FSU basketball: What does Leonard Hamilton do after this season?
By Kelvin Hunt
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As we look at everything, Leonard Hamilton has had some terrible injury luck. However, he has to take some blame for not understanding some of his players could leave the program unexpectedly.
The departures of Gray and Koprivica were devastating, not to mention the departure of John Butler was odd when almost everyone knew he wouldn’t get drafted. I think that’s where the loss of Dennis Gates hurt the most, plus what he brought on the recruiting front.
The departure of Charlton probably was the finisher, as this year’s team didn’t have any of the qualities of vintage Leonard Hamilton teams of years past. The injuries to Fletcher and Gainey were something he couldn’t prepare for and hurt team depth.
However, they couldn’t defend my high school team, lacked hustle and effort, couldn’t rebound, had careless turnovers, and were frankly unwatchable at times.
Coach Hamilton’s insistence on playing his same defensvie system, despite not having the players capable of running it was frustrating as well. It’s easy to blame the players, but these are players Hamilton recruited.
He either miss-evaluated or hasn’t found a way to motivate these players to buy into the culture needed to win at a high level. The million-dollar question is can Leonard Hamilton turn this thing around?