In Reply to: Mara speaks posted by DCfan on April 20, 2025 at 05:02:27
Yes, this is on Cronin. Can't adjust his style to his players' strengths and weaknesses. He is very stubborn -- his way or the bench, fit that square peg into the round hole. At the beginning of the season I thought Mara looked hopeless. But there was a surprising transformation. So Cronin must have helped him. When Mara entered games his rim protection changed things. Opponents were no longer dominating in the paint. Opponents were changing how they played us. But Cronin seemingly didn't recognize this and kept him on the bench way too much. The ultimate was the epic collapse in the second half of the Minnesota game when Mara was not played.
Several fans on this board attributed Mara's departure to money. One narrative was that Mara didn't like that Dent was coming because he wanted to be the focal point of the team. I guess that was based on the belief that Mara didn't have a team mindset - ridiculous. A dominant rim protecting center doesn't fit Cronin's defense. Cronin likes small ball. Cronin underplayed Mara. I agree with DC that the loss of Mara will be big, and on Cronin.