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http://www.truthaboutit.net/2010/03/fli ... -game.html

New Offense

Since the last Wizards home game against Charlotte, and the Andray Blatche affair, Blatche, to the extent that I’ve noticed, has made more of an effort to operate closer to the basket on offense, something Coach Saunders has implored him to do since early January, at least. I asked Flip about this before the game.

“We instituted/kinda put in a new offense that would make it more conducive for some of our bigger players to stay more around the basket and try to give our perimeter people more cutting opportunities, taking pressure off Andray around the basket where there wouldn’t be as many trap type situations,” said the coach, also mentioning that this new(ish) offense was instituted two days ago.

Looks like this started around 3.25.10

The ball was moving pretty well tonight, I'll give 'em that.

Its actually been going on for about 6 games now..

They looked crisp last night. Ball was moving left to right, there was coordinated upstream and downstream motion on each side of the ball, folks knew what their choices were and made good decisions.

I'm really glad that Flip has changed the offense around a bit. I'd like to see them stick with it a few days. In their other system they didn't seem like they knew what they were doing and they all seemed lost with Flip's traditional playbook. Maybe it was just the system that was the problem...

JEEZ!!!! We were calling for this waaaaay earlier in the season, he is just now getting around to taking advantage of mis-match oportunites for JaVale and turning-away from being a jump-shooting team? That's what killed us ALL SEASON LONG. Better late than never and I hope Flip continues to be flexible

we're a game away from tying the longest an NBA team has gone without hitting 100 pts/game.

pancakes3 wrote:we're a game away from tying the longest an NBA team has gone without hitting 100 pts/game.

Is that since the shot clock, or April Fools?

ErikChowbay023 wrote:Its actually been going on for about 6 games now..

Article dated the 27th. Coach said about two day before. That's around the 25th which is what I posted.

Well it looks like Flip may be an old dog that is able to learn a new trick.

It is interesting that he was willing to change things up this late in the season instead of saying, hey.. we road it this far, we will just finish the season doing the same.

Flip gets a Gold star for being willing changing things up. One thing people complained about him is his unwillingness to change the offense to fit the players. Since we are likely going to have him back next year, this is good news if he is our coach.

So Livingston was balln last game. He also had a good game against Utah.
Dray has been getting to the line more and is getting it going again the last two games.
McGee was moving toward the basket more and had back-to-back decent games. He is also getting to the line more regularly.

Nice to have a good reason to tune in again.

I just worry that the WIz may win a game or two to many and people will get out the pitch forks.

closg00 wrote::lol: JEEZ!!!! We were calling for this waaaaay earlier in the season, he is just now getting around to taking advantage of mis-match oportunites for JaVale and turning-away from being a jump-shooting team? That's what killed us ALL SEASON LONG. Better late than never and I hope Flip continues to be flexible

Now (4/1/10, with two weeks left) they like Flip's new offense.

Wonder what might have been back in late November, when the Wizards were scoring in the 80s and losing by more than 10 nightly, had Flip made this change then.

Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:

closg00 wrote::lol: JEEZ!!!! We were calling for this waaaaay earlier in the season, he is just now getting around to taking advantage of mis-match oportunites for JaVale and turning-away from being a jump-shooting team? That's what killed us ALL SEASON LONG. Better late than never and I hope Flip continues to be flexible

Now (4/1/10, with two weeks left) they like Flip's new offense.

Wonder what might have been back in late November, when the Wizards were scoring in the 80s and losing by more than 10 nightly, had Flip made this change then.

Everything is realize. It would have taken EJ two to two and half years.

Progress..not perfection because perfection is a dream but still a nice target to shoot for.

hands11 wrote:

Chocolate City Jordanaire wrote:Wonder what might have been back in late November, when the Wizards were scoring in the 80s and losing by more than 10 nightly, had Flip made this change then.

Everything is realize. It would have taken EJ two to two and half years.

Really? Shoot, EJ constantly revised and tinkered with his offense to suit his personnel. Usually to the benefit of the team. His offense wasn't the problem. Hell, a lack of tinkering wasn't the problem, even on defense-- in part the squad might have had the opposite problem, trying too many different defensive philosophies. Now if you were talking about in-game defensive match-up issues well yeah he was stubborn and slow to adjust, drove me nuts even as a staunch supporter of the cat. But let's not revise history here.

EJ was good at two things: player relations and tweaking his offensive system to fit his personnel. One reason why the Princeton-system became simply 'weave and heave' was that he decided to re-work the sets mostly to set-up one-on-one opportunities for Gil and Caron. Or Larry. The reason why players leaving the system got paid is because offensively he made them look good, and the market pays most for offensive stats-- even empty stats. But if you look at the success rate of Wiz players after him, yeah, no more all-star appearances, and a dip in the glory stats. Even Big Wood had his best year under EJ. Better statistically even than now playing next to JKidd and a stretch-the-D frontcourt partner in Dirk.

