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This is my own new term (have been using it in my head for a few weeks now) for when offensive possessions are completely undermined by players not doing they SHOULD be doing. I am not talking about physical mistakes, like missing an open shot, or even getting a shot blocked or turning the ball over when trying to do the RIGHT thing. I am talking about players not passing the ball to the right guy, or not moving themselves in the offense, and other likewise STUPID things.

Offender #1 to me is Ray Allen. Rasheed Wallace is working his way up the list as well. Paul is even getting in on teh act from time to time, though eh isn't anywhere near these guys. Perk is strting to become a problem at times as well. How so?

I'll start off with Ray. The biggest problem with this guy is that he will not pass to Rondo unless he thinks that he will get an assist out of it. It is really as simple as that. I've brought it up before, and this continues to be a major issue. Hell, even Marv Albert spotted an instance of it last night, and the possession where the ball got knocked away from Ray into the backcourt, and it resulted in a shot clock violation. Ray didn't have ANYTHING (shot, drive or pass to anyone else), and Rondo was poen calling for the ball. Ray refused to pass it to him, and threw a possession away in the process. It is becoming very apparent to me that Ray's basic attitude is that anything he does, on any given posssession, will be better than anything Rondo would do. This happens A LOT. It is inexcusable. We had at least three second half possessions that were completely undermined by Ray not passing Rondo the ball. I'm not saying that Rondo would have definitely cashed in on these possessions, but considering that Ray had absolutely nothing, I'd take Rondo's something no matter how small.

Rasheed hitting shots is becoming almost as bad as him not hitting them. Why? Because if he actually gets into any sort of groove, you can be virtually assured that he will go into gunner mode and ride that groove right into the ground, and continue shooting anyways. He doesn't pass to Rondo much either, but it is nothing personal, because he doesn't pass to anyone. Sometimes I actually yearn for 'Toine on the offensive end. At least he was a great passer.

Paul has the same issue that Ray has, but just to a far less extent, but it is still damaging at times. He is MUCH more willing to give up the ball to Rondo when he gets into trouble, and looks to pass him the ball in transition and in the halfcourt more consistently. Sometimes he blows off Rondo when he shouldn't, but his issue is being late in recognizing when Rondo will be open because he looks for other people too much and Rondo too little. He turned the ball over late in teh Magic game trying to feed Rondo under the basket, but that was because he was late in recognizing that Rondo wasopen. If he makes the pass as soon as Rondo clears, it is an easy layup.

Perk has calmed down a little lately, but he was turning into a black hole on the block. I hope that doesn't happen again.

The emphasis I'm especially putting on passing to Rondo in this OP revolves around the fact that if you are going to take the ball out of his hands in the halfcourt, then you must still look for him in the offense. Otherwise you are needlessly playing 4 on 5 offense BY DESIGN. Just look at KG. He actually LOOKS for Rondo. Do you notice how often that pays off? Ray Allen won't even pass the kid the ball when he absolutely has no other real option. That undermines the offense at a fundamental level, because some of you might not be aware of this, but Rondo is BETTER than Ray. He can't shoot like him, but he is way beyond him as a ball handler, finisher, and playmaker. He makes things happen out there in a way Ray fundamentally cannot. Yet Doc takes the ball out of Rondo's hands and puts into the hands of others, and lets them do as they please... as if we had to play that way.

By allowing this to continue, Doc is basically allowing people to throw away possessions. This isn't a rare thing. It happens almost every game where players with a certain sense of entitlement are refusing to do what is only sensible basketball, and they to be called out on this. Yet Doc does not do this, which is the same thing as encouraging this behavior. In a sport which often comes down to the final few posssessions of a 90+ possession game (per side), throwing away 5 or 6 can make all the difference. Physical mistakes are just part of the game. This kind of aggrogant stupidity is not.

Hmmm, Rondo appears to have completely escaped your scrutiny... Surprising.

Good term--but what's the cause? Ray Allen's hidden agenda? 'Sheed's low BBIQ?

Of course not; what's at fault is the design of the offense and Doc's inflexibility and inability to recognize that player ability is moving up and down the spectrum. As certain players get worse, opportunities should be shifted to better players, but Doc still coaches this team like it's 2007.

