I don't see Granger as attainable either. But Iggy may be possible. Lowry is a Philly kid. When Philly sinks like a rock at the start of the season, then they may be ready to unload Iggy for Ariza, Lowry, with other parts added to make it work. For instance, Ariza, Lowry, and Andersen works, I believe, for Iggy and Jason Smith. We may have to use the trade exception in that deal but it would leave us with all our young talent and picks.
jopatmc, Fronting is a form of ball denial. Are you suggesting that Yao should come out close to the 3 pt line to get the ball? That's way outside of his comfort zone, and if he does shoot it from that distance, then our offensive rebounding will suffer. If he is fronted, the ball handler should attack the basket. To me, that looks like the best way to take advantage of the defensive vulnerability that fronting creates. In the past, the post entry passers were McGrady, Artest, Battier, and Rafer. None of them had the ability/desire to attack the basket. However, Brooks and Lowry (and hopefully Martin) do. And you can't compare in-game jumpers to free throws. The only similar thing is the distance. FTs are simple repetition. Jumpers require adjusting to different shooting form, defensive pressure, and changes in rhythm.
I'm suggesting Yao come out 15-17 feet but if he is going to come out then, 17 feet gives a little more space. This forces the defense to have to make a decision. The fronting defender has to give ground. If the fronting defender chases Yao out high, then obviously somebody is open for a shot, or there is a defensive switch, and someone is going to be open with a cut. Of course, if the front is coming from the ballhandler's defender, THEN the ball handler can essentially use Yao as a screen. It all comes down to the way the defense wants to play it. Most of the time, you are going to find that the front of Yao is coming from the side. Most teams were willing to give us the corner 3 ball or something midrange. But they are playing on the ball defense and cheating from the side or on the interior they are fronting him with the center and backing him with an athletic forward that is playing off the power forward. The point in bringing him out high is to force the defense to have to do something else. It is about efficiency. Are we going to try to force the ball into Yao when he is doubled by two more athletic defenders and risk the turnovers vs. moving him out high and getting either a decent open jump shot from him or a play from him where he finds a cutter for a layup/dunk? We have to get good at that aspect of the game and make it a no-win situation for the defense. They can pick their poison but it's all poison. Don't think for a minute that when Brooks is handling the ball up high that his defender is going to be the defender that fronts Yao. Brooks and Martin's defenders are bird dogging them. This is another reason why the fronting defense is going to be much more contained and more easily counter attacked this season. With Martin and Brooks, the double has to come from one of the forwards. Think about it.
Yao came out a lot on the PnR with Rafer.....Rafer just never passed the ball....lol. Yao sets great picks, Kevin, Chase, AB and Lowry should be able to take advantage of that. DD
I'm sick of people writing in capital letters <g> Seriously, do you have enough baskebtall knowledge about strategy and tactics?.... How can't you notice how limited is his D? If you do, how can't you notice AB SEVERE LACK OF COURT VISION? Don't you realize his lack of Basketball IQ? Do you realize that IQ can be improved with training, as you can do with shooting? Do you realize that for a title contending team, team awareness is more important that fancy scoring? specially at the PG spot? Brooks has a brand new MIP award, given mostly because of his good stats....take advantage of it! trade for some good player...Brooks plus a good package (expirings, sweeteners, picks, salary fillers) could get a real All Star for the team, but a team oriented star is what the team should look up, not a 'star' only worried about his stats...
I really like ACIE LAW, but he's not as good of a 3pt shooter as some may think. He's a an above-average defender, decent medium-range shooter, good at attacking the rim, and has shown that he can hit clutch shots when it counts (I'm an Aggie, I know his game pretty well). But when it comes to comparing the two, I still think Brooks is better. But the only way to really compare the two is to see how Law would play with more playing time.
