Who could have gotten that "team" to scrape out more than 25 wins? Maybe Phil or Pop or some other HOF coach, but with Kobe's retirement taking its place as the sole focus of this entire season, I don't see a way in which any coach could let Kobe be Kobe and simultaneously try to build a solid gameplan around an aged superstar who is gunning it for old time's sake every few games. Even if we had Isaiah Thomas, we'd still be losing 50-60 games and not sniffing the playoffs. Hell, even Chris Paul and Dwight Howard don't pass the championship Eye Test -- especially now with Kobe gone.
I think we saw enough flashes of excitement, speed, ball-sharing etc. from the majority of our young core of guards and forwards to know that it only takes a young Alpha Dog to step in and lead these guys to 30 or more wins. A Kobe, a LeBron, a Wade (before LeBron took it), etc. Not sure about KD quite yet. I believe in keeping D'Angelo (unless a brilliant deal involves him) and looking to get bigger and taller. We can play small ball, and we have guys who can run and fill up the wing and space the floor and all that finesse x's and o's stuff. But we need a couple of bruisers patrolling the key who can pass and defend and have some semblance of a scoring style. The defensive intensity
must get better, and having bigs who can get busy on both ends of the court is essential - look at how damned lucky Golden State got with the Bogut deal. He had some injuries and some growing pains, but he's been playing the best basketball of his life offensively
and defensively the last couple years - the kind that most envisioned when he came into the league. Plus he has Ezeli and Green to take minutes so he can stay fresh. We'll see if Luke is up to the challenge of being the next Phil Jackson
or if he avoids his former team and not-so-current division "rival".
We're definitely a couple more seasons away from being able to have a team worthy of a 5 or 6 seed, but we know everything ebbs and flows and the vibes will return to this franchise and this team soon enough. We'll have to employ money and make deals with other non-playoff teams, taking risks on certain players and trying to land a big fish - like we always do.
Thanks, Byron. Your tenure was just as confusing and frustrating as Mike Brown's and Mike D'Antoni's, but at least you got to coach the Kobe Farewell Show.