The Official MIKE DUNLEAVY Discussion Thread (P. 3)

I love how it takes us a few years to get this... Dunleavy is a solid coach for a mediocre team. So if playoffs is all we are reaching for, then keep him here and we might make em, or might not, or might come close... I said this since day one, Dunleavy is no good if we want this organization to get a move on and change its rep. For all those people saying wait for a few games in season... we've been waiting a few years, wait all you want you will still end up with a below average coach with a talented team.

I'm with you, I'm tired of building, I want results now. Where do we draw the line? At what record to we reach where we can all say "okay...........now this isn't working, let's make a change". 1-7 might be too early, but it's darn close. If we hit 1-10, forget it, that hole is too big to dig out of, trade now

one of the main reasons i think im not ready to see mds leave is his dedication to the franchise. ive been a fan for 25 years and i cant remember a coach who actually seemed proud to coach this franchise.. most clipper coaches seemed to have had one foot out the door the day after they get hired, or just dont seem truly committed to whats best for the organization (see fitch, brown, casey, ford, weiss, etc..) he makes no excuses nor those snide little backhanded jokes about the owner or the franchises past and i respect that about him.

why not? when youre in the leage for that long there is n o reason not to be nice. they are all filthy rich, worry free, professionals having fun night in and night out - putting on a show. hes having fun, i do the same.

At least Brown took us to the playoffs back to back years. Move Dunleavy to his GM role and get a new coach.

I agree, Dunleavy showed a lot of grit for this franchise over the summer. Keep Dunleavy, trade some players

ACTUALLY.......that's not a bad idea. I don't know how someone can fully concentrate on coaching and roster moves, doesn't make sense. Dunleavy GM, bring in Bill Walton as head coach, that guy is hilarious

We wait a few games in to judge MD, and when it doesnt work and we get another coach... THEN WAIT SOME MORE FOR THAT COACH TO GET USED TO THE TEAM, AND SETTLE... means more losses. Either way im buckled as a Clipper fan for life, just want MD out of the organization (keep him at GM until we find someone better). Let him go coach or manage his son...

This is the same thing I've been thinking about. Their lack of movement in the half-court offense is extremely frustrating. They are either lazily passing the ball around the perimeter, running a high screen and roll without aggressiveness, or isolation after isolation.(!) We've seen Baron drive and kick to some success, but he can't be the only one to rely on. I read the Plaschke article about Baron's run 'n gun, free-flowing offense conflicting with Dunleavy's tendency to run calculated play after play. With the poor defense we've been playing, always having to inbound the ball under our own hoop, that fast-paced offense isn't going to work. So until we D up, our offense falls squarely on Dunleavy and the players' ability to execute in the half court offense. We can't play like we've been playing and expect to win. Maybe it's because we're not focusing on each player's strengths. I think the plays need to develop through Baron or Al's hands most of the time. They each have the ability to beat their defender, drive to the rim, and find the open guy (although Al should work on this more). We have the spot up shooters in EG, Tim, Ricky, Mobley, Novak. The ISO needs to stop going to Tim or Cat, as it always seems to slow the offense to a halt. The funny thing is, Kaman is potentially our 3rd guy we can run our plays off of, because when he's aggressive, quick, and decisive, he is strong on the low post. He's done this in recent years, we know it, and other teams know it as they always look to play help D on him. His problem has been moving too slow, over-thinking, and his tendency to make his shots more difficult by going for reverse layups instead of....

"Dunleavy was out-coached on the Rockets' game and he was CLEARLY out-coached in this game. If you say so otherwise, you've probably didn't see the game because you were drooling in your sleep."

Actually Jay.r, I was driving home, not sleeping. I did listen to the game though. Our bench lit it up, especially Thomas and R. Davis. If they provide that kind of play regularly, then we will win games. Too bad our starters were dismal. Tonight was certainly anomaly (an inexcusable one nonetheless).

"If Dunleavy stays... I really think that there is no way in hell that we'd make the playoffs."

Quick Jay.r, name the last coach (before Dunleavy) who took this team to the playoffs and how long ago that was.

"Everyone wanted to fire him last year, but we were willing to give him another shot because a lot of players were injured. He has no excuses this year."

LOL. Eight games constitutes a year nowadays, I guess.

"If I don't see any progress, I want him fired at the very least, as early as next year. Yes, on January 1st 2009."

