In Season Reset Needed - Post your Suggestions
Jan 23, 2020 7:49:01 GMT -5
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stlexplorer, olneyman, and 5 more like this
Post by 23won on Jan 23, 2020 7:49:01 GMT -5
The 1 22 Richmond game thread had a lot of negative energy and it doesn’t make sense to perpetuate that since a lot of hard work has gone into the season. Having said that, it is worth being realistic that the 1-5 record in league play has been disappointing and a few of the outcomes were far worse than the final score. So, as one poster put it, what’s your solution? In response, I have three initial thoughts and invite all to share thoughts.
1) Game prep and execution. We have to start out much stronger with a disciplined offensive approach (like maybe 5-7 set initial offensive plays) because we are falling behind way too much too early, which is never a good situation for a young team that lacks confidence. It seems like the league has a book on us and deploy a 3/4 court press which we slowly beat and that in turn eats up 1/3 of the play clock. After that, we then we slowly run sets that don’t lead to production especially in the early minutes of the game. We have to pass over the press or swing passes around the pressure points to get behind the press for 2-1 opportunities. We are playing too passively up the court and then are getting into a bad slow pace in the half court set. These two things lead to bad shot selection, missed shots and deficits early.
In the half court set, we are not moving the ball, setting screens well or coming off the pick quickly with cuts. At the start of the game we should be flying off those possessions to maximize our chance for a high quality shot.
2) Shot selection. This is a byproduct of 1 but worthy of discussion separately. Teams are happy to pack us out at the 3 line and have us dribble (bad) or weakly pass the ball around the perimeter. This yields no good looks and we resort to reversing the ball to a corner 3, which is a low production shot that Ds will give you until you make them pay. We have to spread but get the ball more into the lane and then work the ball around until we get a high percentage 3 (diagonal off the elbow), mid range open jumper or finish at the hoop. If you don’t have the snipers you have to shoot where the percentages are highest and work really hard with player and ball movement to get it to that spot. Spencer, Deas, Phiri, Sherif, Stone and Beatty can make those threes. We need to maximize our efforts to work the ball to those spots.
3) Make the most of a smart lineup. There is a tension between developing first year players and winning. We have been on the wrong side of that equation in league play to date. We don’t have four 4 stars who we should give run to with 3 or 4 of these frosh in the game at the same time. They just are not ready for that ... this year. Sherif is most ready and has had inconsistency, but deserves the longest minutes. Beyond that, I’d humbly suggest trimming other frosh minutes for a variety of reasons but use them better to draw on existing strengths. For instance, Stone cannot be our “big” in the game at any point in time. He is not ready physically; but if he is in with Ed for instance we can work him around screens and get him for open 3 looks off the elbow for instant offense. That could be a back breaker for teams. Ray is really promising but his offensive game needs to adjust to this level so he should be in as the D and rebounding glue in a unit that can score 4 without any undue demands on him to score. Ayinde will be fine but he is trying to do too much with his tempo and is playing like he is on ice skates and passing way too hard into narrow windows in the lane. He is strong and has good low to the ground leverage, so he may have better success trying to initiate some initial light contact with the dribble and then motoring by his man instead of just trying to blaze by him.
1) Game prep and execution. We have to start out much stronger with a disciplined offensive approach (like maybe 5-7 set initial offensive plays) because we are falling behind way too much too early, which is never a good situation for a young team that lacks confidence. It seems like the league has a book on us and deploy a 3/4 court press which we slowly beat and that in turn eats up 1/3 of the play clock. After that, we then we slowly run sets that don’t lead to production especially in the early minutes of the game. We have to pass over the press or swing passes around the pressure points to get behind the press for 2-1 opportunities. We are playing too passively up the court and then are getting into a bad slow pace in the half court set. These two things lead to bad shot selection, missed shots and deficits early.
In the half court set, we are not moving the ball, setting screens well or coming off the pick quickly with cuts. At the start of the game we should be flying off those possessions to maximize our chance for a high quality shot.
2) Shot selection. This is a byproduct of 1 but worthy of discussion separately. Teams are happy to pack us out at the 3 line and have us dribble (bad) or weakly pass the ball around the perimeter. This yields no good looks and we resort to reversing the ball to a corner 3, which is a low production shot that Ds will give you until you make them pay. We have to spread but get the ball more into the lane and then work the ball around until we get a high percentage 3 (diagonal off the elbow), mid range open jumper or finish at the hoop. If you don’t have the snipers you have to shoot where the percentages are highest and work really hard with player and ball movement to get it to that spot. Spencer, Deas, Phiri, Sherif, Stone and Beatty can make those threes. We need to maximize our efforts to work the ball to those spots.
3) Make the most of a smart lineup. There is a tension between developing first year players and winning. We have been on the wrong side of that equation in league play to date. We don’t have four 4 stars who we should give run to with 3 or 4 of these frosh in the game at the same time. They just are not ready for that ... this year. Sherif is most ready and has had inconsistency, but deserves the longest minutes. Beyond that, I’d humbly suggest trimming other frosh minutes for a variety of reasons but use them better to draw on existing strengths. For instance, Stone cannot be our “big” in the game at any point in time. He is not ready physically; but if he is in with Ed for instance we can work him around screens and get him for open 3 looks off the elbow for instant offense. That could be a back breaker for teams. Ray is really promising but his offensive game needs to adjust to this level so he should be in as the D and rebounding glue in a unit that can score 4 without any undue demands on him to score. Ayinde will be fine but he is trying to do too much with his tempo and is playing like he is on ice skates and passing way too hard into narrow windows in the lane. He is strong and has good low to the ground leverage, so he may have better success trying to initiate some initial light contact with the dribble and then motoring by his man instead of just trying to blaze by him.
