Detroit Game Thoughts

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

I flew back from Mpls tonight and had the wonderful pleasure of watching this game on delay since I had no other plans for the evening (Happy new year by the way).

- Was it Flip or Mitchell who said teams don't design plays to get 3-pointers? Whoever said it was dead wrong, but we knew that at the time didn't we? Detroit was doing everything possible to set-up the 3-point shot. And unlike Utah, they didn't miss much.

- If we aren't going to take a lot of 3's, than for god's sake, you have to defend the 3. Last night we gave Utah a bunch of open 3's and luckily they missed them. But again tonight it was raining down 3's. How many wide open 3's do you give Anthony Tolliver? Our bigs HAVE to know that it's the only shot he really wants to take.

- Rubio was awful tonight - defensively, careless with the ball, shooting. He looked a step slow and lacked the doggedness needed to guard a guy like Jackson.

- LaVine is quickly coming down to earth. Whatever improvement he showed earlier in the year has nearly vaporized. If his shot isn't falling, there isn't much he does for you. What the hell is it with this team and the inability to develop shooters? I had high hopes for him in this area, but he's disappointed of late.

- KAT did everything he did to keep us in the game, but he simply isn't built to match up against Drummond. He was man-handled. This is one of those situations where Pek would really help.

- Bjelica gets absolutely murdered by the officials. Never have I seen so many ticky tack fouls called on one guy.

- 'Bazz looked good on offense, but man, he absolutely sucks defensively. And it's not an effort issue. He has terrible reactions and lateral foot speed plus poor awareness. Effort isn't enough to make up for it.

- Wiggins played solid on both sides of the ball tonight, but even on good nights he needs quite a few shots to get his points. He's just not a very efficient player yet.

- Someday a coach (probably not MItchell) will run that Rubio/Towns pick and pop and insist that Towns pops out beyond the 3-point arc. The day that happens is the day our offense is taken to a new level.

[m4gor [enjin:6667447]]

i agree with everything except pick and pop, that is where shooting of guard matter a lot as defending guard can go under the screen without punishment, and Rubio is not fast enough to turn the corner anyway and if he does by some miracle he will airball layup or something as he is piss poor finisher around rim as well

shortly, any kind of Pick and Pop or Pick and Roll in general will not work with Rubio (that is one of reasons why my pork chop meter is still at 80 :-) )

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

i agree with everything except pick and pop, that is where shooting of guard matter a lot as defending guard can go under the screen without punishment, and Rubio is not fast enough to turn the corner anyway and if he does by some miracle he will airball layup or something as he is piss poor finisher around rim as well

shortly, any kind of Pick and Pop or Pick and Roll in general will not work with Rubio (that is one of reasons why my pork chop meter is still at 80 :-) )

Do you watch the games mgor, because if you do, surely you would see that Rubio is getting a ton of assists now on pick and pop with KAT, except Towns is taking 18-20 footers instead of 23 footers. I mean, it's practically a patented play between the two of them now.

Rewind a couple of seasons ago to Kevin Love's flagship season. Guess how he got a bunch of those points?

And if a guy like Drummond decides to close out on Towns way out on the 3-point arc, that's exactly where we want him - as far away from the paint as possible! It will open up the paint for others.

[m4gor [enjin:6667447]]

i agree with everything except pick and pop, that is where shooting of guard matter a lot as defending guard can go under the screen without punishment, and Rubio is not fast enough to turn the corner anyway and if he does by some miracle he will airball layup or something as he is piss poor finisher around rim as well

shortly, any kind of Pick and Pop or Pick and Roll in general will not work with Rubio (that is one of reasons why my pork chop meter is still at 80 :-) )

Do you watch the games mgor, because if you do, surely you would see that Rubio is getting a ton of assists now on pick and pop with KAT, except Towns is taking 18-20 footers instead of 23 footers. I mean, it's practically a patented play between the two of them now.

Rewind a couple of seasons ago to Kevin Love's flagship season. Guess how he got a bunch of those points?

And if a guy like Drummond decides to close out on Towns way out on the 3-point arc, that's exactly where we want him - as far away from the paint as possible! It will open up the paint for others.

i do watch games, few recent ones i have not seen though. I suppose that if this worked recently it will get into scouting reports and teams will prepare for it PnR, PnP with guard going under the screen just cannot be efficient in long run

KAT at 3pt line should be enough to drag his man out of the paint anyway, with or without PnR, where KAT is also amazing is triple threat position on elbow with clear out as he can do it all, shoot/pass/drive .. not that many bigs are capable of it if any

[KiwiMatt]

All valid points Q.

