Players that fit Morey's philosophy

i wonder if it would be better to just go with 1 star and a foundation of many good players.

 

I dont think so..not in this NBA. Hard to keep that big of a core intact and thats assuming you can bring all those guys in quickly and not waste years with diff transactions to make it happen.

You'd need to get really lucky, like GS did witv Curry and his contract. Or by even getting him at all.

 

Ok what's Morey's philosophy on defense because that's this teams biggest down fall this season.

 

Mirza Teletovic
Evan Fournier
Marvin Williams
Anthony Tolliver

 

Your point is well taken - Morey's philosophy will take a middle-of-the-road team in terms of offensive efficiency to the next tier - good, but not elite. We are clearly a peg below GS, OKC, and SA. What do all three of those teams have in common? They have great coaches who implement an offensive system that allows them to take high-efficiency shots within the context of that system. The system also encourages ball movement and minimizes confusion such that people are always in motion and not standing around waiting for a shot. They also utilize less efficient shots such that the more efficient shots at the rim and behind the arc are less well defended, since the defense cannot rely on running you off the line and clogging the paint. OKC's improvement this year wasn't just health - they made a big improvement in coaching as well.

So Morey's philosophy isn't that novel anymore other than that it minimizes the impact of coaching, if a below-average coach is present (McHale/Bickerstaff). But it's not going to get us to the promised land - I think we saw the best-case scenario last year when we reached the WCF, perhaps due to a lucky streak in that game 6 versus the Clippers. For that next level, we need consistency, discipline, and clearly defined roles within a offensive system that doesn't need to be complex, but one that ensures that multiple options are in play during every possession so that defenses cannot defend the 3 or shots at the rim as effectively.

But to your other point, you are 100% right - for us to be competitive we need a good defense. It may need to be elite (allowing fewer than 100 points/100 possessions) for us to compete with SA, GS, OKC, or Cleveland.

 

okc isn't in the same category as GS or SAS. They have two heavily relied upon mvp caliber players in the league. That's their offensive system.

 

It's clear to see, Roxs need a point guard to help Harden! I would go all in for Jeff Teague. The Roxs can not match the scoring of a Golden State or San Antoinio. Howard, Ariza, Beverly and Brew are too inconsistent

 

What they all have in common is that they all have vastly more offensive talent than we do.

 

Fair points. I do think that San Antonio isn't vastly better than us offensively from a talent standpoint. I think they are Exhibit A of how a well-entrenched offensive system reaps benefits for players of all skill tiers in the NBA

 

It's very simple, we keep thinking about offensive options, but as many great coaches have said in the past.... When you score over 100 points in a game, you shouldn't be losing the game. We need defence plain and simple.

 

not sure how the spurs aren't seen as vastly better offensively. They have 2 legit scorers in KL & LA. Parker/ginobili have to still be respected. Green of course can light it up from the perimeter. Add guys like Mills/Diaw who are versatile on offense. All these guys are more talented than the majority of the current roster.

 

Their best two offensive weapons, from a talent standpoint are Kawhi and LMA. How many of the other guys remain effective outside of the Spurs system? You are evaluating their worth within the context of the Spurs system. Surely you recall the disastrous play of Diaw in Charlotte, for example. The rest are tough to judge in a vacuum (Green and Mills got limited burn outside of SA) but I think its safe to say that the system itself is in a large part responsible for their offensive success.

 

Well Harden isn't a team, although I agree that often that is what it feels like - you don't have to look further than last night's 4th quarter. Without Harden the Rockets scored 2 points I believe. All other points, he had to create for himself and the others.

Why Harden takes the most shots, shooting 43% from the field you ask? Ummm because he is the best player on the team?! Because he is the best scorer on the team (one of the most lethal scorers in the league)?! Because he is the only one who can create offense for himself when the team needs it?

Firstly 43% isn't horrible for a SG (And don't forget that he gets to the line a lot - so he is still one of the most efficient scorers).

Secondly, this number is still a bit skewed because of the atrocious start to the season but if you look at his stats from december til now, you will see that he has been shooting the ball well.

Dec: 44% (41% 3FG)
Jan: 46% (36% 3FG)
Feb: 40% (42% 3FG)

Also you'd hope that some others could shoot at a higher % than Harden, since they are getting WIDE open looks many times a game. That is a luxury Harden doesn't have. He has to create his own shots with multiple guys on him. And who are those great dead-eye shooters you are talking about?

I'm excluding our bigs here obviously, but amongst the guards/sf

Ariza: 41,3% FG
Beverly: 42% FG
Thornton: 40% FG
Lawson: 39 % FG
Brewer: 38% FG
Terry:42,5% FG

So, Harden seems to be the best shooter on the team after all!

 

Rockets seem to be pretty decent with 2p%

http://espn.go.com/nba/team/stats/_/name/hou/houston-rockets

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