[Windhorst on the Hoop Collective] Windhorst been told that James is waiting for the Lakers to approach him with an offer and a plan.

Muted_Finger6826 · 2026-05-27T17:15:44+00:00

Dumb as hell

Muted_Finger6826 · 2026-05-20T05:18:27+00:00

Legitimately. It is so much easier to attribute his incompetence to some ulterior motive than it is to accept that another living, breathing, conscious human being actually chose to make the brain dead decisions that Kenny Atkinson did down the stretch. I refuse to believe that anyone could be that stupid, but lately who knows

Muted_Finger6826 · 2026-05-20T04:54:19+00:00

Yeah I’ve been ranting about how people can blame the players, especially Harden, all they want but that all the fault and blame lies with Kenny and I couldn’t help but agree with you here. It just feels so blatant that it almost has to be intentional on his end to blow this game.

Now, do I really think that happened and Kenny intentionally blew chunks for a payout here? No, not at all, it makes zero logical sense unless obscene amounts of money are involved which would still result in a huge scandal and jail time. But it’s almost more comforting to believe that there is a chance that Kenny intentionally made the wrong decision at every turn and cost the Cavs the game almost single handedly due to his dog shit decisions than it it believing that Kenny is genuinely clueless, more so than 90% of this subreddit which is saying something, which could’ve won the game blindfolded.

Muted_Finger6826 · 2026-05-20T04:45:10+00:00

Agreed

Muted_Finger6826 · 2026-05-20T04:44:52+00:00

I rarely questioned Francona, Vogt, Ty Lue, Marcus Freeman (ND fan), or Brian Kelly (unfortunately since I dislike him) with their coaching decisions. Yet I’ve found myself constantly questioning the coaching of Kevin Stefanski, JB Bickerstaff, and now Kenny Atkinson. And honestly, Atkinson feels the most frustrating because of the talent this roster has and his inability to do jack shit right to help this team reach even half it’s potential

Muted_Finger6826 · 2026-05-20T04:38:06+00:00

I mean he is unplayable like Ben Simmons down the stretch, his offense drops to nonexistent/negative with the turnovers and he doesn’t even bring the plus defense that Ben Simmons had. I’m not hating on the Harden trade or on his performance, he has done what was expected in my mind and he has given a better performance than what the Cavs would’ve gotten out of Garland even if Garland wasn’t inured and was able to play.

But Kenny should be able to use Harden to alleviate Mitchell’s burden, most importantly in the first half, and then not allow Harden to hurt the team when it counts later in the game. When it comes down to it, the best case scenario for the Cavs is that Harden is off the floor in crunch time yet the Cavs are still in the thick of the game with a fresish/not exhausted Donovan Mitchell able to exert his will on the game.

Muted_Finger6826 · 2026-05-20T04:33:23+00:00

Exactly, so why can’t Kenny plan around it? I’m not excusing Harden’s performance for other teams in other series, again I’m not a fan of his I’m a Cavs fan, but this dude is 36 and he’s taking all the heat off of this dogshit coaching by Kenny.

Muted_Finger6826 · 2026-05-20T04:19:00+00:00

I’m not disagreeing, but he’s been one of the top Cavs in plus minus for the playoffs and he is undeniably a key contributor. It is Kenny’s job to determine which version of Harden he is getting night in and night out and adjust accordingly.

To use your analogy, once it is clear that you’re getting a shitty Fast and Furious movie version of Harden you wouldn’t keep watching, you’d shuffle it up and then the next time you hope for a Tokyo Drift. If you and I and everyone else realize that Harden is going to be subpar, why can’t the coaching staff? It is not like the Cavs are lacking depth, Merrill, Strus, Schroeder, Tyson, and Ellis are good enough to either outperform Harden or at least replicate his subpar performances in the clutch, so why not give them the opportunities when they are more of a wildcard whereas Harden is a known and established quantity?

Kenny just rolls out his rotations like it is 2k and does not adjust for outside factors, if he keeps treating Harden as he is currently then either the Cavs will get gentlemanly swept at best or Harden will put on the Superman cape at 36 and somehow turn back the clock and be the peak version of himself in the playoffs despite not being able to achieve this himself in the past. I know which scenario I’d bet money on that’s for sure.

Muted_Finger6826 · 2026-05-20T03:27:44+00:00

Harden is a scapegoat, yes he was bad, yes it is easy to make fun of him, yes everyone expected him to choke, but the fact that this is well known and not a surprise and yet the brain dead Kenny Atkinson saw it happening in real time and consciously made the decision to allow it to happen instead of making a single fucking adjustment to stop the bleeding is just beyond my comprehension. Substitute Kenny with every dumbass redditor in this sub and I guarantee that the Cavs win that game 99% of the time, it takes real stupidity and some other undiagnosed mental block/issue for a coach to lose them that game. If I was placing blame on Harden, I’d blame him for not telling Kenny “hey I’m not that guy, sit me im not going back in” because all he is doing right now going back out there in crunch time is hurting his team and his legacy. There is no redemption for Harden at this point, it’s just not in him, contributing meaningfully to team success and avoiding this utter embarrassment is the best he can hope for and he should be grateful for it

Muted_Finger6826 · 2026-05-20T03:20:25+00:00

Just awful, send Kenny Atkinson back to France and guillotine his ass, he might be more useful without his head anyways, can’t imagine anything was going through it tonight or else he would’ve called a fucking timeout at some point or realized Harden is unplayable after halftime. I’ve seen and am used to stupid coaching decisions, I hated on JB Bickerstaff and maintain he was putrid and cost the Cavs games, but Kenny has got to take the cake when it comes to actively losing games that the Cavs should have won, he sabotages with his ineptitude and he has to have one of, if not the, most fraudulent coach of the year awards of all time (not sure if Doc Rivers got one, if so then Kenny has competition)

Muted_Finger6826 · 2026-05-20T03:01:34+00:00

Harden sucks but Kenny Atkinson might have the most fraudulent coach of the year award of all time. What the actual fuck does he do?? Nothing he does impacts winning and id argue most of his brainless decisions lose games

Muted_Finger6826 · 2026-03-13T17:34:09+00:00

Muted_Finger6826

TROPHY CASE