Honest question. Do you think NBA players have always loafed around, or is it a relatively new trend? Because the highest scoring decade in the NBA is actually the 60s, even without the 3 point line. But I’m not sure that the NBA players in the 60s were categorized as lazy as much as the players in the 2020s (the 2nd highest scoring decade) are.
Excellent post. Thanks for bringing some reason to this thread.Interesting to read folks giving up on CDS for not making changes 4 games in while Pastner rode the modified princeton halfway through the season before making changes
The base offense we ran against Cincy and have been running is a core NBA approach for a high ball screen and roll with the other 3 players well spaced and looking for the ball off the initial action. The idea is that highly skilled athletes can break down close outs and force multiple rotations until the D makes a mistake for an open shot. Against Cincy their guards were really good at fighting over the screen to stay in front and the bigs were mobile enough to take away anything that did come out of the action. And most importantly when we did pass the ball to a wing their close outs were hyper aggressive and they were able to lock down our guys without any penetration so no one had to rotate. Part of that may be the aggressiveness and urgency CDS spoke of afterward but IMHO part of that is our guards/wings are good but they don't have the handles that can take high end defenders off the dribble on command.
Makes sense that an NBA guy would run this approach and showing an NBA approach is logical if you want to recruit the NBA hopefuls from the ATL area. But it ain't gonna work with this group as we play higher end competition. The change needed is to look at player movement that creates advantages for players so we don't have to count on winning one on one drives. That is what I will be looking for.
Interesting to read folks giving up on CDS for not making changes 4 games in while Pastner rode the modified princeton halfway through the season before making changes
I have seen us attempt to set screens all season. I’ve seen a lot of failed attempts to set screens, especially in the UMass Lowell game.Interesting to read folks giving up on CDS for not making changes 4 games in while Pastner rode the modified princeton halfway through the season before making changes
The base offense we ran against Cincy and have been running is a core NBA approach for a high ball screen and roll with the other 3 players well spaced and looking for the ball off the initial action. The idea is that highly skilled athletes can break down close outs and force multiple rotations until the D makes a mistake for an open shot. Against Cincy their guards were really good at fighting over the screen to stay in front and the bigs were mobile enough to take away anything that did come out of the action. And most importantly when we did pass the ball to a wing their close outs were hyper aggressive and they were able to lock down our guys without any penetration so no one had to rotate. Part of that may be the aggressiveness and urgency CDS spoke of afterward but IMHO part of that is our guards/wings are good but they don't have the handles that can take high end defenders off the dribble on command.
Makes sense that an NBA guy would run this approach and showing an NBA approach is logical if you want to recruit the NBA hopefuls from the ATL area. But it ain't gonna work with this group as we play higher end competition. The change needed is to look at player movement that creates advantages for players so we don't have to count on winning one on one drives. That is what I will be looking for.
I think the approach at all levels is to figure out how to win. So far, we've done that twice.
No question - why I tried to label it as our "core" approach not our only set. We have run a set that starts with downscreens and has a nice curl action and we also ran a nice flex cut set a couple of times for a Deebo corner 3. I am sure there are a couple I missed. So I am not saying we don't have alternative sets or that CDS doesn't know any other way to set up his offense. Simply saying we stuck primarily with the high ball screen and space approach almost all of the Cincy game and most of the others. It was the set Kelly used to beat Howard late in the game. But IMHO we don't have the athleticism/handle it takes to be successful as our core offense versus our competition. We are going to have to use off ball motion/screening and lots of structured passes to get defenses to move/rotate rather than depend on beating close outs one on one.
And he should get blowback for the start of the season. Ain't good. As for my starting comment - I would point out there are multiple posts here saying CDS will never change but I want Pastner back. I just saw a little irony in that - and totally agree with your comment that Pastner should have seen he didn't have the horses to run that set - just as I don't think CDS has the horses to run the core set we are using.
He is giving his point guards an opportunity to shine. So far they haven't been up to the task.
Our former football head coach. TFG -> “The Former Guy” or words to that or another effect.
The Clown.
Agree. It’s been disappointing to see no attempt at changes and feels like we’re getting worse every game. Pastner’s problem was that he would make the changes too late but also never seemed to stop making those mistakes in the first place every season.