In regards to Bjelica, he is getting picked on big time by the officials, and I really think it isn't helping his game and confidence. The officials have always picked on rookies and more so Euro rookies, but they're not even subtle about it anymore. Dieng also gets a lot of unfair calls against him. Unfortunately the only way to start get 'favours' from the officials is to start winning games and putting bums on seats. Hard to do that when your team is being knit picked for any infringement though. Personally I think the officials need to be officiated.....

Agree with the KAT/Rubio Pick and Pop/Roll plays. KAT's mid range jumper is a thing of beauty. I can't recall a guy his size having such a sweet shot so early in his career. Rubio's shooting does restrict the effectiveness, but he makes up for it with court vision and passing accuracy.

I'm actually pretty happy with the current roster and besides moving Martin I'm happy to stick with this squad. We do desperately need a decent 3 and D type player to help our perimeter defense and 3pt shooting.

[Lipoli390]

Q is right. Ricky and KAT have been executing the PAP for quite a while. Ricky draws the defense because teams don't want to give him any room to operate and because he's also good getting to the rim. Bringing KAT out to the 3-point line us exactly what Sam should do. But we need a modern day NBA coach to get the 3-point shot fully incorporated into our offense.

[Mstermisty [enjin:6864008]]

I'm still high on the potential of this team, but it's disheartening to see them regress after an 8-8 start and a winning record on the road. I mean yeah, 8-8 was probably overachieving, but they're 4-13 since, barely beating bad teams, Bjelica has completely disappeared, Zach looks like Zach again, Ricky is having some strong games but amazingly is shooting worse than ever, Wiggins comes and goes, Mitchell is Mitchell.

And then there is KAT. Hard to be upset about anything watching this young stud and knowing he just turned 20.

[Coolbreeze44]

I'll tell you what Q is right about. Why can't we develop a shooter? Our best shooter is KAT, at least he's the guy I feel most comfortable watching shoot from the outside. Just sad that we don't have anyone who you can count on for consistent accuracy from the outside.

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

I'll tell you what Q is right about. Why can't we develop a shooter? Our best shooter is KAT, at least he's the guy I feel most comfortable watching shoot from the outside. Just sad that we don't have anyone who you can count on for consistent accuracy from the outside.

Agreed. Didn't watch, just saw the final and guessing we got outshot from 3 point land
*checks boxscore*
Holy crap! 14-35! My Dad and I were watching a couple of the games over the holidays and commenting how many times guys passed up the open 3 to step in and take the long 2. Maybe Rudez needs more burn here, I don't know, not sure either why we can't develop good outside shooters.

[mjs34]

I watched the game tonight, and one thing continued to nag at me. This team is losing before they take the court. We clearly have the laziest coaching staff in the league. They obviously aren't watching any game tape, checking stats, and more importantly, game planning for their opponent. I agree with Q on our offense, and have held this view in both of Flip's stints, Adelman's stint, and it continues with Sam. Bring in Scotty Brooks please!

We don't put our guys in position to succeed, and don't play to their strengths. Why put Prince in the corner if he can't shoot the 3? Why are we executing plays to setup long 2's? Other than KAT, nobody can make them. Maybe a good game plan would have played KAT and G down low trying to put Drummond in foul trouble. Maybe attack the basket more against a team that doesn't block a lot of shots.

We don't cut hard, we stop playing D when the ball goes up, we never take advantage of the picks. How many times do our ball handlers actually drive around the pick hard to the basket. Instead they pull a T'hud and lollygag at half speed allowing teams to catch up and get blocked from behind because they failed to maintain the advantage.

Apparently the refs didn't get the memo a couple years back that they weren't going to call fouls when the player was moving sideways or backward to draw the contact. We need to start grabbing and hacking at the beginning of games. We are getting called for fouls anyway, why not make them count.

Really not happy to see Wiggins and Lavine jogging back down the court while Detroit was enjoying a 5 on 3. Both should have hit the bench immediately. Sam has clearly lost their ear, and you can see that by how his rants are escalating. We need a real coach.