payitforward wrote:Actually...
Dude. How many of these do you have to get into before you realize you’re the problem? We are all fans of the team. You make it tedious even to agree with you. Dirt has made it clear his opinion of Bryant is changing. Leave it be. Nobody owes you a word. It’s really tiresome to read. Hands11 got run off the board for spamming all the time about how right he was. You’ve been cautioned by mods on your style. I like a good dust up. But this adds nothing. Nobody here cares if you were first to be right on any topic. Move on. Find something new to say. It’s boring. A waste of your considerable talents.
I know it’s late in the off-season and there’s nothing to talk about but come on. Of all people you can make better wordpiles and have more betterer thinkings than: “I smarter than you: say it. Say it...” no one’s playing that game. Drop it.
On topic:
The way I see it Dirt sets a reasonable bar in challenging Bryant’s defense and rebounding. To say if he develops here then he will have a greater effect on the league and we can count him among the best. And if not then no matter how efficient he is he on offense his minutes and role will be limited. Players like Boban can have insanely efficient stats on offense and be unplayed if not unplayable, primarily due to mobility and defense.
I think it’s an interesting question. Seems to me the league is still adjusting to find out where and how to use bigs. Bryant is a young player and himself is learning what he can and cannot do. Team defense tends to develop late and is one aspect of the game that is most able to be influenced by coaching. And personnel mesh. Watching TBry’s movement at the Rico Hines open run he is willingly challenging the perimeter players. We only see the highlights so of course he’s getting burned in these clips, but his movements are far more fluid and comfortable than he has shown in the past. He deters shots. Stays with guys if not always a n front of them. Active feet. He’s not a standstill liability out there. Positive signs.
I agree with Nate and have said it elsewhere that he (and Hachimura) really need to learn to anchor a solid pick before they slip into their roll. Hard to do when you have the high center of gravity that Bryant shows. He starts his roll early because it takes him a bit to get rolling in momentum. It’s a lateral move to start. But as he leans and strengthens this will speed up too. I think Hachimura may be better eventually, being both solid and athletic. But this will help everyone around him.
However. The one dribble/zero dribble stat is interesting to me. The league has gotten away from forcing the ball to the bigs. But. When you have players as stupidly efficient as Bryant (and Boban, man,I love that guy) it seems like it’d be a coaching flaw if you can’t find a way to exploit that.
It’s absolutely a strength that Bryant can score quickly and decisively. Players like Moritz suck because they will dribble the helloutta the ball and do nothing with it. (For laughs sort for Centers who dribble 6 or more times. Wagner shows up). One reason Bryant doesn’t turn the ball over is because he does react quickly when he gets it. He keeps the ball high out of traffic and puts it down before defenders collapse. That’s not a sign of weakness. That’s smart.
However from a coaching perspective yes featuring a pass dependent player means you need spacing around him to give you clear lanes to pass to him for that high % play. And you need smart ball handlers and passers who recognize that mismatch and exploit it.
I agree with Nate. I think the situational statheads and on staff watching the hot zones in video analytics are seeing something in Bryant they plan to feature heavily.
The same nail I’ve been redundantly hammering: make space. Get Ball handlers who can stay in motion and keep the ball alive, probe the defense and deliver to the finishers. Let them do what they do well. Finishing is something Bryant does really damn well.
I wonder if it will work. It puts a ton of responsibility in the hands of the Point. So far, aside from Curry we have never seen a championship delivered by a dominant PG. And Stef is Stef, the threat of his impossible range made everyone else’s job easier on offense. Plus his off ball game is better than everyone’s. And. You know Draymond is a precognitive mutant basketball savant.
Granted we are so far away from that discussion anyway. I’ll be happy to see it play out in the regular season. If we even end up a weak simulacrum of the Steve Nash Suns I’ll be happy. Hachimura would have to somehow develop into Shawn Marion on defense. And I dunno if that’s gonna happen.
But yes. Looks to me that Forcefeeding Bryant and featuring him heavily is pretty much plan B or C on the squad this year. Looks like we’ll get a chance to see how it turns out.