Interesting. So why are we paying coaches big bucks? Why do we need anybody who knows BASKETBALL to be a coach? We can just hire anybody who knows NOTHING about basketball as long as they can manage people.
Head coaches have to organize practices, decide on offensive and defensive strategies, keep the players happy, give rah-rah speeches in huddles, command respect in a big way from their players, etc. In game play calling is just about worthless.
Basketball isn't football or chess. You don't need to plan every single play and run it to perfection. You think the Clippers run plays every time down? No, they let CP3 do his thing, as do most team with great PGs. The only teams that did run structured offenses were probably the Jerry Sloan Jazz, but even then they were mainly running lot of off ball screens.
Because anyone with TV and internet could study as much basketball as they wanted and know more than current NBA coaches. The real skill in being a coach is knowing those things as well as being able to manage million dollar athletes.
Rondo's numbers haven't really been any different this year after those guys left. He's a terrific creator. That said he can't shoot to save his life. I do think Parsons is a better fit and is an extremely smart basketball player. "Better" depends on what you need.
I barely see any screen or pick set for harden or lin or beverley to get open. I remember yao or scola would come out set a pick or screen for the guards all the time. scola and yao sometime pick and pop. Adelman was creative on offense. or give the ball to yao or scola and they would pass it to a curling guards for a lay up. I don't see anything creative with this current rockets team , mostly i see iso with harden and throw it to howard. everyone just stand and watch ..not gonna cut it.
The Clippers and CP3 run the pick and roll with blake or jordan all the time. they set screens and picks for their guards to get open shots. so they are the pick and roll team. the rockets are an iso team.
I wouldn't say we are an isolation team as many basketball statistical sites don't count the post up as an isolation play. We and an inside out team who relies on dwight to command double teams (which proves to be the best use of dwight) to either spot the open man for either a shot, pass, slash to the basketball or as morey alludes to run scramble PnR's. Of coarse we don't dump it to dwight every play, but I think this is our basic philosophy if you had to pin it on one thing, instead of 'we are an ISO team'
If we can get a decent pick then that would make a successful play. This is an ISO team. Dwight in the post guarded is ISO. Last year we were a fast break team. This year, Harden slows the tempo down and dribbles slowly purposely across the court.
I can understand statistics, but I think it's skewed because there are not many great coaches. I wonder what the stats would look like if he analyzed specific coaches that are renowned as great coaches, like Popovich. The eye test tells me that he has great in-game coaching as well as plays out of timeouts. Also, I'd like to see the numbers in the playoffs vs. the regular season. Not many run-and-gun teams have won championships.
Howard prefers to post up rather than run the P&R. Asik on the other hand, when in the game, sets constant high picks. People do realize that Howard is #2 in the league at 1.35 PPP as the roll man? 77 scoring opportunities so far this season in the P&R. I think he should run it more often, but I have no say.
Also have to ask the question of if we run Howard pick and roll every play (or vast majority) could that put him in foul trouble with refs seeming to focus in on his offensive foul calls. Also if the sample size increased and nba defences were geared to stopping it then the assumption is his PPP would reduce. Just a couple of negatives, nothing major but worth noting
IMHO no, but I have nothing to back that up with. The beauty of a hard Howard screen (as opposed to the girlie brush screens he so often sets) is that Harden controls the defensive wing. If as soon as Harden passes him, Howard dips to the basket, forcing a defensive rotation. Howard's man has committed to Harden and the defense has to rotate, leaving a wing to cover Howard at the basket. 1.35 PPP. I need video capture software.
Yes this was common knowledge at the time. Except that then Adelman came in following him and ran pretty much the exact same "horrible offense" with the same level of efficiency. This knowledge is uncommon. At least in your instance.
Three HOFers? Ray Allen was good with Seattle, but what was the best he ever did without Rondo or Lebron? Paul Pierce was obviously good to, but never went anywhere until Rondo. KG was great, but could never get the lift to make it to the NBA Finals. Rondo took 3 very good NBA players and made them a team. Parsons gets passes and finishes. Yay.
I'm proud of our team and the record they have earned. It's awesome to be top tier again for a change. While Morey did say what was in the OP, I have to wonder if it was a way to defend McHale. Either way, I will admit to being very critical of McHale. I'm not a fan, but I think he's a good person. I do respect our assistant coaches though...they run this thing. Anyway, no, you don't need a set-play every time down. You do need some sort of motion offense, or in our case and what a lot of you think, a read and react offense. However, McHale is incredibly weak when it comes to designing a play from a time-out that is for a quick bucket to end the quarter or a game winner. I don't think he has that ability yet. Every coach allows their players to play with some freedom and make choices because, after all, they're the ones who see what's happening on the court. The difference is that some coaches notice mismatches immediately and call a different set to maximize the scoring potential. An example would be our "corner" play where the Pat waves CP away to cut under the basket with a brief screen from Dwight. Dwight then establishes position for the catch in the post, Pat has the option of staying put or cutting back door, and if he cuts, Harden takes his position to fill the space. My opinion is that McHale doesn't use Dwight as much as he should in the post. WHen he demands a double team, our shooting becomes almost unstoppable. Same with Hakeem; When he was doubled and kicked it out, guys like Matt Bullard got hot because of the spacing and the mismatch. Almost no one could guard Hakeem and that's why he was the number one option. I love this team, but I wish there was a bit more of a "tough" mentality, similar to the Pacers. It stems from the top down, but Dwight isn't a David West/KG type of person and McHale is DEFINITELY NOT a Pops/Doc/Thibs personality. I think that type of demeanor would make a huge difference come playoff time when the games get close or when we're in a hole. Doc and Pops are the best with coming back from those deficits.
