Thoughts to Ponder

I’m going to start off the New Year right by posting a new article every week with just some thoughts that I have about anything fantasy.  I would also like to get input from the readers on ideas for the next thought to ponder.

My first Thought to Ponder is NBA coaches.

I have so many thoughts on these guys it is absolutely necessary to get this out to the public.  The argument should first start with Don Nelson.  What on Earth is with this guy?  How is he a coach in the NBA?  His ability to change the starting lineup on just a whim is one of the most frustrating things a fantasy owner can run in to.  23 times this season “Nellie” has run out a different starting lineup than the game before.  It is completely absurd to think that someone who has changed his lineup 23 out of 34 games still has a team to even play for him.  The Warriors should boycott playing for that nuisance they call a coach.  It wouldn’t matter if his team was winning, but at 10-24 for the season someone should put an end to Nellie’s madness.  Looking at the team from an actual basketball stance, how can he think anyone can be consistent if they have the same chance of starting as not playing at all?  Looking at this from a fantasy standpoint, this guy is the most frustrating coach maybe in the history of fantasy NBA.  I mean a guy like Anthony Morrow can score 37 points and be the hottest pickup on any leagues wire to the next game getting significantly reduced minutes.  After he has been dropped within a week, Anthony then goes for 20+ points again.  This isn’t with just Morrow though.  Guys like Brandan Wright, C.J. Watson, Ronnie Turiaf, Anthony Randolph, Marco Bellinelli, Kelenna Azubuike, the aforementioned Anthony Morrow, and even Rob Kurz have had fantasy worthy considerations.  Most of these have all turned into fool’s gold.  As soon as you get one of these guys in your lineup he gets a dreaded DNP-CD.  I have had to deal with two of Nellie’s players.  One was Al Harrington, which I thank every day that he got traded to the Knicks.  The other just so happened to be Maggette. For some odd reason, this guy always seems to be on my team.  Fortunately, I traded Corey the first game he missed of his current 15 some odd game injury streak.  I traded him for the inept Dalembert and Al Thornton.  Thankfully, both are not affiliated with my team or Nellie’s team.  I vow not to have anymore Warriors on my team for the rest of the year, well at least until Morrow goes off again.

The next coach to be put on the frustration list has to be Larry Brown.  For most of the season he hindered Jason Richardson and Gerald Wallace’s value until the Bobcats traded J-Rich.  Larry Brown and the coaching staff have told Gerald Wallace to worry about possessions (rebounds and steals) instead of scoring.  His scoring has dipped to 16.8 points per game from his 19.4 last year.  Crash has improved his rebounding from last year from 6.0 rebounds per game now up to 7.9.  The steals remian about the same and the blocks remain consistent as well.  These numbers are very respectable from a fantasy perspective, but if Larry Brown ever takes the chains off of Crash he could have top 15 value for the rest of the season.  Since we are talking about Larry Brown there is no possible way that Gerald takes off.  Granted Raja Bell wasn’t lighting it up for the Suns, but getting traded to the Bobcats will kill all of his value.  Bell will no longer have a green light to shoot and is only in the game for his defensive prowess.  If Larry Brown just let the players on his team do what they do best, he would have a more successful team and make people not hate him as much.

The next coach is…well the rest of the league.  There is not one coach that favors fantasy sports at all in the NBA.  There are plenty of examples to support this.  The Rockets went out on the free agent market this past summer and signed the human headache Ron Artest.  Now the only headache is wondering why Rick Adelman is now having him come off the bench.  Did Artest somehow lose his ability to play defense and score points?  Let one of your best players play, Adelman.  My next beef is with the “genius” Phil Jackson.  The Lakers are winning quite easily and out of all of these coaches he has a reason to keep Odom benched because they are winning.  However, can you imagine what the Lakers could be doing with a front court of Odom, Gasol, and Bynum?  There is no team that could guard 3 7-footers.  I’m pretty sure Odom is a lot better than Luke Walton will ever be so let the real player start.  The next coach that really makes me upset is Marc Iavaroni.  How in the hell can you start Darrell Arthur and Darko Milicic over Hakim Warrick?  This one baffles me the most I think.  Last year when Hakim Warrick started to get over 32 minutes a game on average starting in February he averaged about 16 and 7 with 50% shooting from the field.  He is extremely versatile, athletic, and young which makes everyone wonder why Iavaroni doesn’t start someone who is better than all other options on a losing team.  The next coach is D’Antoni that I would like to address.  Al Harrington was on fire once he was acquired by the Knicks.  Big Al is scoring 22 ppg with his new team with 6.5 rpg.  He is also chipping in 2.5 3-balls a game and 80% from the foul line.  So why D’Antoni, why do you send him to the bench?  He is your number one scorer and arguably the best player on the team.  I fully expect him to get back into the starting lineup by as early as next week.  Another knock on D’Antoni is how he has handled a certain Stephon Marbury.  Marbury along with Harrington are two of your best players so why did Marbury get exiled from the start of the season?  He could have thrived in D’Antoni’s run and gun offense.  I actually could go on and on and on about how (expletive) mad I get when I think about the coaching in the NBA.  There is nothing more frustrating than having a coach not play the players you drafted to contribute in your fantasy team.

I hope I am not the only one to feel this way about the NBA.  If you are as mad as me about this topic, use the comments as a burn page on them to relieve your anger.

Happy New Year everyone.