I think its wild youve gone after the Eagles ownership here. Absolutely wild.
Theyve given a young local coach everyone was raving about after his exploits with GB a shot in the BBL and have backed him because theres no way their budget strings have been pulled too much with the amount of changes and signings they've made, and yet its their fault? Do me a favour. From their perspective, the stupid money being thrown at London right now its actually a good time for a full on rebuild - because on paper (all the non basketball specialist ownership have to go on really), nobody should be getting near this Lions team. And probably wont. So why not rip it up and start from scratch.
There's a number of things working against them right now:
1) Steutals first year in the BBL - despite everyone thinking they know everything about the league and even look down on it, his lack of experience of the way this league plays out is probably a contributing factor. Hes not a bad coach, lets be clear about that. He does have to learn the league and professional non-NT basketball to an extent. What has disappointed me is his teams lack of identity. Id at least expect a bit of grit and fight from any Eagles team - this lot simply gave up last night. For example, if Donny Johnson doesnt get his hands dirty you may as well cut him, he doesnt have anything offesnively but effort and he certainly didnt give that last night. For me you need a team that reflects the city to really appeal to Newcastles strongest asset - its fans. For me thats a team that doesn't stop swinging even when its about to hit the canvas. Get the effort levels up there and its half the battle. The new big fella embarrassed himself last night - there was a time in the game I thought hed forgotten who he was playing for.
2) Probably a follow on from 1), but the recruitments way off whats needed for a good balance in the BBL. I understand theyve missed out on some big targets but the approach seems a little scattergun. You recruit guys like Johnson for his blue collar approach but then youve got a floor general like Cohn who is as defensively weak as I've seen. Its more like an overcompensation on one part because of anothers failings rather than a compliment to each other. Its just one example - theres a lot more I could draw on. One thing Dave and Fab did when putting a team together was look for parts that fit together, this team looks very jagged edge to me. Appreciate they were missing their go to scorer last night but even he's a bit hit and miss for me. But again, Id qualify this by saying theres probably not a better time to start a rebuild than right now - and Steutals shown internationally what he can do and Ive no reason to think he wont learn quickly on the job.
3) I genuinely dont know the full extent of the answer here, but how big is the rebuild? I know Stronarchs in as assistant (and hes been out of the game a good while - is he out of touch at the other end of the spectrum to Steutal?) - but whos recruiting the team and how much help has Steutal had in other ways from people in and around the club and indeed how much does he want? Theres a good chance it could be a contributing factor.
4) And this is a big one, probably bigger than the above is the players themselves. They should be giving a right testicle to play for a Coach whos given them a chance to play at one of if not the best ran professional club in Britain. Theres a few there who really need to look at themselves. Ability I can forgive, and that comes down to recruitment in the first place, but attitude is a non negotiable and not something that's easily scouted. I think theres a few there in that Eagles team with a weak mentality.
Overall - whilst its painful for the fans right now and yes theres a few obvious quick fixes for me, I think the benefits of a rebuild at this exact moment with one of the most exciting up and coming British coaches in the British game being allowed to learn on the job will pay off in years to come. Stick with it, despite how bad it invariably is right now.
