I'm trying not to let the disappointment and frustration from last night, and recent games, spill over into my ability to enjoy this 20degree weather in Austin. We are at a turning point in the season, or so it seems. Height, length and physicality bother us. Teams with those traits can just manhandle us and get us to live behind the 3pt line because we are not able to succeed in the paint. I'm starting to wonder about chain of command issues on the court. At times, it seems like Castle is leading the offense, at others I see Fox calling plays and directing traffic, other times it's Wemby doing what he wants. The problem I'm starting to see is role clarity for everyone. Those 3 are often forcing too much and calling their own number way too much and early in the shot clock. A long way to go to learn how to win tough games on the regular. It almost looks like the coaches have pulled each player aside and said you're the guy you have the green light and then when one of the others is calling their own number the other 2 become passive. Anyway, I'm seeing some human dynamics issues that will take a while to fix.
The container seems to have morphed from where it was pre-Christmas. Coaching-wise it's hard to commend anything on the offensive side of the ball. Defensively, we are alright. Good enough to win. Effort, physicality and focus are waning rapidly. Last night looked like a game where the coach had a very vague, repetitive gameplay and the team executed exactly that. Mitch seems scared to me. The folded arms signal self-protective pose and he's stiff and frozen much of the time. He's in over his head, it's obvious.
Don't even get me started on Harper. Just criminal to bench your best player after a huge comeback when the guy who replaces him is in a major slump and hurting the team.
