Knicks · Why no threads taking shots at Kerr?? (page 1)

I know that last year we had a number of folks whining about Fisher as a coach and giving kudos to Kerr, as GS marched to a title. If only Phil Jackson hadn't low-balled Kerr, the Knicks would have been the toast of the NBA!

I remember reading an article from somewhere last year that the team was basically Curry's team in terms of the offense, and now I hear on the radio this morning (just overheard it...was not in the room when the discussion started) that Kerr was asked yesterday why he didn't run a play for Green, who was their most effective scorer, yesterday, and he responded that they really don't run set plays, and that the guys on the court are reacting to what is there.

I don't necessarily dislike this kind of "coaching," but it was clear that they needed offensive adjustments yesterday, and yet we saw no hands on coaching by Kerr...only a barrage of missed 3s by the Bash brothers.

Maybe he was also too lax with them, allowing a little arrogance to show. Maybe this was why a player like Green pushed the limits and put himself in a situation where a questionable call by the refs and the NBA caused him to miss a crucial game.

Now we are getting the Lue Love from folks, and he's become the flavor of the moment. Of course his offense was basically centered on the dynamic duo of James and Irving going 1/1, with very little movement by the other 3 on the court, or coaching creativity by Lue (from what my amateur eyes saw), for the most part. but some will overlook this, and give him the credit, I suppose.

In the end, Kerr did not come away looking like some kind of coaching genius, did he? Maybe they missed Alvin Genry, who was their offensive guru last year, if I remember correctly...

...or maybe Kerr looked like a less than brilliant coach because some of his stars didn't shine too brightly in the finals when it counted the most, and maybe he wouldn't have gotten 50 wins out of the Knicks last year.

Could Kerr could have used a less exciting system to fall back on in certain situations and not just let his players jack up 3s?...maybe Phil Jackson is chuckling to himself at this very moment.

I felt that both teams lacked a certain versatility to what they do. IMO if the Knicks can upgrade their guards and wings enough they have a chance to put a much more balanced team on the floor. The Knicks won't have to solely rely on Jumpers as we saw so much from the Cavs and Warriors. I really miss seeing teams able to mix it up like the Spurs when Duncan was more in his prime.

nixluva wrote:I felt that both teams lacked a certain versatility to what they do. IMO if the Knicks can upgrade their guards and wings enough they have a chance to put a much more balanced team on the floor. The Knicks won't have to solely rely on Jumpers as we saw so much from the Cavs and Warriors. I really miss seeing teams able to mix it up like the Spurs when Duncan was more in his prime.

knicks still have a ways to go before we are in the same conversation as the cavs or warriors. However i agree golden state in particular settled for way too many threes and didnt defend much either down the stretch

WaltLongmire wrote:I know that last year we had a number of folks whining about Fisher as a coach and giving kudos to Kerr, as GS marched to a title. If only Phil Jackson hadn't low-balled Kerr, the Knicks would have been the toast of the NBA!

I remember reading an article from somewhere last year that the team was basically Curry's team in terms of the offense, and now I hear on the radio this morning (just overheard it...was not in the room when the discussion started) that Kerr was asked yesterday why he didn't run a play for Green, who was their most effective scorer, yesterday, and he responded that they really don't run set plays, and that the guys on the court are reacting to what is there.

I don't necessarily dislike this kind of "coaching," but it was clear that they needed offensive adjustments yesterday, and yet we saw no hands on coaching by Kerr...only a barrage of missed 3s by the Bash brothers.

Maybe he was also too lax with them, allowing a little arrogance to show. Maybe this was why a player like Green pushed the limits and put himself in a situation where a questionable call by the refs and the NBA caused him to miss a crucial game.

Now we are getting the Lue Love from folks, and he's become the flavor of the moment. Of course his offense was basically centered on the dynamic duo of James and Irving going 1/1, with very little movement by the other 3 on the court, or coaching creativity by Lue (from what my amateur eyes saw), for the most part. but some will overlook this, and give him the credit, I suppose.

In the end, Kerr did not come away looking like some kind of coaching genius, did he? Maybe they missed Alvin Genry, who was their offensive guru last year, if I remember correctly...

