bondom34 wrote:getrichordie wrote:That's what I don't understand. Donovan was known for his offensive system - the motion offense. We see bits and pieces of it, but it's hard to run the motion offense when you have Roberson who doesn't pull his weight offensively and Russ who likes to hold the ball. Donovan didn't put this roster together. Presti did. Donovan is just working with what he's got: three career high-usage ISO players who are having to work out these old habits and incorporate the new. It's not as easy as it might seem "in theory." It's almost like driving a racecar to suddenly having to play chess and be good at it. It would take time. That's a drastic example, but you get the idea. Kobe didn't learn the triangle in one year. It took him a few years to really get it down pat.
I also can't tell you how many times I've seen players cut and ask for the ball, but Westbrook just holds it and tries to drive which is antithetical to Donovan's offense system he's known for. Also, I noticed that you pointed out that if Westbrook isn't cutting, that doesn't mean his teammates can't. Well, he's the leader of the team. He should be cutting like everyone else should. He doesn't get a pass because he's Westbrook. The offense starts with him and he has to embrace his new coach and the new system.
Nobody cuts , thats the problem.
You can't blame him for 3 guys standing still and 1 high screen set. We saw 35 go to a new team and had to break the habit of standing there without the ball because he never moved under 2 coaches.
its no surpise guys move when they are in a system promoting it, and that's a coach's job, not a PG. You could put Stockton out there and nobody is going to move, its a high screen and PG/Melo?Abrines/Dre standing there.
Sorry that I'm just now getting back to this. Our starters are doing fine. I mean, Donovan isn't going to make us into the Spurs or GSW. We are going to be closer Houston's style of play with better defense and some Melo ISO sprinkled in. The idea of a spread pick and roll is to open up shooters and lanes to take advantage of. If you watch Houston, they do the same thing we do. The only difference is they have 5 offensive players and 4 of them can shoot 3s at an elite level.
Our issue is that we have 4 offensive players in our starting lineup and only 2 can shoot 3s at an elite level (Melo/PG). Houston has better spacing so it works. It's why they don't make a lot of passes. Harden drives the offense and takes what they give him. Let's say pick and roll action dictates that Roberson pulls off of Gordon to help contain Harden. If no one rotates, then Gordon is open. If Roberson doesn't help, Harden tries to get a step on his defender and finish or create some space using a dribble move to create offense. If our defense was to make a bad rotation and help off of let's say Anderson, then it's Harden's job to find that man. Sometimes Gordon & Paul are the other guys that have this responsibility as well.
For us, it's a little harder because there's not as much space, Westbrook doesn't have much of a lane since defenses pack the paint since Roberson doesn't command a defender and Westbrook's 3 is not respected. George is much more effective at running this action that Westbrook because of his 3 and his height which gives him better vision of what's going on.
Anyways, Roberson can't cut often because he would be cutting into a lane defender where his weakness is finishing contested shots. He can set screens though, but the issue is that his man isn't going to be worried about him enough for it to make any difference.
In that video, watch Roberson's defender and how he packs the paint. It forces Westbrook to get rid of it. A lot of his turnovers are created this way. If you notice, not a lot of this action is created with Roberson on the floor, because it doesn't work well. Around the 1:20 mark, you can see Roberson try to make a baseline cut to the basket, but it's unproductive because his man has helped off him and someone is packing the paint on his side to deny any type of action other than a wide open 3 which they don't mind Roberson taking. It really kills spacing.
Our guys are just so talented that how Roberson affect's spacing isn't enough to stop them from getting buckets. Thanks to Melo, Adams, and George's efficiencies, our starting lineup is producing 120 pts on average per 100 poss. this season, which is 5th best in the league. Assuming Westbrook gets back on track and starts shooting at least above league average, this offense will look closer to HOU in terms of productivity and efficiency.
So our starting lineup is fine. Westbrook will figure it out, I'm sure, and we will have a top 5 defense and top 5 offense in the league as far as our starters go. But the real issue is the bench.
Why are our second units so awful? Number one = we don't have an experienced true big. Patterson and Grant are playing out of position. Again, Donovan is just working with what he's been given (It's not like college, where he can go recruiting players). Not only is this bad for defense, but this is an entirely new offense for Patterson and new position. He's not well accustomed to playing the 5. But once he starts hitting 3s, the offense will open up much more for the second unit, where Patterson (assuming we keep playing him at the 5) is able to exploit his mismatch more effectively. Grant will be able to get inside and finish in spurts as he's been doing pretty well this season. Either Anthony or George (and I think it should be Anthony) will run with the second unit and either be able to draw defenders and allow Abrines, Felton, Grant, or Patterson to take advantage of space. This is much harder when Patterson is out of sync (due to surgery, missing chunks of practice) and not hitting shots which really leaves you playing 3 on 5 offense (because Grant really doesn't space floor much either). Patterson has been so bad in that role that he's killing offense and defense and the numbers back that up.
It's weird because we are in kind of a conundrum too. Grant is playing well and Patterson is not. So we are giving Grant minutes over Patterson due to defensive reasons (and maybe to boost trade value), but where do we go with the rotation if Dakari starts seeing all of the minutes at the 5? Do you play Patterson or Grant?
Anyways, you can see why the bench is an issue.
