(05-05-2015 08:21 AM)macgar32 Wrote: (05-05-2015 08:03 AM)MemphisTigerPawr Wrote: Josh is right you know, probably 5 or 10 posters here each with 10 or more aliases. Plenty with 2 or 3. I'm glad his staff is staying solid but I do wish he would pick up another assistant coach. Maybe Lawson is that Coach, I know he is good but its a long shot from what I was hoping for. Anyway kudos to CJP for growing up. Hopefully we will reap dividends from our investment.
Do you think he is right about people being unhappy with him are in the minority?
If he does he is living in a fantasy land.
I don't think I'm over stating the trolls here. They don't post in every thread all the time, but they are there. I think every is unhappy to some degree with Pastner. Any true Tiger fan should be. We rolled the dice hiring him.If you could chart our program we gave been going downhill steadily. Yet one gets the feeling that Pastner is a rookie stepping up to the plate, facing big league pitching for the frst time and though he get some good cuts, he is striking out quite a bit and in a rookie slump. He continues to work hard and optimistically representing this team, University and city and does a superlative job in that area.
I remember as a kid growing up reading about Willie Mays when he first was called up to the big leagues. This man was no doubt the best baseball player I ever saw yet he started out 1 for 26 from the plate. Many great players and coaches take their lumps early.If they are truly competitive they will eventually explode out of it. I think Josh stands a good chance of doing this once the players grow up and accept responsibility for their own decisions and effort instead of blaming an easy target, a young coach with questionable experience. Our players have not matured because intead of accountability they preferred to remain in denial (no, not the river in Egypt) and failed to accept responsibility for their own poor decisions. I waiting for Josh to start swinging the bat and bring home the Triple Crown.
We have college basketball players mothers and fathers calling our coach, chewing him out, coming out of the stands, thinking their kid is a stud and never makes a mistake and because they are from Memphis Josh has to be careful how he deals with them. This is junior high school stuff. Probably CJPs best player here has been Geron Johnson and...he wasn't from Memphis and only played 2 years.. The rookies that were supposed to bring home the gold, were for the most part resistant to instruction, particularly that of a TEAM concept and were focused on the ME aspect. They did very little to buy in and trust help Josh.
Too many of these Memphis players are soft, have low basketball iqs, think they do not have to hustle because they could get away with have a$$ effort in high school, and have not been taught basic fundamentals. It is very hard to correct bad muscle memory. Kids shooting FTs and not even taking a moment to focus on the rim. They do not pass the pall well or post up inside. I haven't seen a pure shooter come out of Memphis in I don't know how long. Used to we put out point guards, now every point guard wants to score first, then pass..makes fore bad chemistry and a bad offense. Oh, did I mention the players are lazy defensively? Nobody moves their feet, you never see the team moving in unison and the players don't know how to counter any offense defensively, nor do they know how to react offensively to a defensive switch. Spoon was a great example of a player who lacker desire and drive.
Blame Josh all you want but it is hard to teach know it alls who are legends in their own minds and the minds of all those around them, with homeys pumping them up 24/7 with the s.o.s, think college is just a formality on their way to the NBA. Joe Jackson was quite a talent and I believe Josh mishandled him but Joe was coddled too much by those around him. He is learning now and we will see him in the NBA one day but as a Tiger TEAM player, he underachieved, as did all of that class. We lost a mental case to Old Miss, Chris Crawford never wanted to drive the ball to the goal ala Dwight Boyd over Felton Spenser) Tarik Black had hands of stone and couldn't win a tip or box out. I don't think any of our bigs know what a good shot is (other than Nichols)or what constitutes good weak side rebounding position.
Will Barton had the hustle gene, as did his brother, but when these two are evaluated in must be noted that they were not from Memphis and neither like to pass the ball to anyone but themselves. The had some kind of deal where Josh had given the free reign to play as they wanted without fear of losing minutes, something CJP should have done for Joe Jackson beginning with his freshman preseason tourney and it would have paid huge dividend in time.
Yes Bruce Pearl or Scott Drew would have been better immediate horses perhaps, but let CJP break out of this slump and our program start trouncing UConn, SMU, etc. on national TV. Scott Drew was on the way here, it was practically a done deal, before a certain writer got on his moral high horse and our administration got cold feet. Same thing with BP. Sp we got Mr. Clean, kindof, the NCAA respects Josh as tries to abide by the rulebook, and he has kept us clean. That for one, when you are picking up pieces from the train wreck that X left behind is the primary body of work I would judge CJP on at this point.
Hang on, we're about to crank this bad boy up, I really believe that. Josh should be gaining confidence and I know is learning from his mistakes. Josh is like a long term investment, and yes we have seen the ups and down, but I think we are now about to see his and the Memphis basketball program rise like a Phoenix rising finally from the charred ashes of William Tecumseh Calipari. I see Partners faults. Every coach has them even X. I also see all the crap he had dumped on him from the X head coach and the boosters have pulled some of the rug out frpm under the program now. Josh is one highly intelligent young man and unlike some of our players,, he is highly driven and wanting to build the Tigers program. In some ways, we are very fortunate to have him here, we certainly could have done worse.
Josh has always had good PR skills imo. He could easily be the next generations Dickie V as he is intelligent, articulate, and funny. Unfortunately, he may not be the best fit here in Memphis as our fans might be happier with perhaps someone not quite as sophisticated. Kevin O Neill comes to mind/. If I have a criticism of Josh it is that he is too nice, especially with the officials when we are getting hosed. Heres hoping to a breakout 2015 and 2016 season. Yes Josh makes mistakes, plenty of them, he is not perfect, but he is a quality individual, something we have needed around here for a long, long time. Our last one of this "quality" was Finch. Before that Bartow. I'm not happy where we have fallen to but it does happen
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Excellent interview by Pastner - certain to make the Board Trolls angry
