You can't stay in the basketball game if you're not going to play with effort

In SAC, Kings coach Kenny Natt has "made it very clear" who will play over the last 20 games of the season.

"What I need to do is pull guys out of the game that don't want to play. Guys who don't play with effort, that's who I'll start pulling out of the game. I've made it very clear to them that that's where we're going from now on. You can't stay in a basketball game if (they're) not going to play. If you think that you're going to stay in the game (without playing hard), you're going to be sitting over there with me."

Balancing a razor's edge

Made it over to the Lakers-W's game in OAK last night. [Here's the box score.]

Watching two of the league's best veteran coaches manage minutes for their young players reminded me of something Jim Boylen told me Rudy Tomjanovich used to say about balancing winning and developing young guys: "You can't serve two masters."

To paraphrase Rudy, "It's like balancing on a razor's edge. You can fall off either side if you're not careful."

For the Lakers, who have some injuries, Coach Jackson got 6-foot-9 rookie Sun Yue into the game for a few minutes. As this article describes, Sun looked "uneasy" on the court.

Sun entered the game in the second quarter with 5:56 left and the Lakers leading by 16 points. He was back on the bench with 2:42 left in the second quarter and the Lakers lead down to seven points.

After the game, Sun admitted he's not comfortable with the system yet, saying, "I might not be getting used to the whole system 100%, but I think I'm at about 60% and it's getting better."

According to Coach Jackson, the staff has a plan for Sun:

"He's still a guy learning how to manipulate the offense and get into the position where we want to work on the floor. We just want him to go in there and play spot minutes, just do a job. I thought he did fine. He hustled and he worked hard. Things deteriorated around that group that was out there, [but] it wasn't all his fault. He has practiced hard. He's worked hard on his game. He's not ready yet, but he's going to have to play. Some of it's about advancing the ball and setting up the offense and being comfortable under pressure out there."

On the other side, Don Nelson got rookie Anthony Randolph into the game for nearly 15 minutes. He finished with 8 pts, 2 rebs, and 3 fouls.

After the game, Coach Nelson said he's trying to "bring my guy along the way I think is best. [Randolph] takes things for granted and he's got to work his way into it."

What often goes unseen to even ardent followers of basketball is how the flow or momentum of the game changes when young players who aren't as comfortable with the system enter the game.

In Sun's case, he showed good athleticism, ran the floor well, and can handle for his size, but he lacks experience and clearly is not ready to be on the floor for extended periods with a team challenging for an NBA title. Of course, with all of LA's injuries, Derek Fisher needed rest, which gave Sun a chance to play some.

This game was a good example of how every possession of a game is important. Every time down the floor matters. With Sun, three minutes had a real impact on the game.

Two final observations:

1. Kobe's out for pre-game and halftime warm-ups and, unlike a lot of guys, isn't chatting or casually shooting. He's focused, taking game-speed jumpers.

2. W's fans are incredible. 20k there last night. Knowledgeable. Passionate. Loyal.

Staying focused while on the bench

Thanks to coach Kyle Brown at SNC for passing along a good story about MIL guard Tyronn Lue.

Now in his 11th NBA season, Ty Lue has been with three teams over the last three seasons, starting three games during that span.

Now with MIL, Lue comes off the bench for coach Scott Skiles, who relies on the 6-foot guard to produce despite sporadic minutes.

As an example, take this five-game road swing that MIL just wrapped up:

Against the Lakers (for whom Lue played his first three seasons in the league), Lue played 21 minutes. Two nights later at PHX, Lue played two minutes. The next game, against the Warriors, he logged 14 minutes.

Then against MIA, he played just one minute. Against the NYK in the final game of the Bucks' five-game road trip game, he saw 20 minutes of action.

Lue is able to do something that many players can't: Get into the flow quickly.

"It's very difficult because you can't get in a rhythm," he said. "If you know you come in at the 2-minute mark of the first quarter, you can get your body and mind right and be mentally prepared. Just get in a rhythm throughout the course of the season, when you know when you're going to go in and know when you're going to play. It's difficult, but I've been able to produce so far in playing that role.

I just stay focused on the bench, watching the flow of the game and seeing what the team needs so if I get a chance to play I know exactly what I need to bring for the team to be successful. So I just try to tune in and stay focused and stay watching the game. I just stay ready."

I'm never discouraged. I know how to play the game and I never lose confidence. I try to play the same way all the time."

