Scenario: 30 seconds to go, Rox down by two. Squad on the floor includes Yao, Tracy, Scola, Battier and ........... Rafer: whose shooting doesn't necessarily strike fear in the enemy's hearts. Steve: who wants the ball now and doesn't care who complains about it. It's "all about Steve" to him. Mike James: "give me the rock, boys, and I'll get it up there. Never met a shot I didn't like". Luther: Slightly undersized in some situations, but a pretty good long range shooter, albeit still a second year player in the NBA. Novak: camp him in the corner and get a shot when the player double-teaming loses track of him. 6th option: just let Tracy and/or Yao do their things. Not an unlikely scenario, but one to test both the coach's strategies as well as the mettle of any of these guys.
Yeah we really needed this thread. Could all the JVG pessimistic cronies please refrain from posting till we actually play a game.
It's Luther. He's a team player, he can keep defenses honest or punish them for leaving him open, and He proved his worth in these situations last season.
Luther... if its an inbounds pass from the side then battier will pass it in to tmac/head. if they have to bring it up the court Tmac will be PG while luther/battier sets up for the shot.
not sure that i understand the problem...we have a lot of guys that could take the last shot? is that bad?
If you don't go with Luther in that situation, you're crazy. He's proven himself many times when it comes to late game shots, and he's unselfish.
u put james or head on since they are the best shooter. the rock will be in Tmac's hands he will pick and roll with Yao, if defence focus in, we got shooters out in all corners, if they don't, yao or tmac can both finish near the ring what'll be interesting is what we gonna do next position, we put james in since he's a better defender, but do we leave yao out, fear of the pick and roll? do u put Hayes in?
This scenario was played out over and over last season throughout the 4th quarter in tight regular season games and the playoffs-- not just the last 30 seconds down by 2. A doubled Tracy running around forced with jacking it up when covered well or passing it out to stand around shooters who often time were missing or covered sufficiently. This is the reason why we brought in new players. Scola does change things (over Hayes and or Howard). Hopefully he can give Tracy a more versatile target who can shoot or drive. This is the reason why we brought in a new coach. Hopefully Yao can play the high post so we aren't faced with this scenario so often. I think that we need James or Francis in at this time over Rafer or Luther to make the defense have to worry about a drive to the basket as well as the outside shooters.
T-Mac should be making the decisions in that situation. What you want out there with him is a guard who understand that he needs to give up the ball early and be ready to knock down the shot if it is kicked back out to him. Out of Rafer, Steve, MJ, and Head, Luther is to only one that meets this criteria.
I will have no doubt to put Bonzi in if we were playing against Spurs under your scenario. Tie the game and start it over in O.T. sounds right to me.
need to get with the times glynch watch the highlight reels for this preseason and see Luther driving/cutting to the hole as much in 7 games as he did all last two years. he has much more capabilties than he showed under JVG, as do a few others(Battier, Yao) if the lesson of this preseason is anything, it is you cant predict performance based on the limited roles some players performed previously. The system Adelman wants to implement helps all players get easier shots, not just the stars. easier shots = more successful shots
I'll take your word for it as I have only watched about 2 pre-season games. I'm glad to hear this as I got so sick of watching the same scenario repeated year.
The clear choice, for the moment, is Mike James. He's probably the most balanced guy out of the bunch-- not quite the spot-up gunner Head is, but trustworthy with his shot; not quite Rafer's handles or Francis' ability to finish, but can generally penetrateif a guy comes flying at him and shoot an acceptable rate off the dribble. So, If I have one more offensive possesion and hadto choose one of these guys for the 5th spot, I'm going with Mike James.
Only if TMac was handling the ball until the very last few seconds. If Mike played PG under such scenario, our offence would be as predictable as Yao's low post move in the UTAH series.
