There is a lot there to digest. Agree that something is wrong right now. Their record is deceptively optimistic.

Either there are internal problems we are unaware of, or they just haven’t been able to get their motors running.

The fear of a Detroit style ‘cool calm laid back’ approach, as you infer, is dangerous.

A look at the offensive schemes is in order. Doc has let them play without many plays for too long, it seems time to increase the play book…and use it.

But, as I mention in the recap, they are just missing wide open shots as well. No play book will cure that.

As you suggest, better to go through this now and figure out how to get it fixed, than have to deal with it all later.

Tom

We have only two wins so far against teams above .500, including the 6-5 Bulls. We are 2-3 overall against teams with a winning record, having lost our last three in a row. If it wasn’t for all the bad teams on our schedule so far, our record would be terrible. And we have lost 3 of our last 5 at home, something that would have been unthinkable from the 2008 team we are allegedly better than.

Even after taking time to cool-off, I am irritated at how poorly we are playing. We are not remotely a championship caliber team, and the fact we have some new faces is no excuse, Orlando has new faces and is missing its star point guard. We simply do not play good basketball anymore. We are inconsistent at best and plain STUPID at worst. That turnover by Ray Allen was embarrassing, and the dumb shot by Pierce on the next possession was almost as bad. A championship experienced team should know how to execute and get good shots, especially since our starters (and Eddie House) are on their third year together.

The only consolation is that it is only November — I can only hope this will be the mirror image of last year, which started out impressively but ended poorly. But to turn it around, each player has to go back to the drawing board and re-think their role on the team, and the coach needs to re-visit our offensive and defensive schemes. Either they are flawed or our players have forgotten how to execute. And frankly, there is no excuse for that. This is more than a hiccup — something is seriously flawed with this team, and a trade to add another weapon sounds awfully good right now.

As negative as I sound, this is mild compared to how I felt an hour ago. All I know is that our problems won’t just fix themselves over time. If this team tries too hard “not to panic” they may never straighten themselves out. Like the Yankees in baseball this year, it is either championship or bust with this team — and our current level of play is simply not acceptable, and patience IMO is not the answer. Other teams have changed their rosters and are playing better than we are — such as Orlando, Phoenix and Dallas. There is much work to do if we are going to come close to competing for a championship.