I can't seem to find a thread discussing Adelman's philosophy, and particularly how it might be applied here. If it's being discussed elsewhere, pls delete. My goal here is to (i) define Adelman's philosophy, and (ii) extrapolate how that will be applied here (given it's unlikely that we will have wholesale changes.) -------- My recollection of Adelman's offense in Sacramento is that it featured the following: 1. big men in the high post 2. cutting and movement 3. serious outside shooting at all positions I recall Sac's personnel was Bibby, Christie, Stojackovich, Webber, Divac, Bobby Jax, Funderburke?/Williamson? Our current roster in comparison: Guards: Alston, Tmac, Head, Vspan, Lucas Forwards: Battier, hayes, Howard, Snyder, Novak Center: Yao, Deke? I realize we'll have some new faces, but wholesale changes are unlikely for our capped out team. My first reaction is that Yao will benefit the most. I don't think that Adelman is dumb enough to take Yao out of the deep post all the time. However, I do think that Yao will swing to the high post which will allow him to conserve some enery, improve overall offensive team flow, utilize his naturl passing instincts, and reduce his turnovers (which largely result frm getting stripped in the post). Yao could easily put up MVP type numbers. Personally, I think Yao wanted a coaching change because he would like to have a more fluid offense that utilizes all of his skills. Didn't Yao once say that his favorite team was the Kings (before getting with the Rox?) regarding Tmac, i am concerned that Adelman's offense will give him a convenient excuse to stay on the perimeter. There will be less physical strain, and he may find himself more wide open as a result of movement, but overall, I'm worried here. Tmac isn't the shooter that Stojackovic was. But i recall Peja getting plenty of easy buckets off back door cuts. If Tmac takes to the cutting, perhaps he can be more effective there. battier falls into Christie's role easily. Little difference, better shooter, lesser 1 on 1 defender, better team defender. Alternatively, I could see Battier get time at the 4. Howard will likely become a starter and take Webber's role. A poor, errr bankrupt man's Webber. Webber's passing, low and high post skills were critical. Howard won't be able to be a main cog, that will be Yao's role. I'm very concerned here. Who will be bibby? Ugh. This is the ugly, gaping hole in our roster for Adelman's offense. Bibby was the heart and soul of a very good Sac team that should have beat the lakers (but for the Horry 3 off of Divac's tip out.) Bibby was deadly from the mid range and at the rim. Alston is neither. Who will be Bobby Jax? I'd pick Vspan. I'm not sure why, but I would pick him. I think Vspan will end up being the best guard in getting to the rim. he can't shoot the rock like BJax, but that speaks to how weak our roster is. Vspan will be the 2nd biggest beneficiary of the Adelman offense. Novak and snyder will have to carve out roles for themselves, but hard to predict how that will shake out. Novak might get some time if he can learn to move without the ball and catch and shoot. i think he is plenty trained in that and may become the 8th rotation player. With all of that -------- it is clear to me that we absolutely, positively must pick up a mo williams. I would look hard at dealing Head if necessary to get Williams in a SNT (not sure if that could work under the rules). i would truly appreciate someone adding some knowledge re technical aspects of Adelman's offense.
Interesting, but switch T-Mac and Snyder in positioning. T-Mac's more of a forward (GF), and Snyder is a guard (SG).
I am excited to see how Yao develops under Adelman. I have been wanting Yao to have the freedom to go to the high post when the defense started collapsing and zoning up on him. I really think this will take him to the next level offensively and make him even more unstoppable. Yao face up from 15 feet will be flat deadly. Teams won't be able to afford to just collapse in the paint against us when we got our PF running down to the low block with the down screen and Yao popping out for either the jumper or the pass back to a cutter as the defense drifts up to stop him. On the other hand, I am concerned that McGrady will become unhappy in an Adelman offense when he doesn't get to handle as much and he has to live with other guys getting some of the goody on the offensive end. In less than one month, he has lost the GM that brought him to Houston and he has lost the "best coach I've ever had". I can see the possibility of McGrady growing unhappy in a pass and move offense. Hopefully (and I think he will) Adelman will give him his head and let him throw up some junk to keep him happy. Dear Rashard, please tell Seattle you wanna go home. VSpan McGrady Battier Yao Rashard
My recollection of Adelman is the Princeton offense, which pretty much ran the entire play through the 5. Lots of backdoor cuts. Motion. Lots of schemes to break doubles, fronts and traps on big men. Plenty of perimeter kickouts/shooting. ...Basically, Adelman is a lot more suited to the Rockets then most people think. I still don't think firing JVG to get him was a smart desicion, but whatever, the Rockets could've done a lot worse.
Agreed just wanted to point out that our Peja might end up being Steve Novak. He will thrive under this system because it involves movement which he is actually good at evn during the season I think Jeff had a lot more of a problem with his defense that his offense. I think we will also see a more effective John Lucas III because while not a running team I think we will get more fastbreak points.
