Dave Hardisty

Here's when you're talking young guys that is getting better week over week, month over month.

So if we're going to point out the negatives, let's point out the positives as well.

And this is something that whether you want to credit a man himself or the coaching staff, and it's probably a combination of the two, clearly this is trending in the right direction.

Dave, give me a minute.

I've got to rant after that Texans game today because it made me appreciate Ime Udoka a little bit.

You know, people get frustrated at times by, you know, Ime showing some tough lob, especially to the young guys, especially if it's, you know, the stands that don't necessarily like the criticism when it's lobbed in the direction of their young guy.

Well, I think the reason Emay does this, he wants them to face this adversity head on so that when it's further down the road and you get to the playoffs, these guys have been through it before and they come out on the other side.

One thing I'm not a huge fan of with the Texans and D'Amico Ryans, the relentless positivity.

I think when you do ultimately get punched in the mouth, the way we saw C.J.

Stroud specifically today,

it can be overwhelming.

And I thought the body language on CJ Stroud's face, it looked to me like James Harden in the 2017 playoffs.

Like he didn't even want to be out there.

And I think that's the opposite, in my opinion, of the Ime Udoka approach, which is, you know, it's tough love.

but with the hope of getting them to the other side so that they are mentally tough and ready to take on these situations.

And I'm not going to say last year was a clear success because they did lose in the playoffs to the Warriors, but they did get better as that series progressed.

They fell down 3-1.

They got their feet wet.

They won Game 5, won Game 6, Game 7.

I think they largely just ran out of talent against a Warriors team that had, you know, proven veteran high-level difference makers in Steph, Jimmy, and Draymond.