Small ball line-up. More favorable offensive matchup for Ariza since we were playing 4 smalls the entire game while the Thunder were countering with two bigs for three quarters of the game. Ariza and Lou went off. Any takes on that? Any thoughts on how much we're going to miss Anderson? What about the playoff rotations? How often should we go with the big stretch 4 versus a pure four small line-up? My feeling has been for a long time now that for us to maximize our championship chances we have to play four smalls most of the time. Personally, I believe that Harden/Nene is our best defensive combo at the 4/5 in conjunction with Ariza/Nene at the 4/5. And I believe our best offensive units involve 4 smalls with Harden, Bev, Lou, Gordon, and Ariza being the 5 guys that gobble up the majority of the minutes at 1-4, with Anderson/Dekker getting left over minutes. That's how I'd play it in the playoffs. I'd start Nene and either Gordon/Lou and bring both Anderson and Capela off the bench. Or if I kept the same regular season started I'd at least make sure that the minutes were staggered in favor of Harden, Bev, Gordon, Nene, Lou, Ariza with limitations on Capela/Anderson. The four smalls line-up with Nene in the middle gives the best defense and most multiplexed offense if not the most downright efficient and proficient offense. We need at least two other guys on the floor with Harden that can both shoot and create and dish off the dribble. With Ariza and Anderson both in the lineup you now have 2 guys who are at best stand still shooters and who are severely limited when it comes to putting the ball on the floor and passing for points or driving to finish. The four smalls helps us somewhat mitigate defenses keying on James and shutting down his playmaking. Defenses can't play too tight on the wings to deny three-point shots when both wings gave guys that can catch and shoot or take it to the hole. What I'm saying should be very logical and easy to understand. It's a matter of James and Trevor being willing to defend at the 4 spot and take some physical abuse that they wouldn't normally have to take on the wings or up top defensively. In my opinion, the Anderson injury, while unfortunate for him, might be a blessing in disguise for the team since we need better interior D and we need more playmaking options on the floor simultaneously to keep playoff defenses from keying down on our shooters after James dishes the ball.
Yes, I don't mind Ariza at the 4 at all. We do it a lot. We did that a ton last year, too. This isn't really even injured-related...just forced to do it more. Difference with last year and pre-Lou this year is we put in Brewer when Ariza slid to the 4.. Now, we are going with 3-guards A LOT. It's like 22 mpg by my count. Either Harden, Lou, EGo or Bev, Lou, EGo As for 4-guards: fwiw: we have only gone 4-guards once this year for 90 seconds...versus CLE when Lebron wouldn't sit at the beginning of the 4th, went on a semi-run, and MDA was forced to bring Harden back in before Ariza was ready to come in, too. Even yesterday with no Anderson, and EGo/Lou having big games, we never went 4-guards. I don't think MDA wants to do that. Interesting idea though, but I think it's less about the theoretical production vs the system. One of the 4 shooters we have on the floor really is just a spot-up weakside player. That might as well be a taller player, for what it provides on the other end. I think that's what MDA is thinking.
For stretches. There are times when we desperately need Ryan Anderson, and it has shown in the previous games he has missed this year. Hopefully Trev stays hot, because this team really ebbs and flows with his shooting percentages.
Wholeheartedly agree... Anderson and Ariza are pretty much -EV (negative expected value) when they put the ball on the ground instead of a simple catch/shoot. It takes Anderson a long time to get his shot off, and when a defender is on a quick closeout, it disrupts Ryan's rhythm and he passes up on the shot, even though he had enough time to take it. It's like in his head he doesn't feel confident about taking it, so he passes it up and tries to put the ball on the ground (which usually results in a turnover/blocked shot/missed midrange jumper). I'm TOTALLY up for bringing Anderson off the bench, starting Ariza at the 4 and Gordon at the 3.
holic bro where have you been? long time no see? you the real MVP..so refreshing to read your stuff again...
We need Anderson to absorb pounding from big guys. He's also been our best 3pt shooter.. Plus the spin move can be devastating at the right time.
Ariza was on fire yesterday, I wouldn't base much off that performance. We will probably be playing a lot of Ariza and Dekker at the 4 while Anderson is out.
