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.