somerandomdude wrote:To the Spo supporters:
Instead of laughing at us and pretending you know better, try engaging in discussion, and be ready to explain the dumb crap that Spo does, like creating a defensive scheme that calls for Lowry to switch on to Jokic.
"Lol"
Has anyone who hated what Spoelstra does defensively ever thought about what the positives could be, that would be an excellent place to start vs this long time coach is just doing "dumb crap". This switching defense has really come to life since the 3 ball era so I'd have to expect part of the reason for this is to tempt team to go for 2 vs 3s.
None of us have the analytics that Spoelstra has available to him because there are a ton of numbers I'd be very interested in seeing for we all understand (and I suspect Spoelstra also understands) that a big has a huge advantage at scoring near the basket vs a small and in offensive rebounding, so we have to expect that there are other reasons to sometimes allow that to happen. We do know that Spoelstra does try to minimize this by sending in double teams from time to time.
On a guard switched onto a 5 in the low post there's a few different numbers that would be very interesting to see since clearly we can see that a big with a clean pass will have a huge advantage over a smaller player.
- Does switching everything stop some of the easy pass and scores that non switch sometimes produces with a good screen or good read for a higher percentage shot?
- How often does a team miss or lose the ball in that big vs small when a 2nd defender comes to help? I think Spoelstra actually allows some clean passes in to catch the other team off guard from time to time bringing a 2nd defender.
- Do teams throw the ball to the big more or less knowing a 2nd defender may help out even though they have a mismatch.
- An interesting thought, does Spoelstra want teams hunting for 2s vs 3s? Does this actually make teams/players concentrate on passing inside vs concentrate on getting a 3pt shot? In 2 of the last 3 seasons Miami's opponents have been near the bottom of teams for 3pt %.
- What is the points per possession from when a team tries to pass the ball to a mismatch near the basket when you calculate it from the passer to ending up in the basket. With a 2nd defender possibly coming over sometimes teams don't make that pass, sometimes it's tipped or even over thrown which we see from time to time. It would be really interesting to see those numbers vs when teams don't switch or if a bigger player is guarding the low post.
Just know there are pluses and minuses for every type of defense, yes there are issues with Miami switching but there are positives also. Although Lowry is small he's not nearly as helpless fighting a big in the low post as a regular PG would be which might be why Miami overpaid to get him in Miami, maybe in the future Miami may invest in bigger or better low post guards which might be why Miami was interested in Spencer Dinwiddie even with him coming off a horrible injury, outside of his stats you'd also have a 6'5'' PG in the low post defending bigs.
