Red Shirt Season
With few healthy bodies, Brown had to MacGyver a starting lineup from the healthy bodies available. Brown explained last season as he prepared for his season opener:
"“It’s like the difference between men and boys. When he (Okafor) goes and beasts college basketball, it’s not going to happen [in the NBA] right away. We all have to be patient with that. I think it’s going to be slow for a lot of us. [Okafor is] going to walk into the Boston Garden and it’s not like he’s negligent on playing in big games. He’s played in plenty of big games, but now it feels like the true NBA. The preseason is not even close to the regular season and it’s nothing like the playoffs, so it goes up several more layers starting [Wednesday] night and I think we have to be patient. It’s never letting go of the mentality of run to the spot that you want to post. There is no worse feeling in coaching than having to call a play each time down the floor. I don’t like coaching like that and I don’t think the game is played like that. So I think he can make up his own play. He can run to the block and get the ball. It doesn’t require me. That’s what I’m on him to do and if we keep coaching that, he’s going to get his free throws. He’ll get deeper catches and more free-throw catches. Energy-wise we’ll play with tremendous spirit and heart. We’ll play defense, but we’ll be ratty offensively. We need to play in the open court and we need to get Jahlil the ball, but I’m not expecting anything fluid or anything with a tremendous rhythm on offense.” – Head coach Brett Brown."
With too many injured bodies, too many projected bench players forced into starting roles, the team stitched together a lineup, set some basic plays to execute, and hoped for the best. That best never seemed to arrive.
Looking back now and judging the performance of that roster seems cruel and unjust. The team limped into the season, limped out of the season, and had about a two month window of normalcy.
Next: Play Your Strong Suit