How to fix the problem? Easy, we need a starting lineup change. It's pretty clear our 3 best players are Rondo/Paul/KG--that triumverate can score in pretty much any way necessary and therefore should be getting the bulk of the offensive opportunities. Perk is the perfect 4th option and a guy like TA--who plays incredible defense and has improved his movement off-the-ball and moves in the post--is the perfect defensive stopper/opportunistic bucket maker to round out the starting five.

The reason I like a lineup change is that it removes some of the chemistry problems affecting the entire team--things like Ray's inability to give up the ball, Sheed and Eddie's ball chuck tendencies, the dearth of quickenss on the perimeter, and our lack of easy bucket opportunities. In an ideal world, our usage totem pole would be as follows: Paul/KG/Rondo/Ray/Perk/Sheed/House/TA/Baby. But right now its Paul/KG/'Sheed(!)/House(!!)/Rondo/Ray/TA/Kendrick/Baby

To me, we have 2 main problems affecting the team--not enough shots for Ray, and too many shots for House and 'Sheed. You put Ray on that 2nd unit, suck some shots from Ed and 'Sheed, and correct both problems. In addition, you funnel more opportunties to Perk on the starting unit with Ray coming off the bench.

Another huge problem is our lack of perimeter defense. Swapping TA for Ray addresses this concern as well.

Last, by moving Ray out of the starting lineup, I think we can create more shots for Paul/KG/Rondo, something we NEED to do. Rondo needs to be encouraged to score (like he should have been down the stretch last night), and Paul--as the clear #1 threat on this team right now--needs to get more shots early in the game.

See, we caught the perfect storm in 2007-2008--each of the big 3 was of equal stature and effectiveness, therefore playing them together, getting them to swallow their egos and share shots, actually worked--you couldn't key on any one player and all 3 benefited. Those times are gone, however. Rondo has replaced Ray and KG is still regaining his form (though still effective in his compromised form). The team dynamic has changed--but we're not changing along with it.

Doc did a great job creating a narrative for the championship team. But he's failed miserably the last 2 seasons by assuming that narrative still holds true.

darrendaye wrote:Hmmm, Rondo appears to have completely escaped your scrutiny... Surprising.

Does Rondo have a problem with regards to passing the ball to the right people? Does he not understand the flow of offense? Is he a ball haog gunner? A black hole?

No. He is on the complete opposite of this spectrum. Period.

ryaningf wrote:Good term--but what's the cause? Ray Allen's hidden agenda? 'Sheed's low BBIQ?

Of course not; what's at fault is the design of the offense and Doc's inflexibility and inability to recognize that player ability is moving up and down the spectrum. As certain players get worse, opportunities should be shifted to better players, but Doc still coaches this team like it's 2007.

How to fix the problem? Easy, we need a starting lineup change. It's pretty clear our 3 best players are Rondo/Paul/KG--that triumverate can score in pretty much any way necessary and therefore should be getting the bulk of the offensive opportunities. Perk is the perfect 4th option and a guy like TA--who plays incredible defense and has improved his movement off-the-ball and moves in the post--is the perfect defensive stopper/opportunistic bucket maker to round out the starting five.

The reason I like a lineup change is that it removes some of the chemistry problems affecting the entire team--things like Ray's inability to give up the ball, Sheed and Eddie's ball chuck tendencies, the dearth of quickenss on the perimeter, and our lack of easy bucket opportunities. In an ideal world, our usage totem pole would be as follows: Paul/KG/Rondo/Ray/Perk/Sheed/House/TA/Baby. But right now its Paul/KG/'Sheed(!)/House(!!)/Rondo/Ray/TA/Kendrick/Baby

To me, we have 2 main problems affecting the team--not enough shots for Ray, and too many shots for House and 'Sheed. You put Ray on that 2nd unit, suck some shots from Ed and 'Sheed, and correct both problems. In addition, you funnel more opportunties to Perk on the starting unit with Ray coming off the bench.

Another huge problem is our lack of perimeter defense. Swapping TA for Ray addresses this concern as well.

