After watching and analyzing other teams' playbooks I have come to the conclusion that our offense struggles at times because we hang out at the 3 pt line too much. Even when Rafer pushes the ball up the court fast, he slows down and almost comes to a complete stop at the 3 pt line up top. He rarely drives a few feet in and passes out. Other PGs will immediately threaten a defense by penetrating right away, which causes them to scramble, creating open looks quicker. We can't use the "Rafers not a penetrating pg" excuse. Rafer not only has the ballhandling skills but he also has the speed to accomplish this. I think JVG just doesn't have that as part of his playbook. We just like to swing the ball on the 3 pt line, eventually drop it in to the post and the swing it back out. PREDICTABLE. We have the personnel to actually do this. does anyone agree?
Rafer is not a penetrating PG. I'm sorry but that is true. The best PGs in the league live in the paint, Rafer lives on the perimeter hoisting up 3s. Nobody on the team besides Tmac has the ability to penetrate effectively, thus he is the only true playmaker we have.
Rafer penetrates fine, he just can't finish. The opposing defenses are too smart to collapse on him, so it doesn't have the same effect.
He acctually did drive in a couple times in game 5, leading to easy layups (one of which he missed). I think he could definately catch the D out a couple times for easy points if he did drive in and either finish or pass out. Its worth a go, and everyone knows we could use easy points.
Rafer can't penetrate even if he had a woman in front of him. Rafer is just a ussy w/ a p. Like I said before, he needs balls to penetrate and push it. Unfortunately, Rafer isn't a man.
Why would you want Rafer trying to take it to the basket when we have T-Mac? Penetrating the defense is TMac's job.
and because tracys lane looks like I-10 during rush hour. Plus that would let Tracy focus more on scoring rather than having to score and initiate our offense.
Its not about Rafer finishing. By simply penetrating past the three point line( 14-18ft), it causes the defense to automatically react. and all our other guys that are ALWAYS camped around the 3 pt line can actually get an open shot. right now, yes, tmac does that and sets up others. but what if rafer did that and setup tmac?
right, because nobody wants double penetration. seriously though, the more people that can penetrate the better. you don'tdo it all the time, but you do it enough to show that you have that weapon, and it'll keep the defenses from predicting what we do. right now, id say the jazz do a really good job of predicting what we do exactly because tmac is the only guy that is a threat to make something happen.
I don't really think we want TMac to function as a spotup 3-point shooter. That's not his strength at all. When the defense gives Alston room, he does the right thing: take the open shot. I'm not sure exactly how many times I've ever seen Alston get an open lane all the way to the paint, but that's about the only time I'd like to see him try to drive rather than just shoot the three (which he actually does make at a fairly high percentage). One player that I would like to see drive more is Battier, particularly when he's playing PF. Sometimes I wonder if he really knows how good of an offensive player he is.
I never said TMAC should be a spot up 3 point shooter. but so many other teams have guys that can shoot midrange jumpers. they dont just dribble to their spot and shoot. they usuallly get a slick pass from their pg into their 15ft zone and just shoot. TMAC has proven that he has a midrange jumper, but he always has to create room to shoot it. what if someone just HANDED him the ball and he was in his spot.
I agree with your posts. I have been wanting to get Mike Bibby in a Rockets uniform to play point for quite sometime now. I hope it happens very soon! It's a five man game not 2.
It would also save him some energy, by always having to go around picks while the other team switches and chases him 3 more feet backwards, then he drives. the way the pick and roll should work is that the pick is set, the ballhandler drives around the pick. if opposing team switches then the ballhandler should IMMEDIATELY pass to the ROLLING pick setter. When do we ever see tracy do that? that is a bread and butter play. we make pick and rolls so difficult other teams burn us with it, and we could do the same, but we don't play the pick and roll like its supposed to be played.
