Originally Posted by DJ's left nut (Post 16694203)

I think he had a plan for how the pieces would fit together - it was just a bad plan.

He wanted a squad with 4 big, tough players who would dirty the game up and turn it into a slugfest with a 5th guy who could maybe bring some energy and hit a handful of contested shot.

The problem is that outside shooting and ballhandling just weren't something he thought were necessary.

Cuonzo is just a dinosaur. He's a guy who's approach might have worked before the 3-point line, I guess. But once spacing and the ability to take advantage of it became paramount, he was out there playing checkers - hell, he was playing tic-tac-toe - while others were playing chess.

He had a plan - it was just a stupid one. Y'know what it was? It was Herm-ball. It was designed to shorten games and hope you get lucky in a slugfest. Where Herm was out there hoping to win 13-10 in a league that had passed him by, Cuonzo was looking for 54-50 wins and that's just not gonna work against quality opponents. And that's when it works WELL. When it doesn't work well, it won't work against UMKC.

I dunno if Gates is Andy Reid - I suspect he isn't. But man, I'm sure glad he isn't Herm. Win or lose, it's at least a product worth watching.

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins (Post 16694286)

It was mid-90s Knicks-Heat.

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut (Post 16694294)

Yeah, I almost mentioned them, but those teams actually WON some stuff.

The league at the time rewarded that style of play. It wasn't a style out of its time. The sport was trying to figure out what to do without Jordan/Bird/Magic/Barkley and essentially took its hands off the wheel for a few years while these guys took to mauling each other into submission.

One of Stern's only real missteps. It's hard to look back at that era and believe that Stern allowed that to go on as long as he did. Even the 2-3 seasons it was actually effective was long enough to set the league back for a decade.

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins (Post 16694300)

Between that and the neutral zone trap, sports were brutal in 2/4 of the leagues then.

Originally Posted by Chiefspants (Post 16694303)

I'd argue baseball is in a similar rut with strikeouts and the three true outcomes.

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut (Post 16694314)

Yeah, that's an excellent parallel.

Then again, a buddy of mine fits perfectly into Hamas case study. Born in the late 60s and his first real strong memory of the Chiefs is the Marty era. He bemoans the aerial nature of modern football all the time.

So I think there are folks who would argue football is in a 'rut'. I think they're in a minority in that regard.

Meanwhile baseball, who's fanbase seems to trend a little older, probably has a bunch of cranky old men like me who absolutely loathe the 'modern' game. I LOVED the analytics evolution in baseball because it dovetailed really well with my affinity for numbers and analysis. But man, it's become so data driven that the game has lost most all of its aesthetic appeal.

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut (Post 16694279)

You can say that he's doing a fine job without saying that the job is complete.

My major worry with this year's team is that it's a relatively old squad with a lot of experience, if not at this level. Gates had a pretty nice class this year but it was still only a 3-man class.

Meanwhile Brown, Gholston, Gomillion, Hodge, Honor and Mosley are almost certainly gone after the season. Though I think Honor will likely return w/ his extra year of Covid eligibility. I suspect Brown and Mosley will play professionally somewhere (or Mosley will take an NIL deal that someone will actually pay).

I mean that pretty much everything. DeGray isn't any good. So realistically you're looking at East, Carter and Shaw as genuine contributors returning for next year's team. Robinson, Pierce and Butler is a nice start, but those aren't players who will move the needle as freshmen, IMO. They would BADLY need Diarra to take a massive step forward. From what little we've seen, he might be more of a Mitchell Smith type of energy player with marginal skills.

It's a bit of a bummer to see a team gel so quickly in its first year together but know they aren't gonna have much time to truly build on that chemistry.

But at the very least we've seen how Gates philosophy can work and it should allow for a little more patience as he starts to build a roster for the long haul. I mean...provided the 'long haul' even exists in the free transfer/NIL era of college sports.

Originally Posted by Chiefspants (Post 16694333)

The proposed solutions, however, could not be more wildly different.

Originally Posted by ChiefsCountry (Post 16694238)

Better see how they do on the road before crowning Gates just yet. Beat Wichita mainly because the Shuckheads choked at the free throw line. Beat UCF on a 30 foot prayer bank shot.

Originally Posted by Pepe Silvia (Post 16694699)

Now Mizzou is about to run off the AD that found them Gates. You can’t make this shit up, I knew this was too good to be true.

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut (Post 16694279)

You can say that he's doing a fine job without saying that the job is complete.

My major worry with this year's team is that it's a relatively old squad with a lot of experience, if not at this level. Gates had a pretty nice class this year but it was still only a 3-man class.

Meanwhile Brown, Gholston, Gomillion, Hodge, Honor and Mosley are almost certainly gone after the season. Though I think Honor will likely return w/ his extra year of Covid eligibility. I suspect Brown and Mosley will play professionally somewhere (or Mosley will take an NIL deal that someone will actually pay).

I mean that pretty much everything. DeGray isn't any good. So realistically you're looking at East, Carter and Shaw as genuine contributors returning for next year's team. Robinson, Pierce and Butler is a nice start, but those aren't players who will move the needle as freshmen, IMO. They would BADLY need Diarra to take a massive step forward. From what little we've seen, he might be more of a Mitchell Smith type of energy player with marginal skills.

It's a bit of a bummer to see a team gel so quickly in its first year together but know they aren't gonna have much time to truly build on that chemistry.

But at the very least we've seen how Gates philosophy can work and it should allow for a little more patience as he starts to build a roster for the long haul. I mean...provided the 'long haul' even exists in the free transfer/NIL era of college sports.