Last, by moving Ray out of the starting lineup, I think we can create more shots for Paul/KG/Rondo, something we NEED to do. Rondo needs to be encouraged to score (like he should have been down the stretch last night), and Paul--as the clear #1 threat on this team right now--needs to get more shots early in the game.

See, we caught the perfect storm in 2007-2008--each of the big 3 was of equal stature and effectiveness, therefore playing them together, getting them to swallow their egos and share shots, actually worked--you couldn't key on any one player and all 3 benefited. Those times are gone, however. Rondo has replaced Ray and KG is still regaining his form (though still effective in his compromised form). The team dynamic has changed--but we're not changing along with it.

Doc did a great job creating a narrative for the championship team. But he's failed miserably the last 2 seasons by assuming that narrative still holds true.

Honestly, I don't think that Doc has ever fully appreciated what Rondo can bring to the table, but I do agree that he has been very poor in adjusting to the changing nature of the make-up of this team. He obviously thinks that Rondo should just be some role player who feeds Paul, Ray and KG, when in fact might be our best player now, or is at the very least just behind Paul. Yet Doc continues to marginalize him.

It really is just plain stupid how much the ball gets taken out of his hands. He is our best creator, yet Doc thinks that lesser playmakers are just as good. They are not. KG is the second best passer on this team after him, and in reality he really isn't that close to Rajon's ability level in that regard. Rondo is an elite passer. Right up there with Paul, Nash, Williams and Kidd. Not only in statistics, but in REAL ability. He is also not encouraged to shoot. That much is obvious. Almost no effort was made in last night's game to get him involved in the scoring. If it wasn't for KG, he might not shot at all. Garnett was the only one who went out of his way to get Rondo the ball, and that was purely on his own initiative. That is just sad.

Ray is a top tier shooter, but that is ALL that he is. He can't create his own shot, has poor court vision and mediocre passing ability. He should not be dribbling the ball around in the half court. Paul is much better in this regard, but he is still a scorer first, and a creator second, and he is much better at the former. I don't have a problem with him handling the ball, so long as he is gives it up when he doesn't have anything going for him on a possession. Case in point, when he gave it up to Rondo two games ago, when he dribbled into trouble, and Rondo dimed KG with his left hand for a layin in the fourth quarter. Ray wouldn't have done that. He would have forced up a bad shot.

Physical mistakes are part of the game, but this hubris is killing the team because possessions which could have turned out very productively are being sabotaged not by "lackof execution", but a more basic lack of basic basketball knowledge combined with destructive egotism. The fact of the matter is that Paul and Ray will often only pass certain guys the ball when they think they will get an assist out of it. That is unacceptable. Rondo doesn't average as many assists as he does a game because he makes 10 good passes a game. He makes 60 or 70 good passes a game. He makes the simple post feed in pass, or advances the ball in transition with as little hesitation as he makes the spectacular highlight reel feeds for dunks and threes.

In fact, his mentality in doing that is WHY he averages so many assists. He will unhesitatingly make the RIGHT PASS, no matter what the nature of that pass is. That is what good passing is all about. It is one of the reasons I admire LeBron James so much. Watching him with the US National team is an enormous pleasure for me, because he is so unhestatingly unselfish and smart. You very rarely see him ever miss making that correct pass. The gulf between him and Kobe is at its most apparent in this regard. While Kobe would force up bad shots, even with that superior talent around him, LeBron would time and again punish opposing defenses for overplaying him, or for making other mistakes. Not only with passes that led to assists, but even simple rotations of the ball. Larry was like that.

Looking for assists instead of looking for the right pass is bad passing, and yet Doc is taking the ball out of the hands of our best passer and giving it to guys who think that doing that BS is the way to go. This is causing our offense to break down at a fundamental level. Rondo is a "wheel greaser" by nature. Facilitating others is his calling in life. To take the ball out of his hands, and to not pass it to him is to throw away one of this team's greatest weapons.

Ray Allen is not going to the bench..specially not for Tony friggin Allen and his behind the ear brick shot. So there is no reason to write 8 paragraph bibles about it.

Every player make mistakes on a BB court from time to time during the game........ post.......

Makes no sense.......

Yeah, Ray Allen often makes 0 BBIQ selfish plays irregardless of his weaknesses.

