Can we make a playoff run with Kemba at starting point?

[StakJak]

Why does Dunlap keep saying our success this year won't be measured in wins and losses, but in fostering 4 quarter quality basketball play (under his specific points of emphasis), but Kemba makes every post-game interview about wins and losses. His heart is in the right place, but I'd like to see them on the same page.

[Bogg]

You don't want them on the same page. If Kemba's sticking around he needs to be the type of competitor that wants to win every night, but if Dunlap is trying to win every night you'll see things like Biyombo losing all his minutes to Warrick, which does nothing for the future.

[StakJak]

True, but if Dunlap's philosophy was passing to open up the shot (He mentioned emphasizing it for practice, don't quote me on his philosohy), the team may undermine it in pressing situations, playing more on instinct; I see this a lot when Kemba gets in the zone in a dire situations, he will take 10 straight shots...when he cools down, Sessions and Henderson are ice cold from not seeing the ball for 5 straight min. I think the volume of shooting gets too high when he's on and you find him pre-determining he will take the shot when he crosses half court...where as the alternative would be to think of Dunlap's training tenants habitually, and eventually subconsciously, each trip down the court.

I'll give you an example. As a year-round swimmer, our coach hammered into us proper technique on a daily basis. We did not swim regular strokes in volume like other teams, most of our work was in drills. He taught us that while swimming the way that feels most natural will make us faster for the time being, the ceiling for each of our potential will not be high. However, he said that if each of us were willing to break down our strokes, start over, and learn how to perform them the way he wanted us to, that we would improve more than swimmers over the other team. It was a pain in the ass, I had to swim the way he showed me to, it was awkward and it made me suck for the first few months to where I lost races...but over a couple years, I dramatically improved...the swimmers I was initially losing to were getting beat...it just took resisting the urge to revert back to old ways when I was in a tight race.

Another example. In Hoosiers, high school varsity team was made up of a bunch of scrubs and a stud in Jimmy Chitwood. In years following up to Coach Dale's arrival, the team's strategy was simple: pass Jimmy the ball and watch him drain buckets. The new coach had a different idea, he instructed his team to pass the ball 5 times on every possession. Nobody thought it made sense, why not stick with what worked in the past? The players got frustrated when they had trouble scoring under this new way...but eventually they made habit of it and became state champions.

Basically, if Dunlap is telling the players this is how they're going to play, then they should play this way no matter what. If someone wants to take ten straight shots because Sesh and Hendo are cold? Too bad. If they lose they lose. If they execute it better and better, then add JJ Hickson and Shabazz Muhammad to the team...they will be much better in 2013-14 than they would if the players stick to playing the way they are most comfortable with.

Not saying I know what Dunlap preaches at practice or whether or not Kemba plays the way Dunlap instructs him to. But these are examples of things that happen when player development goals or wins-losses goals are not the same between coach and player.

[spectre]

Exaggerate much?