Uncle Rusty is Gone

Color me surprised. I thought PJ would get at least half a season. I guess inherent in that statement is that he was more or less a dead man walking. By that reckoning why not make a move now? You could argue that by drawing this process out you reinforce bad habits and make things that much worse.

Still though, it's quite a development. I must admit that during the Hornets game two things stood out to me as it relates to the firing. First, the Thunder stayed in the locker room at halftime much longer than the Hornets. The entire Hornets team had been warming up several minutes before the first Thunder players appeared. I doubt this has any bearing whatsoever but something seemed amiss. Second, I looked through my sportglasses at the the Thunder huddle during one timeout to check out the body language. PJ was being very demonstrative, lots of body language etc. Meanwhile not even half the players, in particular players that were going to be on the floor post timeout, were paying any attention.

The bottom line is the players just were not playing for PJ. It's a shame that the coach takes the fall but that's the nature of the business. In a book called Loose Balls (highly recommended and a review is forthcoming once I finish it), players describe playing for two coaches, Slick Leonard of the Indiana Pacers and Bill Sharman of the Utah Stars. Players describe the love they had playing for these guys and how they would go to war for them.

The Thunder should be so lucky to find someone who can bring the best out of these guys and get them on the path towards improvement and respectability.