When Perkins was "a black hole" on offense, at least we were winning games. We're seeing more Pierce and Ray isolation and way more outside shooting, and we've been inefficient on offense and getting too tired to play defense. It would be good to see more post play... so get Perkins the ball. If Sheed wants to go down on the block, give it to him. We've been playing outside-in... should be playing inside-out.

Kefa461 wrote:Every player make mistakes on a BB court from time to time during the game........ post.......

Makes no sense.......

Ahhh, yes. The smilie faces. A great substitute for logic and facts... at least for those who have very little going for them in either department.

LanFill wrote:When Perkins was "a black hole" on offense, at least we were winning games. We're seeing more Pierce and Ray isolation and way more outside shooting, and we've been inefficient on offense and getting too tired to play defense. It would be good to see more post play... so get Perkins the ball. If Sheed wants to go down on the block, give it to him. We've been playing outside-in... should be playing inside-out.

Check out the shot locations in Hoopdata.com. It's a great site for such stuff. The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of Kendrick Perkins baskets are assisted. About half from 10 feet in (that covers his hook shots and fallaways) and almost 80% at the rim. So how do those break down

http://hoopdata.com/player.aspx?name=Kendrick Perkins

He averages 3.3 FG per game at the rim (being assisted on 78.5% of them)

He averages 1.1. FG per game from 10 feet in, being assisted on 46.8%% of them)

He also makes 2.4 FTs a game

So what should that tell you? Is Perk getting his points with his back to the basket, or is he having the bulk of his offense being created for him by someone else? The answer should be pretty obvious? He isn't getting to the rim with his post game. Those shots are almost exclusively fallaways and hooks, with some layups thrown in. He also doesn't get to the line with that post game either. At least with any sort of consistency.

So where is his real offense coming from? That would be from two guys, mainly: Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce. Rondo mainly, but still a good deal from Paul. Ray gets in the acts too, primarily with that pick and roll they do on occasion on the baseline.

The idea of dumping the ball to Perk in the post, to generate more offense, is ridiculous. The dude is shooting 53.4% on the 2 attempts a game he gets from 10 feet in, yet he turns the ball over PLENTY in there. He wasn't getting his 12 points per game by having some great post game. He was getting them primarily from RONDO. Get it? Rondo, coming off of PICKS (which are no longer being set for him), getting into the paint, drawing the defense, and dumping it down to Perk. That is why SOOOOOOOO many of those shots are assisted. If you have been paying attention, you would know that most of Perks free throw attempts came on such passes, where the defense just wrapped him up.

Too many people drinking Doc's Koolaid around here. The fact of the matter is that we don't have a single, reliable low post option on this team. KG has never been one, no matter what anybody would like to believe. Sheed specializes in a turnaround jumper down there, which he hits at a decent percentage, but he doesn't get to the line nor does he pass the ball. Perk really gets most of his play on Rondo and Paul's penetration. Doc is spreading this manure around about how we need to pound the all in to the post, citing our "points in the paint" being important.

Do you know who actually leads this team in points in the paint? That would be Rondo. Funny, eh? He is also the guy who leads this team, by a huge margin, in assists which lead to shots at the rim, and from in close. Rondo, and Paul/Ray (to a lesser extent) ARE the inside game, yet our clown of a coach doesn't seem to realize this. Just look at KG. The vast majority of his inside game revolves around Rondo and Paul getting him those looks. Yet, according to Doc, we need to pound it into guys down low. That is when we play best.

Since when? The stats do not support this at all.

People complain about the bench (hell, Doc was complaining about the bench), so I don't see the big deal with moving Ray to the bench to solidify it. Make him the designated chucker and get House off the court. Lots of teams start defensive-minded non-scorers at the 2 and 3 only to bring better, more offensively gifted players off the bench (Denver and SA, for example). It's not a huge stretch and given our defensive issues on the perimeter and our lack of scoring off-the-bench, the Ray-as-6th-man idea is pretty reasonable.

The problem with Perkins isn't that he's a black hole (which he is), it's that in our myopic attempts to force him the ball (as decried by Doc), we end up getting him the ball 10 feet from the basket. Perk has been FANTASTIC when he gets the ball in deep post position. But it's too much to ask him to do something with the ball in a mid-post spot, yet our slow-down, work-the-matchups, get-it-down-low-at-any-cost offensive philosophy has lost sight of that point.

