God Squad wrote:junot111 wrote:is Steph Curry a true point guard?
Awful, awful comparison. I'm not even going to get into why as it should be apparent.
But no, Steph is not a true point.
This is actually a good comparison stylistically and why focusing on defending Fred as a good conventional poing guard - the role Nurse has forced him to play - is futile.
Steph doesn't read the game like CP3 did nor is his superstar impact dependent on him doing so to make his teammates better. Forget the 8 assists, he dismantled us by just getting rid of the ball when we sent 2-3 guys at him. The rest of team gets to play 4 on 3 or 2 all game when he's out there. A role player doesn't need a perfect pocket pass when he's basically on a powerplay all game.
So how does this relate to Fred? Curry uses his gravity to pull defenders *away* from the basket. If we get Curry to put the ball on the floor on a drive to the basket that is basically a win for us as we absolutely do not want him to get an open 3. For Fred, it's not that much different. Every good defense wants this to happen:
- Fred to hold the ball for extended periods of time
- funnel him to drive to the paint for low percentage decisions, in order: 1. An attempt at the rim 2. A tough pass
- to drive Fred off the 3pt line as much as possible.
We currently have Fred playing the most minutes in the league in a role that directly asks him to lean into these liabilities. Asking him to go North/South for the majority of the time he's out there. It's been proven to be a disaster in the playoffs so it's not like we're building towards something with it either.
This team can and should play more like the warriors. Asking Fred and GTJ to move east/west wing-to-wing mostly with a mix of off and on ball, but crucially, not holding it for long. Forcing defending bigs to make decisions (should I show hard, or not at all) around the break, and use our talented forwards as the fulcrum on those outcomes for tic tac toe plays.
Fred is not going to generate as many assists, because you don't get a counting stat for a defending big screwing up a rotation chasing Fred off a hard pass fake by Barnes as he pivots for an open dribble drive layup, but our offense will be much better for it.