I was surprised it took Flip this long to stop pouting and work with what he's got. HIs CBA experience should have helped him. But he's not a young man anymore building that playbook, it takes him a little longer I suppose. I'm glad he's adjusting, putting the ball in the hands of 7-day Dray more than relying on one player, a PG, to do all the work. Bodes well for future re-working when we have a more complete roster and a real second or third or first option.

Actually, I think people are taking this out of context. Read the quote. Flip said "some" of the bigs. Trust me, I record our games and watch them like a coach. Blatche started off after the trade strictly in the post in like the first 5 games. Then he had a long stretch of like 7 games where he went strictly to the perimiter & faceup game. After that he went back mostly to the post again. Actually, in the new Offense he’s playing away from the post more. He still goes there alot but if you really watch, I think Flip took a page from the Avery Johnson play book. What Im noticing is that for the 1st time we are playing Blatche in the “high post” alot, basically like Dallas does Dirk. Everyone talks about how Dirk is beasting and the move that Avery made took him to a new level because its hard to double in that spot, which is around the FT line and a couple of feet out.

If you watch it like I do, you will see that the other bigs are around the basket. I made alot of post talking about how people are ripping McGee but alot of times he catches the ball high out on the floor with nowhere to go. Now its like Flip switched, put McGee down low, and put Blatche in that spot alot of times where Blatche is a superior passer. Now we have the bigs down low, Blatche in the high post, and guards cutting. It works because Blatche is a beast as a passer, has that great mid range J, and has the ability to put the ball on the floor that most bigs dont have. At the same time Flip still runs enough of our normal plays with Dray in the post that the D doesnt know whats coming.

I kinda think what happened is that Flip basically moved Dray to the Center positiong (in his offense) and has the other guys at the 4, atleast on Offense. Thats the change. At the same time, he starts Oberto now because Dray can still start the games at the 4 because Oberto is such a great passer also but if Blatche & McGee or Blatche & Singelton are in the game together then Blatche will be the 5 on Offense and those guys will be the 4. Now McGee is beasting because he’s around the hoop alot more and we also arent living by dumping it into Dray all game with the other 4 guys just standing there watching. Now he gets the ball at the high post and everyone is cutting and we have some nice length with Miller, NY, and Livingston.

It also makes the D scramble which lets the freaks in McGee & Singelton clean up the Offensive glass. The only real worry is that hoping moving Dray out that far doesnt make him start to settle for the J. I think against the Bulls tonight you will see Oberto up high again with Dray on the block against the smaller Gibson but could see him in the high post more when bigs like Noah or Miller are on him. They are too slow to guard him out there but the other thing I forgot to mention that it does is take there big away from the basket if they try to guard him with a 5 which should make it much easier for everyone else to score.

The key still is to keep Blatche on the block enough to keep the D honest. Plus, he can also still use his speed on the block against Centers with spins and stuff. Im glad we made this change though because our O was so precitable, boring, and sucked with everyone just watching Dray. Now everyone is involved and there is constant movement

^^^^
Nice post dlts20

yeah its funny because the whole season Ive been ripping Flip and saying that we have by far the worst Offense in the league. It was so bland and sucked so bad. Now its night & day and looks very hard to stop. Thats why weve scored 90 something the last 2 games against good defenses despite us having hardly any offensive talent left and the other guys still havent been red hot. Im seeing Blatche set screens but then flash to the high post to receive the ball and then everyone cuts.

Thats how we got that pick & roll dunk with Miller & Blatche last game, something that was never even possible before. Its impossible to double in that spot without leaving someone wide open for a good look and Blatche is in the middle of the floor so its not like he has to make a cross court pass or something so short that the D is still there. Its like a perfect distance where he can find someone under the rim or an open J. I love it and it gives me alot of confidence for next year. You can tell the rest of the guys feel more involved also so they play harder

dlts20 wrote:If you watch it like I do, you will see that the other bigs are around the basket. I made alot of post talking about how people are ripping McGee but alot of times he catches the ball high out on the floor with nowhere to go. Now its like Flip switched, put McGee down low, and put Blatche in that spot alot of times where Blatche is a superior passer. Now we have the bigs down low, Blatche in the high post, and guards cutting. It works because Blatche is a beast as a passer, has that great mid range J, and has the ability to put the ball on the floor that most bigs dont have. At the same time Flip still runs enough of our normal plays with Dray in the post that the D doesnt know whats coming.

I kinda think what happened is that Flip basically moved Dray to the Center positiong (in his offense) and has the other guys at the 4, atleast on Offense. Thats the change. At the same time, he starts Oberto now because Dray can still start the games at the 4 because Oberto is such a great passer also but if Blatche & McGee or Blatche & Singelton are in the game together then Blatche will be the 5 on Offense and those guys will be the 4. Now McGee is beasting because he’s around the hoop alot more and we also arent living by dumping it into Dray all game with the other 4 guys just standing there watching. Now he gets the ball at the high post and everyone is cutting and we have some nice length with Miller, NY, and Livingston.