Our narrative needs to change. This is Rondo's team; we only win when we put the ball in Rondo's hands and let him operate. Sure, we can isolate Pierce from time to time as a counter to running the offense through Rondo, but the kind of quarter-long, isolation fests such as we saw last night are extremely counterproductive and one of the main reasons our bench can't seem to do anything out there.

Just think back to last night, 3rd quarter against the Hawks, when we basically isolated Pierce the ENTIRE quarter. Now, Paul definitely responded and we definitely got back into the game because of it. The problem was, it basically NEUTERED the entire offense as a result. We isolated Pierce all quarter, had about zero player movement, no picking, no passing, and you know what happened? When Pierce rested, we had ZERO FLOW on the offensive end. What's worse, Doc inserted the ENTIRE 2nd unit at about this time, saying to them: "Yeah, I know you don't have a real point guard leading you and I know we just spent the entire quarter isolating Paul Pierce, but still I expect you to play team offensive basketball, move the ball, set picks, and make jumpers." What happened? We couldn't score and the Hawks went up by 10 in about a minute and a half. And what happened in the 4th? Oh yeah, we had ZERO ball movement, no picking, and unfortunately for us, Paul Pierce remembered he was 32 and not 27 and couldn't play winning isolation basketball anymore.

You can't just flip a switch and play a whole new brand of offensive basketball with a whole new set of (lesser) players and expect it to work. Yet, that's what Doc's substitution and offensive philosophy did last night. Worse yet, it basically doomed our starters to an offensively ineffective 4th quarter.

Of course, after the game, Doc blames the 2nd unit and pats himself on the back for 'getting Paul going'. Yeah, good one Doc. You got Paul going with a strategy which basically doomed us to lose the game. Quite the accomplishment.

Doc likes to talk about growing and getting better--there's only one way to do that and it's by putting the ball in Rondo's hands. EVERY other game plan is a stubborn and ultimately stupid denial of the fact that it's no longer 2007.

ryaningf wrote:People complain about the bench (hell, Doc was complaining about the bench), so I don't see the big deal with moving Ray to the bench to solidify it. Make him the designated chucker and get House off the court. Lots of teams start defensive-minded non-scorers at the 2 and 3 only to bring off better, more offensively gifted players off the bench (Denver and SA, for example). It's not a huge stretch and given our defensive issues on the perimeter and our lack of scoring off-the-bench, the Ray-as-6th-man idea is pretty reasonable.

The problem with Perkins isn't that he's a black hole (which he is), it's that in our myopic attempts to force him the ball (as decried by Doc), we end up getting him the ball 10 feet from the basket. Perk has been FANTASTIC when he gets the ball in deep post position. But it's too much to ask him to do something with the ball in a mid-post spot, yet our slow-down, work-the-matchups, get-it-down-low-at-any-cost offensive philosophy has lost sight of that point.

Our narrative needs to change. This is Rondo's team; we only win when we put the ball in Rondo's hands and let him operate. Sure, we can isolate Pierce from time to time as a counter to running the offense through Rondo, but the kind of quarter-long, isolation fests such as we saw last night are extremely counterproductive and one of the main reasons our bench can't seem to do anything out there.

Just think back to last night, 3rd quarter against the Hawks, when we basically isolated Pierce the ENTIRE quarter. Now, Paul definitely responded and we definitely got back into the game because of it. The problem was, it basically NEUTERED the entire offense as a result. We isolated Pierce all quarter, had about zero player movement, no picking, no passing, and you know what happened? When Pierce rested, we had ZERO FLOW on the offensive end. What's worse, Doc inserted the ENTIRE 2nd unit at about this time, saying to them: "Yeah, I know you don't have a real point guard leading you and I know we just spent the entire quarter isolating Paul Pierce, but still I expect you to play team offensive basketball, move the ball, set picks, and make jumpers." What happened? We couldn't score and the Hawks went up by 10 in about a minute and a half. And what happened in the 4th? Oh yeah, we had ZERO ball movement, no picking, and unfortunately for us, Paul Pierce remembered he was 32 and not 27 and couldn't winning isolation basketball anymore.

