xNewYorkMadex wrote:I liked what I saw from Rose, just didnt like all the times he jumped in the air to pass. Did it too many times for my liking.
You must have despised Jerian Grant last year.
I do agree that it's a bad habit, but Rose has been doing it for years and it does it effectively enough that it is not a real problem.
I would like to see Rose drive-and-kick more like Harden, Wall, and even Westbrook. His drives are usually to get himself a layup or a floater. That is cool, but if he altered his driving mentality to include looking for open teammates (especially Lee, Melo, and Porzingis spot-up behind the arc) more often, New York could play more of a GSW/Spurs type of game.
If you look at the above video, almost all of Rose's drives had a teammate WIDE open for 3 in the corner. Particularly the drive at the 1:30 mark; Courtney Lee was open in the corner thanks to James Harden. Porzingis was open after the slip, Ariza stayed close to Melo. All 3 were behind the arc spreading the court, making the drive easy for Rose. Conventional wisdom: An open layup is a higher percentage shot than an open 3, so take it, but a team's offense becomes the most unstoppable when they can generate a lot of open 3-point attempts for capable outside shooters (especially in today's post-Phoenix-D'Antoni NBA). It's the reason NY got blown out vs. the Rockets. Harden was generating offense for both himself and his teammates. Rose was doing it mostly for himself. He got a lot of his assist for set plays, such as Porizings' 3-point pop-out off of down screens or split-and-pop 3s with KP.
Sidenote: Notice how Rose put up the same numbers he average last season in this game. Positive note - He did it, while having a poor first half.
NY has the weapons, imo, to rain down threes like the Warriors, the other SuperTeam (in Derrick's mind), although not to that extreme. Rose
should use his ability to penetrate and collapse the D to initiate the offense for teammates more. ISO Melo is likely no longer the best initiator of offense, although he can be some game (when he is hot).
They'll just have to worry about installing a team defense (which is why Thibodeau made more sense than Hornacek). That is what would've turned NY into a title contender. The offense would have worked itself out on its own, if the players found a way to play off of each and stick to that role (i.e. Olympic Melo vs. NBA Melo).
I think the offense will be fine, especially with Noah out there helping the ball movement and finding open teammates. Although, I believe the full offense power will be unlocked with Rose incorporating drive-and-kicks into his arsenal. The defensive system need extreme work. We have the wing defenders (when Melo is not looking like he's 130 yrs old) an defensive bigs (at least int he starting unit) to become a top 15 defensive team, imo.
It's hard being a Knicks fan...
