Most of the players in our regular rotation have value to us. One thing I've noticed, however, is that we don't always succeed in maximizing value from our roleplayers for disciplinary reasons. Now, no team is ever going to be perfect in this respect. But the more a coach can convince a player to limit himself to the confines of his abilities and not to exceed their scope - the better a player will function within the framework of the team. I think that perhaps the most obvious example of the role player exceeding the scope of his abilities is when a F or C (for us, usually Mutombo or Hayes) grabs an offensive rebound. Now, the guy's a role player. If he had real post moves, he probably wouldn't be. There's no easy tip in - lots of defenders ready to block any shot attempt. Nevertheless, teh guy seems to think he's entitled to shoot the ball just because he got an offensive rebound. The shot is wild and/or blocked or the ball is stolen. His value to the team in rebounding well was just negated by his inability to realize that he should have given the ball up. Juwon Howard occasionally forgets that he ain't exactly a superstar anymore (if he ever was). I'm perfectly fine w/Howard taking an open 16 footer at any point in the shot clock. He's a decent option w/the shotclock winding down when we don't have Tracy or Yao on the court. But every so often, Howard feels like he's entitled to do something bizarre - fade away jump shots from 15 feet. Or contested shots from just inside the 3 point line. No shot clock presure - he just thinks he deserves it. Rafer Alston will make a couple of open shots - and then try something ridiculous his next time down the court. No matter how hot Rafer may be - a contested 3 with 18 seconds on the shot clock is still a bad shot. Same goes for John Lucas. The converse, of course, is Shane Battier. Battier tends to limit his difficult shots for when it's absolutely necessary. He doesn't do things just because he dreams about being McGrady late at night. This has been one of my pet peeves in the league for about 3 years now. Certain role players are more valuable than others not because of any innate ability, but simply because they realize their limitations. We've had a variety of players who fell victim to this problem. It was my least favorite thing about David Wesley, for instance. Sometimes, I'm surprised coaches don't just bench role players who do stupid things like this. Then, perhaps it's simply something you have to live with as part of a skill set. I also wonder if many role players who fall victim to this disease are conscious of this failing, or whether their self-deluded. What's the best way to handle this? Just deal with it? Lay down the law? Select role players who don't faul into this trap?
That kind of stuff used to bother me more than it does now... basically, I think you have to keep defenses honest, and there has to be the odd bad shot/seemingly poor decision out there, to keep them guessing, and make them gamble... This kind of thing happens on every single team, no matter how disciplined a team is (think Spurs)... fact of life.
well if a coach is that worried about his players taking up roles that are outside of their ability...then he should lay down the law and give out some tough love...bench the idiot who's taking contested shots with time on the clock...cos if he doesnt...what happens in the playoffs when players like rafer lets his emotions get the better of him and starts shooting away blank three's when the other team pulls away with a lead...then you have people like battier with subdued potential who are afraid of stepping outside the boundaries of his role...and only lately has he opened up...it's a fine knob to tune in players...
I think more in the perspective of a basketball player, and I think every player is prone to doing that, making the occasional ambitious play that's out of your abilities. It's just part of the game. Any decent player can make tough shots in a pick-up game. So in the course of a competitive game, you make a couple in a row, you think you're hot, and then you go down and try to do something totally gung-ho. It's just those type of plays that when it goes in, it's a good shot, and when it doesn't, the coaches cringe. Don't forget, these guys are NBA players. By and large, you don't get there without some skill. I'm sure many of them can hit contested fadeaways a good percentage of the time if they wanted to, it's just that game-time situations often play a part in disrupting a person's abilities.
Interesting thread. I think our role players still have barely scratched the surface playing with both Yao and T-Mac on the floor. I could list who I think needs to be more disciplined or more aggressive but it really does come down to specific situations in different games. On the court chemistry is going to be an issue for this team all year. I just hope it begins to gel before the playoffs.
No picture, but he's the only role player we have who, as far as I can tell, never falls victim to this disease.
