Vinny Del Negro: Blake Griffin's Defense of Del Negro Spells End for the Coach

Blake Griffin defended his head coach Vinny Del Negro after the Los Angeles Clippers suffered their third consecutive loss in three days to the New Orleans Hornets. According to the Los Angeles Times Griffin said, 

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"It's not that. It's us. It's on me. I've got to find a way and we've got to find a way to put the fun back in it, the fun we had the first how many games and we were just going out and playing."

"

And therein lies the problem. 

Vinny del Negro isn't a good coach. He never has been. He's a coach that lets his talent run around and be talented. When the team is just running around having fun, and has the talent to win, it's all fun and games—literally.

The problem is, coaching takes more than that. 

When it comes to actually running an offense it takes being able to make adjustments. When it comes to running a defense it requires knowing how to stop what is working for the opponent.

When it comes to coaching it requires actual...I'm looking for the word here...uhm...COACHING!!! That's the word. 

The unintended result of Griffin's defense of Del Negro (unless he's incredibly shrewd, which if you believe the Kia commercials is a distinct possibility) is that it exposes the flaw of Del Negro's "coaching." 

He did it in Chicago and now he's doing it in Los Angeles. His idea of running an offense is give the ball to the most talented players and stay out of the way. His idea of running a defense is—well he doesn't have an idea of how to run a defense.

It doesn't hurt the Clippers to go out and have some fun, but they need a coach who can help them win when it's not fun. The grind of the season catches up to every team, and that's when strategy, focus and morale take over. That's all an indication of coaching. 

The lack of that on the Clippers is a clear indication of a lack of coaching. Who could replace him? Bill Simmons has an intriguing idea. 

It couldn't be any worse.