DO YOU have knowledge about strategy and tactics? Since when did the game of basketball rely on ONLY 1 player playing defense? Last i checked, it takes 5 players to play defense. AB's defense stood out because of the lack of HELP DEFENSE... its something you need your TEAMMATES for...maybe you've heard of it.. its kind of a big deal in the NBA. How many times was SHANE BATTIER's defense exposed on defense? What about CHUCK HAYES and TREVOR ARIZA's defense? People seem to forget all about how terribly THEY played defensively last year. And since when was a players IQ measured after ONE FULL season as a full time starter?? Do you realize that NON-ELITE PGs (Tony Parker and Derek Fisher) have won 8 of the last 11 Championships?? Would you consider a guy like Steve Nash ELITE?? I would... but he didnt put up more than 7 assists per game until his 5th season. He didnt put up double digit assists until his 9th season. Does that mean his court vision got better all of a sudden??? NO, it means, he had a better supporting cast around him that can A) finish at the time or B) can hit open shots. AB had HAYES, ARIZA, and BATTIER starting 65% of the games with him last year. Hayes couldnt hit a shot if it was the size of an ocean. Ariza re-built Toyota center all by himself with all the bricks he laid, and Battier had his worst shooting year of his career. Because he's surrounded by players who cant finish at the rim or shoot if their lives depended on it...does that mean that Brooks doesnt have BBALL IQ? Does that mean he lacks Court Vision?? You've been lawyered...
jopatmc, I don't have statistics to corroborate my opinion, but I don't think Yao is a good shooter from 17 feet. There's a reason he's given that shot. Also, if Yao takes that shot, he's not utilizing his greatest advantages (his height and post game). You seem to have glossed over my explanation of how to beat the front. When Yao is fronted, his defender is between him and the ball. This leaves the basket unprotected. The ball-handler should use this opportunity to attack the basket which would force Scola's defender to rotate over which would leave an open shot for Scola. But first, Brooks needs to prove he can deliver an entry pass into Yao. Assuming he can do this, when Yao is traditionally defended, he should be fed the ball in the post. If he's fronted, then the ball-handler should attack the rim. Very simple. Think about it.
http://www.82games.com/0809/FGSORT7.HTM Look at some of the guys on this list. This is 08-09. And 82 games sorts these as Inside - 0-8 feet 2 point - 8 feet to the 3 point line 3 point shots Yao has enough talent to bump this percentage up another couple points.
Surely you're not implying that he's shooting a 17 ft jumper at 44%.... I'm pretty sure bulk of his 2 pt jump shots are from the post. Is there a way to check NBA hotspots for Yao for that season? I dont think he even shoots 35% from 17 ft away.
For the 08-09 season: He shot 61% from 8 feet in. He shot 44% from 8 feet out to 3. He really didn't shoot 3s. 60% of Yao's shots were from 8 feet in. 39% of his shots were from 8 feet to the 3 point line.
How far away from the basket is he when he shoots his fadeaway jumper? I'm thinking its at least 10 feet away. And thats why I think that the 44% statistic is derived mainly from his post game, not his mid/long range jumper.
Ugh. They're using 8 feet. I'm sure some of those fadeaways are inside 8 feet. I'm sure osme of those fadeaways were outside 8 feet. This is the best we got for stats, since you wanted to see stats. But the other thing we got is visuals. Watch Yao catch and shoot. He is 7 foot freaking 6. He doesn't coil and jump on his jumper. All he has to do is put the ball up and fire. He is 7 and a half foot tall. No, he's not going to shoot 60% out there. But 60% is NOT that great if he is turning the ball over on 1/3 of his possessions or if the team is having to take trash bail out shots because they tried to force it to him and they couldn't get it in to him. It's the overall team, it's the overall efficiency that is in play here, not just Yao's individual efficiency. 45% from 15-17 feet is better than forcing the ball through a double and then Yao taking a contested shot because of the double. That's the point. Because 45% from 15-17 feet is not all you get. You also get a 7 foot 6 giant tossing the ball up to a 6 feet 8 jumping bean (Ariza) for the 100% dunk. Or you get a midget speedster/quickster going to the rim for a lay in. Or worst case scenario, you get a 7 foot freaking 6 inch big man who shoots free throws at 85%, basically shooting a free throw. Look at the chart. He's right up there with the top 20 in the NBA in shooting from 8 feet to the 3 point line. And shooting the catch and shoot 15-17 footer has not been his forte. This is the mistake Van Gundy made with Yao. Van Gundy could not coach around the fronting double. Because Van Gundy's belief was Yao was most effective in the post. Yao is most effective in the post. But only if he's got man on man or if the double comes after he catches, etc. He isn't most effective in the post when he is fronted. He never will be. We've been jacking around with the fronting double for several seasons now. Adelman has the answer. It just needs to be worked on. Adelman has the answer and Yao has the skills, talent, and work ethic to get it done.
