In Reply to: If Mara got the minutes he deserved last year he would be back posted by DCfan on July 11, 2025 at 13:36:26
I too thought Mara should have played more. I thought he should have started and played close to 30 minutes or maybe even more. I thought Mara was a game changer in that he changed the whole game when he came in. I too, and anyone else who looked, could see that those changes weren't all for the good.
It was clear to anyone paying attention that Mara's presence on the court changed the way the Bruins played defense and how effective they were on that end of the floor. From a coach's perspective that is a huge concern. From what I could gather Cronin tried and IMO was mostly successful at mitigating that situation by choosing his spots to bring Mara in - hence the limited minutes. Even with that Mara was in enough to influence the games he played in.
Admitting the flaws Mara brought in with his game I still thought the gamble of giving Mara more minutes was worth the risk. I could see that there would be significant growing pains but in the end I thought the Bruins would be better off for it. That's easy for me to say - I'm not the one accountable and on the hot seat. Cronin's choice is a legitimate move and even though I disagreed with him I thought he did a good job in implementing his decision.
I could see that Cronin was adjusting to the situation. He continued to coach Mara up as he tried to bring his defensive skill levels (as to how Cronin wants his team to play defense), but also shifting his offensive schemes by getting the ball into the low post more often - sometimes giving the ball to Mara every possession.
All of this was sort of on the fly because at season's beginning Mara still wasn't playing to the level where he deserved more focus on the offense and also playing more minutes. Than there was the injury that also slowed down the process. One could disagree with Cronin's judgement, but frankly Monday morning coaching is a lot easier than actually coaching for real. I could see that Cronin was building this team, trying to maximize their efficiency and effectiveness, bringing Mara along, and then trying to integrate Mara (imperfections and all) into a more significant role while trying to hold on to everything else including the season. None of any of that is easy yet, IMO, Cronin did a relatively pretty good job in addressing and coaching to all those considerations. His approach IMO was legitimate and again IMO was reasoned, mature, experienced, and successful. Was it as successful as everyone else wished it was - probably not. But by most standards the Bruins had a good season - not great, not even very good, but good nonetheless. Everyone, including Cronin wants more. I see Cronin continually making the steps necessary to that end.
Then after all this, without knowing the whole story, an immature Mara, in my mind, blew it all up. So Cronin pivoted and adjusted and is now trying to build a different team than the one he thought he was going to have. It's not perfect and there's a lot of question marks, but at this point it looks like Cronin again is doing a pretty good job with the parameters he was handed. We'll see how this plays out with fingers firmly crossed.