Somebody in another thread was dreaming about all the running Posey, Cat, Franchise and for some crazy reason Boki will be doing in the future. That being said, will our guys ever even learn the fundamentals of a proper 3 on 1 fastbreak?(i.e. get the ball to the middle of the floor, don't give up the ball too early or too late, etc.)?
Boki can slash/finish real well, he just didn't get any opportunity to do anything last year. I don't remember them running a 3 on 1 break properly even once last year (I may be exaggerating). There's no passing or thinking, all they do is go up with it no matter what our advantage was. Namely mooch, stevie and cat. They are all horrendous at the break. I think we did a bad job practicing that situation and I blame it on the coaching.
I dont' think we don't run the break well because of the coaching, it has to do with the fact that our point guard is often fighting our big guys for rebounds. It is hard to get out on the break when you are under the gaol rebounding. If you watch Kidd, he rebounds well, BUT most of his come from errant 3s. He isn't battling his big guys under the glass. You could say it is the coaching but I disagree. I think in the current NBA you have to treat your stars with kid gloves. They can royally screw you if they bad mouth you in the press. Look at what happened with Pippen. Everyone knew we had to get rid of him, and that's why we got crap in return. When team think you have to get rid of a guy they are unlikely to give much in return.
Unfortunately when Steve or Cat are involved, if the fast break doesn't end with an alley-oop, odds are it results in either a turnover or an offensive foul. And that's on those rare occasions when they actually do run. Not since the mid-90s Cavaliers have I seen a team deliberately milk the shotclock on nearly every possession.
One of the other problems with our break, is the fact that our guards don't release soon enough when their man takes a long range shot. They like to hang around most of the time for a board. If you notice, a good majority of our breaks are the result of steals. I hope next season, we emphasize quick outlet passing and earlier releasing of the guards. Our fastbreak officiency would double. That being said, it is has been well established that our wing guys (Posey, Cat and Steve) are not the best decision makers on the break. They have a bad habit of getting up in the air and not being aware of their opitions. Tunnel vision. Steve thinks "Hey, I am going to take this right to the rim and score" yet, its like he never considers what he will have to do if someone plays good D and tempers his drive. Cat has almost the exact same problem. With our guards, its not about their willingness to pass (as many have advocated), but rather, about their ability to pass (not good passers/decision makers).
Because our guards are always trying to rebound has nothing to do with the fact that we can't run the break. We may have less opportunities but those are two separate issues. The point of this thread is that we simply don't know how to play in the open court when we have a 3 on 1 or a 2 on 1 advantage. You probably don't watch Kidd enough. He does get alot of boards not too far from the basket and convert them to easy fast break points.
BEST THREAD EVER obviously we are the only ten people who have been watching rockets basketball the past three years. anyone who has seen how horrendous this team is on fast breaks would realize there has been zero coaching going on. and i agree that it is unrelated to the guards trying to rebound. they have no spacing, don't get the ball to the middle of the floor, and usually try to force a pass way too late. the sight of cuttino giving the ball up TWICE to mo-t on the same fast break (probably in the hopes that mo would toss him an oop or something like that) still gives me nightmares. these guys should have learned this schtuff junior high.
Francis never runs a fastbreak to perfection. We convert maybe 50% of 3 on 1s or 3 on 2s succesfully. We are the worst team at executing on fastbreaks that I've ever seen, college or pro. I won't name names, but a certain point guard who wears jersey #3 plays a large role in our inefficiency.
Legler said that a good fast break starts with the guards going up the floor and providing and angle for the outlet. I agree with this so much and with this rational, we know why we never get fast breaks. How many times have Francis gone back to the rebounder to recieve the ball despite not having ball pressure.
Actually there is a philosophy that starting a sentence with a conjunction can help to emphasize a particular thought. It is a practice that has been used by some novelists. But then of course this is just a sports fan board, not an English etiquette board. And of course one last thought from me at this time….conjunction junction what’s your function….. Thank you school house rock! note to self: don't drink and post.
I don't think NBA coach is supposed to teach 3 on 1 in practice. I doubt there is an NBA coach teaching 3 on 1 in practice. Were the NJ Nets a great fast-breaking team before Jason Kidd coming in? Weren't they with the same coach? Players matter in this case, not coach.
man I wish you were joking.... If there is a coach in the league that doesn't teach spacing when running the floor then I'm going mongolian mouse racing on Espn 13. Anything your team isn't doing well you are supposed to try to improve. Thats what being a coach is all about.
NJ gets a lot of 3 on 1s based on hustling too. What astonished me is how that team runs it. I saw that steal from Kidd against Detroit and right away, Jefferson and Kittles run their @$$3$ out to a 3 on 1 break; both on kidd's right side. Right away, Jefferson slashed behind Kidd as Kidd moves to the middle. Meanwhile you can see Jefferson mouthing off something, probably letting Kidd know he's on his left. Kidd fakes a pass to Jefferson and lays a nice pass to Kittles for the layup! we have the athleticism to do that... but where does it start??? DEFENSIVE AWARENESS. the key to have more players on the offensive end is to see before the other team does. To see the steal... to sense your teammate getting the long rebound... etc! If you get a headstart on the break then you'll have numbers. We have the depth and the athleticism in this team to run all game. Why not use it and get some easy baskets? that takes coaching and a lot of "drill and kill"... you keep doing it until you get it right... then you keep doing it until you can't forget it anymore.
I hope the new coach will realize that. Posey..Francis..Cato.....Nachbar......Mobley...Griffin......and a trailing Yao Ming!!
Chen Zen or whatever you call yourself, perhaps you should read my entire post before making comments. I did say that Kidd rebounds well and runs the break well, but that he gets his rebounds from errant 3s ect... , not from battling his big guys for rebounds. If you think having a PG under the glass, in the paint area, fighting with the big guys doesn't impair your ability to run the break then you need to start watching a little more B-ball and spend less time on the computer. BTW, Murphy has made the exact same observation as I have, and he knows more about B-ball then any 20 of us here. SF should be releasing to get the pass from the 4 or 5, getting to the middle of the floor, and kicking it to either wingman or finishing strong- depending on how the defender plays. Do you remember the the Lakers of the "Showtime" era. Magic would be sprinting down the middle of the court making terrific passes Worthy, Cooper, Scott etc.. He was not in the paint fight with Jabar for RBs. A PG can be a terrific rebounder by snatching errant jumpshots in the midrange area, then he can still release on the break - ala Kidd. Their decision making is another story...
The truth is that Steve has probably never been on a team that forced him to play within any sort of fundamentally sound offense. His year in Maryland aside, the guy has probably never really been taught ANYTHING about the game. Players are coming to the NBA these days with a very low skill level, and sadly they need to be taught things once thay arive that a lot of people learn their first day on the high school freshmen "b" team (me!), i.e. no cross-court passes, don't dribble too much, and get the ball to the middle of the floor on a fast break. It is time for everyone to stop arguing about Steve, and it is time for him to put up or shut up. He needs to spend as much time watching game tapes with an asisstant as Mooochie spends getting his from braided.
