McHale's ability to adapt to personnel is one of his greatest strengths. Watching D'Antonio attempt to mold the Lakers roster into his vision as to how basketball should be played has been a source of much amusement on my part. With D-Mo and his post up game coming on strong it is going to be interesting seeing how McHale integrates him into the offense. Of course D-Mo fits perfectly as is into the current system. We will see if the Rockets start to run post ups for D-Mo. Should be interesting.
Not sure how you quantify "dumping" the ball to Al Jefferson or posting up Omer Asik being categorized as an actual "play call". That's pretty much all McHale knows how to run the offense, so basically it's dump it to the post for in close buckets or run like crazy and score off our players with the highest BBIQ ever in the NBA. Philosophy is what Phil Jackson brought in the triangle offense and what Rick Adelman used in the Princeton offense, not throwing to the big man and letting him do the rest or running like crazy till we put the ball in the hole. The no play calling issue will arise once we make the playoffs, I'm about 99.9% positive on that.
I think Morey and Simmons have some sort of realated history. Probably from moreys Boston days. Simmons is probably the best analyst/journalist on tv right now
So those aren't "play calls" as per your first sentence. But they are also not a philosophy per your 3rd sentence. What then are they? Also, if that's all McHale knows how to do (dump the ball in the post), why do we run the exact opposite of that scheme? Probably just our 24 years olds "with the highest BBIQ ever in the NBA," right? Laughable doesn't begin to describe that sentence. You think we have a higher collective BBIQ than the Spurs or Heat? And if you do somehow think that, it's not because our coaches had anything to do with it? As for actual basketball talk... Getting the ball in the post in the NBA is more than just "dumping" the ball in to someone. Usually it's initiated by a rip screen (sometimes incorrectly called a cross screen - they're different) and a ball swing from strong to weak to coincide with the post up for optimal position and to prevent getting a 3 second call upon touching the rock. The Utah Jazz under Sloan had this down to perfection. I get that you don't like him for whatever reason, but I'm 99.9% positive that having the youngest team in the league and making the playoffs in the bottom 3 seeds of the West will be the real issue come playoff time......
This. Hope to see you post on this board more frequently. (BTW, did you get my PM? I need some terminology help with regards to Pistol.)
I added play call in quotes cause that's what you called them, duh. That's what those till little marks mean before and after the phrase. And I brought up philosophy because that's exactly what Rick and Phil had. Not because McHale has one. We don't run any actual plays, AGAIN! How much easier can you make it? "hey guys, we're not going to run any offensive plays so lets just get the fast break going and work from there, how bout it?!"... it's really that simple. Good for you for knowing basketball terminology. And the Utah j*zz actually ran the pick and roll to perfection with Boozer and Deron Williams, that was basically their bread and butter. I never had a problem with McHale till I found out he was not running any type of plays and essentially using the play board as an etch a sketch pad, this according to a former McHale player Anthony Carter. I honestly think it's great that our young team has come along this far while being shorthanded in the coaching department. But it's really not going to be on the players if we have 5 seconds to run a play to win a game and can't run a freaking play because they're unprepared to do so. Seed has no factor in being coached extremely well and running a play to perfection. You obviously have horrible reading comprehension. There's no point in going back and forth about it.
lack of set plays is the reason why we see iso's (particularly harden iso's) in crunch time because that's the easiest play to run and he's the best at running it. not necessarily the BEST play to run in a any given situation, but it's the one that the players know how to run. i'm sure over time, there will be more set plays installed for times when you absolutely need a good shot. but a majority of the time we'll see what we're seeing now which is obviously working.
The NBA has changed a lot, analytics wise, since McHale was coaching in Minnesota. It's possible he changed with the times, isn't it? This idea that cause he was an awesome big guy that we can be sure he wouldn't want to run small ball is silly. That's like saying Mark Jackson would hate having a young Shaq on his team cause he'd have to dump it down low.
I am perty sure I read guud. So I am still unsure about the dumping of the ball to the post... Is it a philosophy or is it a play call? We don't need to use semantics about quotes, but it obviously is one or the other. Anthony Carter (a career back up PG) said that a guy who has never coached in the NBA took over 3/4 of the way through the year and he wasn't entirely ready to run the sets/actions/schemes. Is this surprising to anyone? Larry Bird handed the board over to Rick Carlisle all the time in Indiana, as do a lot of other coaches when their assistants have a good idea. Delegating certain responsibilities to people who increase your chance of success is an admirable quality in the business world, but not in the sports world? Seems backwards to me. That team went 19-12 under McHale. Anthony Carter isn't getting any coaching gigs, keeps getting cut from rosters, played for drug dealers as a kid, and has a GED. I doubt he's the authority I would go to for my entire basketball knowledge on any subject. McHale has said many times throughout his time in the NBA that he prefers to have a big man inside that he can use as his "workhorse". Look at his draft/trade history. Almost exclusively big men, including KG, K-Love, Big Al, and Pekovic. That's not a bad line up of bigs, and also indicative of his preferred philosophy. I think Marc Jackson is a good coach who is very adaptable. His team plays high-pace (something Jackson never did in Indiana), mediocre defense (something Jackson was very good at), and turns the ball over quite a bit (something Jackson himself says he hates). I happen to think ex-players (especially ones who had success in their careers) are more flexible and willing to adapt to their personnel because they don't have to justify their place in the NBA through one particular style that they believe to be revolutionary.
