chefo wrote:That whole thing about needing a post game to score on shorter (not necessarily that much lighter) players is a myth. As a matter of fact, post-ups are probably the least efficient way of scoring from down low or mid-post, unless you're a HOF level talent like Ewing, Shaq, Dream, Mailman or Sir Charles.
Let's get that out of the way--Lauri will likely NEVER be that kind of scorer. That doesn't mean you can't punish teams for guarding an athletic 7 footer in a million different ways. I started playing ball in the early 90s, and watched a lot of tape to see how players moved around the court. The way it was done in Europe versus the NBA was night and day... mostly because in Europe you rarely had HOF-level bigs and you could pack the paint with an honest zone and not be penalized for it.
The NBA now plays much more European-like basketball than 20 or 30 years ago. Both on O and on D, with obvious exceptions being any team LeBron is on. But I think a whole generation of coaches have kind of forgotten the basics of how you feed a tall big because I don't see it very often these days.
I mean, how many times have you seen one of our guards do the Stockton/Malone down screen at the baseline? If you guard a 7 footer with a 6'6 guy and he gets screened by a 6'4 guy being guarded by a 6'2 guy, all it takes is a mediocre lob to Lauri to get a dunk or a layup. How many times have we seen a high-low? Rolo used to do it fairly often with Lauri--this thing is like free cheese if your other big can make a FT jumper and there is no way to guard it unless you collapse the entire D on Lauri. It furthermore helps him because he can leverage down with an elbow in his defender's back, rather than trying to back down a player that is likely as strong and has a lower center of gravity. How about putting him at the elbow for an ISO versus at the 3? I mean, it's a dribble and a dunk or a semi-open jumper, if the defender is smaller.
There are a score of ways to get somebody like Lauri the ball in motion cutting to the hoop where a small can pretty much do nothing about it if Lauri rises up for a layup or a 8 ft floater.
Some of that stuff people used to run for Dream, Admiral, Bird, McHale, Mailman. I know it takes discipline to do that regularly and understanding of the pecking order on a team, but Lauri is not some kind of stiff who won't convert, especially if he's being guarded by a SF.
Here's the big BUT. Last year, the system BY DESIGN excluded ALL of the above from the playbook because it did not fit the 3&Layups system. Lauri got the ball, like EVERY other spacer on the team, at the 3 point line.
Before Giannis, I can't recall ANY player that was close to 7 feet who could drive into traffic with success from there. It's 3 or 4 dribbles for the big. Unless the other team was extremely undisciplined, that would mean the paint would be packed a second into the drive.
There's a reason a bunch of the all-time greats got the ball in the mid-post and the elbow, preferably. It wasn't because players and coaches 40 years ago were dumb. For an agile, non-Shaq, big that's the optimal place because if gives the scorer a lot of options depending on who's guarding him. A slow, big--one dribble and attack the basket. A shorter big--rise up for a 15 ft jumper. An even smaller wing or a G--either, depending on how strong the defender is.
I mean, everybody who's ever played organized ball understands the above on some level. Just 15 years ago Dirk made a freakin' living in the mid-post. Yeah, he could shoot, but his sweet spot were his little fadeaways and driving, if they put a big on him.
Anyhow, coach D has probably forgotten more about ball than I'll ever know, so my guess is that he'll find a way to get a 7 footer who can both do 360 dunks AND shoot 7 3s a game at a decent clip to play better than last year.
If you can lock up Lauri before he goes back to being a 20/8 player for 15-17M / year, you do it because if coach D resurrects Lauri's career, you'll have to pay him 10 more per than that.
The general problem is the large quantity of 6'8" or 6'9" guys around the league who are athletic. Lauri generally tends to struggle to shoot over them with his jumper and he can't take them off the dribble. Without some ability to use his height to get off a good shot, Lauri can largely be neutralized by small ball.
As you note, it doesn't have to be traditional post play. The old Dirk stuff in the high to mid post would be awesome. He just needs something in his pocket to consistently punish teams for putting a PWill type on him.
Overall, Lauri needs to be a 5. That's his best position on offense. He pulls the opposing center out to the 3p line and if the guy gets too close, he can drive by him. He doesn't have to change a thing and he is effective. Unfortunately, then the defensive problem gets exacerbated. Ideally you want your center to be able to body up other big men AND be a good help defender and Lauri is neither.
Lauri isn't a 4 in today's NBA on offense. While he might be fast for a 7 footer, he isn't fast for an NBA 4. As a 4, he is simply a pick and pop / stand around the arc guy.
Hopefully Lauri has been killing it for the last few months and comes out with a drastically improved game so we can all gush over how awesome he is and forget about this stuff.
