Quote:
Originally Posted by MathMan
The problem with that is that we have known cases of Martin switching matchups mid-game to adjust to his early-game line matchups being ineffective, including post-Muller. So it's untrue that Martin "never" adjusted. It might be a matter of degrees, though, in the sense that he didn't do it enough to Spacek's tastes (or did it in ways Spacek couldn't discern; I'm not sure Spacek would pay much attention to forward line changes, for example).
But in general, I have a lot of trouble with the whole "Martin doesn't adjust" notion because I've seen adjustments from him (or rather had them pointed out to me).
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He would indeed shuffle his lines. It was something that became a bit of a running gag, actually. Not to say that it wasn't warranted sometimes or even most of the time.
I think what most people take issue with concerning JM was is unwillingness to play a more aggressive style when needed. His preparation in practise seemed to be thorough - the system was firmly installed, to say the least. It was his in-game coaching that was lacking. I don't recall him ever switching to a 2-1-2 when we were down. He NEVER called timeouts at the right time to cool things down when it was obvious that he should.
But more than anything, he played a totally inappropriate style for the kind of players he was given. He had a fast, aggressive minded team, not a gang of grinders. The old guard of coaches who have remained relavant, are the ones who have been willing to adjust their style to their players and that's why Jacques wasn't too popular here or successful.
It wasn't all his fault though: he was put there by BG and PG knowing full well what kind of coach he was.