It's real simple with Trevor. You have to get him in the corners, specifically the right corner, and he has to be able to catch and shoot in rhythm with no defender within 4 feet of him so he can go into his natural motion at normal pace. If Ariza is taking a bulk of threes outside those parameters he's not good. He can't be dribbling and pulling up, can't be rushed, and he needs to be below the break. To me that spells the corner or the PF spot. Now we run Anderson up high as the stretch 4 because he is a very capable shooter above the break. But when you replace him with Gordon and move Ariza down to the right corner and Bev over to the left corner, then you've got Gordon/Harden on the pick and pop which should be even more dangerous, efficient, and proficient than Harden/Anderson. The other part of the Anderson line-up is Anderson is usually out high when the ball is rebounded and then his lack of speed and poor defensive ability really gets exploited by the opponent in transition. Has he been effective for us offensively? Absolutely. Not advocating benching him when healthy. But for more varied offense and better defensive balance I think the smaller line-up makes sense for more minutes.
Anderson has unique skills so dont sell him short, he DOES add muscle at crunch time if you've been watching close outs. In fact I'm surprised how physical he is with bigger dudes. Pretty much drove Cousins up around the bend the other night.....how quickly we forget on here. Defense Wins Championships..........mostly
Yo hollic man I saw those dudes hazing you in the Drummond thread! Not cool homie hope all is well! You are truly an inspiration to me and I'm so glad to have you back! We are blessed and Yule hath seen!!!
This Anderson injury could very well be a blessing in disguise particularly for Dekker, who seemed to be a bit lost within his role on the floor. This will also open up more creativity off of the usual pick and pop between Harden and Anderson (now will be Gordon and Lou) which I noticed created a lot of HOCKEY assists yesterday because of the additional drive and kick for better shots
May I suggest to you that Ariza may have been on fire for a couple reasons: 1. He was working the right side of the floor primarily, which is where Anderson typically operates. 2. He got off three clean three balls from the right corner and two from slightly above the crease and was wide open on those shots because of Gordon above him and Harden/Lou on the other side. His defender was helping top side. When you watch video and Trevor is playing on the left side opposite Anderson his efficiency goes down drastically. But when you put him on the right and then put Lou top left or Harden is top left and Gordon is top right, now we're cooking with gas because Ariza becomes much more open on the looks he favors. My opinion, Ariza and Anderson together is too limiting and not quite as proficient offensively as when there is just one of them on the floor and they can play the right side primarily where they both have their hot zones.
Look at how good we looked when Ariza was playing this well offensively. Imagine if we replaced him with a guy like Paul George or Gordon Hayward who could give u this type of production every night?
This is why Daryl will go hard after Hayward in the summer. They'll be able to get to the max number too if GH wants to come here (Ariza and Lou gone gets us close).
Saw that. Understand what you're saying. But we're not going to see a lot of double stack power bigs like that in the playoffs. And when we do I'm convinced that Trevor at the 4 (or better yet Harden at the 4 with three other smalls or even two other smalls and Ariza) would be more effective net both ways than Anderson. Once again, I'm not saying to bench Anderson altogether. He's important. I'm saying when we get to the second round and beyond I suspect we are going to have to push Ariza and Harden down to the defensive 4 and have 3 other smalls around them for the majority of minutes to have a real chance to continue advancing.
Yeah. I'm hoping that we could find a way to keep Lou but that might not be possible. If only Ryno was making 15 mil/yr instead of 20...
Anderson is the better shooter, this season and career wise, so it makes sense to put him where he's more comfortable. Not to mention, Anderson is hitting them on a better clip several feet back from the 3 pt line which opens the floor up more. Lastly, when we you watch the video 3 of Ariza's 3 pters came from him putting the ball on the floor and shooting over his defender. Not exactly his game and something that is sustainable. With Anderson out, we'll see if Ariza operating efficiently from the right side as the 4 is a trend or not.
Anderson is the better shooter than Ariza. But he's not a better shooter than Gordon. And Ariza is a better defender than Anderson. And Gordon is a better defender at the two and Harden is a better defender at the three or four than Anderson is at the 4. It makes sense to have Anderson comfortable offensively when he us in there. I happen to think he'd be more successful paying less minutes against opponents second units.
If Anderson is not helping us defensively, I don't see any problem with Ariza/Dekker sliding to 4. Anderson is though probably the better 3P shooter out of them and he has a one leg mid range shot. I would still play him as there would probably no distinctively advantage with Ariza manning 4 against big boys and shooting that corner three over Anderson. That said the 4 guard combo is interesting. It might work against the Warriors at certain situations.
