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Continued from here.

closg00 wrote:

Warriors unlock Draymond Green, Kelly Oubre Jr. with small-ball lineups they were forced into playing
With Kevon Looney and James Wiseman both injured, Steve Kerr might've found something intriguing

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/warriors-unlock-draymond-green-kelly-oubre-jr-with-small-ball-lineups-they-were-forced-into-playing/

One last look before the lock

It's interesting how we are seeing more and more offense being run through a high post center who passes well. The Warriors have done it for years. Denver does it with Jokic, of course. Miami does it with Bam. New York does it with Julius Randall, which came out of nowhere. Indiana and Orlando do it to some degree through Sabonis and Vucevic. Heck, Cleveland does it a little through Andre freaking Drummond.

And it seems like every team that does it is having pretty good success. The concept must exploit the current enforcement of the rules, which permits a lot of illegal screens on off ball action but not as much on ball.

Len has actually been a pretty good passer for us, averaging 3.9 assists per 36. Perhaps that's something we could leverage better. (Bryant is also a good passer and has the midrange shot to make him an extra lethal threat in the high post.) We also have a few good shooters and cutters who might thrive in such a system (Mathews, Bertans, Avdija, Brown, Beal).

Alas, all this requires a coach who is creative and innovative. I'm sure Brooks thinks it's better to just give the ball to Beal, give him a high screen, and pray.

nate33 wrote:

closg00 wrote:

Warriors unlock Draymond Green, Kelly Oubre Jr. with small-ball lineups they were forced into playing
With Kevon Looney and James Wiseman both injured, Steve Kerr might've found something intriguing

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/warriors-unlock-draymond-green-kelly-oubre-jr-with-small-ball-lineups-they-were-forced-into-playing/

One last look before the lock

It's interesting how we are seeing more and more offense being run through a high post center who passes well. The Warriors have done it for years. Denver does it with Jokic, of course. Miami does it with Bam. New York does it with Julius Randall, which came out of nowhere. Indiana and Orlando do it to some degree through Sabonis and Vucevic. Heck, Cleveland does it a little through Andre freaking Drummond.

And it seems like every team that does it is having pretty good success. The concept must exploit the current enforcement of the rules, which permits a lot of illegal screens on off ball action but not as much on ball.

Len has actually been a pretty good passer for us, averaging 3.9 assists per 36. Perhaps that's something we could leverage better. (Bryant is also a good passer and has the midrange shot to make him an extra lethal threat in the high post.) We also have a few good shooters and cutters who might thrive in such a system (Mathews, Bertans, Avdija, Brown, Beal).

Alas, all this requires a coach who is creative and innovative. I'm sure Brooks thinks it's better to just give the ball to Beal, give him a high screen, and pray.

All it requires is a coach who knows history. This was innovative when Red Auerbach had Bill Russell running high post sets as the hub of the wheel in the 'pivot' position above the free throw line. Then Pete Carrill studied how they were winning and invented the Princeton offense. Eddie F Jordan borrowed bits of it and ran it with success in a bastardized way, but he had Brendan and Etan (and PJRamos, and Hilton Necklong and Stewie Pecherov etc etc) instead of having a true 'Princeton' center. But he was always trying to get one (missed a chance when the team selected Dom McGuire instead of Marc Gasol in the 2nd round that draft). But we have seen it with Tim Duncan and Pau and many other teams that rely on player motion and team play instead of a ball-stalling guard acting as the point of attack. If you have a sweet passing big man, you have passing angles that do not exist with a short guy dribbling the ball to hell. A high post center and face-up bigs gives room under the basket for teams to make smart cuts and attack the weak points and dump passes backdoor.

That has been my rant for years, and why I have been saying the counter to the small ball era is to have bigger players who are equally skilled.

FAH1223 wrote:

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I wouldn't have guessed SA would be ahead of teams like Denver and Portland. What a great organization. Once they pass Phoenix, they'll be 4th in the West.

Utah Jazz are at 20-5... only team in the NBA in top 5 in defense and offensive rating

When accuracy is important.

Ruzious wrote:

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When accuracy is important.

Even though they lost, the young Spurs are really entertaining.

Ruzious wrote:

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When accuracy is important.

Even though they lost, the young Spurs are really entertaining.

Steph and Jokic have really been putting on a show. I make it a point to record their games whenever they are on national TV.

FAH1223 wrote:

Ruzious wrote:

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When accuracy is important.

Even though they lost, the young Spurs are really entertaining.

They have a very nice collection of young perimeter players - just need a couple of new bigs as they gradually phase out Aldridge and Gay.

Been watching our position in the standings for tanking purposes and have been dismayed at the collapse of the Cleveland Cavaliers. They've lost 8 in a row!

But then I looked at their schedule. Wow! It has been unbelievably brutal. Here are their last 8 games:

vLAC
vMIL
vMIL
@PHO
@DEN
@POR
@LAL
@GSW

They should get back on track and hopefully remain ahead of us. We've got a brutal stretch coming up ourselves.

Jokic has 31 points at halftime against the Celtics

Suns CHOKED

Embiid with an absurd stat line tonight:

50 points
17 rebounds
5 assists
4 blocks
2 steals
2 turnovers
.746 TS%

Jamaal Murray had 50 points on 25 shot attempts... with 0 free throws!

An eFG% of 100%! Now THAT is some hot shooting!

My goodness! One of the sickest dunks I've ever seen!

nate33 wrote:My goodness! One of the sickest dunks I've ever seen!

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Holy ****!

nate33 wrote:My goodness! One of the sickest dunks I've ever seen!

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Yeah.. his motor is better than most thought, but he was 3/14 last night and 3/15 the game before that.