Randy Wittman's Offense

[hands11]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wizards-insider/wp/2015/01/13/randy-wittman-explains-why-wizards-dont-shoot-many-threes-despite-high-percentage/

In a vacuum, the Washington Wizards’ three-point statistics are perplexing. On one hand, they lead the NBA in three-point percentage at 39.2 percent. On the other, they attempt just 15.6 three-pointers, the third-fewest total in the league.

“You take what your defense gives you is what you kind of say and when there are opportunities we look to take them,” Wittman said. “We shoot a high percentage but we don’t have a lot of guys who shoot them … if that makes any sense to you.

the Wizards continue to take an extraordinary amount of midrange jumpers. They average 30.5 of them per game, barely fewer than the Los Angeles Lakers (30.8) and Knicks (30.5), and convert 40.1 percent of them, good for 15th. Of the six teams that take the most midrange jumpers in the league, only the Wizards, who rank 18th in the NBA in scoring, own a winning record.

Ya. I saw the interview. He talked a lot about the SAS team and what they do an how much he respected them.
Well they take 22 three balls a game. We take 15.6. That's 6 more attempts leading to 2.5-3.0 more pts a game on average.

Its hard to understand. You would assume a player like Paul know what is needed and would voice it. We have an SAS assistant.

I mean, if you are shooting the highest efficiency and the 3rd lowest attempts, you can give up some efficiency for more attempts. At least try it. Wall needs to take at least 3 attempts a game. Beal needs to take at least 6 attempts a game.

Beal is the 4th best 3 ball shooter in the league. Butler is 2nd. Now Butler seems to be in line for the amount of attempts a SF gets up when compared to other high efficiency SF, but Beal is shooting half the attempts compared to Kover, Klay and Reddick playing SG and shooting a high percentage. They are getting up 6 attempts. He gets up 4.

Let it fly Mr Beal. Go make them buckets.

I get the style Randy is focused on. Its all about the defense. If it is locked in, and you aren't turning it over and you are passing it from side to side, then you should be able to get good looks and win. I understand getting better at this stuff is good for the team long term. They do need to learn that stuff. And that's great when all that is happening. But it doesn't happen every game. And some team are just hot from 3. You can't just go 2 for 3. You won't keep up. Your 2s would have to be and 1s on drives and post moves. Not getting that from Hump taking that pretty mid range.

[nate33]

I understand Wittman's point that it's not always easy to just "take more 3-pointers". Teams know that the 3-point shot is a good shot and they try and take it away. But that said, there are some small tweaks that could help a bit.

First, scrap the play with Beal runs around a big man and tries to get a handoff. It's an ugly play that only results in long 2's, which Beal NEVER hits. We get a lot more 3's off of John Wall pick-and-rolls or Nene post ups.

Second, Kris Humphries gets a lot of open looks from the top of the key. He's a 50% shooter from out there. If he would just spot up 3 feet further back, he'd get 3-5 wide open looks from 3-point range a game. I realize he doesn't have a history of being a 3-point shooter, but I figure a guy that can nail 50% of his shots from 19-22 feet can hit 36% of his shots from 23 feet. That's an eFG% boost of 4% and it provides even more floor spacing.



FWIW, Basketball reference says that Humphries is actually a 56% shooter from 19-22 feet (on 32 attempts) and a 62% shooter from 20-22 feet (on 16 attempts). It seems like the further out he shoots, the more accurate he is. He had the exact same trend the year before in Boston to (54% from 19-22 feet, 61% from 20-22 feet). We could have the next Ryan Anderson and we don't even know it.

[tontoz]

I understand Wittman's point that it's not always easy to just "take more 3-pointers". Teams know that the 3-point shot is a good shot and they try and take it away. But that said, there are some small tweaks that could help a bit.

First, scrap the play with Beal runs around a big man and tries to get a handoff. It's an ugly play that only results in long 2's, which Beal NEVER hits. We get a lot more 3's off of John Wall pick-and-rolls or Nene post ups.

Second, Kris Humphries gets a lot of open looks from the top of the key. He's a 50% shooter from out there. If he would just spot up 3 feet further back, he'd get 3-5 wide open looks from 3-point range a game. I realize he doesn't have a history of being a 3-point shooter, but I figure a guy that can nail 50% of his shots from 19-22 feet can hit 36% of his shots from 23 feet. That's an eFG% boost of 4% and it provides even more floor spacing.



FWIW, Basketball reference says that Humphries is actually a 56% shooter from 19-22 feet (on 32 attempts) and a 62% shooter from 20-22 feet (on 16 attempts). It seems like the further out he shoots, the more accurate he is. He had the exact same trend the year before in Boston to (54% from 19-22 feet, 61% from 20-22 feet). We could have the next Ryan Anderson and we don't even know it.

Agreed on Hump. That really hit home to me after Atlanta obliterated us. When your bigs can shoot 3s it gives the defense a lot more room they have to cover.

No way Witt will get him to start shooting 3s though. He loves his long 2s and nothing will convince him they are bad shots.

[Dat2U]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wizards-insider/wp/2015/01/13/randy-wittman-explains-why-wizards-dont-shoot-many-threes-despite-high-percentage/

In a vacuum, the Washington Wizards’ three-point statistics are perplexing. On one hand, they lead the NBA in three-point percentage at 39.2 percent. On the other, they attempt just 15.6 three-pointers, the third-fewest total in the league.

