Early offense is definately old NBA. They'd shoot with like 17 on the clock. I'm not against a more wide open offense or quicker shots, I just don't think you have to sacrifice rebounding to get it. If you focus on passing the ball up the court you will get better looks. Moving the ball as opposed to dribbling it could open things up without sacrificing the board. Putting the ball in the basket is the most important thing in my book. You've got to score. That's something Drexler brought us a few years back, but he was also a strong rebounder and there's no way Francis can push it like Drexler. He's one of kind. Francis needs to pass the ball up the court.
If you focus on passing the ball up the court you will get better looks. Moving the ball as opposed to dribbling it could open things up without sacrificing the board. ... Francis needs to pass the ball up the court. PSJ -- I agree that we need to pass the ball up the court. What I was trying to say (I think others are too, but I can't speak for them) is that Francis needs to be the recipient of those passes instead of rebounding. If he, along with all the big guys, are under the basket rebounding, there's no one to pass the ball up the court to (or at best, one guy along with 2 or 3 defenders). If the guards were running instead of rebounding, then the big guys could grab the boards and pass to the guards to see if there's any quick-strike options. If not, no big deal, but it puts pressure on the defense and even if it gains you 2 or 3 buckets a game, that can make a huge difference over the course of the season. I was very skeptical when UT told Ford not to rebound -- I thought it was ridiculous because he was such a good rebounder -- but it worked extremely well. Obviously, rebounding is very important, but if the rest of the team can rebound well, then maybe Francis doing so is really just overkill and hurting other areas of the game.
crispee, I've always thought the difference between a primary and secondary break is that it is a primary break as long as you have a numbers advantage, i.e. 2-on-1, 3-on-1, 3-on-2, etc. Once the defense is ahead of the ball so that there is no longer an advantage for the offense, the secondary break would kick in to take advantage of the defense still being on their heels and simply not being set. Do you have a different understanding? I still don't think the Rockets take advantage of primary break opportunities, unless they have a clear advantage, much less secondary.
when is moochie's contract up? i think tj will come out after his junior yr and that is when i think mooch is a FA i say we dont resign moochie and do whatever we can no matter what to draft TJ Ford. tj is awesome hes the best pg in the nation (besides jason williams) and he is only a freshman. he leads the nation in asts 1st ever freshman to do so. the combo of francis/ford is aweomse there would never be a better pg combo and we could do the small lineup we now but instead ford/francis/mobley that would be unstoppable my dream lineup for then pg Steve Francis/TJ Ford sg Cuttino Mobley/Dejaun Wagner sf Lamar Odom/Corey Maggette/Oscar Torres pf Eddie Griffin/Mo Taylor c Kelvin Cato/Mo Taylor THINGS THAT WOULD HAVE TO HAPPEN: extend Francis' contract to the max for 7 yrs dont resign Glen Rice dont resign Moochie Norris resign Kenny Thomas trade this years 1st rounder and Kenny Thomas for Lamar Odom and Corey Maggette (like is rumored to happen) (we'd have to get a top 2 pick for this to happen) I'd cream my pants if this was our lineup
*trade this yrs 1st rd pick and Kenny Thomas for clipps 1st rounder, Lamar Odom, and Corey Maggette *draft dejaun wagner with clipper pick
Wow, I totally agree with what most of you are saying. Yes, Francis sucks running the fast break, but the only way he is going to get better is to simply do it. I would do what the old Lakers used to do, as soon as a shot goes up, Francis or Mobley whichever side the shot came from should sprint to half court. As soon as the ball is rebounded, outlet to one of them. It can work, but you have to install it first. DaDakota
first off, travfrancis . . . are you lost in this thread? Talk about being waaaay off topic. TheFreak, numbers don't matter. Kids are not taught to look up from an outlet and count the numbers. Everyone is supposed to just take off and sprint, and the dribbler is supposed to get the ball down as fast as possible. The idea is to get an easy bucket immediately, and if not, to at least get 4 and 5 players down there before the defense does. The defense can stop the numbers, by playing good transition D, but that often leaves a mismatch or not enough defense on one side of the court. Thus, all the offensive players are supposed to immediately see that, canvas the court, find the transition Ds "secondary weakness" and attack it, or simply execute a post up play if you have a stud who usually requires double teaming. To an official stat keeper, numbers probably matter in defining a fastbreak, but not in describing a structured secondary break system (early offense). Anyhow, back to what I meant by coaches can't really teach how to run a primary break. That is just simple. You cannot teach how Magic, Kidd, Payton and Stockton push it and pick apart transition defense. Point Guards just have to want to be a "quarterback all their life and be groomed for it . . . " HEHE After 3 yrs, we can safely say, Francis doesn't have the instincts to execute a great fastbreak . . . we would have seen it by now. But, we should still teach the team how to push it . . . everyone run . . . and learn a structured secondary break (knowing when the primary break was stopped to do quick swings, with the ability to read mismatches, quick post up plays, backdoors, etc). Basically, go right into plays based on where everyone happens to be (including the defense) after the primary break stalled. Afterall, we are faster than most teams, and we need to stop relying so much on our half-court offense. Don't you agree there is a gray area between a clear fastbreak and a half-court offense. There is something there around the 18 second mark that the Bucks and Kings do that looks like they are just picking you apart, before your defense is set. This is not really freelancing. Teams practice this.
