We don't have a F'in coach capable of letting this team play to it's strengths or holding players accountable. That and we have some of the worst delusional homer fans ever (one of these idiots posted in this thread earlier)
That could be true, but I think you will still be giving up something in spacing. Ideally, DMo is your flex big off the bench and your starter is someone that can shoot the ball (and not get killed on offense). Our best course is to do a patch job on our point guard spot and invest heavily into a "stretch 4". I believe eventually one of Canaan, Johnson, or Llull will emerge as a starting quality PG. What we don't have right now is a dynamic shooter at PF. Trade the farm (but not DMo) for Mirotic.
Spacing & movement ?! What spacing & movement ?! There is a lot of talent on this roster , it just doesn't fit together .... nor does it fit the "system."
I agree with you, but I think we have resisted making the "right moves" up to this point because we aren't ready to go all in. What would a "right move" be? Trading for a stretch 4 like Ryan Anderson or Channing Frye and adding a facilitating PG like Darren Collison. These moves may or may not make us a contender, but they would "fit" with our style, and we have the assets necessary to make the deals. I think the reason we haven't done it yet is because we are still waiting for someone bigger. Love, Mirotic, Dragic, etc. We don't just want better fits.....we want better players.
I really miss that 2012-2013 team OP is talking about.... it was a really fun team to watch.... <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/aUTh9WlQ830" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
OP this is a great thread but people will still say we need dragic. the thing is that team had delfino, morris, ppat at PF with asik in the middle. spacing and ball movement was great because McHale could run more plays and get out and push the ball. THATS ROCKETS BASKETBALL (PLAYOFFS) Barley said it last year after howard big fist half when shaq was like BBQ chicken that's what he needs to do. Barkley told him we cant win like that that's not our game howard scoring a lot in the post. Then we lost the game.
You are exactly on point. This offense can have A post player, but posting up should always be within the flow of the offense. DMo can do that......Dwight doesn't. A post up for Dwight removes our best offensive rebounder from the play (Dwight) and has no other follow up action to it. Either he makes it or he doesn't. If he doesn't, the ball is going to the other team 80%+ of the time. OTOH, DMo will pass out more willingly and can make those tough interior passes. To be effective on offense, Dwight needs to be the PnR destroyer and offensive rebound/putback machine we know he can be.
The problem with swapping out DMo for Jones is that you lose a lot of defense and you lose one of the only guys who moves around setting screens and getting the ball moving. I think Jones' abilities would work a lot better off the bench as well.
The biggest drag on a basketball team's defensive morale.... The biggest drag on a basketball team's morale.....and subsequently their defensive effort is .......knowing no matter how hard they play that they are overmatched offensively by the opponent and can't win the war. That kills defensive morale. You gotta be able to score the ball consistently and efficiently otherwise your D will go in the toilet bowl. Guys simply aren't going to keep battling when they know all that is going to happen on the other end is a bad shot or a turnover. Defense is hard work. They're not going to expend the kind of energy it takes to be a great defense only to see it all float away on the other end as their opponent takes their points away from them. That's what happened to us last night. Guys quit defensively because they knew they couldn't get it done offensively. The Warriors are playing our offense, spreading the floor and creating tons of space for everybody to operate in. That's what we want to do but can't get done. Detroit, after dropping Smith has moved on with their 2 guys in the middle and spreading their minutes out so that they can spread the floor with Toliver. We don't even run spread sets with DMo and Dwight in the game. Instead of spotting up DMo in the corner we've got him setting picks and jamming up the paint on Dwight. This team spaces no better than last year's team spaced with Terrence Jones in the lineup. Except now our problems are compounded because we've removed the playmaking of Parsons and Lin and replaced them with the playmaking of Ariza and Jason Terry. No doubt we're better defensively because of those moves. But our floor spacing has to be resolved somehow or we are headed to a disappointing playoff run.
Maybe, our offense was elite last year with him in the starting lineup, he moves around the basket well off the ball, he finds himself with easy layups a lot more than DMo it seems. Plus he runs well. He would be good off the bench too, I don't really care, I just want him out there instead of Smith at this point.
I will be happy when he's back for the depth he'll provide, but I just can't see him as a starter till his defense gets a lot better.
The thing that gets me is how people are just noticing this now when the same handful of posters including myself have been harping on this since the year we got bounced out against OKC in the first round. The sign of a mediocre coach is one that fails to address major issues over a period of time. GSW is a perfect counter example. That team is night and day compared to last season and it took them just one off season.
I'd agree. Spacing to the current team means four people perched at different places behind the 3-point line and movement constitutes making an extra pass to one of them to shoot a three. I wish we'd space ourselves throughout the half-court via these magical things called plays that tend make you move and open up space for teammates to get an easy shot at the basket. It'd also be nice if we spaced ourselves to the other side of the court when we get a quick defensive rebound for an easy basket like we did more than other team two years ago.
Its more of lack of ball handlers. Lin and Parsons, however flawed they are, are better ball handlers than Bev and Ariza. Hence when Ariza and Bev gets hot, the offense clicks, but when they blow cold, the offense strained as that is their only weapon - the 3. With Lin and Parsons, at least there is option 2, which is the dribble to the rim and make something happen. But I'm more upset with the defense compare to the offense.
