I have been very disturbed by the number of shots that DA is taking. He more than anyone seems to be forcing his game....and not very successfully either. Yao is playing pretty well, but the team should work off of him FAR more often than it does currently. Yao is not selfish, he passes quite well, but the guards, and particularly DA seems to force up shot after shot. Wesley has been horrible, but at least he is not forcing the action. The team needs time to jell, and TMac needs to come back to build chemistry and priority among the team. DD
I think that is what he has been "asked" to do since T-Mac is out. It is not in his nature to force shots, so maybe that is why he hasn't been good at it. Think about it, if he was doing something diff. than what JVG wanted, he wouldn't be in the game. (See Stromile Swift)
Outside of Yao and with T-Mac out, Anderson is probably the only player that can create his own shot. He has to shoot when T-Mac is out.
I am pretty sure it's JVG's idea to have Anderson taking more shots. It's just that his shots are not falling. We need to work on a lot of things, we're a team that's gonna to be great and may go all the way once we jelled.
I haven't looked at the numbers, but I'm pretty comfortable with the speading of the ball. Howard is getting good touches, and seems to be making the most of em. I'm REALLY impressed with how he's come out so far this season. DA is streaky, but if Howard isn't tkaing a shot, I want the ball in DA's or Alston's hands to create something. Swift, stick to mid-range shots and dunks...I'm just not sold on his post game. it looks sloppy. Wesley... :/ boy, i really feel for him Barry can shoot all he wants, heheh Head, I love this guy's confidence. I think if he can calm down JUST a tad, and really get used to the pace of an NBA game, look out. I'll say this...when shots start falling we can breathe again. Playing cleaner, more sound basketball as well. Too many rushed shots, being ever so sloppy on some plays is enough to cause a TO or bad shot. Again, I'm still confident the team will find how to work together effectively and win.
What we need to do more, is drive to the basket. I think DA has been taking so many shots because, no one else can hit a bucket. We need him to slash to the basket more, and draw fouls. Leave the shooting to Barry, Head, and Wesley (if he ever gets his shot back). DA and Alston need to be passing into Yao or driving to the hoop every time.
I disagree. I think he misses too much. He does play Shooting guard. No one else has stepped up, but atleast he's trying to fill into Tmac's shoes.
DA is simply too slow and soft on both ends. I know he is not brought over here as a third option to this team. But, man, can we find anybody quicker and can shoot? Or is it just JVG's system...? BTW, Raefer looks too timid out there. Little penetration, stagnant offense.
Yeah I don't have a problem with DA shooting so much, particularly last night. Yao definitely had his groove going in stretches, and I think they utilized that very well. But the fact is that 'Zo was giving him fits, muscling him around and in general making Yao work very hard for any kind of position. You could tell they were trying to set up Yao on almost every play, but it was also clear that a lot of the time Yao just couldn't get the right position set up. That's when you put the ball in the hands of your guard and let him to his thing. (at least in our offense) The plan seems to be: 1. Try to set up Yao 2. Go for the pick and roll 3. Go for the iso The problem is that it was taking them too long to make those transitions. They would spend 15 seconds trying to set up Yao, then he would give up and run out to set a pick (like Reggie said wearing himself out), and then DA or whoever had the ball would be forced to rush a shot.
Yeah but Yao dies (literally) after a few quarters someone's gotta come in and help him when he gets gased
I totally agree. The past 3 games we have just had guards driving around screens and moving laterally along the three point line. We haven't gotten penetration to force defensive help and pass to the open shooter. We need to have Rafer and other guards penetrating to create pressure then kicking to open players. The few times there was penetration and they kicked it to Juwan, he nailed the open jumpers. We need more penetration to the basket to get the open looks that our players can hit. As long as our guys are taking shots with hands in their faces we are going to shoot poorly.
in other news... Scientific studies show that if your hand is bigger then your face, you may have cancer
DA was suppose to take some scoring load off Yao. I don't mind he gets 15-20 touchs at all. My problem with him is that he doesn't go to the basket enough. He needs to attack the basket more often, gets to the foul line. Shooting 3s shouldn't be his role when T-Mac is out.
Like others have said, with TMac out, that left just Yao to shoot and by the 3rd and 4th quarters he was dead. Zo was pounding on him like a drum and it showed when Yao couldn't consistently get low post presence in the 2nd half like he did in the first half. Yao was out around 12-15 feet whereas in the 1st half he could get within 3. He's doing better but his stamina is still questionable. That being said, Yao did take 20 shots last night. For this offense to work, guards and the PF have to hit outside shots (15 feet to 3 pt. range), otherwise Yao will be swarmed inside. Someone has to take the scoring load off Yao when he's tired. Unfortunately our guards didn't hit. DA can be the scoring helper with TMac out, but his shots aren't falling, either. Wesley's been missing, DA's been missing, Rafer was bricking last night, and Swift is learning how to play basketball it seems. I've got no problems with DA taking these shots when TMac is not in. That's what he's supposed to do - provide offense when needed, and especially when nobody else sure as hell is providing it.