crispee-Do you think Moochie can run an effective fast break? (I don't). We have no one on this team who can take the ball in the middle of the floor and make the decision of how to finish a la Kidd. Mobley runs the wing. Guys like T-Mo, OT, KT have learned to run the wings effectively, but Francis is too busy trying to decide if he's a PG or a SG, and more often than not tries to take the ball like he's a wing, rather than the floor general. When looking at the Kings and looking at the Rockets, one thing is very apparent-everyone on the Kings can read a defense, and nearly no one on the Rockets can read a defense. Watch Moochie receive the ball on the perimeter...and then he holds it. Sometimes, that can be needed, for example when things are out of control, but not every freaking time. To me, the Rockets simply aren't oppurtunistic. They seem to be set with whatever is in their playbook-if an Eddie post up isn't in there, it won't matter if he's being guarded by Muggsy Bogues. They don't look for an advantage, or a sleeping defender, and therefore can't, and don't, capitalize on it when it comes.
I'm not talking about an "effective fast break." I do think Moochie can dribble through transition defense better than Francis, but that is not my point, and really has little to do with a "secondary fastbreak system." I'm a firm believer that you do not need to improve Francis that much to teach our 5 players to run a secondary break system. Get the ball to a dribbler immediately. Everyone sprints down court with flankers prepared to assist the dribbler if he's trapped. The dribbler is responsible for beating one defender. If he can beat one defender, and everyone else is running fast, another defender has to pick up the dribbler or the defense must guide him to the sideline to eliminate his dribble. At any point, the dribbler can pass it forward...numbers or not. Just get into a quick set. Francis does not need to be taught to dribble through transition defenders while still moving forward. He doesn't have to be taught to split a trap. He doesn't have to be taught how to recognize when to pass early or slow it up. He just has to beat one man off the dribble or at least get on his side and take it across midcourt and beat traps with passes. If the dribbler can cross midcourt without being slowed up, then everyone looks over the defense and decides where the weakness is and executes a play based on that weakness. What we do (aside from forgetting to come back and get the outlet and pushing the dribble) is only take our fastbreak lanes and spot up. We are not really prepared to execute a quick play should the transition defense stop the easy bucket. So yeah, NIKE . . . the whole team has to learn how to read transition defenses to explore quick strike opportunities. Can we do it? well, I think the coaches can help them there. But the coaches cannot help Francis learn to dribble through transition defense effortlessly, while keeping his head up to scan the wingmen.
I hate to chime in late on this one, but if everyone would run, not jog it would help a lot. Watch NJ and see what happens after a rebound and watch the Rockets. They are into track meet mode while we have a pg high stepping and guys looking back or slowing up instead of running. Why? Its rare that the break is continued or that after the rebound that Francis doen't look to the bench for instructions. The most imporatant thing about a break is the trailer. The good thing about that is if you don't get the ball, the team should be able to fall right into the offense. I hate comparing anything or team to the Jazz, but watch what they do off a rebound almost evrytime. Someone rebounds, 2 people run the wings and someone trails, if the wings or no one is given the ball, the wing players run all the way to baseline then cross and then they are into they're offense. Its not molecular biology, just plain basketball.
crispee-I meant secondary break. And with the amount of time he runs the show, I think it is part of the issue. And the same could be said for Tierre Brown, when he plucks the splinters out of his behind. As for Francis, he has the talent to do it. He is among the best one on one players in the game with his wicked crossover, and explosive speed. He SHOULD be able to blow by an offbalance defender on his heels. He just needs to do it.
