They still dont have a guy that they can go too and get buckets that can end droughts, get buckets to close out games. Things are going to be hit and miss until they find their closer.
You forgot Alpi handing the ball off in a way that doesn't make the defense have to do anything. I'm so angry at how **** our offensive playbook is. It's 4.42am here and I stayed up to watch pro basketball players not even run an advanced enough basic pnr to pass to the corner if the lane's closed and not just chuck a 3. We don't even look there, we either drive, chuck or instantly pass to Sengun before he's even got any space from the action.
JVG in 2024 (as @Reeko has put it; … then again, CF loves JVG and has wanted him back as coach multiple times) Remember when we were excited about the shooting guru, the shooting coach (Ben Sullivan) Look at what Mazulla did last year and first game last night. (29-61 from three dammmnn!)
Loved Adelman offense. Even turned Chuck Hayes into a ****ing point center lol. It would be fun to see Mike DAntoni as an assistant on the sidelines. Ime definitely doesn't have too much variation in his offense. Part of our issues is also streaky shooters. It's the start of the season so I'll really be judging more once we are in early January. People will get back to their averages and the offense will look a lot better.
Could you imagine? D'Antoni + The Reverse D'Antoni = a complete coach? (I'd prefer Mike as the hc though if I'm honest.)
…but that’s just it - Sengun looks for his shot way more now than he did 2 years ago. The post trickery is nice, but the thing that distinguished him from the Julius Randle’s of the world was the passing.
Sengun should run more dhos than just post up. He's either posting up or setting screens. Dho two man game between him and Jalen seemed to be the only thing that worked in the 4th.
The problem is that DHO game is the most predictable thing we do, right before the setting screens and post ups. We need actual motion in the offense. Off-ball screens whilst he's in the post to create an open cutter/shooter. When he screens instead of dumping the ball right back to him the ballhandler needs to move wider across the screen and force help somewhere to either leave Alpi open as the roller (or have him pop out for the 3 once in a while) or give us the open corner 3 we never take. It's not on Sengun at all, we don't DO anything on offense. We bunch up in the centre of the court and the defense just stands there whilst we move straight into them.
In the "what defines success for our season" thread, I said it's not about outcomes like play-ins or whatever, it's about shooting. If we don't have internal development with our perimeter shooting, none of the contracts make a difference. Alpi looked much more competent from deep, Amen showed a little better form from 3 (not counting the quick shot from the corner at the buzzer), and that's about it. Fred was atrocious. We wasted so many possessions when we were up double digits in the first half because he wanted to get himself going. Before he started chucking, we had decent movement. When Freddy sat and we gave the ball to Sengun at the top of the key, we got some easy buckets, kind of like the one he passed to Cam for the layup. Once Fred went in to chuck mode, it cooled Jalen off (he was so hot to start the game), we'd go 5+ possessions without Alpi getting a look, etc. He killed us last night because HE is the adult in the room. That's literally his purpose here. Brooks... yikes. Not much to say there. Jabari I don't want to blame. He's playing his role okay and when the lead guards start chucking, there's nothing he can do about it. Amen was solid. Reed isn't ready just yet. He needs to come in more situationally for now, and NEVER in the game with Fred at the same time. Tari has to knock off the rust big time, but I'm definitely going to be patient with that.
Our calling card is going to be defense based on our player and coaching personnel. The coaching staff will need to find a better combo of lineups. It’s game 1 and we looked amazing in the first half and then became unfocused and resorted to hero ball in the second half,
Sengun seems like an advanced high post prototype from back in the Adelman days. I'd like to see him operate more from there. All the slashers around him with his passing ability could be lethal.
That requires movement off-ball, have you seen that in either the Silass or Udoka "offenses?" We don't do it. Imagine if we had Jalen and Jabroni (and even better, Sheppard) running actions and coming round off-ball screens? Imagine if people actually moved to get cutters free? We don't do any of it, we're just trash and uninspired offensively. A highschool team wouldn't shut us down because of the talent difference, but I guarantee you the defenders would all be in good coverage because we don't shift the defense at all, ever.