There's never a thing you do where a message is not intended

Saw where Coach Krzyzewski went with an entirely new lineup for Wednesday night's game against UNC-Asheville (a 43-point win for the Blue Devils).

Wednesday's game was the first since Duke lost by eight at Michigan (#14 in the CBSSports.com RPI). After that loss, Coach K said Michigan "played harder than we did. There wasn't that type of energy in our group."

When asked after Wednesday's game whether the new lineup was a meant to send a message to his starters, he replied:

"There's never a thing you do where a message is not intended. It doesn't mean that something wrong happened; it was to show confidence in the kids we need. We have confidence in our bench."

One usual starter said he understood the message:

"Spots aren't really given around here. You have to earn them."

A plan for earning more minutes

Earlier this week, 6-foot-5 freshman guard Travis Releford and his coach, Bill Self, had a 5-minute phone conversation as Releford walked across the University of Kansas campus.

According to Releford, “The first thing he said was, ‘Did you call to talk about your playing time?’ I said, ‘Yeah.’ I wanted to know more of what I had to do to get back on the court. Coach told me things I need to work on if I want to play.”

Coach Self outlined a plan for helping Releford get more minutes:

“Get out there on defense, steal my teammates extra possessions on the offensive end by getting offensive rebounds, and create for others. Defensively getting on my man before he can make a play and before the ball can get to him,” Releford said. “I knew it was nothing personal. I always knew that. There are things I need to work on.”

Said Coach Self:

“It’s partly a situation we’re trying to win or the other team is doing something where I’m not comfortable with Travis (in the game). Basically, Travis has to be a very good defender, a very good rebounder and a high-energy guy that can create offense for others, not just himself. Those are things where he’ll get to the point he can do them in the game. When you don’t have a very experienced team, you want to get at least a little (experience) out there.”

Playing time is not a gift

Coach Don Nelson on why he takes young players out of the game after they make a mistake:

"Part of that is a teaching tool. I couldn't tell you I'm going to let a guy screw up too many times and not take him out of the game, but I'll put him back in, correct him. Within reason (players should be allowed to make mistakes), yeah, but also, you want to make sure that the guy is developing, and you don't hurt his chances by giving him too many gifts, he's also got to earn it. So it's kind of a delicate line. I'd say yeah, within reason, I can accept some mistakes, as long as they're not repeated too often."

I don't think integrity needs rules

I don't know much about hockey, but over the last 10 years when I'd come across an NHL game on ESPN, I enjoyed watching Barry Melrose, who coached the LA Kings (and Wayne Gretzky) to the Stanley Cup Finals in the early 1990s.

When he was hired to coach in Tampa Bay back in June, he was asked why the Lightning had slipped to last place in the NHL's Eastern Conference:

"I think what happened here is just a group that lost their passion in the second part of the season. That's why you win. You outwork other teams, you out-want other teams. When you lose that fire and lose that passion, it's very hard to compete in the NHL."

When he was fired last week, just 16 games into the season, one of his players told the press that Coach Melrose "did not come to camp with a plan that was going to help a team that had undergone a dramatic overhaul of personnel in the offseason."

“It was, the player said, like shinny hockey with a few fights thrown in for good measure. There was no system. No plan. At least not one that was discernible, he said.”

Here's how Coach Melrose described his coaching style and what happened in Tampa:

"I’m not a big rules guy. I don’t think integrity needs rules. I just ask them to come and compete every night. When we do that, we’re an excellent hockey club. When we try to do it for 20 minutes, when we try to do it for 40 minutes, it costs you.

"I’m not a guy who sings ‘Cumbaya’ around the fire. I let you know if I’m not happy with you. And obviously a lot of guys didn’t like to be held accountable with this team. The players have power here and they exercised that power and now they can play who they want and when they want and how much they want and not [have someone] demand a lot of them.

"You have to earn ice time. The only power a coach has to motivate players is ice time. I’m leaving here with my head high…It didn’t work. I’m fine with that. I can live with myself with that."

Minutes are not a gift

Don Nelson was asked earlier this week about playing time for young players.

He gave a clear, candid response:


"There's always going to be somebody who's not playing. It's up to them to keep their minds open and be ready to go when I call on them. First of all, it's up to those players to deserve their minutes. It’s not a gift. They have to deserve them.

We’re diligently working to try to improve their games and when that moment comes, I’ll be glad to play them.

I have two young players [who] are able to play in an NBA game right now and you’d have a chance to win that NBA game. The other players I would think you wouldn’t have much of a chance to win at this point in their careers."