SOTD: All Stats from Phoenix game

[SDM]

Can the C be as aggressive as the perimeter players? Don't we want him hanging back a bit? I didn't watch the full game, but I like hearing that he was passable on D, especially if his offence sucked. Of course I fully expect that if he's meant to be our defensive anchor, his offence will more often than not be inefficient.

I found him to be lacking in aggression while waiting for a play to develop, a rebound to drop, etc. I certainly don't want him defending anyone 15-18 feet out on a consistent basis, but I also want him to make plays and not wait until some guy drives into him, stick his hands up, and get a block because of his physical tools. His man D is solid, will likely always be solid, but he still needs a ton of work on his defensive aggressiveness. He's not foul prone, so I don't understand why he never throws his weight around.

[J-Roc]

From what I could see, Kleiza and Bargs are the go-to scorers who risk being doubled. They need to prepare for it.

At the end of shot clocks is where we have trouble. There is no one we can just clear out and give the ball to. But it doesn't have to be the end of the world. If you're clearing out for Sonny, everyone else needs to be ready run back on D. Shot goes in, great, if not, play D and try to run some offense next trip down.

Sonny and DeMar do have better handles, but they're going to have to learn how to use them. Only after driving into D a few times can you really get comfortable.

Regarding the lineup, maybe Jay likes the idea of the young guns playing together as much as possible.

[MrBojangelz71]

I can't say. But we know his offence will come around, yet some posters took incredible comfort in the fact he was 1-9 from the field.

For these posters, it's more important that Bargnani fails than succeeds.

Sad but true.

[SDM]

I don't think Bargs looked all that good defensively. And I'm one of the few here that actually thinks he's underrated as a defender. Flat-out not aggressive enough.

It's more important to be positioned correctly than to be "aggressive". Maybe a guard can get up into the grill of a ball-handler, but if a help defender is in the right position to cut off a drive, intimidate a shot, etc, he's done a better job than a big who jumps out at someone "aggressively" and can't recover when the ball moves to another opponent. It's the old story, though. Bargnani will only win on this board when he is an all-star, no, a superstar on both sides of the ball. Otherwise, his game will be cherry-picked apart. Yes, he played good D last night. Will he keep it up? I can't say. But we know his offence will come around, yet some posters took incredible comfort in the fact he was 1-9 from the field.

For these posters, it's more important that Bargnani fails than succeeds.

I know, you're preaching to the choir. Few have defended Bargnani on here more than I have. I thought his positioning on his own man was good and his help defense was okay, however I can recall three instances in the first quarter when he could have made an effort to grab a rebound (2x) and seal off a passing lane that would have likely led to a steal. This is the type of defensive playmaking and aggressiveness I'm alluding to.

[Reignman]

In the first half I caught him watching the action at times and he looked a bit tentative but in the 2nd half he looked better.

When it comes to rebounding the thing I find about Bargs is he could have 1 or 2 extra boards a game if could just grab onto the ball. Like when we had the tip off / jump ball, the ball was bouncing around right in front of his face and instead of just grabbing it, he slaps it towards our baseline so Jose could get it. What's the point of that? Just grab the damn thing and hand it off to Jose.

[SDM]

When it comes to rebounding the thing I find about Bargs is he could have 1 or 2 extra boards a game if could just grab onto the ball. Like when we had the tip off / jump ball, the ball was bouncing around right in front of his face and instead of just grabbing it, he slaps it towards our baseline so Jose could get it. What's the point of that? Just grab the damn thing and hand it off to Jose.

He does this all the freaking time. It's my biggest gripe with him. If you go out and grab the ball yourself, there's no possibility of a turnover. The name of the game is maximizing your time with the basketball.

[J-Roc]

One other thing I caught from Bargs early on was he had the ball in the post, and defenders collapsed. But he still went up strong against all of them......like a big man should (shot missed though). It was the first sign for me that he's been told, there's no more Bosh, and we need him to score. And as a team we can accept him forcing a shot. That's what "#1 options" get to do....need to do. After practicing those moves a few times, he'll get more comfortable, and he'll know how to follow a missed shot bouncing on the rim.

[Indeed]

From what I could see, Kleiza and Bargs are the go-to scorers who risk being doubled. They need to prepare for it.

At the end of shot clocks is where we have trouble. There is no one we can just clear out and give the ball to. But it doesn't have to be the end of the world. If you're clearing out for Sonny, everyone else needs to be ready run back on D. Shot goes in, great, if not, play D and try to run some offense next trip down.

Sonny and DeMar do have better handles, but they're going to have to learn how to use them. Only after driving into D a few times can you really get comfortable.

Regarding the lineup, maybe Jay likes the idea of the young guns playing together as much as possible.

You are very correct. Bargnani and Kleiza will be the key on matchup. Whoever has better matchup in the post, he will get the ball, and the other guy needs to be positioned and prepare for for this.

As for DeRozan and Weems, I would like to see them create more ball movement. Dribble to the other side, playing pick and roll, penetrate more and etc.

The only thing I want to mention is, Triano needs to play Jack more.

[Indeed]

One other thing I caught from Bargs early on was he had the ball in the post, and defenders collapsed. But he still went up strong against all of them......like a big man should (shot missed though). It was the first sign for me that he's been told, there's no more Bosh, and we need him to score. And as a team we can accept him forcing a shot. That's what "#1 options" get to do....need to do. After practicing those moves a few times, he'll get more comfortable, and he'll know how to follow a missed shot bouncing on the rim.