Sounds good. How about sparing all of us until then.

I would hire Bill Walton as Coach just for Shits and Giggles. Bill would let Baron run the team and we may win some games and we will be fun to watch too! Werent we supposed to be an exciting team? What the heck happened?

Serious journeyman- I didn't get the memo either. Guys it's just 8 games for goodness sake- way too early to hit the panic button and wanting to fire and trade everyone.

When would you guys hit the panic button? 15 games below .500? 20 games below?

^^For me- not 8 games into the season- that's for sure.

yeah I agree 8 games is premature. However, 10-15 games under .500 will be too much of a hole to make the playoffs.

^^Well we still have 74 games left to make the playoffs- I'm hoping the team will jell in time to win enough games to get in the top 8 by season's end.

I'm glad I missed the game. I'm also tired of building. Most our players are vets and it shouldn't take 20 games to click. If so, write off the season. "Great coach for a mediocre team" So true. He was OK in the Brand era as mentioned. It's not that we lost it's that we were blown out and blew good leads. In the second halves the shots weren't falling but that's when you change strategy. Tim's jumper isn't going to win. This isn't "chemistry" He got out coached. At halftime they got his number. Do you think players respect a coach who lets us get beat by over 100 pts? It's hard to keep your energy positive but at least we aren't losing to bottom dwelling teams.

New Coach

I love you optimism D. I hope you're right and I hope Im wrong. Dont all clippers fans fall into one of three categories? The optimists, realists, or pessimists. We are all in this together. Like every year, I hope the optimists are right, and pessimists are wrong.

Imagine this guys:

I f Ricky D. were'nt making this seemingly impossible long three pointers at the last minutes of the fourth and if Ricky, again, would've scored only 4 points (his avergage of the year). This game would've been a blow out, TO THE MARTIN-less KINGS no less!!!

If Mike Dunleavy continues to coach like this... whether we lose or win in a close game with teams that we clearly should beat, then I'd be out from Clipper Nation indefinitely. I think I'd watch more Lakers games. I'm not saying that I'd root for them, I said I'll just watch their games more because his coaching just frustrates the hell out of me... I'm just so dam fkn sick of it.

Clipper games are no fun for me anymore, it just freakin stresses me out.

...

Is there any wonder why less and less people go to the games?

couldnt agree more. enough for the excuses. we have been makeing them for him for years.

heck he even lost to the lakers when he was blazer coach up 15 points with few minutes to go.

lost with lakers in the finalyl to bullz.

he suxs as a coach. overrated. just get by cause people cover for him

oh did i mention the conditioning?

good coach makes sure the players are in shape. us on the other hand? injuries =bad conditioning in the off season

LOL Now imagine if Ricky were simply hitting his career average since the start of the season (14ppg) our record would be in reverse.

More selective half-truths. Keep 'em coming.

Since this is the official mike Dumbleavy discussion thread i just want to say I officially want his a$$ fired ...........................................

I AGREE HE IS THE STUPIDEST COACH IN CLIPPERS HISTORY/NBA

Clippers may relieve Dunleavy of GM duties

Citing several NBA sources, the Boston Globe reported the Los Angeles Clippers are seriously considering removing the general manager duties from coach Mike Dunleavy and replacing him with an experieced front-office manager.

According to The Globe, some names being mentioned for the job include: former Heat GM Randy Pfund, a former Lakers coach, and ex-Lakers and Grizzlies GM and Hall of Famer Jerry West. If a new GM is brought in, Dunleavy would be expected to remain as coach in large part because he is under contract until 2011.

yeah, and he tricked sterling. he said " if you fire me, it'll be the worst decision of your life" or something like that. and its not like sterling knew anything about basketball, so he just kept dunleavy.

dumbleavey should be fired now more than ever because all of our players are healthy. the good ones actually but I wonder what exuse he will use this time for his stupid coaching. DUMBLEAVEY

personally i will always have a spot in my heart for mds. he has done some fantastic things that have never been seen here in clipperland during his time with the franchise. his passion and dedication for the game and to the team should be commended. he had the single best single season in franchise history and has made the clippers the "team who wont spend money" a thing of the past. and i do feel he has gotten a bad rap for the teams terrible performance this year. personally speaking, i hold the huge majority of fault on injuries and the personal work ethic and performance of the players themselves. but all of that is niether here nor there. for whatever the reasons, a blind man could tell you he has lost this team and its time for a change. im sure he still has some supporters on the roster(it seems thorn, kaman, jones, novak, and all the rookies still support the guy somewhat) but it doesnt seem to be enough to get this team playing the right way. i have wondered whats been on these players minds these last few games cause its obviously not basketball. if things go the way everyone seems to think they will, which is the fact that sterling wont fire mds because of the money left on his contract, then it gets very disturbing to think of next season, with this same roster being forced to play under this same coach whom some of the most important players on the team no longer believe in. if indeed sterling has no intentions of paying a coach after he has fired him, and therefore dunleavy finishes out his contract, the players on this....

