of a problem in the college game, these "look at me I'm coaching" timeouts (looking at you also, Mike Malone) are fairly transparent attempts to be seen "doing something" and in a way blaming the players for bad outcomes. Hey, I did everything I could, you see those timeouts I called?
Peeve #3: Crappy Vets/"Right Way" Guys
Each season's biggest practitioner of this technique could well be awarded the Larry Brown Trophy, as good old LB was the master of this. His weak spot was for guys who were undersized 3/4 tweeners who never shot (because they sucked) who concentrated on defense and ball movement while doing neither all that well. Basically, guys like Tayshaun Prince (who was once an LB guy!) but Grizzlies Prince rather than Pistons Prince. Not to say that this kind of gap filling player can't give useful minutes on certain teams (again, see the mid 2000s Pistons), but all too often these "right way" guys are employed by losing teams going nowhere. These teams are losing because they are bad enough that giving these guys major minutes is a semi-reasonable consideration, and they are going nowhere because they don't have young players who they could either develop or get a look at in those minutes. Rob and I talked about it a little the other day, but how much can it really cost you to find a few minutes at backup SF to give a young guy some reps? If the downgrade from the Robbie Hummells of the world is going to torpedo your season, to paraphrase Michael Ray Richardson, ship already be sinkin'.
So far this season, we've seen this from a few coaches. Mike Brown's Alonzo Gee fetish, Jacque Vaughn 's use of Jason Maxiell and E'Twaun Moore at the expense of minutes for Andrew Nicholson, Mo Harkless and Victor Oladipo, as well as Ty Corbin giving Richard Jefferson so many minutes that the Jazz higher ups are rumored to be preparing to <strike>liquidate him</strike> send him to Cleveland for the right to waive Andrew Bynum.
But Shaw is guilty of one of the more impactful instances this season with his continued reliance on J.J. Hickson over Timofey Mozgov. Mozgov has been surpringly decent on both ends (especially in terms of protecting the rim). Hickson has been predictably bad, which has only been exacerbated by playing him out of position at center next to the equally underezied Kenneth Faried. Per NBAWowy, the Hickson/Faried frontline is -6pts/100Pos in 454 minutes while the Mozgov/Faried lineup is +10pts/100Pos in 110 minutes, now some of this is due Hickson/Faried starting games (and thus clocking more minutes against opposition first stringers), but that is still a massive gap in production, and continued use of this poorly conceived pairing possibly explains why over 80% of Denver's average deficit comes in the first quarter of games.
So far this season, we've seen this from a few coaches. Mike Brown's Alonzo Gee fetish, Jacque Vaughn 's use of Jason Maxiell and E'Twaun Moore at the expense of minutes for Andrew Nicholson, Mo Harkless and Victor Oladipo, as well as Ty Corbin giving Richard Jefferson so many minutes that the Jazz higher ups are rumored to be preparing to <strike>liquidate him</strike> send him to Cleveland for the right to waive Andrew Bynum.
But Shaw is guilty of one of the more impactful instances this season with his continued reliance on J.J. Hickson over Timofey Mozgov. Mozgov has been surpringly decent on both ends (especially in terms of protecting the rim). Hickson has been predictably bad, which has only been exacerbated by playing him out of position at center next to the equally underezied Kenneth Faried. Per NBAWowy, the Hickson/Faried frontline is -6pts/100Pos in 454 minutes while the Mozgov/Faried lineup is +10pts/100Pos in 110 minutes, now some of this is due Hickson/Faried starting games (and thus clocking more minutes against opposition first stringers), but that is still a massive gap in production, and continued use of this poorly conceived pairing possibly explains why over 80% of Denver's average deficit comes in the first quarter of games.
Peeve #4: Inability to Stagger Lineups
Unsurprisingly, many teams suffer large drops in production from their starters to their reserves. Obviously, if the reserves were as good or better, they'd be starting! One of the main in-game responsibilities of a coach is to manage to both get his starters the rest they need during the game as well as minimize the drop off by always keeping competent lineups on the floor. Mostly, this involves making sure that the rest times for a team's stars are spread across the 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th quarter breaks so that all of the top players aren't sitting at once. Some coaches don't subscribe to this philosophy. And it goes badly. The corollary to the Warriors #FullSquad meme (they are about 194-1 when their starting 5 is healthy this season) is what some Dubs bloggers have taken to calling #GarbageSquad, lineups where all of Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala , Andrew Bogut and David Lee are sitting. In 133 minutes so far this year (so, not just garbage time) those lineups are a combined -21Pts/100Pos.
On the other hand, there are the coaches who get so caught up in "positions" to the point they find ways to not have their best lineups in the game. Monty Williams comes to mind for this, as he's only found a way to have his "point guards" Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans share the floor in any combination for about 12 minutes per game, despite the fact that the Pellies are just under +1oPts/100Pos with that combo on the floor. Even with the three guard lineup of Holiday, Evans and Eric Gordon, they are about +6Pts/100 which. And the Pellies "best 5" lineup of the three guards along side Ryan Anderson and Anthony Davis is +9.5Pts/100Pos. Yes that lineup will never stop anyone, but is scoring about 130pts/100.
This is the kind of thing that should NOT be that complicated, especially given the NBA (and it's media partners) have provided coaches timing signposts with the 5 media timeouts + quarter break per half. Given the cast of thousands on NBA benches, wouldn't it behoove one of them to hold a rough "rotation" chart to help remind the coach to properly rotate his players?
On the other hand, there are the coaches who get so caught up in "positions" to the point they find ways to not have their best lineups in the game. Monty Williams comes to mind for this, as he's only found a way to have his "point guards" Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans share the floor in any combination for about 12 minutes per game, despite the fact that the Pellies are just under +1oPts/100Pos with that combo on the floor. Even with the three guard lineup of Holiday, Evans and Eric Gordon, they are about +6Pts/100 which. And the Pellies "best 5" lineup of the three guards along side Ryan Anderson and Anthony Davis is +9.5Pts/100Pos. Yes that lineup will never stop anyone, but is scoring about 130pts/100.
This is the kind of thing that should NOT be that complicated, especially given the NBA (and it's media partners) have provided coaches timing signposts with the 5 media timeouts + quarter break per half. Given the cast of thousands on NBA benches, wouldn't it behoove one of them to hold a rough "rotation" chart to help remind the coach to properly rotate his players?
To sum up, I feel like there are two rules by which coaches should abide: Am I playing my best players? Do I have a plan of things I want to accomplish each game and across the season? Note that for the second, wins and losses in each individual game should rarely be the focus. Mike Woodson playing Tyson Chandler a million minutes in his first game back from a broken leg may have helped the Knicks win that game, but they are extremely lucky it did not cripple them longer term.
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