Echoing Jamal Adams

If this were my social commentary blog, I would verbally unload, but I'm committed to not using certain words on this page. I have to admit, it's difficult. Now, what does Jamal have to do with this? For the most part, nothing, but it was something he said about New York Jets head coach Adam Gase in an interview with the New York Daily News that I will correlate in a little bit.

In this interview, Jamal stated he didn't believe that Gase was the guy to lead the Jets to the promised land, and prior to this morning, that's exactly how I felt about Nate McMillan.The Indiana Pacers fired McMillan this morning, after not only another first round exit in the playoffs, but being swept back-to-back. In comparison, Gase is entering his second year with the Jets, so only time will tell if Jamal is right about him, whereas Nate had been coaching the Pacers for four years.

Here's a guy who has been coaching since at least 2000, and has only advanced past the first round once, and it was no different here. In the four years he coached this team, they never made it past the first round. I understand there were key injuries along the way, such as Victor Oladipo missing most of last year, and I thought they did well considering the circumstances.

I can speak for most Pacers fans when I say I have been more than patient with the process. Aside from being tired of the first round exits, my thoughts were if it's another one of those, I want him out of there. One might say they overachieved the first two seasons, there was the key injury I mentioned in the above paragraph, but this year was a serious underachievement. They got bounced out of the first round by the Miami Heat in a sweep.

Yes, I know Domantas Sabonis and Jeremy Lamb wasn't there, but even without them, particularly the former, there was too much talent on that team for them to get their behinds handed to them like that, and I still think they had a better team (on paper, obviously) than the Heat aside from Jimmy Butler. On a side note, when I say "talent," I'm speaking of having talented players in general. I know there's a lot of narrow-minded goofs whose minds are limited to just "star" players, so if/when they challenge you to mention the talent, they're only thinking of players who are considered "stars." News Flash: A player doesn't have to have a name or be a "star" to be talented.

To his credit, in terms of the regular season, he was able to keep the team competitive despite key injuries, but after a while, the key injuries narrative becomes tired and eventually a lame excuse. Nate's not the only one I'm targeting. From what I watched of the series, a lot of those guys played like less than broads. I noticed the lackluster effort. They acted as if they didn't want it. I think the Indiana Fever would've put up a better fight.

At this point, the only ones I want them to keep are Sabonis and Goga Bitadze. Yes, Bitadze's overall game needs seasoning, but he showed flashes offensively and is a good rim protector. I'm usually good at spotting talent, even if it's raw or just scratching the surface, and I think there's something there with him. Asides from them, maybe TJ Warren.

Finally, the coaches on my wish list off the bat are Gregg Popovich, if he becomes available or Mark Jackson, however, there are rumors that they could seeking Mike D'Antoni--currently coaching the Houston Rockets--if he's available. I'll be honest, he's not who I have in mind, but hey, at least he's been out of the first round more than once in his career.