There are some days that I think we need to set up a ring on the practice court and have our backcourt repeatedly toss balls into it. We know this isn't a good passing team and most likely never will be, but that still doesn't change the fact how horrid our passing is. Take away Mark Jackson, take away Yao, what are we left with? The point is not just about entry passes, although that's a key part of it. It is also when we swing the ball. Here are some examples, I'll start with the good ole entry pass: 1. Yao was 1 on 1 on Miller on the left post about 5 feet from the basket, Steve on his side. Yao was standing in front of Miller waving at Steve for the ball, which did come. One problem though. The pass was so bad (too far towards the baseline) that Yao had to take 2 big steps to catch it, thus giving up about 4 feet. So instead of having Yao in the paint doing his thing, it turned into Yao on the baseline. The best thing he could do is a baseline jumper, so wisely he passed out. Missed opportunity. 2. Steve came off the Yao pick at the top of the key, Christie came over to help. Steve did the right thing and passed to Cat, who was about 8 feet away. Problem: the pass was so bad it was behind Cat. So when Cat brought the ball in front of him Christie pretty much recovered. So instead of having an open look, he put up a brick. I did not intend to suggest it's all Steve. It's the bad team passing in general. We desperately need to improve in this regard.
I think the passing on this team has improved at least 50% over the start of the season. Don't ask me where I pulled that number out of - it seemed like a good number. In the Kings game I saw some series of passing that I thought were damn impressive for this team. I've seen the emergence of a decent passing game by this team. I guess we'll have to disagree that this will most likely never be a good passing team. Will we be the best? Probably not - but that doesn't mean we can't be good. Yes, even with Steve and Cuttino.
