But seriously, I do think your point is a good one. As I’ve sat with these most recent losses (the last four by an average of 20+ !) and the comments those here on Hoopus have made (everyone agrees the team is playing hard and trying and it’s mostly about talent), I’m finding myself more and more intrigued by Rambis.

Here’s where I’m coming from. We’ve played 9 games so far this year, with only 1 win. I believe that we probably could have eked out another couple of wins if Rambis had coached to win in the sense of letting JFly, Sessions, or Al pound away and break down defenses enough over 5 minutes to put the game away. This is what I was calling “McHaling it” in this poll-playing the individual mismatch game to get a win. Problem is we don’t have any single player who’s good enough (a CP3 or KG in his prime-type) to overwhelm or be relied upon against any team. Thus Rambis sticks to his plan of rationing out playing time, putting guys in key situations to see how they perform, letting them learn through experience.

And perhaps what most portends a better future for us is Rambis’ commitment to teaching a team game. Watching our guys try to learn and figure out what it looks like to play basketball without the ball makes me realize how specialized the game has become, in the sense that so many players are really only good at playing when the ball is in their hands or about to get in their hands. I think in the short term-and the long term-the best counterpoint for lack of a superstar player is a highly proficient and efficient team game (e.g. the Rockets). Rambis is very lucky that he has the backing of his GM and owner to use this year to figure out who can play in his system and who can’t, and what each player’s weaknesses are and coachability factor is. I think, to borrow from Tom Powers, these next two games are a great opportunity to select one player or one aspect of the game to watch and see what develops.