My thoughts if Porter is fired:
Porter is getting a bad deal. You can't judge him by his record if the player leaders of the team never bought into his changes. They sabbotaged the change from the beginning.
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NASH "the wanderer" you suck at DEFENSE. STOCKTON played adequate defense for a small point SO CAN YOU IF YOU STAY WITH YOUR MAN AND FIGHT THROUGH SCREENS. INSTEAD, ANY SIMPLE PICK AND YOU HAVE BEEN SEPARATED FROM YOUR MAN, EVERY DAMN TIME.
AMARE copy someone who plays great position defense. Do what he does. Don't just try to out quick or out jump them especially on rebounds. They are moving to get better position when the ball is in the air, you are watching. Have the mindset that all rebounds are yours and you'll get there. And you don't have to be voted captain to be a team leader. It's not bad to not be captain. Your time will come soon enough.
But, If you don't put out 100% committed effort then the results are **** and you can't judge Porter on those results alone.
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Porter starting them with defensive slide drills was CORRECT. Start at the beginning and as they show they can move their damn feet laterally, they would have moved on. But the "veterans" fought against such a "back to the basic approach", and instead of saying 'maybe we need to improve our defensive skills individually which would make the whole team improve', they thought they were above high school and college drills.
YOU'RE NOT
Just because you are getting Porter fired doesn't mean that he failed. You failed. He knows it but will get blamed. Stop being such babies and man up and play responsible defense.
The offense may be another story. You should have kept D'antoni's offense and added some Shaq post plays for end of tight games and playoffs, when having a physical presence down low becomes an important option to have. And you should have used it enough during the season so the players have it polished and ready when you need it. Same with some bench players-ready when needed- because they played during the year with the starters and not just bench clearing blowouts.
Good luck Terry Porter, thanks for trying to help them get there.