Ideas to help our Offense?

[SameOldNudityDrew]

So we've got a high-ranked offense, but I can't help but think we can definitely be better. Anybody else agree? Here are a few ideas. Let me know what you think and what you'd suggest. I haven't gone into statistical research to back this stuff up (or reject it) so maybe some of you number crunchers can help out.

[list]
[*] I'd to see more planned off-the-ball movement, especially from Wiggins. I think we should have Taj and G setting picks for him to cut to the basket off the ball much more, with the ball-handler looking to hit him going to the basket. Wiggins doesn't have the best hands for catching the ball, but he has worse handles. He shouldn't be getting the ball so far out beyond the three point line or when he's not moving. Let's put him in a position to get dunks or draw fouls a lot more. This would also lower the percentage of plays when he ISOs, which is really inefficient.
[*] I want to see Towns involved a lot more offensively, especially in the post, because he seems to hit so many shots when he gets good position down low. I'm not totally sure how to make that happen. But maybe just look for some more classic post-ups like we used to do with Big Al. And maybe initiate the offense through him more out of the elbow as well. That would be a good moment to set some picks to try to get Wiggins to break for the basket for Towns to hit him with the pass, which Towns' height allows him to make pretty well. And just more shots in general for KAT. He should have the most shot attempts per game, IMO.
[*] I like the ball movement with the second unit, with Tyus, Bjelly, and G. I wonder if staggering those guys in with the starters more could help that. It seemed like Thibs was doing that for awhile, but we've since gone away from it a bit, but I might be mistaken about that. I'm fine with cutting down on minutes for Teague and Crawford, and the big three as well, just for the sake of rest. And not playing Shabazz at all would probably help our ball movement.
[*] It should go without saying, but more threes, please. Especially from Bjelly and Towns. What are the ways we can make this happen?
[/list]

Watching our offense, it just looks so unimaginative. I can't help but think the only reason we're good offensively is because of individual talent (particularly Butler and Towns bailing us out at the end of the shot clock), the clever chemistry between Butler and Gibson, and all those midrange shots that Gibson and Gorgui have been hitting (which I don't want to count on). I don't think we are going to become the Warriors because our guys just don't pass as freely and we aren't as good shooting outside. But I have to think we can be even more efficient offensively.

What do you guys think?

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I think these are all good ideas Drew (I especially like #2 - getting KAT more touches in various spots), but I'm afraid there isn't a ton of wiggle room without better 3-point shooting.

If you look at our starting 5, none are capable volume 3-point shooters. And when I say volume, I mean by today's standards, not the standards of a couple years ago. We have no one in our lineup that can get off 9 or 10 3 pointers on any given night and be reasonably accurate (i.e. 34% or better). That means that we just don't have a ton of space to work with in the half court. I mean, teams are almost completely ignoring Taj and leaving a guy in the paint, letting him take one wide open mid-range shot after another. He makes his fair share of them, but teams don't care. They will almost ALWAYS concede that shot.

As a result, we have to rely on free throws, offensive rebounds, and turnover differential to outscore teams. We do REALLY good on these three things, but it's kind of ugly to watch. We basically grind out extra possessions and get to the line a lot. That's not as pretty as pace and space basketball.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

....the other thing this impacts is our floor spacing. Because we are so intent on driving into the paint to draw fouls and/or get offensive rebounds, we are often left undermanned in defensive transition.

A lot of these teams that play the "modern" way already have at least a couple guys spaced out beyond the arc above the break and ready to get back on defense if their team misses. We might sometimes only have one or zero guys offensively above the break when we get a shot up.

These are tradeoffs we've made based on the team Thibs the GM built. While I think there is room for criticism of Thibs - and I was a big critic earlier in the year - I have come around to the fact that I think he has tried the make the most with the roster he built.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I think these are all good ideas Drew (I especially like #2 - getting KAT more touches in various spots), but I'm afraid there isn't a ton of wiggle room without better 3-point shooting.

