30Q: Will Paul Westphal Survive?

And with Natt, they learned the consequences of having a lame duck coach. PW, while doing a good job, is the beneficiary of all the lessons learned over the past two or three years.

And, I agree with TZ, about it being unlikely that PW has a public issue or any issue at all with one of the young stars. The Hawes ballyhoo proved that open bickering with even a marginal talents is an embarrassment to the FO & Owners. And, I don’t think PW put on that little introduction show with Spencer by choice. That kind of public display just doesn’t seem to be Paul’s style.

No, with the guarantee of the 3rd season, it’s going to come down to x’s & o’s as far as PW’s career with the Kings goes. Can he implement a consistent offense scheme with his 2 young stars, and can he teach them how to play team defense. The clock is ticking, and he’s on the clock now.

I might be mistaken, but weren’t there rumors that Reggie was loafing a bit during his tenure? Foisting a lot of the responsibility of his job to his assistants?

My understanding was Theus was let go for reasons in addition to the direction of the product on the floor.

The players think they are ready to take a huge leap this year in wins. I’m not totally sure that this line of thought is outlandish with the additions of Dalembert and Cousins and the development of Evans and Casspi. This team has talent, chemistry and they really like each other. That may just be enough to make a bigger move in the standings than prognosticated. 35 wins or 45 wins, this team is going to position themselves to be a playoff team in the 2011-12 season and a contender soon after that.

I would looooooooooooove a set rotation.

And for the most part I tend to agree, especially this – “At the end of the day, this Kings squad will only have a set rotation when the players detrmine it through their play.”
One thing I enjoy in terms of strategy, however, is playing the matchup game, and this team has the ability to match up for small ball AND traditional lineups, and we can do it on both sides of the floor. While set rotations bring a certain peace of mind, I believe there is also something to be said for changing the line up to take advantage of mismatches, so I’m not that worried about PW’s tendencies to tweak the lineup if they give our team any sort of competitive edge…

If it doesn’t settle down pretty quick then that should really be an issue.

This team is going to need some consistency to learn to play together, especially to play team defense. In watching last year I had to wonder if PW really focuses on team defense. He would bring in somebody who is a good individual defender instead of focusing on getting players to defend as a team. I think this was his biggest flaw. The players needed time to gel and play team defense. They didn’t really get it though I saw glimpses at the end of the season.

Chemistry takes everybody knowing their role on the floor. If they don’t know what position they are going to be expected to play or what role they are supposed to fill when on the floor then it really hurts chemistry development, IMO. Taking that chemistry and making it work needs to be a priority. I really do think that wild rotations are destructive to team chemistry.

I guess my main consideration is that this is a much more talented team than last year and the talent that is on the team should be sufficient to fill the positions. We don’t have big holes in the roster and depth is available to play each position. Maybe not starting depth on a playoff team, but it is a much more complete team at each position and should be played as such…

But not because PW is a natural experimenter. Mostly because coaches in PW’s situation have to do that. If you’re trying ti win games, and a player may not have his game going on that particular moment, is PW supposed to keep playing that player? If the player he substitutes for another player doesn’t fit with the particular group, should he keep the struggling player in to keep his confidence?

This is the problem with substitutions and young players. No matter what PW does, he’s going to piss someone off with whom he substitutes in or out of the game (as 214 said). Plus, with similar talent comes similar issue’s in matchup’s. Until players expand their games, or more well rounded talent comes into the rotation, that’s going to be an issue. It’s why this team will lose games after all.

At the end of the day, this Kings squad will only have a set rotation when the players determine it through their play.

This is probably what my last paragraph is aiming at. When the players decide who are the best players PW will play them. Tyreke Evans gets alot of minutes. We know that will happen. Who else is guaranteed to get 36 MPG? Anybody on this roster? I doubt that.

Coaches, and Rick Adelman taught me this lesson, and one of the reasons I like him much more than I did during the bulk of his coaching tenure in Sac, play their best players the most minutes they can. The better talent they have top to bottom, it means less wearing out of their top players over the season plus the playoffs. However, the best players don’t benefit from playing 32 MPG when they can play 38 MPG barring health issue’s. (Which is usually the big reason for a minutes dip.)

If there is a more consistent rotation, that would be amazing. It would mean that this team has developed far beyond my imagination, or, for that matter, anyone in the organization’s imagination too.

He seems to have a good report with young players, and is the right coach to help them develop. However, once the youngsters have grown up, I’m curious to see how he measures up from a tactical POV come play-off time. So far, he has not been in a position to instill a defensive identity, nor an offensive one (unless you call give the ball to Reke and clear out an offensive identity). But that time will come, and I’ll have to see how he functions then.

For now, I’m happy with PW.

I don’t see age being used as a yardstick unless its an obvious factor on his end. Success is success. I didn’t see any signs that he wore down as the season wore on last year.

and their contract continues to run out. But, revenue was up last year, and it has gone up almost every year since the last CBA was signed. So, I can’t see anyone wanting a lockout. The owners overpaid the players last season almost $400M more than the CBA required. And, the newest rookie has the same voting rights as LeBron or Kobe. So, don’t expect the majority of the players to vote for a strike when the best players are going to get their money anyways.