D'Antoni is an offensive genius right? He wants to shoot a lot of threes, lay-ups and just run, run, run. So my question is, seriously, what kind of revolutionary changes to this team will we see, because to me: Harden is not Steve Nash, we do not have the shooters those Suns team had nor the speed / athleticism / penetration threat / guys who can pass so how is his offense going to work? Please someone convince we will have this great offense now. He sure didn't look like he was this great coach in LA and NY and even though he's proven, I'm not automatically assuming he will be that much better than McHale & J.B. Just the change of the whole coaching staff makes it positive, but somehow I just cannot picture a whole different team other than a roster makeover. So again, please can you guys who think they are going to have a great offense show me how. I ask people not to mock this by just posting videos from old Suns teams. A video to illustrate your point or elaborate on it how it would work with our guys would be more than welcome of course. I seriously want to see how this would work with our current team and you can of course use a few FAs to show how it could work if we got that one or two players. Thanks if anybody is willing to put in the effort.
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I don't think you can answer this question unless you know the makeup of the roster. I'm assuming that D'Antoni's offense will be tailored to the players on the roster. You can't just assume that he's going to try to recreate the Suns team. It's fair to assume that we'll play at a fast pace since the team will be build around Harden. Most good coaches will tailor their style to the strengths and weaknesses of their players. Pat Riley coached the Showtime Lakers who ran up and down he court all game and then coached the plodding, ultra physical Knicks teams and then coached the ISO heavy Wade/Shaq Heat teams. Popovich has run both a slow down grind ito out offense and then switched to a more fast moving "Beautiful Game" offense of the last few years. D'Antoni's offenses in NY and LA were very different from Phoenix. Even USA Basketball's offense is D'Antoni's creation but it's not a copy of the Suns offense. All of D'Antoni's offenses are built on the same basic principals but are implemented differently based on the teams talents. He likes to put defenses in situations where they have difficulty reacting and thereby creating an open shot. That principle is the same but there's different ways to accomplish that. D'Antoni is constantly preaching about moving the ball so I fully expect to see more ball movement. That goes to the idea of making defenses react. Harden will still get his opportunities but I'd guess the idea is to use spacing, ball movement and the threat of other offensive options to create situations so that he gets to attack more 1-on-1 rather than the 1-on-3 that's he's faced the last couple of years. Here's a couple of good article from the NY Times and CBS Sports talking about how D'Antoni was adapting his offense for the Knicks and Lakers. Those will give you an idea of how his philosophies get adapted to fit the team's personel. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/sports/basketball/04knicks.html?_r=1 http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/21045534/the-lakers-offense-under-mike-dantoni Here's a couple of quotes that stood out to me: This is the same basic concept. Let your players play to their strengths but put them in the best situations to be successful. In comparision, last season the Rockets ISO'd 9.4% of their possessions. Harden will still run ISO but they will try to create situations where he's attacking fewer defenders. If that is successful then he might actually run more ISO next season. Again, adapt to fit your personel but don't put them in predictable situations where defenses can load up to stop them. The personel moves that we make this summer should be a good indication of how we're going to play. I'm guessing that they'll attempt to acquire a 2nd offensive option to go with Harden and probably add shooting. That just makes sense. What I don't think you'll see is an attempt to clone the MDA Suns.
Steve Nash was and probably still is a better shooter than Harden Harden is fatter than Steve Nash Harden is a better foul drawer Who is the better defender? :grin:
Lots of passing and screening if Harden buys in to the system. Howard is out practically because he doesn't want to screen nor to set picks. That's his only staple offense but he refused it to his own detriment. I expect a lot of trades for 3 n D players. While Harden drives are very efficient because of the fouls n freethrows opportunities, it's not very effective at the end because he tends to get tired. It showed on his defense and ability to move without the ball. He's a good shooter. He just needs more stamina to do it and use his patented euro drives in bursts only. He's got a lot of growing up. I'm particularly hard on him because he's got the potential and talent to be a lot better. While his defense is quite pathetic, he can be a better defensive player when he's ready to give it all.
One on one, Nash beats him a little due to effort. As a team defender, Nash by the widest margin. Offense wise, I'll take Nash because he can involve his teammates a lot more than Harden. Partying-wise, of course it will be Harden.
When you say "screening" are you refereeing to pick and roll? D'Antoni's teams have always run lots of PnR. What they haven't done much is to have shooter run off screens ala Klay Thompson or JJ Redick. He's never had too many players with that skill set and currently we don't either. Prior to last season, Harden has been at the top of the league in end of game situations. The 3 prior seasons he was ridiculously good. Last year we certainly weren't in as many close games but his lack of effectiveness was more due to defenses gearing up to take away drives because they didn't respect our other offensive options. Same reason that you rarely saw the euro-step last season... teams were packing the lane so there was no room. Harden is going to be a guy that attacks the rim and shoots 3's, that's not likely to change. What they'll try to do is to put him in situations where he's attacking 1 player rather than 3. He's not going to suddenly start running off screens and morph into Klay Thompson. That's not his game. Really, how many guys in the entire league have the skillset to play that way.
Define what you mean by "playing off the ball". Harden will do what he does best attack the rim, shoot 3's and pass the ball. I'm not sure why that would cause a clash with D'Antoni. Are you thinking that D'Antoni is going to ask Harden to change his game and not play to his strengths? He's never done that before so I don't know why he'd do that now that he's our coach. USA Basketball's offense is D'Antoni's scheme and Harden was great in it. Those two guys aren't strangers, they've worked together before.