Yes you have a point. But both are likely at fault and the interior guy playing drop coverage on high pick and rolls is still very important to deter and deflect shots.
I got ya. I believe they still want a top 10 pick this year. If you have a talented team albeit a very young one you will win whatever given amount of games based on a set of variables. If you target the most glaring weakness on this team I suppose it might be interior rim defense. So if they choose intentionally not to do anything about it (and perhaps even regard it as something you can most easily rectify next offseason in the draft/FA/or trade) then you have your variable that other teams can exploit resulting in high scoring losses. That’s all just a guess though. Perhaps none of those guys wanted to come here. Rockets didn’t want to overpay etc. I dunno
You say that with such certainty .... but when you dig into the numbers, Silas got a hell of a lot out of a very young and very flawed roster. The offensive numbers were fantastic. On 45.9% of the total 3 point shots taken there was no defender within 6 feet. No other team was over 41%. These jokers just missed them. They shot the most free throws in the entire league by a large margin. They had the highest percentage of shots taken in the restricted area. He also got massive improvement out of individual players ... from the top of the roster to the bottom. Even EG benefited from the Silas offense posting his 2nd best 3 point percentage in his career while it was that same Silas offense that made KPJ the best catch and shoot 3 point shooter in the entire league, made Wood a 40% shooter from distance and the incredible improvement over the course of the season by Green. The defense was terrible and anyone with two brain cells fighting for third place knew that was going to happen because they are such a young team - 9 players in year 1-3 and even younger this year with 11 players in year 1-3. And that defense was anchored by a guy (Wood) who couldn't defend your little sister in the paint.. All that when he was brought in to coach a contender .... and you got the record you begged for in back to back seasons to boot .... Complaining about Silas is like complaining about the deck chairs on the Titanic being uncomfortable.
The offense and especially defense were abyssmal because Silas did NOT implement much beyond the basics. Silas said this himself.
There's a difference between the eyeball test and what the numbers bear out. The eyeball test says they were bad. They were .... Simpleton offense or not, the numbers show that they got quality shots and they missed them at a high rate. That's on the shooters, not the system. They were #1 in the league in FT attempts and dead last in FT percentage. Again on the shooters. #1 in shots in the restricted area 21st in FG% on those shots & 15th in FG% on drives. As for the defense, it was a lost cause as long as CWood was in the middle .... and only slightly better with Sengun replacing him. A decent rim protector changes things considerably .... Kinda hard to have any kinda defensive success when the guy in the middle is as bad as Wood was. The numbers show there's massive room for improvement offensively if they shoot better than the 26th in the league they shot last season and continue to get the same quality shots. The coaches job is to put them in situations to be successful .... more often than not Silas did just that.
Good analysis and well thought out response. However, what Silas offers is why I think he's a great Assistant Coach and why I think the team struggles to win. The players do not listen to him! It's been noted before and just by looking and listening to him, you can tell he's intelligent but he doesn't have a strong voice. He doesn't demand respect from his players. This is why Lionel Hollins was brought in to cover up his warths. Will this work? Hopefully.
Im sure i will get hated for it but lets move on from Gordon. Dude is now recruiting his family on this team.
Hallelujah! Scream it from the rafters! So much attention and focus has been spent on defense (deservedly so) that people seemed to assume that "fixing" that side would suddenly catapult this team into contending. Nope. Team was pretty bad on offense. Terrible even. For the reasons both you and D state. My biggest takeaway was how abysmal they were at passing the ball as a group and turning the ball over neither of which apart from practice time Silas had any control over during games. I dont think anyone can make a good entry pass to save their life except for Sengun. Some of that was systemic. Some self inflicted by selfish players. Mostly just a young and immature team. With some discipline and attention to detail they should have the talent to compete. If Silas was holding back the playbook then that doesnt help anyone. He is under the microscope too when it comes to this rebuild and if he doesnt start to make himself valuable he'll be cast off with the first set of cuts. (Its what I think will happen regardless - Lets go Spoelstra!). I just really hope that Jabari starts hitting his open shots and that Sengun and Eason can offer enough playmaking to shift Scooter off ball for extended minutes. Another horrific season and finding some legitimate self creation players/offensive threats may become the priority.
Eyeball test has nothing to do with my statement. Systems provide structure, consistency and trust. HC himself says there is no system, then he limited the players rather than empowered them. And defense was hopeless, it didnt matter which player manned the pivot. Wood, Theis, Sengun, etc. all reeked. Even the HOUnds 2nd unit from Silas 1st season lacked carryover, chemistry and effort. And FYI - Rockets still do not have a legit rim protector in the middle. Sengun and Garuba are it.
the numbers tell you what happened not why it happened. Let’s look at the possible explanations for the best % of open 3 pt shots. 1) Silas had an amazing offensive system. 2) the other teams were happy with Sengun, Tate, House, Theis etc bricking the wide open 3s and they left these players open 3) the other teams know that they will most likely outscore us and don’t try their best effort on D 4) a good portion of the open shots were taken after the game was over at the end of the 3rd period I think it’s a combination of the last 3. And as a general rule of thumb, one should take the stats of a ranking team with a grain of salt.
I don‘t know where to ask this, so I am gonna take the „whats next“ a little different: when will the next exciting things happen? When does minicamp start? When will we here something about how they work together in practice? Will we have to wait until preseason to see them in action again?
I'm starting to wonder if a 1st-Rd flameout this year pushes Luka to start shopping around This team has horribly mismanaged building a contender around arguably the best offensive player in the world So similar to 2009-11 Cavs and the trash they shuffled around him Mavs are capped out already, just lost their 2nd-best player for nothing, and will never be drafting high enough to get another star w Luka around His title fortunes now rest on Dinwiddie & Wood becoming All-Stars Cuban would have an aneurysm, but we offer as good a situation as anybody for a trade match starting next offseason: - $80M+ cap space to accept a max contract wo matching Creates massive trade exception for DAL and prevents taking on an albatross contract in return from team over the cap - Warchest of young players + FFRPs to offer Not Green, Bari, Tari or Sengun obviously Josh, KJ, KPJ, Garuba, TyTy all could appeal Potential top-10 lotto pick in next draft, if not 2 w some luck Plus all the Nets future picks - Finally, the ace up our sleeve ... BOBAN!!! Luka's best friend on the Mavs could lead the recruiting pitch For Luka, he steps into the PG role surrounded by Green, Bari, Tari & Alpy 2 potential stars already in place Glaring need for true PG to create good looks for a roster full of finishers Plus another $25-30M in cap space to put the finishing touches on a scary good young roster
You might be selling the Mavs a little short. They got to the final four in the West without Tim Hardaway Jr and Wood. Bertans, Reggie Bullock and Dorian Finney-Smith will keep getting better as they play more together. Frank Ntilikina still sucks though. Brunson played out of his head but was a liability on defense in the end @ 6'1". This is why the Mavs let him walk.....but the Knicks are desperate.
Draft Ware or Lively if you don’t have a top 4 pick Trade up to take Jordan Walsh. Ware or Lively/Sengun Jabari/Garuba or Martin Walsh/Eason Green/Gup KPJ/TyTy Draft our pg next year and complete the rebuild.
