dckingsfan wrote:Shouldn't the question be - given where Deni is - where do we think he will go in the next two years?
1) Will he improve his ball handling to be a true secondary initiator of the offense?
2) Will he improve his shooting to help stretch the defense?
3) Will he get better at finishing?
4) Will he continue to improve as a defender reducing the silly fouls and getting frustrated?
And that against the other forwards on the team.
I think of primary importance for Deni is your 2) & 3). I've been thinking about team building concepts since we landed Porzingis. I'll probably drop a few paragraphs in the Line-ups and Strategy thread, but basically it is this. Wes has been playing some concepts that I have daydreamed for the team since the Eddie F Jordan days. Chiefly, with a 7'3" face-up player he can run some high post center sets where the Big man parks himself above the FT line and directs the action from there.
The John Wooden UCLA offense, the Princeton Offense, the GSW Stef/Draymond championships, these all work well with a ranged Big who passes well. With Porzingis in the high post opponents have to follow the Big up top or else he will shoot over them. Hopefully his outside shot recovers, but even without that his midrange shot has been reliable this past stretch. Since he needn't put the ball on the floor, shorter players can't guard him. This opens the middle for players to cut backdoor, or if the defenders close that off, it frees up outside players for open shots. The team then relies on player movement and heads-up reaction time to create openings. You want smart players who make decisions on the fly. You don't even really need a traditional PG to dominate the ball and get people open. Short passes and player motion reduce the need for heavy dribbling.
Deni fits as the guy who makes smart passes and smart movement off the ball. He just has no confidence in his finishing ability so even if he makes a hard cut to receive a pass he tends to relay it to the next guy. It's a smart play, almost any other "next guy" on the team is more efficient at scoring. Still, if Deni had any sort of finishing move then that next guy would be more likely to have a wide open shot. He doesn't have to dunk in traffic though. A floater, a Tim Duncan bank shot, a jump hook, all of these are moves that avoid the defense. That 'old man game' stuff was developed back when teams had physical enforcers on defense, like hockey goons. Euro teams also tend to play physical defense (especially on their home court) and attackers rely on this sort of thing more than airwalking athleticism. It should look familiar to Deni.
So. A finishing move. Pick one, work it until it is unstoppable, then the rest of your game can expand from there. That and the ability to hit a wide open jumpshot from outside will keep teams honest.
I see Deni actually being able to play a Small Ball center in this sort of offense. I'd love him to watch Bill Walton's play from 12 feet and out to see pretty much all of the skills mentioned above. I'm not old enough to have seen Walton play back then, but there are enough videos of full games to study. Or hell, bring in Big Red to teach a session. Really many of the Bigs from that era had a bag of tricks to score with. Pick one.
I'm not too worried about 1) and 4) Deni has enough of a handle to blow past Bigs who guard him outside. We have seen footage of him doing it in Israel. He has enough athleticism to throw windmill dunks in warm-ups. He's simply smart enough to know against NBA talent he does not have the athletic advantage. He does have the advantage of instinct and early experience, being raised by a pro baller and having played against pros since he was 16 years old. On defense, he is ahead of the game. All young players foul and even when they start to figure it out they have to re-adjust to the scouting against them. Experience lets you anticipate, and use the scouting report yourself.
If he does develop those skills though, Deni will be versatile enough to not have to worry about competition with the other forwards, not when he can play next to them and make them look better.
The player that Kyle Kuzma thinks he is is the exact sort of player you want in these sets (outside shooter, interior finisher, offensive rebounder, smart cutter, enough of a handle to work opponent Bigs). Corey Kispert is an instant fit. The old version of Brad Beal that played well without the ball, inside and out. Any player we've got who can make smart reads and react quickly is a fit next to a tall savvy passer in a high post offense. Deni will be fine. One finishing move, and work that open 3, and it's a good start.