You can't just flip a switch and play a whole new brand of offensive basketball with a whole new set of (lesser) players and expect it to work. Yet, that's what Doc's substitution and offensive philosophy did last night. Worse yet, it basically doomed our starters to an offensively ineffective 4th quarter.

Of course, after the game, Doc blames the 2nd unit and pats himself on the back for 'getting Paul going'. Yeah, good one Doc. You got Paul going with a strategy which basically doomed us to lose the game. Quite the accomplishment.

Doc likes to talk about growing and getting better--there's only one way to do that and it's by putting the ball in Rondo's hands. EVERY other game plan is a stubborn and ultimately stupid denial of the fact that it's no longer 2007.

I'm with you, Ryan. IMO, Rondo just plain sucked last night. He's my man, but it just wasn't his ight. That being said, last night was only one game, and what has been going on here is a problem of a much bigger scope, as you have pointed out.

I especially like how you used the word "stubborness", because I really think that is half of the problem. It isn't so much that Doc doesn't know what to do, but he'd so much rather do something else. His beliefs and inclinations. I remember back in our Title year, KG went down for 9 games. Doc went to Rondo because he had to. How did Rajon respond? Well, he was awesome. The best ball he played the entire season was in that stretch.

Well, the reporters were asking Doc what he thought of Rondo's play, and Doc said "he'll be better when KG comes back, you'll see." He said that several times. Was he better? Hell, no. How could he be? Doc went back to running the team in the EXACT same way that he had BEFORE KG's injury, as if nothing had happened.

Doc has been undeservedly given credit for the defense of this team. That is Thibodeau's deal. Always has been since he arrived. Tom is in complete control of that end, and it was our defense which carried us to a Title. The offense is Doc's and it has been, IMO, a constant underperformer. As I pointed out in another post, a guy like Adelman squeezes a quarter out of two dimes, while Doc got handed a dollar, yet we get back 75 cents. He isn't maximizing our talent, he isn't even getting what he should out of it. He is trying to adjust the players to his system instead of adjusting the system to his players.

GreenDreamer wrote:I'm with you, Ryan. IMO, Rondo just plain sucked last night. He's my man, but it just wasn't his ight. That being said, last night was only one game, and what has been going on here is a problem of a much bigger scope, as you have pointed out.

Well, I think Rondo tweaked his hammy against Orlando (he slipped on a wet spot after making a layup), which slowed him for last night's game. Even then, I wouldn't have taken the ball out of his hands. His development (and the team's development around him) should be our #1 long range goal--which I'd abandon from time to time in order to win specific games (and only when the abandonment would actually 'win' us a game). I thought Doc went overboard with it last night, abandoning Rondo-centered offense not only to the detriment of Rondo (and the team), but to the detriment of the win. When was the last time a Pierce-centered offense won a game? Early Nov. against the Nets. And that's about the only team in the league against which it'll work. It's just not smart coaching on so many levels.

We haven't grown this season and it's because our coach hasn't accepted the fact that things have changed. Our only potential avenue for growth is via Rondo--the rest are all short-term fixes.

GreenDreamer wrote:Doc has been undeservedly given credit for the defense of this team. That is Thibodeau's deal. Always has been since he arrived. Tom is in complete control of that end, and it was our defense which carried us to a Title. The offense is Doc's and it has been, IMO, a constant underperformer. As I pointed out in another post, a guy like Adelman squeezes a quarter out of two dimes, while Doc got handed a dollar, yet we get back 75 cents. He isn't maximizing our talent, he isn't even getting what he should out of it. He is trying to adjust the players to his system instead of adjusting the system to his players.

I saw an interesting stat which backs this up. I was watching something and they had the scoring averages and the TO/game averages of the top 4 teams in the EC. We had the lowest scoring average and yet the highest TO average of those 4 teams. That's not good. Our offense has not been good and it's because of exactly what you say--Doc trying to adjust his players to his scheme instead of the other way round. Guys like House and Sheed, because they can shoot and therefore fit into Doc's system, get ample opportunity to chuck, even when they're not open or it takes a lot of capital to get them open. Guys like Rondo, Perk, TA, and Daniels (or Powe last season), guys with efficient inside games, get lost in the shuffle and underutilized in Doc's system--because they can't shoot from range.

