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MBBALL Our Offense

C

citygriz

Well-known member
Ya all might remember that when I saw the Griz play in person at USF, I came away super impressed. With the talent. With the recruiting. With the defensive schemes. All of which have played out over the course of the regular Big Sky season.

But then as I watched the Portland State game, so many of the old bugaboo's came up again around our offense. Here are a few thoughts.

At the tournament, Money will be a marked man. Expect a ton of double-teams. Yes, Money is a great passer, and that will help. But when that happens, this staff needs to figure out schemes to free other players--a tactic that I did not see in the Vikings game. There in the final 4:45 of the game we had no points and two shot clock violations, leading to a desperation three when he had plenty of time to get a better shot on the final possession of regulation. As good as this program, is, I still do not associate it with offensive imagination.

One gripe: The philosophy of always passing up a shot for a "better shot." How many times have I seen our kids with open looks early, only to fritter away the shot clock to wind up with a worse shot. The result? Our players don't seem to have confidence to shoot because--THERE'S A BETTER SHOT! But often, there's not. Our kids need more freedom to shoot.

One of the notable developments in the NBA is that most players now have added a "floater" in the lane against bigger defenders. I wish Brandon Whitney had this shot because he has such a great handle he can get into the lane any time he wants--only to pass it back out. I wish he'd flip it up on the drive. I think it'd be an effective shot for him. And get him to the foul line more often.

Portland State is no slouch. Their announcers feel that this is the best team they've had in years. And yet Money completely took that game over, as he did the final few minutes of the USF game. But he can't take plays off. Once he learns to play hard every play, he'll be in the NBA.
 
Thanks for analysis. I just started watching games and have seen the last 3. Fun team to watch. Very nice and good team. Very unselfish. Money can really see the game. I still have my eye on Boise, but that may not be doable. Would be fun. I like downtown Boise. We'll just be coming home (AZ) from Indian Wells tennis, so that may impact my hall pass.
 
citygriz said:
Ya all might remember that when I saw the Griz play in person at USF, I came away super impressed. With the talent. With the recruiting. With the defensive schemes. All of which have played out over the course of the regular Big Sky season.

But then as I watched the Portland State game, so many of the old bugaboo's came up again around our offense. Here are a few thoughts.

At the tournament, Money will be a marked man. Expect a ton of double-teams. Yes, Money is a great passer, and that will help. But when that happens, this staff needs to figure out schemes to free other players--a tactic that I did not see in the Vikings game. There in the final 4:45 of the game we had no points and two shot clock violations, leading to a desperation three when he had plenty of time to get a better shot on the final possession of regulation. As good as this program, is, I still do not associate it with offensive imagination.

One gripe: The philosophy of always passing up a shot for a "better shot." How many times have I seen our kids with open looks early, only to fritter away the shot clock to wind up with a worse shot. The result? Our players don't seem to have confidence to shoot because--THERE'S A BETTER SHOT! But often, there's not. Our kids need more freedom to shoot.

One of the notable developments in the NBA is that most players now have added a "floater" in the lane against bigger defenders. I wish Brandon Whitney had this shot because he has such a great handle he can get into the lane any time he wants--only to pass it back out. I wish he'd flip it up on the drive. I think it'd be an effective shot for him. And get him to the foul line more often.

Portland State is no slouch. Their announcers feel that this is the best team they've had in years. And yet Money completely took that game over, as he did the final few minutes of the USF game. But he can't take plays off. Once he learns to play hard every play, he'll be in the NBA.
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The thing about Money is besides being a great scorer he is a great passer. And the Griz have more guys on the court this year that can score. I agree on PSU. Very talented.
 
I like Money. I like the Griz mix this year. But "great" scorers and passers are a bit more consistent. And he needs to get a tiny bit of right hand into his game.
 
It’s been a common discussion on this board, but I haven’t been able to watch too closely the 2nd half of the season.

Late in the 2nd half on Monday our inability to score was concerning looking forward to the big sky tourney. Thankfully we shot 20+ free throws and converted, but our seemingly ball screens exclusive offense puts a ton of pressure on individual playmakers to beat their defenders 1v1, consistently improvise, and make the right read on the run.

We didn’t run many if any sets with pure intentions to get a specific shot, mostly dummy O to run clock to then to get to a ball screen.

I think this style of play is why we’ve struggled with more athletic teams that are more capable of guarding on an island. Especially in end of game situations when defenses tighten.

We’ve got great individual talent, but some structure down the stretch with a set or 2 to get guys in advantages out of more intentional off ball movement instead of ball screens and drive and kicks might help with consistency / knowing what we’re looking for.

Really wish we were on the other side of the bracket. EWU and PSU are my least favorite matchups of early game opponents.
 
citygriz said:
. . . at the tournament, Money will be a marked man. Expect a ton of double-teams. Yes, Money is a great passer, and that will help. But when that happens, this staff needs to figure out schemes to free other players--a tactic that I did not see in the Vikings game. There in the final 4:45 of the game we had no points and two shot clock violations, leading to a desperation three when he had plenty of time to get a better shot on the final possession of regulation. As good as this program, is, I still do not associate it with offensive imagination.
Click to expand...
This ^^^^^
granted that I haven't watched all the Griz BB games, but there has been several offensive possessions in recent games where players get zero shots off and shot clock expires. In other cases it appears that no organized Griz offensive play / system is being used, and it is often just a clear-out and let Money have the left side of the court to go One-on-one (or one-on-two = like city said above). Travis has to get some offensive scheme and playbook implemented to get better shot selection. Less cheerleading, more coaching.
 
Not to be a snob. But the Warriors run one of the most sophisticated offenses in the NBA. Multiple screens on one play. Frequent cuts to the basket. Constant movement off the ball. Kerr's out-of-bounds plays alone exceed the entire playbooks of many coaches. Little wonder because he played for three Hall-of Fame coaches, Lute Olsen at Arizona, Phil Jackson with the Bulls and Greg Popovich with San Antonio.

So what? So this: After having a front row seat (TV style) to the entire Warriors dynasty, it is absolutely lacerating to watch this Griz offense. What's the last time you've seen a layup off a cut to the basket? (Well, I did see one the other night, a baseline cut for a layup.) Or a lob dunk? Or a wide-open look at a trey? I see these all the time in Kerr's offense but only rarely with DeCuire's schemes.

Nor am I big critic of DeCuire as a coach; his record at Montana speaks for itself. We play great defense. He and his staff have recruited way above their Divisional status. He's a great leader of young men; in fact, the ESPN announcers went out of their way the other night to repeat Money Williams's praise of DeCuire.

I just feel that DeCuire needs to hire an offensive coordinator, such the one he had in his early years at Montana, Ken Bone. That was a great move by DeCuire to hire a former head coach to his staff, when he was in his rookie season as a head coach.

But now he needs to do it again.
 
I think citygriz should bring back an "a" coordinator so he can become citay again and keeping beating the horse.
 
citygriz said:
Not to be a snob. But the Warriors run one of the most sophisticated offenses in the NBA. Multiple screens on one play. Frequent cuts to the basket. Constant movement off the ball. Kerr's out-of-bounds plays alone exceed the entire playbooks of many coaches. Little wonder because he played for three Hall-of Fame coaches, Lute Olsen at Arizona, Phil Jackson with the Bulls and Greg Popovich with San Antonio.
Click to expand...
Glad you mentioned Pops, because the Spurs were doing what you described before the dubs. Beautiful game indeed.
 
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