Posted by TrueBlue:
Posted by nixluva:
Posted by BRIGGS:
We have no style of play implemented by the GM/coach. That is the first thing a guy who comes in has to do--he has to implement a style of play which makes the process of acquiring players effecient to the program. You acquire guys for a purpose. Isiah has acquired his three main guys Curry Marbury and Randolph[spending 100s of millions and giving up 8 draft picks] with no definite role. I think we had one last year but the need to be in the limelight[IT] produced this trade that has thrown the team into dissaray. He should've concentrated on the 3 spot and back up 1+5s. David Lee and Eddy Curry were good LAST year --the team played much better and I really thought we could be on to something respectable but that is done.
Now we need a guy to come and say we are playing this way and go out find a coach and players who can implement a system. All good teams have a system they play--we don't. Were a rag tag mishmosh.
I agree with some of what you say but not all. For one thing to me you really need to have some idea of what you have in terms of your best player. If you have a great Center, that anchors your D and can pass, well you know what you need to run and what to add. If you have a Great PG like Nash or Deron you can pretty much bank on looking for players who can finish and shoot.
Isiah's mistake is not sticking to his guns. If he's going to go for a power game with Zach and Curry, then totally commit and get them the perimeter help they need, defensively and shooting wise. He's left them exposed and he had a chance to do something about that. Yeah it may have cost him Lee and some other young player, but it would've made sense to get the kind of shutdown defenders we needed on the perimeter. He also could've added a M. Carroll or Kapono to the mix. He should've waived James and looked to add more shooting.
So you're saying the combination of Crawford/Marbury/Nate/Q is extremely flawed because neither defends well consistently along with their shooting and that he shouldn't have waived Nichols and drafting Mardy or Blakman over Wiliams was a mistake?
Before we got Zach the idea was to get a Shotblocking/rebounding PF and better perimeter shooting. The Marcus Williams thing wasn't this summer, but the year before. Once he committed to Zach, he needed to make sure we improved the perimeter shooting. We were also in need of a better Perimeter defender. There was much debate about Artest and I had my misgivings about his stability, but not his skills. Even a move like trying to get AK47 was discussed. I also brought up the idea of adding Carroll or Kapono. In any event those kind of moves would've solidified the team a bit more. Without those moves we had to hope that Q would regain his form and that Steph, Jamal, Mardy and Nate could hold it down on the perimeter. I didn't anticipate Balkman not playing well and I thought there was a small chance the Chan might get in some games and that if there was an injury or poor play from one of the others, he might catch on, but that's not a key factor just a hopeful thought.
I also think Isiah didn't stick to his guns offensively. He has guards who can penetrate at will and yet we ask them to only stand around and make telegraphed passes into the post. We have Zach, Curry and Lee all guys with great hands and they do very well on the move, so why not get them going on the move a bit more. Give and go's, Pick and rolls, back cuts and some flashing into the paint. Make use of our guards quickness by using our bigs to set screens. We have all that girth going to waste. I've seen enough BB in my life to recognize that we have more options on Offense than we've been using. It has nothing to do with intelligence. Give me a break on that. These guys have played on other teams and set screens before it's not that hard to run a pick and roll. In fact most of the things we need to do don't involve much thought. Just diagram sets that play to our strengths. There would be no sense in trying to run any plays like NJ does. Kidd can read a D and be thinking seversal moves ahead. THAT IS HARD. Setting screens, curls, pick and roll and so forth isn't hard. Look if all the bigs know that the guards are going to be moving without the ball and having their man chase them it's an easy thing to set a screen and then slash to the basket. My contention is that we rarely see anything like that. You can tell that the sets being called don't involve a lot of that, as if the idea is not to make use of our guards in that way. It has made the offense less potent and very easy to defend.
We're always playing against a set defense. If not for the recent pushing of the ball by Nate we'd never see any plays like that. That too can be part of the offense. Have the guards look for early opportunities and if the defense is back then bring it back out and wait for the bigs to come down court. Still putting that kind of pressure on the D is a good thing. That change of pace has been absent for the most part, until we're 20pts down. That is mostly Isiah's doing, cuz he's not stressing that as an option. When Zach and Lee rebound so well, why not look to run a bit more with Jones, Jamal, Nate, Balkman etc. We are too one dimensional on offense.
12/24/2007 8:38 PM