People forget because it was so long ago, but outside of the calming influence of Daniels and his ability to ball handle and pass and his knack for making smart plays, he was extremely underutilized in the first month of the season. He was and is our best bench player, yet we continued to funnel opportunities to lesser players all because they could shoot from range and we basically relied on Daniels to do that funneling. Problem is, Daniels was our best scorer on that unit too, but we were content to sit him in the corner at the 3 point line while we 'worked it' for a 3. Same kind of underutilization has occurred with TA, Perk, and Rondo. A good coach takes what he has and makes the best out of it--a bad coach fits players into a system and blames players when the system doesn't work. Doc is a great coach in many ways, but his systemic approach to offensive basket and his inflexibility in terms of implementation will always be his downfall.

GreenDreamer wrote:

LanFill wrote:When Perkins was "a black hole" on offense, at least we were winning games. We're seeing more Pierce and Ray isolation and way more outside shooting, and we've been inefficient on offense and getting too tired to play defense. It would be good to see more post play... so get Perkins the ball. If Sheed wants to go down on the block, give it to him. We've been playing outside-in... should be playing inside-out.

Check out the shot locations in Hoopdata.com. It's a great site for such stuff. The fact of the matter is that the vast majority of Kendrick Perkins baskets are assisted. About half from 10 feet in (that covers his hook shots and fallaways) and almost 80% at the rim. So how do those break down

http://hoopdata.com/player.aspx?name=Kendrick Perkins

He averages 3.3 FG per game at the rim (being assisted on 78.5% of them)

He averages 1.1. FG per game from 10 feet in, being assisted on 46.8%% of them)

He also makes 2.4 FTs a game

So what should that tell you? Is Perk getting his points with his back to the basket, or is he having the bulk of his offense being created for him by someone else? The answer should be pretty obvious? He isn't getting to the rim with his post game. Those shots are almost exclusively fallaways and hooks, with some layups thrown in. He also doesn't get to the line with that post game either. At least with any sort of consistency.

So where is his real offense coming from? That would be from two guys, mainly: Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce. Rondo mainly, but still a good deal from Paul. Ray gets in the acts too, primarily with that pick and roll they do on occasion on the baseline.

The idea of dumping the ball to Perk in the post, to generate more offense, is ridiculous. The dude is shooting 53.4% on the 2 attempts a game he gets from 10 feet in, yet he turns the ball over PLENTY in there. He wasn't getting his 12 points per game by having some great post game. He was getting them primarily from RONDO. Get it? Rondo, coming off of PICKS (which are no longer being set for him), getting into the paint, drawing the defense, and dumping it down to Perk. That is why SOOOOOOOO many of those shots are assisted. If you have been paying attention, you would know that most of Perks free throw attempts came on such passes, where the defense just wrapped him up.

Too many people drinking Doc's Koolaid around here. The fact of the matter is that we don't have a single, reliable low post option on this team. KG has never been one, no matter what anybody would like to believe. Sheed specializes in a turnaround jumper down there, which he hits at a decent percentage, but he doesn't get to the line nor does he pass the ball. Perk really gets most of his play on Rondo and Paul's penetration. Doc is spreading this manure around about how we need to pound the all in to the post, citing our "points in the paint" being important.

Do you know who actually leads this team in points in the paint? That would be Rondo. Funny, eh? He is also the guy who leads this team, by a huge margin, in assists which lead to shots at the rim, and from in close. Rondo, and Paul/Ray (to a lesser extent) ARE the inside game, yet our clown of a coach doesn't seem to realize this. Just look at KG. The vast majority of his inside game revolves around Rondo and Paul getting him those looks. Yet, according to Doc, we need to pound it into guys down low. That is when we play best.

Since when? The stats do not support this at all.

Thanks for you condescending response.

My argument is that the style we've been playing has been working terribly, and perhaps it's time to change our offensive mentality. Right now we have a perimeter-first mentality and it's losing us game after game as soon as the shots stop falling.

All I can say is every game I watch I say "f..ing Ray Allen" about half a dozen times. I want him out-a-here.