It also makes the D scramble which lets the freaks in McGee & Singelton clean up the Offensive glass. The only real worry is that hoping moving Dray out that far doesnt make him start to settle for the J. I think against the Bulls tonight you will see Oberto up high again with Dray on the block against the smaller Gibson but could see him in the high post more when bigs like Noah or Miller are on him. They are too slow to guard him out there but the other thing I forgot to mention that it does is take there big away from the basket if they try to guard him with a 5 which should make it much easier for everyone else to score.

Yeah, that makes loads of sense. I was really noticing last game how Blatche, our high, was trying to draw attention and then feed it down low for an easy bucket. Unfortunately, Singleton and Oberto blew a few easy buckets, but the fundamentals of what they were doing looked nice.

Plus, I really think those whistles are going to come soon when Blatche puts the ball on the floor. I thought they were handchecking him and bumping him on his shot a fair bit.

Very nice rundown, dlts.

Hoopalotta wrote:

dlts20 wrote:If you watch it like I do, you will see that the other bigs are around the basket. I made alot of post talking about how people are ripping McGee but alot of times he catches the ball high out on the floor with nowhere to go. Now its like Flip switched, put McGee down low, and put Blatche in that spot alot of times where Blatche is a superior passer. Now we have the bigs down low, Blatche in the high post, and guards cutting. It works because Blatche is a beast as a passer, has that great mid range J, and has the ability to put the ball on the floor that most bigs dont have. At the same time Flip still runs enough of our normal plays with Dray in the post that the D doesnt know whats coming.

I kinda think what happened is that Flip basically moved Dray to the Center positiong (in his offense) and has the other guys at the 4, atleast on Offense. Thats the change. At the same time, he starts Oberto now because Dray can still start the games at the 4 because Oberto is such a great passer also but if Blatche & McGee or Blatche & Singelton are in the game together then Blatche will be the 5 on Offense and those guys will be the 4. Now McGee is beasting because he’s around the hoop alot more and we also arent living by dumping it into Dray all game with the other 4 guys just standing there watching. Now he gets the ball at the high post and everyone is cutting and we have some nice length with Miller, NY, and Livingston.

It also makes the D scramble which lets the freaks in McGee & Singelton clean up the Offensive glass. The only real worry is that hoping moving Dray out that far doesnt make him start to settle for the J. I think against the Bulls tonight you will see Oberto up high again with Dray on the block against the smaller Gibson but could see him in the high post more when bigs like Noah or Miller are on him. They are too slow to guard him out there but the other thing I forgot to mention that it does is take there big away from the basket if they try to guard him with a 5 which should make it much easier for everyone else to score.

Yeah, that makes loads of sense. I was really noticing last game how Blatche, our high, was trying to draw attention and then feed it down low for an easy bucket. Unfortunately, Singleton and Oberto blew a few easy buckets, but the fundamentals of what they were doing looked nice.

Plus, I really think those whistles are going to come soon when Blatche puts the ball on the floor. I thought they were handchecking him and bumping him on his shot a fair bit.

Very nice rundown, dlts.

Are you saying the McGee is playing the 4 on offense ?

hands11 wrote:Are you saying the McGee is playing the 4 on offense ?

Come on Dawg, that was only about 2% of DLTS's post.

Actually, I'd agree that point is worth noting, as I'm not really sure how the adjustments makes 'the other big' the 4 and Dray the 5. Well, other than that maybe I've seen centers guarding Dray a bit (Hayes), but that's beside the point. But anywho, that's just a little quibble.

Singleton and Dray are the guys we have with more traditional power forward skills, though Singleton is hardly bedazzling there. Really, we're a little bit am-big-uous with our bigs as of now. Seems like Dray up high with 'the other big' down low would make Dray the 4 on offense, but I'm hardly the X's & O's answer man. I'm sure DLTS will come in and give a brief explanation of his intentions.

As to the Wiz-board's 'great schism', I'm really of the opinion that McGee is a center.

A couple things:

1)If McGee makes ten good plays, nine of them were probably right around the rim.
2)When he's called upon to guard the perimeter, he struggles in his lateral movements. So, against a guy who can put the ball on the floor, it's just really easy to draw a foul on him.

He could play some forward in spots with the right guy at center (Marc Gasol?), but I just think forward is getting away from his strengths.

Admittedly, if he could improve his post up game, jumper and perimeter defense, he might do alright at power forward. His post moves are starting to look more decisive, but still too inconsistent to rely upon if we're looking for a weapon to win games with (which means that now is the time to try 'em out). I could see a scenario where he could pound little guys in the post, yes. His jumper has potential.

But, and its a big 'but', I don't know if having him chase David West, Mike Beasley and Antawn Jamison around the three point line is ever going to be anything but an exploitable mismatch that sends McGee to the bench with two quick fouls.

(P.S. been meaning to mention to you, Hands: I've had a few separate technical issues that have kept me out of the game-chats. I miss it, good times in there)

Yeah, it probably makes sense to have the longest guy on the team playing closest to the basket - especially when he's made about 3 of 30 jump shots this season and hasn't displayed any half court skills - and hasn't played anything but center for years. Uh... not a tough decision.