The JUMPER: Outside Shooting

The really frustrating thing is that I saw Kelvin Cato warming up from the 3 pt line before Game 3 against the Lakers, and he was sinking every shot.

Yet he bricks 90% of his jumpshots from less than 10 feet out.

 

Coach Pat Ewing.


Ok, cheap shot. Yeah, we need shooters, and they need space.

1) Spacing.

Our spacing was not good. I think it came out of the offensive set, which favored pick and roll, Yao low block. I'd rather they pull Yao to the high post and spread the floor and use the power forward on the low block working with the 2 guard. Run the point around a screen from the small forward and dump him the ball, where he can use his height to intiate the offense with the entry pass. Then, Yao can rumble or hit a shooter with better spacing. I think Yao's going to be better diving to the hole than banging under the block.

Feel free to give some other spacing ideas.

2) Timing.

Shooters also need a second to collect the pass, set and fire. Seems like our boys didn't know the pass was coming, and it'd come under pressure.

3) Talent.

Our backcourt had three rhythm players. Dribble, shoot; not collect, set, fire. Our front court featured Kelvin Cato. Mo Taylor wasn't used as a shooter, he was used as a scorer, drifting across the lane for the baby hook; not screened into a pick and pop. Yao was told to go to the hole. He messed up again and again getting stripped, or short arming after he'd fight to lift the ball. Yao's got to learn to use his feet and hip, stay high and shoot over - he could use some help with a play designed to give him a post up over a short power forward on a switch. Yao could use a play that'd give him some space and time to fire.

 

Based upon what?

If you extract the 3 pointers...

The 2002-03 Rockets were 2,401 of 5,164 for 46.5%.
The 2003-04 Rockets were 2,223 of 4,789 for 46.4%.

 

Lack of bench help. The starters played too many minutes and burned out late in games and in general. They need to pick up at least one more gaurd who can play two and one and another power foward as well.

 

Our 3 point shooting during the season is definitely fine. We just dropped off HORRIBLY in the playoffs. The Lakers didn't even bother to defend the 3 point line. For all the knock on Yao not coming through, a lot of it has to do with how bad our outside shooting was in the series. There just wasn't any space to operate inside when you can't drain jumpers.

 

Maybe he's the real 3 pointer threat we are longing for so long. Sometime, you search for something in the whole world, but it is just lying in front of you

 

jump shooting is all about confidence. not the hubristic, heat-check crap that francis and mobley exude, but a sincere belief that failure is not an option.

 

Who are you, Calvin in 1992 with his keys to the game against Seattle? Yes, knocking down shots is a big key to winning games, especially when you're a good defensive team.


Aside from that, what people have said seems right on...but don't forget to factor in fatigue. The players were in the playoffs for the first time in most of their careers (so more games), Yao was already on dead legs as we saw at the end of the season, and he was facing Shaq inside. I agree that our shooters aren't the set-shot guys you want around Yao, but I think fatigue (and nerves in game 1) were a factor too.

 

I agree with pasox2 that all above three affected our outside shooting %, but the two things effected our shooters most are fatigue & rhythm.

Fatigue. Steve & Mobley & JJ all average 40 minutes, Yao was maxed out at 35. As a jump shooter, you have to your legs for the lift, and it’s hard to keep those legs fresh after playing long minutes with physical defense.

Rhythm. This is a well-known phenomenon that our offensive is lack of motion, be it ball movement, or players movement. It simply doesn’t have any motion. When you don’t have motion, it’s hard for you to get into any shooting rhythm. We have good shooters on the bench, but it’s tough to just come in and hit long shots after sitting there for a long strength!

 

Agree, I don't want to make the "fatigue" excuse anymore, but its true. Ask any NBA coach, player, or commentator, and they will always tell you that when you're tired, your legs don't have enough to make shots you normally would make.

JVG made a point that we had 5 players in double figures everynight, which is good in all, but those were the only 5 to score!! Other than Yao, SF, Cat, JJ, and MoT, who scored?
We definitely had a depth problem this season, but JVG could have made the rotation a little better, instead of the 4-5 minute rest SF, Cat, and JJ, had.

If you want to know how important outside shooting is? Cat and JJ combined for 14 out of 50 3-pointers in the playoffs, and most were open looks. Not blaming the losses on just that, but these are guys that normally hit these shots, they don't go down and they almost have nothing else.

 

First, observe the starter of this thread stated..

"Any particular reason our shooters were WORSE this year.

While some FG%s are up
it seem out Jump Shooting SUCKED this year"

My response had nothing to do with the Lakers series.

Secondly, 3 point shots are not considered jump shots. Jump shots take place within the arc which is why I subtracted 3's to get our non-3 %age.

Lastly, as I mentioned prior the Rocket shot jumpers at this rate :

2002-03 Rockets were 2,401 of 5,164 for 46.5%.
2003-04 Rockets were 2,223 of 4,789 for 46.4%.

In the playoffs, they were 136 of 296 for 45.9%

If you're looking for shooting that was off durning the playoffs, look at the horrid 30.3% from behind the arc. That's not jump shooting, that's long-distance shooting.

 

Pike should have helped in the 3 pt department greatly this season, too bad his ankle pretty much hurt him the entire season and it wasnt at full strength when he was well enough to play. Hopefully Pike will be able to bounce back next year since his shooting is severely needed.