I too remain sympathetic towards Dunleavy. The number of injuries the last two seasons have bordered on the surreal. I think only the Wizards have had a worse streak of missing players. I started following the Clippers around the time Alvin Gentry was the coach, and Baylor the GM. Exciting young players with lots of promise. I was still a neophyte as far as following the NBA, despite the few Laker games I watched. I couldn't seriously follow the Lakers because so many of their fans were repugnant and obnoxious (they have more fans, it's only logical they'll have more obnoxious fans, so don't think I'm denouncing all Laker fans). Anyway, I learned pretty quickly what it means when the owner won't spend on the team. Players openly call out management and fans. Bad publicity, lots of cheap Leno jokes, etc. When Dunleavy took over, I was happy to see a legitimate coach willing to work in these adverse conditions, and that Sterling was willing to pay a legitimate contract for one at that. And then the flurry of unprecedented offseason activity: they match Brand's $82M Miami Heat offer, they match Maggette's $43M Utah offer. I remember being ecstatic when I saw the clipper.com website: Brand New Day in LA. It certainly seemed like it. I thought Dunleavy was a miracle worker who finally got Sterling to open his coffers. The team improved steadily, right up to the team's playoffrun. Sterling has a panache for odd timing, so naturally he granted Dunleavy's contract in the middle of the Nuggets playoff series. It didn't seem so foreboding at the time. That Sterling was willing to once again spend seemed to be good news. And indeed the money was being spent. There was Tim Thomas and Cuttino Mobley. Whether you thought they were overpaid or not, they were....

The Dunleavy era is over!

i just hope its true what they are saying.....CLIPPERS WANT TO WIN NOW!!

^^^Ricky. where have you been?

We're almost a month into

***THE BARON DAVIS ERA™***

I'm glad Dunleavy is out completely... I think what's happened with this team of late proves that Dunleavy was actually a better coach than a GM... He's assembled a mess of a team that no coach could win with, not even himself...

Sure, Griffin would have made it better, but we still have a lot of bad pieces to this puzzle, starting with 13-million a year spent on Baron Davis.

^^^^ ive been here the whole time im just saying i hope all this moves are really made to win and not to screw everything over

I still blame FElton for that one.

Sorry, BINGO, I was responding to Ricky.

yes FElton screwed this franchise over in many ways.

okay, so there is absolutely NO MORE MIKE DUNLEAVY associated with the clippers!!!!!!! we now have nothing to talk about, fellow clipper fans

There's something weird going on here. I expect to see Rod Serling walking out smoking a fattie soon. MDSr signs BD knowing who he was and how they wouldn't get along. Remember under MDSr we beat Boston twice the Lakers etc etc. He's fired and Baron says we'll coach "by committee" which is the worst possible way to do anything. Hughes is coach and we get constantly blown out by the worst teams in the NBA except we showed up for a while with Utah (which means we can do it.) The blow outs are worse than with MDSr as coach. Then MDSr gets fired as GM and "We want to win NOW" WTF does that mean? How can we win "NOW" if we don't have the talent to beat NJ? It seems "NOW" means "NOW" not next season. Remember they didn't say "Next season" or "draft pick". Does it mean the players are dogging it on purpose? Sounds like it to me. There is something rotten in the state of Clipperland and you can shake your spere at that. Remember it was supposed to be Kaman, Brand, Corey, Cat, Baron, three allstars and #50 20ppg 5 RB and ??assists. till EB Bug**red us. Not MDSr's fault.

Can this be unstickied now? lol

After seeing Olshey at work this off season, I say bring back Dunleavy as GM.

i miss the "fire dunleavy" chants lol

Hey now, give the new guy a chance to build up (and then fail to meet) expectations.

Now the Clippers have Doc and CP3.

^How far we've come