yes they didnt play well as a whole team because there was no rim protection without Yao or another other shot blocker, but their individual defense was still above average. and all 3 of those guys are excellent help defenders what do expect to see next year when you have now Martin replacing the best help defender in Battier and then Yao replacing the second best help defender in Hayes? While Yao will provide the shot blocking Martin and Brooks will be Matador A and B out on the permiter letting guards fly by them and get into the lane and have Yao get into foul trouble early or just give up easy baskets. Brooks and Martin's man defense is terrible You cant say his defense stood out because its a team game and then name 3 of the best defenders on the team also sucking last year...maybe because all 3 of them spent team trying to HELP out on aaron's man and leaving theirs open. Aaron defense or lack thereof didn't stand out because of the lack of 'help' the help was there his horrible D stood out because well he is horrible at it. And it will be exposed again with Martin in the backcourt..the season before having Artest and Battier as the other two wings and of course Yao covered up so many flaws so it looked like 'brooks held his own' when he really didnt. Martin very well could be even worse than Brooks on defense its a team gave you can have one weak link on defense if the others are average to strong but you can have two weak links. Martin is a better scorer and a more respected scorer than Brooks is so you have to keep him somehow in the starting 5. no his vision and skill was still the same it was just a different style of play where the ball was in his hands a majority of the team sort of like how the Rockets had to change their style of play last year and Brooks had the ball in his hands the majority of the time. Also Tony Parker I dont see how you cant call him elite or at least borderline elite the guy is a multiple time all-star AND a Finals MVP. The guy was injured last season when healthy he is a top 10 PG in the league you are looking too much at raw numbers (total assists) and equating that to court vision. I can make a perfect pass to a guy underneath for layup and he misses it no assist. I can make a swing pass to Martin and he hits an assist! which was had better vision? The Rockets do track passes that should be assists if you watch Brooks play he is more of the "Iverson" type of passer. The guy who gets assists by making a simple/swing pass that leads to a basket. He isnt the type of passer like McGrady was..he doesnt have the size nor strength to be like that. How many times has he gotten into the lane only to have the ball stolen or his pass be turned over? To me one of the signs of a good point guard's "vision" is his assist to turnover ratio, you heard that all the time you wish your guard to have at least a 2:1 ratio or higher. Per 36 minutes Brooks' assist to turnover ratio is 1.86 (by comparison Lowry's per 36 minutes is 2.68) lets see what the assist to turnover ratio for the rest of the playoff PGs last year were per 36 mins (this includes non elite pgs like Parker and Fisher) Fisher: 2.46 Parker: 2.12 Westbrook: 2.44 Williams: 3.22 Nash: 3.03 Miller: 2.57 Billups: 2.27 Kidd: 3.75 the rest of the west Curry: 1.97 Davis: 2.83 Conley: 2.5 Flynn: 1.58 Paul: 4.21 [collison: 2.18 -- he almost started as many games as paul at PG for reference] evans 1.93 uridh - 2.7 -- he became starting PG once martin left pushing evans to the 2 So there you have it...every team in the west has a starting point guard whose assist to turnover ratio per 36 minutes is HIGHER than Brooks with the exception of minnesota - the worst team in the west that started a rookie PG with a rookie head coach who is also a small guard that tends to score more than pass similar to Brooks - (i got the above stats from basketball-reference.com per 36 mins and then doing some simple division)
This is getting annoying. 17 feet is outside his comfort zone. That 44% statistic you provided is comprised primarily of his attempts in the post (8-10 ft away). Since he shoots 45% from 8-20 feet, you think he shoots 45% from 15-17 feet? No offense, but that's absolutely r****ded. That's like saying "hmm, since Brooks shoots 3 pointers at a 40% rate, why doesn't he take more shots from half court? He'll be wide open and since they're 3 pointers, he'll make them 40% of the time!!!"
all i am going to say about assist to turnover ratio is .. that was the underlying reason for us to sign rafer alston in that he was one of the best in the league at that ratio. i think we can all agree we would take both lowry and brooks over rafer
Logical fallacy implied here. Great assist/TO ratio does not necessarily equate to great PG, however great PG requires a great assist/TO ratio.