But he is no Duncan, so I don't really like him doing that too much.
He is not using enough of his athleticism.
Of course, I would still prefer him getting the ball than Evans trying to do too much on the offense.

[RapsFanInVA]

In the first half I caught him watching the action at times and he looked a bit tentative but in the 2nd half he looked better.

When it comes to rebounding the thing I find about Bargs is he could have 1 or 2 extra boards a game if could just grab onto the ball. Like when we had the tip off / jump ball, the ball was bouncing around right in front of his face and instead of just grabbing it, he slaps it towards our baseline so Jose could get it. What's the point of that? Just grab the damn thing and hand it off to Jose.

Are you talking about the opening tip off? The player doing the tip off isn't allowed to grab the ball, he has to tip it to his teammate, even if it's already been tapped once, or else the other team gets the ball.

[Chevy Chase]

Good post J-Roc. I noticed the same thing. I think that he is going to be every bit as good as Bosh was from the low Post. Bosh's only play when the double team came was a risky fade away or try to get fouled (which he got quite good at). Bargs was able to use his height and get his shot off, even with two defenders on him. He did miss many of his attempts, but they were clean looks.

[J-Roc]

Bargs has a nice feel for his shot when he holds the ball up high. With more assertiveness in the post, he'll see he can absorb contact and still get the same shot to go in.

[Indeed]

I don't think Bargs looked all that good defensively. And I'm one of the few here that actually thinks he's underrated as a defender. Flat-out not aggressive enough.

It's more important to be positioned correctly than to be "aggressive". Maybe a guard can get up into the grill of a ball-handler, but if a help defender is in the right position to cut off a drive, intimidate a shot, etc, he's done a better job than a big who jumps out at someone "aggressively" and can't recover when the ball moves to another opponent. It's the old story, though. Bargnani will only win on this board when he is an all-star, no, a superstar on both sides of the ball. Otherwise, his game will be cherry-picked apart. Yes, he played good D last night. Will he keep it up? I can't say. But we know his offence will come around, yet some posters took incredible comfort in the fact he was 1-9 from the field.

For these posters, it's more important that Bargnani fails than succeeds.

Perhaps, but would like to see him a little bit more aggressive (with understanding of what opponent is trying to do). Would like to see him learn from Andersen on some of those pick and roll. Be aggressive and got to the position before the ball handler is trying to go and block off the passing lane.

Anyway, he played good D last night, so not gonna complain too much.

[BorisDK1]

Hey Boris what made Bargs so good defensively last night? Normally he only looks good when he gets a bunch of blocks or just focuses in on his man. Was the new team defensive scheme helping him or was it just not that many help situations?

Firstly, he was doing a much better job in screen sequences, a traditional Bargnani weakness. He played big on post-ups, forcing at least two into wild shots. Thirdly, he did a great job getting out high in the paint and got his chest right on top of the ballhandler's inside shoulder and forcing him away from the basket on his angle. He basically did everything that people want him to do, and did it properly.

Now, one thing: this team is not going to be a good defensive rebounding team. When you contest passing angles all the way out like this team wants to, the penalty for that is going to be you give up the occasional offensive rebound you otherwise might not. So let's keep that in mind when we're talking about this team's rebounding on the defensive end.

[Y0DA]

That pdf looks very interesting but I'm stuck in the group of people who want someone to explain what numbers mean. It would be more valuable to people like me if it had an analysis summary at the top, like:

- Jose Calderon was efficient offensively last night but was a major defensive liability. His assist ratio was higher than his average and he had fewer turnovers.

[BorisDK1]

That pdf looks very interesting but I'm stuck in the group of people who want someone to explain what numbers mean. It would be more valuable to people like me if it had an analysis summary at the top, like:

- Jose Calderon was efficient offensively last night but was a major defensive liability. His assist ratio was higher than his average and he had fewer turnovers.

There are entire definitions of all the stats at the end of each page. You're just going to have to read them and get familiar with them. There's no real way around that. I had to go through it, and others did too. It'll take some time.

[JJWong17]

When it comes to rebounding the thing I find about Bargs is he could have 1 or 2 extra boards a game if could just grab onto the ball. Like when we had the tip off / jump ball, the ball was bouncing around right in front of his face and instead of just grabbing it, he slaps it towards our baseline so Jose could get it. What's the point of that? Just grab the damn thing and hand it off to Jose.

He does this all the freaking time. It's my biggest gripe with him. If you go out and grab the ball yourself, there's no possibility of a turnover. The name of the game is maximizing your time with the basketball.

I wonder if that's a conscious thing he does because he doesn't think he can get a good enough hold on the ball or if it's just his preference. About the tip off though, the jumper can't get the ball can he? I always had the idea that when you're the guy jumper for the ball, you can't actually grab it. It has to be tipped to someone else and they have to grab it or else the other team gets possession.

[ATLTimekeeper]

Our rebounding didn't look good. Phoenix is not a good rebounding team at all, and I think they got 3 or 4 O-boards off missed free throws. Aside from Dorsey, no one really had an impact, and I expect he won't play much.

[Ripp]

second the call for google docs spreadsheet

[Fenris-77]

Now, one thing: this team is not going to be a good defensive rebounding team. When you contest passing angles all the way out like this team wants to, the penalty for that is going to be you give up the occasional offensive rebound you otherwise might not. So let's keep that in mind when we're talking about this team's rebounding on the defensive end.

I can live with this is if the other result is more TOs created and better defense at the 3pt line. The Raps needed a big improvement in both areas and I think that's a tradeoff I can live with.