...or maybe Kerr looked like a less than brilliant coach because some of his stars didn't shine too brightly in the finals when it counted the most, and maybe he wouldn't have gotten 50 wins out of the Knicks last year.

Could Kerr could have used a less exciting system to fall back on in certain situations and not just let his players jack up 3s?...maybe Phil Jackson is chuckling to himself at this very moment.

Great points. Phil's tweet was a year too soon. I agree about the arrogance. Cleveland seemed like the more desperate team. I do think Kerr has done a great job though. The team went to the next level with him. The arrogance, Draymond, calling out LBJ made them pretty unlike able in my opinion.

I'm a bit more surprised that Steph's performance isn't criticized. 4 for 14 from downtown. 4 TOs to 2 assists. I'll know Kerr for letting Steph go on tilt. But other than that, not sure I would criticize him for not running plays in a dynamic offense.

He f'ed up when he play Ezikel that cost him the game.

-Those sets that they came out running in game 7...where the hell where they throughout of the series?
-Why was Klay jacking up so many bad shots for the whole game and did not go unnoticed?

Small ball is small ball.
Jumpers, 3-pointers, layups... no shot blocking (after Bogut was gone), no big man game.
2 unbelievable shooters against bbal Batman and his Robin.
Heroes win. This finals were looking like Comic book.
Entertaining, unreal, chaotic... coin-flip finals.

I guess Phil was right. Just took a year to prove.

Kerr should have double teamed Lebron and made someone else on that sorry team beat them. Bad coaching.

"missed Alvin Gentry"

Yup, interestingly enough, they seemed to miss Gentry throughout the playoffs. At times, they made defensive adjustments that made a lot of sense, even if they were struggling, but the GS offense, throughout the playoffs either worked or didn't and didn't seem to be able to change when defensive schemed changed. Livingston was about the only major player who seemed to be able/willing to change what he was up to offensively in smart ways. Gentry seemed to be pretty good at reworking the offense on the fly. He certainly seemed to be running timeouts before they made offensive adjustments last year.

So, yeah, I think Kerr let them down. Interestingly Curry seemed to be aware of the problems created by him being out and/or playing injured. His comments before game 7 were along the lines of "I need to control he pace/style of the game, regardless of shots going in." Somehow, the Warriors leadership, for whatever reasons, including Kerr's work, didn't get everyone on the same page.

StarksEwing1 wrote:

nixluva wrote:I felt that both teams lacked a certain versatility to what they do. IMO if the Knicks can upgrade their guards and wings enough they have a chance to put a much more balanced team on the floor. The Knicks won't have to solely rely on Jumpers as we saw so much from the Cavs and Warriors. I really miss seeing teams able to mix it up like the Spurs when Duncan was more in his prime.

knicks still have a ways to go before we are in the same conversation as the cavs or warriors. However i agree golden state in particular settled for way too many threes and didnt defend much either down the stretch

People say this but it's not really the point!!! You don't know how much of an impact a couple of quality guards would have on this team. It's my contention that it would make a huge difference. The Cavs just beat GS and I don't think they actually have a great team!!!

Lebron is GREAT and Kyrie stepped up but overall the Cavs are not a great team. Don't tell me the Knicks can't be built up to a competitive level with the Cavs!!! I'm not saying it's a lock that the Knicks can get there but IMO I don't hold the Cavs out as some example of an impossibly well built team that we couldn't match.

The Cavs were able to handle the Warriors perimeter dominated offense but I can see how the Knicks could be built up to be a more balanced team that could give the Cavs a tougher match up.

Because he was 4 points from his team winning the whole thing yet again.

With Boston having 3 picks in the first round they'll soon challenge. This Final was Phils vindication. With Bogut out they were exposed. Small ball has its limits. Live by theb sword die by the sword. It was obvious that GS needed scoring and a defender down low. Sure, any team is better with KD but they needed an enforcer with a touch. Imagine A 6'10 defender who could score 16-20 down low for them.

EwingsGlass wrote:I'm a bit more surprised that Steph's performance isn't criticized. 4 for 14 from downtown. 4 TOs to 2 assists. I'll know Kerr for letting Steph go on tilt. But other than that, not sure I would criticize him for not running plays in a dynamic offense.

