AZGrizFan said:
At some point that has to be reflected on the court and in the records.
It’s not, it hasn’t been for a while, and I see no evidence that it’ll improve anytime soon.
Been avoiding this debate ... but here goes.
The Griz are not a
bad team ... trouble is, they're not a good
team, either. They are basically middle-of-the-pack, as shown objectively by their record.
The Griz have several good (or even very good) players ... trouble is, they have yet to really gel as a
team to make the most of their talents. At times, they do – they look great working together – but they do not sustain it. That, I fear, is on them ... coaches can only to so much.
I have a theory about why this bunch of good to very good players cannot seem to sustain what should be (we've seen it) a high level of play. Trouble is, I have no direct observations to nail it down ... even video presents only a restricted point of view. Still, after seventy years of playing (a bit) and watching, you do learn a lot. (It's not rocket science.) There's no specific thing you can put your finger on, but "you know it when you see" (or don't). It's called (vaguely) "leadership," and perhaps some of you who have attended games can fill in the blanks. But, in my view, the Griz seem to lack a team "psyche" where someone steps up at crunch time. It doesn't have to be a certain player – though it usually is – but some player has to have a "refuse to lose" attitude and put the team on his back. We've seen flashes, but nothing sustained. Again, that's not (entirely) on the coaches ... players have to find it within themselves.