Our "half court offense"

Baldi's back.  Good and bad things.

Back and in mid-season form with his unique contrarian viewpoints.

Quote from: mkras99 on December 23, 2012, 09:10:28 AM

Baldi's back.  Good and bad things.

Back and in mid-season form with his unique contrarian viewpoints.

An early Chrismas present to the board...the return

As I mentioned a week ar ago or so, I don't think you can get away with playing Pointer and Garrett at the same time. And you certainly can't get away with those two and Obekpa all playing at the same time. I think Lavin has to cut the cord with one of the two most overated players we have had here. One them playing big minutes as a role player is fine. You can't play both big minutes though! Makes the offense too predictable. I think you pick one cut the others minutes and give them to Bourgalt / Branch.

Pointer is a great athlete - there are many members on this board who are better shooters and ball handlers - myself not included

In My Opinion our half court offence leaves a lot to be desired.
 But I just do not think we have the right pieces. We have no low post player that any team would need to double on so the defence really never has to rotate. We need Orlando Bad. 2nd issue, we do not have good shooters Dom, Amir, Phil & Jakarr cannot stretch the defense.

We have a lot of athletes who get exposed in the Half Court Offense sets.

As I mentioned a week ar ago or so, I don't think you can get away with playing Pointer and Garrett at the same time. And you certainly can't get away with those two and Obekpa all playing at the same time. I think Lavin has to cut the cord with one of the two most overated players we have had here. One them playing big minutes as a role player is fine. You can't play both big minutes though! Makes the offense too predictable. I think you pick one cut the others minutes and give them to Bourgalt / Branch.

I agree, I think it should be Pointer who gets his minutes cut. Marco and Branch are basketball players, Dom plays basketball. There's a difference

I've been watching the Lavin coached Johnnies for three years now and for the life of me, I cant figure out what our half court offense is, or really, if we even have one.

Half court offenses are easily recognizable..the Princeton offense, the UCLA 1-4, the Dribble Drive, the thing Kansas does ( i think they just call it fist). They all have their base set and options based on what the defense is doing. Ball screens, off the ball screens, back door cutters, designed drive and dish...not complicated stuff. Anyone who has even a passing knowledge of basketball will recognize what a team is doing in the halfcourt about halfway through the first half of a game because the patterns are the same, just with different outcomes based on what the players decide to do. As I said in the opening, I've been watching the Lavin Johnnies for three years now, at least 15 games in person, and I dont have the foggiest idea of what theyre doing on offense after that stupid, time-wasting weave. And the frightening thing is, i dont think the players know either. It would be one thing if we were buring some clock on every possession and then consistently getting good shots off of ball movement or drive and kick. But we dont...the majority of the time we get a forced shot off the bounce, especially at the end of games or when things get tight. Nobody moving, nobody screening..just one guy taking his man off the dribble. It looks like playground basketball. How is this possible?

You can talk all you want about rebounding and the other deficiencies, but this is the core problem. The same combination of length and quickness that everyone talks about as an asset on D would be a huge asset in any kind of properly executed motion offense. We'd be back dooring people to death and DLo and Marco would be getting more open looks. Instead, we get PG4 and DLo forcing contested shots at the buzzer. With a young team especially, you need to have a system they can fall back on when their nuts get tight rather than having them freelance. Otherwise you have what has happened to us constantly over the last two years...giving away leads over and over due mostly to bad decision making as the lead evaporates.

Branch will help, because he thinks like a PG, but only a little. If they stay w this non offense offense, his impact will be mostly in transition because it doesnt help to have a guy who actually looks for cutters when there are no cutters ( at least not by design, as far as I can tell). It's maddening and unfortunately I dont think its going to change unless there's a major shift in philosophy.

They run the reverse motion offense, also called reverse action offense. They have been running it sense Lavin got here. I believe Lavin picked up this offense from his father. Worked pretty well with the seniors. Problem is I don't believe we have the personal for it. We don't have a post up game, nor do we have good passers.  We don't have the wings to extend the defense to allow for back cuts. Defenses are just sitting in the paint waiting for us to come.

As I mentioned a week ar ago or so, I don't think you can get away with playing Pointer and Garrett at the same time. And you certainly can't get away with those two and Obekpa all playing at the same time. I think Lavin has to cut the cord with one of the two most overated players we have had here. One them playing big minutes as a role player is fine. You can't play both big minutes though! Makes the offense too predictable. I think you pick one cut the others minutes and give them to Bourgalt / Branch.

Marco can't get off a shot on his own at this level, nor can he defend. He needs others to create for him. I like what I have seen out of Felix thus far and would prefer him over Pointer, Garrett and Bourgalt. Green needs to step up.

Quote from: tnice on December 22, 2012, 11:39:12 AM

I've been watching the Lavin coached Johnnies for three years now and for the life of me, I cant figure out what our half court offense is, or really, if we even have one.

Half court offenses are easily recognizable..the Princeton offense, the UCLA 1-4, the Dribble Drive, the thing Kansas does ( i think they just call it fist). They all have their base set and options based on what the defense is doing. Ball screens, off the ball screens, back door cutters, designed drive and dish...not complicated stuff. Anyone who has even a passing knowledge of basketball will recognize what a team is doing in the halfcourt about halfway through the first half of a game because the patterns are the same, just with different outcomes based on what the players decide to do. As I said in the opening, I've been watching the Lavin Johnnies for three years now, at least 15 games in person, and I dont have the foggiest idea of what theyre doing on offense after that stupid, time-wasting weave. And the frightening thing is, i dont think the players know either. It would be one thing if we were buring some clock on every possession and then consistently getting good shots off of ball movement or drive and kick. But we dont...the majority of the time we get a forced shot off the bounce, especially at the end of games or when things get tight. Nobody moving, nobody screening..just one guy taking his man off the dribble. It looks like playground basketball. How is this possible?

You can talk all you want about rebounding and the other deficiencies, but this is the core problem. The same combination of length and quickness that everyone talks about as an asset on D would be a huge asset in any kind of properly executed motion offense. We'd be back dooring people to death and DLo and Marco would be getting more open looks. Instead, we get PG4 and DLo forcing contested shots at the buzzer. With a young team especially, you need to have a system they can fall back on when their nuts get tight rather than having them freelance. Otherwise you have what has happened to us constantly over the last two years...giving away leads over and over due mostly to bad decision making as the lead evaporates.

Branch will help, because he thinks like a PG, but only a little. If they stay w this non offense offense, his impact will be mostly in transition because it doesnt help to have a guy who actually looks for cutters when there are no cutters ( at least not by design, as far as I can tell). It's maddening and unfortunately I dont think its going to change unless there's a major shift in philosophy.

They run the reverse motion offense, also called reverse action offense. They have been running it sense Lavin got here. I believe Lavin picked up this offense from his father. Worked pretty well with the seniors. Problem is I don't believe we have the personal for it. We don't have a post up game, nor do we have good passers.  We don't have the wings to extend the defense to allow for back cuts. Defenses are just sitting in the paint waiting for us to come.

For those unfamiliar.
http://hooptactics.net/freesite/offstrategies/motionoffense/reverseaction1.php

You hit the nail on the head when you said we're not very adept passers to be running this offense.   That, and there should be multiple screens on every pass, and I see barely any. 
But I do think as time goes on we'll see better entry passes.   It happened with the seniors two years ago, I imagine it will be no different with this team.   Especially since Phil, Dangelo, Dom, and Amir have been doing this for 2 years now.