I've read a few articles about how Yao's being under utilized and TMac is being stifled and thought it would make for interesting discussion. Right now its obvious we are having trouble scoring/rebounding and with Yao and TMac that should not be a problem. *at least the scoring. im wondering what can we do differently? Free Yao and Tmac! right now we are restricting their creativity and their ability to create shots for themselves and their teammates. 1. Shot Clock Management - Right now we seem too worried about using up the shot clock that we pass up open/good shots prefering to eat more time first and end up running out the shot clock or my favorite passing around the perimeter to jack up a shot before buzzer. We need to have the freedom to take the best shot available [Basketball 101] and understand that means more shots for both teams but better shots. Of course at the end of quarters its a different situation... (basics) 2. Play Calling - I was suprised to learn TMac was not getting every play called for him. Or that Not every play went through Yao or Tmac.. If I was JVG I would call 90% of the plays for Yao / Tmac and allow them to use their judgement to take the shot or pass to an open teammate. Right now JVG seems to call plays to get everyone involved but I think it hurts players that need to find a rythmn. If something is working juice it for all you can (feed the hot hand) and trust that Yao and Tmac are unselfish enough to get the other teammates involved. 3. Motion - Lack of motion (cutting/slashing/ moving without the ball) really hurts this team. To often I catch this team standing around without the ball. I dont know if thats a function of the set or if our guys are not executing. Yao/Tmac are great/willing passers and if your open they will deliver the ball. 4. Fast Breaks - If we get a steal or a long rebound I dont know why we dont streak downcourt to see if we can get an easy basket. Some analysts have touched on this topic that we work too hard for each basket (not being efficient) instead of taking some easy shots in transition. I dont see opposing teams rushing back on defense as much because we dont run fast breaks anyways. Instead they try to get offensive rebounds making more work for our big guys. Run a few fast breaks down their throats in transition and watch the opposing teams sprint downcourt after a missed shot. 5. Three pt. Shot - One of my biggest gripes is that we rely too heavily on the three pt. shot when we dont have that many good long range shooters. We have taken 285 3pters thats 60 more 3pters than our opponents so far this season. I wish our players would play closer to the basket and take higher percentage shots. (midrange/layups/dunks) 6. Utilize Yao - Playing down in the post continuously is tiring. Always having someone leaning on you and pushing can exhaust you pretty quickly. Allow Yao to showcase more of his offensive abilities (shooting/passing) instead of stuck down low. I would like to see Yao take more shots around the free throw area off of PnR's or drive and kicks. please discuss. J
Well, these two go hand in hand. We know JVG likes to slow things down, set up, and use clock. So in all honesty, these two things won't change as long as JVG is our coach. I don't mean for this to be an anti-JVG post, but this is the style JVG plays and he is going to change that, and has already stated that he won't.
so I guess my question is.. are we passing up good looks just to make sure we eat more of the clock? is that what JVG is preaching ? or are the players misinterpreting what JVG wants? another thing I failed to mention would be 7. Penetration - No one is really breaking down the defense getting into the lanes and taking it hard to the hoop. With the new rule changes (hand checking) this would be a good way to exploit that and use it to our advantage. or drive into the lane and kick it out to open shooters. ex. Spurs/Suns do this really well. J
id rather have free tacos! and i agree - yao and tmac are just too offensively creative for us to be playing like this. one of those two should have their number called 90% of the time and allow them to create for others. seems like every coach would want exploit their offensive talents to the fullest.
