Two PointGuards

[mjvile]

Saw this article on Point-forwas on SI. Whats your thoughts on this analysis.

The 14-5 Jazz have, by many objective measures, one of the worst benches in the NBA. Gordon Hayward isn’t ready, Kyrylo Fesenko floats in and out of the rotation, Francisco Elson is never going to be prolific and, worst of all, Mehmet Okur is hurt.

The rest of Utah’s bench consists of two career backup point guards (Ronnie Price and Earl Watson) and swingman C.J. Miles. The 6-foot-6 Miles is the only reliable wing in the bunch, a big change from a team that last season boasted a wing rotation of Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver, Wesley Matthews and Miles.

And yet, coach Jerry Sloan seems to have reached into this mess and found something new that works: pairing Deron Williams with another point guard, effectively shifting Williams to shooting guard or into some hybrid guard role. It’s unclear whether Sloan actually wants to do this or simply has to in order to keep the offense afloat when the second unit comes in, but regardless of his motive, the combination is working.

Considering only the lineups that have logged at least five minutes together, Williams has played alongside either Watson or Price for a little more than 68 minutes this season. These lineups include the seventh-, ninth- and 10th-most commonly used five-man groups that feature Williams. This is a major change from last season, when the Jazz rarely paired Williams with another point guard and almost never did so once the team dealt Eric Maynor to Oklahoma City. You’ve got to scroll all the way down to the 22nd-most commonly used lineup that featured Williams last season to find the first one in which Sloan paired Williams with another point guard (Maynor).

http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2010/11/30/jazz-sparked-by-two-guard-lineups/#comment

For all we know, these Williams/Price and Williams/Watson units will soon regress to the mean or even fall flat on their faces as the league figures them out. But they’re working for now, and they’re a small but important reason Utah is playing better than a lot of us expected.

I also found this as an interesting quote.

[carrottop12]

For all we know, these Williams/Price and Williams/Watson units will soon regress to the mean or even fall flat on their faces as the league figures them out. But they’re working for now, and they’re a small but important reason Utah is playing better than a lot of us expected.

Who's to say it will soon fall flat? Good defense, good hustle, and smart decision making is usually a pretty sound basketball strategy.

[Ming Kong!]

Our back up PG's have been great of late, gotta tip my hat to them.

[d-will8]

I'm not so sure it's going to fall flat either. I don't like the idea of using the two guard lineup too often, but Deron is big enough to guard 2's and he's deadly coming off those curls. Obviously, he and the team are great when the ball's in his hands, but he's extremely good playing off the ball as well and I think playing him in that role for spurts helps keep defenses on their toes.

[candreww]

The Williams/Watson back court was Phil Johnson's invention. He combo'ed them first when Sloan missed 2 games the weekend before last.

And to me, this is a no-brainer. Watson is a veteran that deserves the extra minutes and Williams PER is off the charts at shooting guard.

[hoops4life]

This isn't anything new.

Sloan has played 2 pg's at the same time often throughout the history of his coaching tenure, most notably Williams/Fisher. He even did it with Stockton.

[Ming Kong!]

The Williams/Watson back court was Phil Johnson's invention. He combo'ed them first when Sloan missed 2 games the weekend before last.

And to me, this is a no-brainer. Watson is a veteran that deserves the extra minutes and Williams PER is off the charts at shooting guard.

Link? I'd like to see the splits.

[HolyToledo]

The two PG system has worked well for Sloan in the past and it is a favorite of his system. Remember Fisher/Dwill started together. I think the Jazz offense works best when there are 2 parameter players that can make the entry pass to the bigs or the cutters. That is why AK-47 in the starting lineup works better than CJ. Ak-47 is a good facilitator fo the offense just like Dwill, and Watson.

Price is really a SG in a PGs body and is best used as a back up SG.

I use to be Sloans biggest detractor and wanted him fired for several years BUT last year and this year, Sloan has done a GREAT job. He deserves all the credit he deserves along with the GM because they have positioned this team to do special thinsg this year and years to come.

[GP]

Good article. I think the 2 pg idea is great. This allows Dwill to become more of a scoring threat. I think teams have already tried to adjust by throwing different players to guard Dwill to little effect.

[Hikari]

The Lakers where tossing Arrest at Deron and the Heat had James trying to guard him.

[candreww]

The Williams/Watson back court was Phil Johnson's invention. He combo'ed them first when Sloan missed 2 games the weekend before last.

And to me, this is a no-brainer. Watson is a veteran that deserves the extra minutes and Williams PER is off the charts at shooting guard.

Link? I'd like to see the splits.

http://www.82games.com/1011/10UTA2.HTM

[UTJazzFan_Echo1]

I find it hilarious they think we have a terrible bench...must have missed nearly all of the games thus far. Maybe people should actually watch our team before writing an article about us.

[Ming Kong!]

The Williams/Watson back court was Phil Johnson's invention. He combo'ed them first when Sloan missed 2 games the weekend before last.

And to me, this is a no-brainer. Watson is a veteran that deserves the extra minutes and Williams PER is off the charts at shooting guard.

Link? I'd like to see the splits.

http://www.82games.com/1011/10UTA2.HTM

Dude he only plays 2% of the SG minutes, that sample size is WAY too small.