Joe Posnanski: big SI Scott Pioli feature

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by DaWolf

While some of that is true, you also have to take into account:
1) These guys were kept around as pieces of the puzzle. Pioli likely wasn't going to walk into a job which was 100% devoid of talent. Remember, there was talk of him taking this job in part because he was really high on some of the young pieces we had here.

2) He seemingly has brought in the right coaches to maximize the playing levels of some of these underachievers. While much young talent was in place, a lot of it was underachieving until buttons started being pushed. Guys like Bowe and DJ aren't just having better seasons this year because they've got a few years under their belts. A lot of that is coaching.

In fact, you can probably say that the biggest difference between this year and last year, aside from better offseason moves, is that the coaching has taken hold and is a lot better on both sides of the ball.

I certainly don't think this team is perfect or ready for prime time yet by any means. But I appreciate that the guy is also not seemingly satisfied with where we are either. In the past, King Carl would be out there patting his back right about now. The one thing I can't accuse Pioli of is being only interested in putting butts in the seats. I actually buy that he and Haley are solely focused on building a great team. Now whether they wind up doing it or not over the next few years, we'll see...

I agree with all of this.

It's obvious that the Tim Krumries and Clancy Pendergasts of the world weren't the answer. There's no question that Herm's jabronies reeruned the development of a number of our players. Bringing in better coaches is part of a GM's job, and to this point, it seems like Pioli has done an exception job in that regard, even if some of the choices were derivative. However, from the standpoint of player personnel, there still seems to be something sorely lacking.