Again, a high-low offense with some motion does not a Princeton Offense make. A Princeton Offense is brutally slow with multiple cutters and screeners and way, way more passes than shots. A real Princeton offense is impossible with a 24-second shotclock, and if it were tried would push the scores down into the 60s.
Huh, Princeton is what sticks in my mind when I think of Adelman. Guess not. Still, once again, the Rockets could've done worse. They could've done a lot better too.
its not pure princeton offense, but it is probably the most practical form considering you have a 24s shot clock. Probably the truest princeton offense was lawrence frank's nets
Lots of NBA people call it that, but it bears little resemblance to the Princeton Offense run in college.
I think novak, vspan and snyder would benefit the most....if they're any good, they could be the depth the rockets needed....don't know about their toughness for the playoffs though....
The key to the success of those great Kings teams was the versatility of their roster and their players. Three things stood out: passing, the ability to hit the jumper off the pass, and the ability to finish. I think something like 4 or 5 players averaged over 4 assists per game; while this might be attributed partially to the offense run, it's also widely acknowledged that Webber and Divac were among the best big men passers to ever play the game. Yao in the high post will not nearly be effective until he develops the skill; Juwan I have little hope for. As for shooting, what I saw personally when I watched the Kings was Stojakovic coming off multiple screens, Christie hitting the open kick out, Webber step backs, and Bibby executing the screen roll and pick and pop to absolute perfection. We don't have those type of players. I've said this before, but the most important thing this summer is for Tmac to recognize his primary weakness this year: his jumpshot. He needs to be able to hit that jumper off the curl, off the screens, off the pullup. He hits that shot and our entire offense changes. Battier can more than fulfill the Christie role as was mentioned before. We don't have a Bibby, not even close. If we can sign Mo Williams I like our chances. Otherwise, expect Tmac to remain in the playmaker role and shooting off picks. Again, he needs to hit that shot. As a tangent, most of us have noticed the stagnation of the Rockets offense and especially the inability of players to hit open shots. What one has to consider, however, is that the openness of a shot is not the only factor in making or missing; rhythm I would argue is just as essential. Too often we got a kickout from Yao that was off the mark, requiring the catcher to adjust before rising for a shot--that's not a good shot. Look at Steve Nash and Tmac, who hit players right in the sweet spot where all they have to do is rise up and release. Yao's got to learn this, and I hope Adelman can help bring the ball movement that will get the open shooters into their rhythms. Finally, cutters. Expect Snyder to see more time since he's our best finisher besides Tmac (which is really not saying all that much). I'd like to see Yao remain in the low post-mid post, but have the rest of the time constantly dive into the basket. If Yao has the ability to hit them, which a lot of you think he has (i'm not completely convinced) it will revolutionize our offense. Likewise, Tmac needs to run more screen and rolls and look for divers into the lane. More than anything, as a lot of us have harped on, we need the personnel. Outside of Yao and Tmac (sure they're top 8 players but a lot of people forget that during the Kings' prime Stojakovic and Webber were absolutely premiere players) we have no one that I feel confident enough to rely on to hit a game winning open shot. With all that said, don't expect the Rockets to mimic the Kings exactly either. Besides lacking the personnel, I'd also like to hope that Adelman isn't limited by the high-low motion, modified Princeton we saw there. Hopefully he's more creative. Can anyone enlighten me on the offense the Blazers ran back when they made the finals?
First of all, great post. I don't have the numbers, but from my observation, T-Mac is exceptionally good at hitting rhythm jumpers off screens and curls. The only time he's able to do it is when the opposing PG is weak enough defensively for Rafer to do more playmaking. (The New Orleans game at the end of the season was a great example of this.) That might be the most underrated part of his game, since, for his entire career, he has had to be the playmaker.
I think Adelman offense means more playing time for Span n Novak and i have really high expectations for both these players. I would understand less playing time for Span because of his turnovers but JVG completely shut him out and never utilized Novaks deadly 3-pt shooting skills. And i like how Adelman used almost all his players and had decent bench production with the Kings.
They ran a much different offense in Portland during those years. The princeton only came because their GM was familiar with it and they brought in Pete Carrill to teach it. And they didn't just run the Princeton exclusively. They still ran ISO plays and some triangle plays. Say what you want about him, but Adelman is very adaptable on offense.
Who will be Bibby? How about Bibby himself. I wont be surprised that us and Sac having wholesale swap sometime in this summer. I think Sac is in rebuilding mode, and there is a need for them to get rid of bibby.
Having Adelman keep Yao at the high post will: 1. utilize his shooting range 2. utilize his passing ability 3. hide his (current) lack of speed 4. hide his (current) lack of handles 5. take a lot of playmaking pressure off t-mac 6. allow the backdoor to be open for cutters however, at the same time, it will limit Yao's paint/post points and his dominance inside (since he won't be there as much). Also, we're going to need one hell of a defensive assistant coach because Adelman's defense's weren't always impressive.
We have NOTHING to trade for a guy like him, let alone with his gigantic salary. The only way you get him is if he opts-out and he's not stupid enough to do that because he'll never make that kind of money again.
