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GodSaveTheKnicks
Posts: 23952 Alba Posts: 21 Joined: 11/21/2006 Member: #1207 USA |
12/14/2010 11:37 AM
Decent piece on the Spur system. http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2010/12/14/threes-hardly-a-long-shot/
I wish the Knicks writers would write stuff like this. Pieces that have information coming directly from players and coaches about the basketball details vs. opinions and speculation. I don't know if it's a lack of desire or MSGs draconian media policy but we're just not seeing enough of this info about the Knicks. Highlights: - The Spurs’ proficiency from long range has been a driving force behind their NBA-best 20-3 start. They have made 206 3-pointers, second only to New York. - “The way the game is played now, you have to have someone to spread the floor,” Popovich said. The Spurs’ surge in 3-point shooting is directly linked to ball movement. They are assisting at a rate unseen in San Antonio in 15 seasons (23.6 per game). The concept, as Popovich teaches it, is called “good to great.” “If you have a good shot, the next guy in the rotation has a great shot,” Neal said. Thoughts: Players Spurs have spacing the floor: Matt Bonner 3-4 M over next 3 seasons after this one RJ and Manu also accurate from downtown but at much higher costs since they have other skills. All this gives me hope that the Knicks can find cheap rookies (crossing fingers on Rautins), D League type pickups (hello Shawn Williams, and Bonner types to space the floor. Should Melo come...if we can find these cost effective floor spacers hopefully the ball keeps whizzing around and the offense keeps humming along. Quality big and backup PG..well that's another issue. Article in full below: Every morning before practice, Spurs players hit the floor to work on what coaches call “your shots.” “They’re the shots you’re mainly going to get in the offense, that you have to be comfortable with,” guard Gary Neal said. The definition of “your shots” is different for every player. To Neal, “your shots” encompasses a broad area. “Anywhere behind the 3-point line,” he said. What makes this Spurs team so unique, and so lethal, is that Neal has plenty of dead-eye company behind the arc. Through 23 games, the Spurs lead the NBA in 3-point accuracy, hitting 41.4 percent. Heading into Monday’s games, no other team was shooting better than 39.1 percent. If the Spurs maintain that pace, they could wind up challenging the league record, set in 1996-97 by the Charlotte Hornets, who made 42.8 percent of their threes that season. The Spurs’ club record is 40.7 percent, established in 2000-01. “With 3-point shooting, you take open shots and hope it’s a night when they are going in,” said Matt Bonner, the league’s fifth-most accurate long-range shooter. “We’ve had more nights than not when we are making them.” The Spurs’ proficiency from long range has been a driving force behind their NBA-best 20-3 start. They have made 206 3-pointers, second only to New York. In Sunday’s 95-78 victory over Portland, the Spurs connected on 9 of 17 3-balls. Three Spurs are enjoying career seasons from behind the arc — Bonner (50.8 percent), Richard Jefferson (46.3) and George Hill (40.4). Neal, a 26-year-old rookie, is shooting 41.3 percent. The only Spurs shooter below his career 3-point percentage is Manu Ginobili, who leads the NBA in attempts (152) and is second in makes (56), but is hitting just 36.8 percent. “Just to be on the court with a whole bunch of guys who are considered weapons — guys that if you leave them open, opponents know that guy is going to make a shot — that makes the offense flow a lot better,” Neal said. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has often talked of the importance of 3-point shooting in his drive-and-kick system. Much like how, in football, a deep threat in the passing game opens running lanes by moving defenders off the line of scrimmage, ace perimeter shooting can pull defenders away from the basket. That creates driving lanes for and space for big men. “The way the game is played now, you have to have someone to spread the floor,” Popovich said. The Spurs’ surge in 3-point shooting is directly linked to ball movement. They are assisting at a rate unseen in San Antonio in 15 seasons (23.6 per game). The concept, as Popovich teaches it, is called “good to great.” “If you have a good shot, the next guy in the rotation has a great shot,” Neal said. The NBA is a league of adjustments, and the Spurs’ long-range brigade is braced for the day when opponents begin to run them off the 3-point stripe. That day might already have arrived. Bonner, especially, has been finding open looks harder to come by recently, as teams have focused on denying him space along the arc. Sunday against Portland, Bonner sprung free just once. Ginobili found him for a successful corner three. The added attention isn’t an entirely disturbing development for the Spurs’ sharpshooters. “My job here is to help out the stars,” Neal said. “If Matty and I can be on the court together, and that gives Manu or Tony (Parker) more room to penetrate and make plays, we’ve done our jobs.” That remains the consolation for any well-defended 3-point shooter. Hit enough of “your shots,” and it frees others to make theirs. Let's try to elevate the level of discourse in this byeetch. Please
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martin
Posts: 76270 Alba Posts: 108 Joined: 7/24/2001 Member: #2 USA |
12/14/2010 11:41 AM
Offensively speaking, seems like same philosophy as MDA's
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AnubisADL
Posts: 27382 Alba Posts: 13 Joined: 6/29/2009 Member: #2771 USA |
12/14/2010 12:07 PM
Seems like they are compensating for Duncan's decline.
 NY Knicks - Retirement home for players and GMs
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