THIS

Bottom line above all else is Curry shot 40% for the series and simply missed the shots that GS needs him to make.

fishmike wrote:

EwingsGlass wrote:I'm a bit more surprised that Steph's performance isn't criticized. 4 for 14 from downtown. 4 TOs to 2 assists. I'll know Kerr for letting Steph go on tilt. But other than that, not sure I would criticize him for not running plays in a dynamic offense.

THIS

Bottom line above all else is Curry shot 40% for the series and simply missed the shots that GS needs him to make.

curry was half the player this off season that he was last off season and probably at half the strength. There was definitely something wrong with him. He is def not mr iron horse.

Paris907 wrote:With Boston having 3 picks in the first round they'll soon challenge. This Final was Phils vindication. With Bogut out they were exposed. Small ball has its limits. Live by theb sword die by the sword. It was obvious that GS needed scoring and a defender down low. Sure, any team is better with KD but they needed an enforcer with a touch. Imagine A 6'10 defender who could score 16-20 down low for them.

hard to see Durant go there... Al Horford is probably a better fit. They might just go the depth route also.. bring in Noah as well. Imagine finishing games with Green/Noah up front? Iggy/Klay/Curry on the wings? That's a defensive curtain with spread out with the NBA's best backcourt. If I was GS that's how I would reload the team. Noah and Gasol? Something like that...

I truly think it's because there are tons of stories... great comeback... great collapse... missed opportunity to be the best team ever... redemption for Cleveland... a wife who won't STFU... Curry was the first unanimous MVP--really--wtf... where does LBJ stack all time?.. how much credit does Lue deserve?.. then maybe wtf was Kerr on?.. somebody call Luke Walton oh no wait what

fishmike wrote:

Paris907 wrote:With Boston having 3 picks in the first round they'll soon challenge. This Final was Phils vindication. With Bogut out they were exposed. Small ball has its limits. Live by theb sword die by the sword. It was obvious that GS needed scoring and a defender down low. Sure, any team is better with KD but they needed an enforcer with a touch. Imagine A 6'10 defender who could score 16-20 down low for them.

hard to see Durant go there... Al Horford is probably a better fit. They might just go the depth route also.. bring in Noah as well. Imagine finishing games with Green/Noah up front? Iggy/Klay/Curry on the wings? That's a defensive curtain with spread out with the NBA's best backcourt. If I was GS that's how I would reload the team. Noah and Gasol? Something like that...

perhaps Biyombo or Whiteside?

Chandler wrote:

fishmike wrote:

Paris907 wrote:With Boston having 3 picks in the first round they'll soon challenge. This Final was Phils vindication. With Bogut out they were exposed. Small ball has its limits. Live by theb sword die by the sword. It was obvious that GS needed scoring and a defender down low. Sure, any team is better with KD but they needed an enforcer with a touch. Imagine A 6'10 defender who could score 16-20 down low for them.

hard to see Durant go there... Al Horford is probably a better fit. They might just go the depth route also.. bring in Noah as well. Imagine finishing games with Green/Noah up front? Iggy/Klay/Curry on the wings? That's a defensive curtain with spread out with the NBA's best backcourt. If I was GS that's how I would reload the team. Noah and Gasol? Something like that...

perhaps Biyombo or Whiteside?

not sure those guys fit into their offense... Whiteside is such a garbage collector and rim protector any team could make him fit. Not a huge believer in BB... but GS has some good options for sure.

Remember GSW had a perfect storm that parted the sea last year creating a great opportunity which they executed to near perfection defying the odds. What phil spoke of then was in those terms.
Kerr's team responds by winning 73 games and within a game of repeat.

Thus, I don't think you highly get on him. Hindsight will tell you a lot of things he should have done. Also, he relies on his players to adjust, which is straight out of phils playbook. Sure we can say what he should have done, but its not that they lost the game, they got beat. They went for history but did not have the last bit to put them over the top. This was the sociopath will that Jordan had in willing his team to victory in his tenure.
Lebron has different approach, but a very strong resolve never the less.

So Kerr gets a pass, why? He has done a great job, near perfect up until then!