Offensive Style Going Foward

SidewalkJacket

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Last season, I was impressed with how CJP ran our half-court offense through BL at the high post, incorporated hard basket cuts, and stressed execution to get the best shot possible on each possession. With our limited numbers, lack of offensive creators, and lack of knock-down shooters, it was a necessary strategy, IMO.

This season, that style appears less effective (although to be fair, injury has made BL a different player, and losing CGB and then JA would now make it difficult to look effective running any kind of offense).

It reminds me of the high school team I coach. We were already thin this year, then lost a couple guys, and no matter what we ran, we weren't going to be prolific on offense. We ended up running really structured stuff the first part of the year to take care of the ball and get our guys decent looks without needing great basketball ability.

That said, our JV team (which has a lot of talent and offensive ability) began running an open-post, mix of dribble-drive and read-and-react offense. Now, you obviously need guys who can get to the basket as well as guys who can knock down threes on kicks to do this. Our varsity didn't have that this year, but we should next year.

My question is: Will CJP continue to run a structured offense with the post (either hi or lo) always occupied, or could we potentially move toward a more free-flowing, attacking style as recruiting improves?

I never watched Memphis under CJP, so I don't know his history with offensive style. Thoughts?
 

kg01

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I expect teams to press us with no mercy being shown. I expect every possession to start with like 12 seconds left on the clock as a result. I expect a steady diet of Josh panic-drives, Lammers panic-long 2s and Tadric panic-whirling dervish drives to the cup.

Seriously though, we lack guard play to employ any style other than slow it down, feed post.
 

MidtownJacket

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Seems like this is a two part questions for added extra credit.

The rest of this season is going to be a rough road. I agree with KG01’s assessment that we have more panic plays than not in our immediate future.

Next season though I have some hope JA coming back should be even better running the point and valuing the ball. He has developed well in the short time we have had him here and I am confident he will be a true ACC PG next season. That should free up JO and CGB to move better off ball and frankly I see Cole evolving into a threat next season. Losing Lammers is going to suck. Mainly from what we will lose with his D and shot blocking but AG seems up to the task of taking a larger role. I also have faith in Coach R to keep developing the rest of the bigs.


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SidewalkJacket

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I expect teams to press us with no mercy being shown. I expect every possession to start with like 12 seconds left on the clock as a result. I expect a steady diet of Josh panic-drives, Lammers panic-long 2s and Tadric panic-whirling dervish drives to the cup.

Seriously though, we lack guard play to employ any style other than slow it down, feed post.

Oh, no doubt. Not much hope for this year. I'm wondering how our style will change in '19 and beyond.
 

Peacone36

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Two Points, two big wings and a big is what it appears we are driving towards. IIRC he ran something similar to that at Memphis when he had Joey Dorsey and Austin Nichols. Similar to the dribble drive and kick offense that Cal ran in his time there.
 

SidewalkJacket

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JA is a great fit at PG for a more attacking style. JO is your slasher, CGB is (hopefully) your knock-down shooter (need one or two more, though). Cole and Moses appear to be capable of being stretch 4s.
 

YJMD

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We'd be better off if we could go out and run. Unfortunately, we don't have the bodies to keep everyone fresh and in sync and out of foul trouble to run that pace. And the strength of the team is still defense which needs a chance to get set. Our offensive capabilities and defensive capabilities are just not good matches for each other. That is much different with, say UVA who struggles offensively but has enough efficiency in the half court to outpace the other team and rarely turns it over. Or UNC which takes the opposite approach but out-talents people pushing the ball and relies on creating turnovers and rebounding defensively to start the offense.
 

YlJacket

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Throw out the rest of this year. Won't be pretty on O or D. And with young uns getting major minutes and JO at the PG slot, there won't be a lot of uptempo or things to build on for next year.

Next year we should run a lot more than we do this year with the goal of getting open 3's off of the break. I am hoping we have 3 good to better 3 point shooters to play to. The other key will be can Cole/Wright or Sjolund play major minutes and stretch the floor at the 4 spot. If so then we will likely see a lot more dribble drive type of offense - both through the high post and off the bounce.

I expect it will be a higher tempo offense but not necessarily "high" tempo.
 

GT_EE78

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Last season, I was impressed with how CJP ran our half-court offense through BL at the high post, incorporated hard basket cuts, and stressed execution to get the best shot possible on each possession. With our limited numbers, lack of offensive creators, and lack of knock-down shooters, it was a necessary strategy, IMO.

This season, that style appears less effective (although to be fair, injury has made BL a different player, and losing CGB and then JA would now make it difficult to look effective running any kind of offense).

It reminds me of the high school team I coach. We were already thin this year, then lost a couple guys, and no matter what we ran, we weren't going to be prolific on offense. We ended up running really structured stuff the first part of the year to take care of the ball and get our guys decent looks without needing great basketball ability.

