Individual Observations - Little Mac

First I would like to say Ben-you're doing a hell of a job on the recaps. You tell it how it is. No offense to Dave but yours are little to whimsical and G-rated for my taste and get a little too caught up on metaphors, but I like you're summary of this GSW game in the latest Minny pregame-its pretty accurate. Tonight's recap from Ben was excellent and hit on some important points but could have given even more attention to a topic that needs broaching: there was no individual observation for coach. This should be there good or bad so we can better see what works and what doesn't work for this team. A pulse on how is our "strategery" is working out. I'll try to fill in the gap for this game *gets out the whiskey*.

• Oden has outgrown his leash. He is TOO DOMINANT and changes the game too much to play him <20 mins. 2 fouls is too much for the 1st q not the 2nd q. What's the point of 'protecting' him if you don't bring him back in the game later on? I have a proposal: Play Oden non-stop until he gets 2 fouls or drops dead to the floor-whichever comes first. Then--and only then--sub him out. He's barely in his 20s for gods sake.
• Needing to "earn minutes". Bayless attacks the rim and plays hard defense posession after posession. He plays as well as he can within the offense and does not gripe about ANYTHING. He has shown he can defend quicker PGs better than Steve & Dre, yet when the latter get complacent, look out of sync, don't pay attention during time outs, and all around suck especially given the matchup, you still don't play bayless? <strong>THERE IS NOTHING MORE HE CAN DO TO PROVE HE DESERVES TIME.</strong>. Yes, this also means when Brandon gripes to the refs all game you set him until he gets less heated.
  
• Juwanna man Really? Really? Speaking of needing to earn minutes-you're going to play him over Dante or anybody else who has a pulse and put on a Blazers uniform? I woulda rather taken a random fan in Blazers jersey and plugged them in at the 4. Maybe we really were talking to Oakley...to suit up at age 45. Dante should be (and have been) getting those minutes. What gives with the fear of rookies? They gotta learn some time and THERE IS NOONE ELSE TO FILL THOSE MINS. Seriously, Nelson shows more confidence in his D-League call up than you show for Bayless+Dante combined.
• Game plan- So let me get this straight. Every time Oden touches the ball in the first quarter we get 2 points, a foul, or 2 points and the foul. Heck even Aldridge looked like a dominant post presence when he caught the ball in the post. But yeah, I would stop passing to Greg too. Especially since the bench is out of bounds..see point 1.
• More game plan- You CANNOT play andre + Przy when the offense is stagnating. Dre is not exactly an exemplary defender and he's predictable on offense-he'll never shoot consistently so teams will sag off (this is where Kidd set himself apart, he developed a bit of a shot to keep teams honest). And Przy is so bad offensively that I'm happy when he can catch the ball successfully. In summary, playing 3.5 on 5 on offense sucks. Playing 3.5 on 5 offense especially sucks when there is no defensive benefit.
  
• Even more game plan - this whole Roy iso thing is getting old. Teams are figuring it out and someone did some nerve damage to Brandon's hands becaues he apparently forgot how to dribble. Why are we not playing the 1-4 P&R or inside out with Oden more again
• Substitutions - For the love of all that is holy and good in this world please loosen up the lineup and sub according to performance instead of this cookbook crap. Hell if you want to cookbook it, I'll write up you're predictable recipe and we can give Haarlow your job. Its win win, Paul Allen saves money, and Haarlow's crush on LMA might just mean we get a few different looks offensively.
• Rudy Fernandez - Kudos on getting (only) this one right. He was hot and you kept in the game. He shows flashes of brilliance, as have several of our players.  But back to strategery, we need to come up with more offense that involves less Brandon. Then when Brandon wants to take over its less predictable. I LOVED the play where Roy played decoy vs ATL and instead Rudy took the give and go inbounds and popped the unexpected 3. You figured Rudy had a shot at getting set up for the 3 but who woulda thought brandon doesn't get that inbound? We need more of that. Creativity on offense involving other players. Here, I'll start. I don't know why we don't have him in the game with Oden playing inside out. He's an excellent passer who can stretch the defense keeping them honest and giving Oden 1v1 play inside. How is this not the obvious play to run? I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here.
  
  There's a lot more but I'm about to pass out. Note to self: drinking games triggered by opposing PG layups or fastbreak points are a BAD idea..so what do you think was good / bad about tonights coaching.