New York, New York and Basketball"You cannot direct what you cannot control." -
John Chaney, Temple University Basketball coach.
To put it rather simply, things are not looking good for the
Knicks. Yes, I know that some may say that that is obvious when looking at their record but the won-loss column does not always reflect the current value or future value of a team. But when a team losses due to not following directions of their coach, then that's a bigger problem. It doesn't matter who is on the team, all-stars or whatever, if the coach is not in charge then it is anarchy.
The other night after a loss to the Chicago Bulls,
Larry Brown told reporters that he called 4 set plays for his team to run in the closing minutes and that they didn't follow his direction. First of all, why is he telling the reporters this bit of information, if anything, he should be communicating to his players that they did not follow his directions and he should try to assess: did they just belligerently not run the play he called, was there miscommunication on the floor in the final minutes and that's why the players opted to improvise, or did the players falsely think that they were running the right play?
We live in a society that offers critiques too quick and unjustly and on my blogs you will hardly ever hear any negative comments about anything but I am rather tired of
Larry Brown playing the abused wife role complaining to reporters about today's players. The players not listening to him is not necessarily a reflection of the modern rebellious player - since the founding of sports there has always been either players who listen to their coach and who play as directed or players who simply belong to the mutiny camp - but a reflection that the commander has lost control of the ship and he should either resign or simply get rid of the guys who are at the root of the problem. At the same time, he might simply want to to deal with these possible mutinous situations internally instead of complaining to the local reporters.
