Posted by knixphan:
I think the reason LB's 'presence' is still an easy thing to feel, (other than the fact that the whole thing just happened) is that LB represents a kind of NY ideal we sorta came to love when Riley came in - the ultra-blue-collar-defense-first-get-floor-burns ideal, and I think we all love the idea of a bunch of players who strive to out-hustle each other for the purpose of stopping the other team from making buckets.
LB's hiring was the closest NY has come to seeing the return of that ideal since 99, so I think it's very natural for some fans to lament his passing with a modicum of regret - I think they're lamenting the death of the ideal, not the firing of the man - LB was just a vessel containing the remnants of Riles/JVG. NYC is a defense-first town - just the way it is. We get more warm fuzzy when a guy takes a charge than when he dunks (Remember that, Nate)...
Damn someone that wants to actually talk basketball. Thanks for bringing down the room. I agree. I do think there was a contingent of "non kool-aid drinkers" that tried to warn during the season that LB would not turn us into Phoenix east. I seem to remember some posters saying that the players had to find it within themselves to get rid of their reputations as under acheivers. These reputations didn't start last year, they have followed many of our players around. Many of us saw the team assembled and expected problems. I guess we just hoped that Isiah and LB would get on the same page and force the players to be disciplined instead of allowing them to rule the roost.
I understood what LB was up against. I came into a program with a bunch of guys that didn't know how to win. My college coach gave me one piece of advice. He said I must go in and make sure the players knew it was my team. At that point it didn't matter what plays I ran, if everyone knew it was my team and that there would be consequences for insubordination than things would change. I was a horrible coach, but I won because I was lucky enough to have a school that backed everything I said and did. We haven't done that since JVG(and even then almost ran him out after one year) and that's part of our problem. I pray we do that for Isiah(while we are stripping him of his GM duties of course)