“You take what your defense gives you is what you kind of say and when there are opportunities we look to take them,” Wittman said. “We shoot a high percentage but we don’t have a lot of guys who shoot them … if that makes any sense to you.

the Wizards continue to take an extraordinary amount of midrange jumpers. They average 30.5 of them per game, barely fewer than the Los Angeles Lakers (30.8) and Knicks (30.5), and convert 40.1 percent of them, good for 15th. Of the six teams that take the most midrange jumpers in the league, only the Wizards, who rank 18th in the NBA in scoring, own a winning record.

Ya. I saw the interview. He talked a lot about the SAS team and what they do an how much he respected them.
Well they take 22 three balls a game. We take 15.6. That's 6 more attempts leading to 2.5-3.0 more pts a game on average.

Its hard to understand. You would assume a player like Paul know what is needed and would voice it. We have an SAS assistant.

I mean, if you are shooting the highest efficiency and the 3rd lowest attempts, you can give up some efficiency for more attempts. At least try it. Wall needs to take at least 3 attempts a game. Beal needs to take at least 6 attempts a game.

Beal is the 4th best 3 ball shooter in the league. Butler is 2nd. Now Butler seems to be in line for the amount of attempts a SF gets up when compared to other high efficiency SF, but Beal is shooting half the attempts compared to Kover, Klay and Reddick playing SG and shooting a high percentage. They are getting up 6 attempts. He gets up 4.

Let it fly Mr Beal. Go make them buckets.

I get the style Randy is focused on. Its all about the defense. If it is locked in, and you aren't turning it over and you are passing it from side to side, then you should be able to get good looks and win. I understand getting better at this stuff is good for the team long term. They do need to learn that stuff. And that's great when all that is happening. But it doesn't happen every game. And some team are just hot from 3. You can't just go 2 for 3. You won't keep up. Your 2s would have to be and 1s on drives and post moves. Not getting that from Hump taking that pretty mid range.

The rare occassion where we are in 100% agreement. We should frame this moment.

[Dark Faze]

Watching the game last night we don't drive to the rim enough. It's not about even getting three balls up, its just about driving to the rim more. We kick it out too much when we shouldn't, and our wings and guards aren't aggressive at all besides Wall and Miller.

And the thing that sucks is that Beal is actually a great finisher inside. He can switch hands and has a soft touch around the rim and has a strong body. He needs to start bulldozing to the basket. Rasual and Pierce too. The more the opponent respects your ability to go at the rim, the easier our bigs are going to have at slipping and getting easy baskets.

The problem with the offense is that guys know we're driving to pass and not to score. With that in mind, guys don't fully commit to rim protection which makes closing out on the kick outs and passes much easier.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wizards-insider/wp/2015/01/13/randy-wittman-explains-why-wizards-dont-shoot-many-threes-despite-high-percentage/

Ya. I saw the interview. He talked a lot about the SAS team and what they do an how much he respected them.
Well they take 22 three balls a game. We take 15.6. That's 6 more attempts leading to 2.5-3.0 more pts a game on average.

Its hard to understand. You would assume a player like Paul know what is needed and would voice it. We have an SAS assistant.

I mean, if you are shooting the highest efficiency and the 3rd lowest attempts, you can give up some efficiency for more attempts. At least try it. Wall needs to take at least 3 attempts a game. Beal needs to take at least 6 attempts a game.

Beal is the 4th best 3 ball shooter in the league. Butler is 2nd. Now Butler seems to be in line for the amount of attempts a SF gets up when compared to other high efficiency SF, but Beal is shooting half the attempts compared to Kover, Klay and Reddick playing SG and shooting a high percentage. They are getting up 6 attempts. He gets up 4.

Let it fly Mr Beal. Go make them buckets.

I get the style Randy is focused on. Its all about the defense. If it is locked in, and you aren't turning it over and you are passing it from side to side, then you should be able to get good looks and win. I understand getting better at this stuff is good for the team long term. They do need to learn that stuff. And that's great when all that is happening. But it doesn't happen every game. And some team are just hot from 3. You can't just go 2 for 3. You won't keep up. Your 2s would have to be and 1s on drives and post moves. Not getting that from Hump taking that pretty mid range.

The rare occassion where we are in 100% agreement. We should frame this moment.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I understand Wittman's point that it's not always easy to just "take more 3-pointers". Teams know that the 3-point shot is a good shot and they try and take it away. But that said, there are some small tweaks that could help a bit.

First, scrap the play with Beal runs around a big man and tries to get a handoff. It's an ugly play that only results in long 2's, which Beal NEVER hits. We get a lot more 3's off of John Wall pick-and-rolls or Nene post ups.

Second, Kris Humphries gets a lot of open looks from the top of the key. He's a 50% shooter from out there. If he would just spot up 3 feet further back, he'd get 3-5 wide open looks from 3-point range a game. I realize he doesn't have a history of being a 3-point shooter, but I figure a guy that can nail 50% of his shots from 19-22 feet can hit 36% of his shots from 23 feet. That's an eFG% boost of 4% and it provides even more floor spacing.



FWIW, Basketball reference says that Humphries is actually a 56% shooter from 19-22 feet (on 32 attempts) and a 62% shooter from 20-22 feet (on 16 attempts). It seems like the further out he shoots, the more accurate he is. He had the exact same trend the year before in Boston to (54% from 19-22 feet, 61% from 20-22 feet). We could have the next Ryan Anderson and we don't even know it.

Agreed on Hump. That really hit home to me after Atlanta obliterated us. When your bigs can shoot 3s it gives the defense a lot more room they have to cover.

No way Witt will get him to start shooting 3s though. He loves his long 2s and nothing will convince him they are bad shots.

Seems like Humphries should avoid shooting from the left short corner/baseline area and should feel free to occasionally step back and pop a three if he's open anywhere near the top of the key.

To his credit, Hump doesn't take many from the left side, where his eFG% is the lowest.