That is certainly a big part of it. And I suppose I should have said that the core is the same except that we had Ben, and had him in his prime. Maybe those are the two biggest factors, along with the age factor for Sheed and Dice (who didn't arrive until the 04-05 season). But there also seemed to be less hunger and less team chemistry this year as compared to 04 and 05.

Tay for Bynum if his knee repairs.
Sheed for one of those Joe Smith guys in Atl.
Flip for a guy that will intergrate AA, Amir, Stuck so we don't lose them in a couple years.

Maybe its my age. I still remember the LB who was great at developing players but could never get anything done in the post-season. He did make the Finals that one year with the Sixers but his main competition were the 50 win Bucks who could not even spell the word defense.

04 and LB were a good fit, however his choice to use Darvin Ham over Okur for the simple fact that he had issues with Okur almost ended the run there. In 05 I was not a fan of his 7 man rotation.

Flips problem is the players do not always listen to him. He is a great coach but lacks the deminer to get through to the players, then again we Sheed would be a tough cover for any coach. LB was able to get through but most would not.

Time to move on. I think its safe to say that the Flip experiment is officially over.

This is so on point. I was thinking about it the other day, and i think it really was LB that gave us that extra advantage. I mean he would have adjustments to the adjustments that coaches hadn't even made yet. He could adjust in game, game to game. He was what put us over the top, and it didn't matter that we didn't have a Kobe.

We did have a superstar in 04. That was when Ben was still in his heyday and had just won his 2nd straight DPY. Imagine that series if we had the 04 Ben Wallace to neutralize their frontcourt and get us those much needed rebounds.

I hear a lot of people say Flip was not a big part of the problem, but I haven't read from any one on why he should stay. The main reason Flop was brought here 3 years ago was to stabilize the defense while bringing explosiveness to the offense. If he didnt accomplish that, because the players didnt listen or what, it is still HIS fault.

As I said before, Ive been in the Army AND played organized sports and it is so important to have leadership you respect. And you 'want' to FOLLOW and win for.


Flip lost this team sometime around when Ben refuse to go back in the game. And hasnt got them back since....

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= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN38uI2oKkA

I don't know if you meant what I'm thinking, but I think I was thinking the same thing last night.

Three years ago against the Heat coming off the 67 win season the refs to a large extent took it away. Gave the ECF to the Heat and then the 'ship. I remember thinking then that the conference finals were not a good test of Flip's ability to coach.

Then last year in the ECF it became clear that things were not right. The defense was totally gone, and the vaulted offense wilted under not very strong pressure.

This year there were some stumbles against the Sixers, but if Philly had played the whole season the way they played the last half they would have been a top four seed so I could forgive that some. Coming into the playoffs they were hot. Things seemed on track again when another year of experience and the addition of Reggie Lewis only managed to make the Magic one game better in the semi's. And then six and out against Boston, who is, at least in my opinion, just a better team. If Allen had found a shooting touch earlier it would have been over sooner.

So, last year was the year to drop kick Flip into the river. Last year was the year to find an adequate backup small forward. Last year was the year to have made sure that some younger legs got some run. But that didn't happen.

This year, the bench got developed (dropped in the playoffs, but still...), starters minutes went down, the team got back a bit to some defense, and unfortunately came up against the best team bargain basement shopping from teams with nothing to lose could buy.

So, will Flip lose his job? I think so. But did his performance this season warrant the boot - maybe not so much. A little more leadership from the top at the end of last season and maybe we'd be rinsing out our jerseys today and getting ready to watch some basketball. Instead, we're going to get to watch another team with another bargain basement player stolen from a team that didn't care play a team with a whole roster of them.

Things may get shook up good in the next month or so, but it will be for the wrong reasons, and more importantly, at the wrong time. Still, change is good for the soul and in a couple of weeks I'm going to be wanting to watch some basketball again.

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"But first, are you experienced? Or have you you ever been experienced? Well, I have."
Jimi

In an article on mlive it stated that only 1 other team in NBA history has lost in 3 straight conference finals. The 1953-55 Boston Celtics.

So this is kind of unpercidented which helps explain the frusteration we are all experiencing.

I don't know what extent they would have helped but they did give the opportunity to do something different this ECF. Instead the zoo crew was essentially gutted in favor of Hunter and some older vet that we picked up. Same script as the past 2 ECF's really.

The PT for AA and Amir should have been much higher during the regular season, so they would have been better equipped and more trusted for the post-season.