funny nobody wants to mention Lowe slamming Harden and Lin's defensive liabilities: Defense is the larger question for the Rockets, both this season and going forward. Houston is 22nd in points allowed per possession, though they rate slightly better than average when Asik is on the floor; they collapse into a Kings-level sieve when he sits. But even better-than-average typically isn't quite good enough for title contention, and Houston has massive problems along the perimeter. The Rockets want their perimeter players to help aggressively in the middle when necessary, but those perimeter players don't execute the "recover" part of "help and recover" all that well. Harden has a bad habit of turning his back completely to his man when he shifts his attention to the middle. He's blind to shooters who smartly shift a few feet toward the corners, and that extra distance makes it very hard for him to contest those 3-pointers in time. Here's Harden lingering needlessly into the middle as his man, Keith Bogans, fades toward the left corner: Parsons is better at tracking the ball and his man at the same time, but when an opposing ball handler kicks the ball back out, he will often lunge for a steal instead of simply retreating to his guy. Lin and Harden are both guilty of the same sin now and then, and Harden will just stand and watch after a failed steal attempt instead of battling back into the play. That kind of gambling yields open shots and open driving in the lanes, and the latter can lead to drive-and-kicking. Here's Parsons sagging off Deron Williams to squelch a potential Gerald Wallace drive: This kind of gambling gives players in Williams's position the choice between an open 3 or an open driving lane, and the latter can lead to an open 3 someplace else. This is a big reason Houston's opponents have shot 37.2 percent from deep, the seventh-worst defensive figure in the league, on the fourth-most attempts per game. And Houston has allowed a lot of those juicy corner looks it loves to get on offense; its opponents have hit a whopping 43.5 percent on about 5.5 corner 3s per game, according to NBA.com. "Some of my gambles have hurt us," Parsons says. "And Coach McHale will definitely let me know which ones." Harden's fundamentals will eventually break down if teams put him through multiple screens, on and off the ball.4 Lin is prone to ball-watching and thus vulnerable to backdoor cuts along the baseline, breakdowns that can be fatal against opponents with shooting bigs who can drag Asik up toward the elbows.
Small correction--Jackson himself never played good defense, though his Pacers teams did. Guys like Dale Davis, Antonio Davis, Derrick McKey, and certain bench guys were the good defenders, and numerically they benefited from a lower paced offense, hence fewer possessions per game.
I was having problems with things like: "We don't have any plays. During the flow of the game, very rarely do we run an actual play," Sampson said. But then there are coaches on other teams: “Their offense is just beautifully conceived..." said Nets Interim Head Coach P.J. Carlesimo. (And the OKC coach said something too, but I can't find it). So there is something to it that other professionals are recognizing. I just like watching it.
I have nothing against McHale, but I have to say that he is no offensive mastermind. He was essentially forced into the system that we have, although I do credit him for the eventual, though slow, ability to adapt. He tried the Harden hero ball approach first (ala give the ball to Larry Bird) because he would have been instantly fired had he tried to post up Asik, Patterson, and Morris every play (at least he figured out that none of those guys have his combination of size and skill). Then slowly he figured out that maybe he should allow more of a free flowing and fastbreak offense. He still took FOREVER to figure out that Delfino shouldn't be handling the ball on breaks and that Lin needed more touches, although I do credit him for finally figuring it out (or being forced to do so). He still hasn't figured out that you shouldn't allow 4 guys the equal opportunity to bring up the ball, and that you should make Lin the primary ballhandler in transitions and early offense (and find ways to screen to get him the ball early in transition instead of just throwing it to whomever is open). He's trying to make Lin into Dennis Johnson; problem is Dennis Johnson was a much better shooter when open but could not create and shot worse off the dribble, whereas Lin is the opposite. Ironically, this is just making Lin improve his weaknesses although I'd rather seem him spend an equal amount of time maximizing his strengths (you need to practice both your strengths and weaknesses). Harden, Lin, and Asik are elite team players. Chandler is a good team player. Look at what Lin did with a bunch of bench warmers in New York last year, and Lin has improved in just about every facet of the game this year. I dare say that this team would achieve regardless of the coach. Remember McHale was NEVER a good passer (look up his assist numbers). He didn't turn it over and had great footwork, but he benefited from being an elite physical presence (6'11" with incredibly long arms). He had more reach than most centers and was often guarded by power forwards. He didn't need to think his way through games as much as others; rather, he was a great individual player with a great attitude, surrounded by a great team. I still like McHale as a person and think he tries hard, but he doesn't have all of the tools.
