Please Pick a Meme

[Ed. Note: From the FanShots.  Also check out Michael Lee's case to give the youngsters more burn. -Jake]

It's no secret that Ernie's meme is, "Let's keep everyone together and see what happens when we're all healthy." I refer to this as "Justify the Dynamite," and on my blog I said that it's silly to have such a stand when there's little doubt that a new coach will make calls for roster changes.

Another reason I don't by Ernie's meme is that it conflicts with current coach Tapscott's meme of, "Show me you deserve to play:"

"The guys who play well are going to play. I think it's extremely important when you struggle that you maintain a very tight hold on what you consider to be your team values and your team culture. So, it's very easy to extend to people opportunities that aren't earned. But I don't believe that is the right way to develope your team. You have to work at the highest level. You have to work in this league at the highest level to earn opportunities, to earn minutes, to earn chances.

And you sustain the opportunities you are given by quality play. For me to forsake that would be a big mistake. So, we're going to play the guys who earn their opportunities and the standard will be quality play. I think the fans deserve that, I think the guys on the team deserve that."

Going by Taps' logic, Crittenton, McGee and Young are underperforming; they're not working "at the highest level." I would respond that good performance goes hand-and-hand with on-court experience, but we've been going back-and-forth on that argument forever. But more to the point: Taps is not waiting for Gilbert and Haywood and everyone else to come back before making such judgments. He's looking over these players in the here and now.

So Ernie swears that everyone will be evaluated when the team's healthy then we'll talk about big trades. But Taps is implying that players are already being evaluated and the results are being reflected by each player's playing time.

Well, which one is it? Because if we're following Ernie's lead, then Management needs to officially declare the season lost and increase the PT of the younger players. If we're following Taps' lead, they need to be thinking about acquiring an impact player through trades as well as through the draft.

The organization needs to pick a meme, and stick with it.