AI is a combo guard that has the ability to pass. Paul is a pure PG that has the ability to score. AI uses his speed and ability to finish while drawing contact to score and create shots for team-mates. A momentum player on the level of kobe at creating his own shot. Paul uses his ball handling ability and the raw athleticism of his team-mates to create offense. His team-mates depend on him and he depends on them to put points on the board.Two different styles of basketball capitalizing on their different respective skill sets. I enjoy both styles of play, but neither is superior to the other. Both have advantages and disadvantages, working against some opponents and failing against others.
AI creates shot for his teammates? maybe off a few drive-and-kicks and baskets in transition (LOL...I remember in the laker series where it was a two-on-one fastbreak...melo and AI verse one laker opponents. AI had the ball and could've fed melo for a wide open lay-up...but instead decided to plow into his defender for an offensive foul. that's why he's the most selfish player in the league). he rarely finds easy shots for teammates...especially when their in the paint.
and AI is mainly a drive-and-kick point guard because of his selfishness. he goes to the basket trying to make a basket or draw a foul. if he goes to the basket, can't get off a clean look, and doesn't hear a whistle blow, he floats in mid-air trying to figure out what to do with the ball. since there is no passing angle to a player in the post (attempting a pass to the post in this situation usually warrants a turnover), he is forced to kick the ball out to the perimeter.
here's what separates AI from paul: AI's style of play encourages isolation. the most important reason is that AI can't run a pick-and-roll right (as I have previously discussed). IMO a pick-and-roll is the easiest way for a perimeter player to get into the lane and stifle a defense. every perimeter star scorer/passer is capable of using it properly (nash with amare; williams with boozer; paul with chandler; parker with duncan; kobe with gasol; etc). a pick-and-roll encourages some sort of off-ball movement (from the screener) and paul's teammates move around off paul's penetration expecting to receive a pass.
in AI's case...you will watch him dribble with the ball and waste up time on the shot clock trying to take his defender one-on-one and cross him up. his style of play--dribbling with the ball and wasting time on the shot clock--indirectly enourages his teammates to stand around and watch iverson. when he gets to the basket his own teammates expect him to take the shot instead of making the pass (the game that comes to mind was a few months ago against the jazz. the game was tied and the nuggets had the last possession. AI attacked the basket and popped it out to melo. melo didn't expect the pass and took a rushed jumpshot from 15 feet out. it missed and the game went into overtime. the point with this situation is that if paul had been playing instead of iverson, melo would have expected a pass and would have been more prepared to take that jumper.)
AI's drive and kick works great with shooters, hence our collective aversion to AC being in the backcourt with AI when an excellent shooter like JR is available. There's a reason why denver always looked good when the second unit included willing shooters like najera, jr and kleiza.
am I arguing against this???
there's no denying that shooters make this nugget offense a lot more efficient. an off-ball line-up of carter, k-mart, and camby can't spread the floor and are a reason why the paint gets clogged; thus, making it easier to double melo in the post and stop AI's penetration (a la lakers series).
As for melo being the centerpiece of the offense, that's part of the problem. Melo is a great offensive player but he has flaws in his game that prevent him from being the kind of guy you feed the ball to every time down the court. His judgment is poor and is turnover prone in high pressure situations.
melo is a gifted passer from the post. he can draw a double team at will. the only thing missing is spacing. melo has only played with one or lethal shooters his entire career in the NBA (and both shooters lenard and smith didn't play at the same time).
it's the lack of spacing which is causing melo to be turnover-prone. give him two or three shooters whenever he is on the court and he is easily the centerpiece of a contending franchise.
I think melo is going to watch a couple game tapes this summer and the coaches are going to explain to him how its in everybodys benefit for the team to abandon this notion of a single player being the 'centerpiece' when equally as gifted and even more prolific scorers are on the team as well.
and who will discuss this brilliant notion with AI?
(BTW tony parker does not play off of doubles on duncan. teams don't leave TP open unless he's on the three point line. TP is just as aggressive as AI in actuality and passes less than AI does. The real difference is that AI is simply better all around and Tim duncan actually plays around the basket and can create his own shot in the flow of the offense. Whereas AI has a center that sits at the top of the key, cant finish layups or create his own shot. And K-mart is rarely a primary option behind a "small" forward and cast of perimeter players that tend to settle for iso-jumpers in the half-court set. In no way are TP and AI remotely in the same contexts)
I'm not sure if you watched the entire SA-NO series...but each game the spurs tried to manufacture their offense off of duncan's double. duncan drew the double in the post...duncan kicked it out...the spurs would penetrate on a stifled defense...and they'd either get a lay-up or a wide-open jumpshot.
other than that...parker gets a lot of his looks off of pick-and-rolls (but alas...iverson doesn't understand how to run one). the parker-duncan pick-and-roll is especially effective...as well as the ginobili-duncan pick-and-roll.
what duncan does for parker is that parker doesn't see the double teams; parker doesn't see nearly as much defensive pressure as a guy with his penetrating abilities
should get. teams are more concerned with trying to stop duncan than with trying to stop parker.
that's exactly why I brought up the spurs. teams are more concerned on stopping melo than AI. it's melo whose drawing a double or a help defender every time he touches the ball in the post. that's why AI and the rest of the nugget offense should play OFF of melo. it's common knowledge...welcome to the game of basketball.
finally 7 assists a game from the two guard spot is the highest assist average in the league. if AI ran the point primarily, he'd be a 20 and 10 guy. and his assist average has been pretty consistent throughout his stint in denver despite JR being relegated to the 8th man role for much of the year, so clearly he is getting other players beside JR involved regardless of the fact hes not even denvers point guard.
Y A W N . . .
the nuggets have no point guard. iverson brings the ball up the floor for every time that carter brings the ball up the floor. exactly when carter crosses the halfcourt line who does he pass to? iverson.
iverson IS the team's point guard. he dominates the ball more than anybody on the freaking floor for 40 minutes a night. you shouldn't praise him for getting 7 assists a night. any perimeter scorer who dominates the ball as much as him for 40 minutes a night should get as much assists (again...see lebron james).
LMAO at iverson would be a 20 and 10 guy. hell would freeze over before the guy would allow himself to dip below 25 ppg. my guess is he'll never get over 8 apg for a season in his career.
