(04-27-2015 09:38 AM)HoopDreams Wrote: The issue is with marginal development of talent.
If a player has any inner drive to them whatsoever and they play 3-4 years of DI ball then obviously they will develop/improve mentally and physically. That's just common sense.
But are their talents being maximized? Are they being pushed to be better than they are? Etc.
To me, the effort should be 50/50 - the players should have work ethic, but the coach should be the one pushing their improvement.
From what I've read over the course of the past few years though, it seems there is a contingent that wants to lay the full 100% at the feet of the players.
I just don't believe in that. Some do.
It is what it is.
I think you've hit the nail on the head. There are many here who look at a kid in high school and see his rank on the national level and think that will translate to excellence at the college level. When that doesn't happen the only other deciding factor in their minds is that the coach is crap. There are so many other factors that determine whether a kid will shine in college. We've talked about this a bunch but one of the reasons is being "the man" on your high school or AAU team won't necessarily translate to being "the man" on your college team. Many kids are disillusioned into thinking they will waltz right into college and be a lottery pick in the next NBA draft. They don't care that there are already upperclassmen who have college level game experience that already puts them ahead of freshmen.
Another problem is having so many "friends/family" in your head telling you what you need to do to get paid. All teams have this problem to some degree. Memphis has to deal with two parts of this however:
1) a young coach who is inexperienced with handling player personalities (as much as some of us want to believe that a player has to listen to the coach, a coach also has to be a psychologist and listen to his players and then get them to do what he wants. Calipari is a genius at this.)
2) a lot more local players who go back to their neighborhoods every weekend, or every day. The kids have literally dozens of people giving them advice. That would confuse anybody.
I don't think any of us believe that Pastner is on the level of Izzo, K, Williams, or Brown, but he does understand the game very well and knows X's and O's but is too arrogant to admit point #1 above.
Some here have said that he needs an enforcer on his staff - that he coddles his players too much. I believe there is a lot of truth to that... both points. He needs to figure that out. All the great coaches know how to do that.
I think he also judges his players too quickly IN GAME SITUATIONS. If they showed the chutzpah in practice, give them a little longer leash in the games.
/
Elliot Williams - Dleague MVP!!!