That said, our JV team (which has a lot of talent and offensive ability) began running an open-post, mix of dribble-drive and read-and-react offense. Now, you obviously need guys who can get to the basket as well as guys who can knock down threes on kicks to do this. Our varsity didn't have that this year, but we should next year.

My question is: Will CJP continue to run a structured offense with the post (either hi or lo) always occupied, or could we potentially move toward a more free-flowing, attacking style as recruiting improves?

I never watched Memphis under CJP, so I don't know his history with offensive style. Thoughts?
Whichever style we employ for the remainder of our season, it's bound to be "offensive".
 

YJMD

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1,597
Throw out the rest of this year. Won't be pretty on O or D. And with young uns getting major minutes and JO at the PG slot, there won't be a lot of uptempo or things to build on for next year.

Next year we should run a lot more than we do this year with the goal of getting open 3's off of the break. I am hoping we have 3 good to better 3 point shooters to play to. The other key will be can Cole/Wright or Sjolund play major minutes and stretch the floor at the 4 spot. If so then we will likely see a lot more dribble drive type of offense - both through the high post and off the bounce.

I expect it will be a higher tempo offense but not necessarily "high" tempo.

Agreed. I think our half-court O even now should stretch things more. We don't have enough spacing in the half-court to help the drivers and the cutters. But I'd still want to open it up so long as we have enough contributors to stay fresh doing it. Gonna have to figure out how to adapt our defensive philosophy to a more up-tempo style. One strategy is to set up press and traps off made buckets to really cash in on when we've got the momentum and not exhaust ourselves running back and forth.

The critical areas we need to improve on are our box-outs on defense and turnovers in the half-court. We're a decent rebounding team, but we're gonna need to secure every possession we possibly can get and protect our possessions when we can't succeed in speeding things up.
 

glandon1960

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The rest of this season will be a grind at best most nights. Limited by depth and inconsistent 3-point shooting primarily. Hoping to win 1, if luck falls 2 rest of the way.
I will be at the three remaining home games - all I expect is to see a team play hard and compete ... and see some progress from Cole/Wright.
Not sure this team gets to 50 on the road vs. UVA ... I do think they will beat 28 up there.

Next season, I expect to see more up tempo and free flowing offense. What I recall from watching Memphis was they wanted to push the ball when possible ... and CJP has said he wants to play considerably faster than they have these last two years ..... I think we'll START to see that next year as the perimeter pieces to do it will be there, with it speeding up a little more the following year to where I think he wants the pace of play to be. I do expect to see the team continue to mix defenses - he did that at Memphis (but played more zone here) .... and I feel we miss Lammers more on Defense (protecting the rim, altering shots, etc.) than we will on offense.

I like the pieces we will have on perimeter - Jose/Josh/CGB/Phillips/Devoe ... with Alston probably relegated deeper into the bench. Jose/Josh start for sure - CGB or Devoe at the other guard spot.
Phillips backs up Jose, with Jose also swinging to the shooting guard for some minutes on occasion. We might see some of Cole or Sjouland on the wing ... depends on how ready they are - but having them play there won't likely be a requirement next year.

AD likely starts at the 5 - but we do need someone to fill in behind him .... that can hit boards, play good defense, and is at least a threat inside ... could be Ogbondo (but have not seen anything from him this season to say it will be him), could be Grad Transfer ... I am not fan of Grad Transfers as core strategy (a la Gregory) but I do like using them to fill a one year hole ... and they MUST land 1-2 quality bigs in the next recruiting class. AD has gotten better passing from the high post, but his strength is low post play - he is our best big down there already.

I agree with everyone that the 4 spot/stretch 4 - is the question mark. Cole/Wright/Sojuland .... will one of them prove they are solid ACC caliber player. We don't need one of them to be great next year, but having one (or more) we can put out there and know we'll get quality minutes most nights is essential - else small ball - which we'll see some of anyway depending on matchups .... does anyone really object to seeing Jose/CGB/Devoe/Josh on court together for a few minutes?
 

AE 87

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I think it's pretty clear that CJP is just playing for next season. He's got 3 of probably 4 recruits in his pocket, and now he's just trying to get his returning pieces some experience.
 

GTFLETCH

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I think it's pretty clear that CJP is just playing for next season. He's got 3 of probably 4 recruits in his pocket, and now he's just trying to get his returning pieces some experience.
and next year, we will say he is playing for the following year
 

GT_EE78

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and next year, we will say he is playing for the following year
yup, that's always a concern which is why i'd prefer a 4 year contract rather than 6 + an extension.i hope you're wrong ,my optimism for next year depends on that remaining recruit ....
 
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