If you look at our starting 5, none are capable volume 3-point shooters. And when I say volume, I mean by today's standards, not the standards of a couple years ago. We have no one in our lineup that can get off 9 or 10 3 pointers on any given night and be reasonably accurate (i.e. 34% or better). That means that we just don't have a ton of space to work with in the half court. I mean, teams are almost completely ignoring Taj and leaving a guy in the paint, letting him take one wide open mid-range shot after another. He makes his fair share of them, but teams don't care. They will almost ALWAYS concede that shot.

As a result, we have to rely on free throws, offensive rebounds, and turnover differential to outscore teams. We do REALLY good on these three things, but it's kind of ugly to watch. We basically grind out extra possessions and get to the line a lot. That's not as pretty as pace and space basketball.

It'll be interesting to see how that strategy translates to playoff basketball... when defenses ramp up and opposing teams tend to care about each possession a bit more.

[thedoper]

We've got the #3 offense so there is that. We have our holes for sure, still shooting after all this time like Q mentions. I like your ideas too Drew, but it is mostly situational to me. We need more variety when the pressure of the game wraps up. We've come to another season where our 4th quarter offense is below our average. To me it still means we're learning, but I think the rhetoric of Jimmy taking the team on his shoulders has created challenges for our 4th quarter offense. Towns needs to start being 1st touch. When Cam was preaching pro-Thibs before the hiring process he showed a video of a bunch of Thibs triangle sets. I really think that those low block sets for Towns like you alluded to, with triangle motion off that action should be our primary counter point to iso-Jimmy. Overall we've been a promising team. I don't think there is as much to complain about the offense as is often brought up here, but situational crunch time sets need better execution for sure.

[Coolbreeze44]

I agree we can get better. It's not how good you are, it's more about how good you could be.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I think these are all good ideas Drew (I especially like #2 - getting KAT more touches in various spots), but I'm afraid there isn't a ton of wiggle room without better 3-point shooting.

If you look at our starting 5, none are capable volume 3-point shooters. And when I say volume, I mean by today's standards, not the standards of a couple years ago. We have no one in our lineup that can get off 9 or 10 3 pointers on any given night and be reasonably accurate (i.e. 34% or better). That means that we just don't have a ton of space to work with in the half court. I mean, teams are almost completely ignoring Taj and leaving a guy in the paint, letting him take one wide open mid-range shot after another. He makes his fair share of them, but teams don't care. They will almost ALWAYS concede that shot.

As a result, we have to rely on free throws, offensive rebounds, and turnover differential to outscore teams. We do REALLY good on these three things, but it's kind of ugly to watch. We basically grind out extra possessions and get to the line a lot. That's not as pretty as pace and space basketball.

It'll be interesting to see how that strategy translates to playoff basketball... when defenses ramp up and opposing teams tend to care about each possession a bit more.

....and the refs may not be as generous with the whistles. Nothing quite replaces the ability to make a bunch of 3's, although we have almost maximized every other offensive lever we cal pull, thus the #3 rating.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

We've got the #3 offense so there is that. We have our holes for sure, still shooting after all this time like Q mentions. I like your ideas too Drew, but it is mostly situational to me. We need more variety when the pressure of the game wraps up. We've come to another season where our 4th quarter offense is below our average. To me it still means we're learning, but I think the rhetoric of Jimmy taking the team on his shoulders has created challenges for our 4th quarter offense. Towns needs to start being 1st touch. When Cam was preaching pro-Thibs before the hiring process he showed a video of a bunch of Thibs triangle sets. I really think that those low block sets for Towns like you alluded to, with triangle motion off that action should be our primary counter point to iso-Jimmy. Overall we've been a promising team. I don't think there is as much to complain about the offense as is often brought up here, but situational crunch time sets need better execution for sure.

Absolutely, the crunch time offense featuring dribblin' Jeff or iso Jimmy is not a pretty sight. Get KAT some touches or at minimum run him in pick and roll with Butler so that our two best players are involved in the play.

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

We can feed kat more and run more. However, nether is going to happen with teague playing the bulk of his minutes with kat. Thibs also needs to stress touches for kat in the post.

[crazy-canuck [enjin:18955461]]

defense seems to be the bigger problem. We go as kat goes in that side of the ball. He had a great stretch, but the last 5 or so games, he's been lackluster.

Then the defense looks just as bad when dieng comes in.