But why are their shots not falling? Is it just a mass slump? Or is it something to do with the style of offense.
I believe it's at least partially to do with a confusion on offense, too much concern about who's going where, who's not passing, and when a player finally gets a shot, it's not comfortable. There's no flow.
Good question. I think it is a compilation of many smaller problems that are compounding into one big problem. No doubt you are right about the confusion on offense. However, I for one, didn't expect our guys to instantly adjust from a princeton-like offense to a whatever-you-call-this offense overnight.
But back to the reasons.
1. Bibby always starts off slow. He is taking way too many shots for how bad he is shooting, and the fact that we have so many other scorers. He needs to look to set up other guys first, and then turn his switch on later in the game. And when he gets open shots, he
needs to hit them. I don't like excuses, so if his wrist is bothering him, then he needs to sit out -- even if our team suffers because of it.
2. Ron and Brad are also shooting terribly. And combined they take 1/3 to 1/4 of our total shots on a given night. Both have had injury problems as well but again I don't like excuses. They need to continue to sit out until they can produce. And if they are healthy enough to produce effeciently, then I want to see it. And on a consistent basis.
3. As stated above, these guys are trying to adjust to a new system, both offensively and defensively. 20 games is not enough to institute a new system, no matter what kind of coach you are. I am of the opinion that it is going to take almost the entire year for everyone to find their niche and role. As long as we are moving towards efficiency and consistency,
over the course of the year, then I will be happy. Baby steps. To expect everyone to adjust instantaneously is absurd.
4. Not only are our core players shooting terribly, but they are in turn ruining the flow of offense. We aren't taking advantage of mismatches as much as we should and I don't necessarily blame Muss for that. Say for example a team is denying an entry pass to Ron down low. Well we aren't persistent enough to continue to move the ball around to accomplish the same goal. We are trying to take what the defense gives us more than we should. We should be focusing on imposing our will on other teams.
5. Defensively we have seen a few moments of brilliance. Even with a pathetic frontcourt -- same old story right? But a bunch of our points are given up in transition, because we fail to make shots. You can only ask your guys to give you energy on two of the three "areas" in basketball. Offense, defense and transition. We are focusing our energy on offense and defense and when we miss shots we don't have the energy to get back on defense in transition.
6. We have very little resolve. When we miss a few shots, and a team gets some easy baskets, you get the idea that some of our guys mentally lose focus. And then others step it up but as a whole it is not enough. We need to be stronger mentally.
7. With the princeton-type offense Adelman ran it focused on getting guys open shots in certain areas. And we had players that could hit shots from those spots. Now we are asking those same players to take the same shots, from different spots. Again, it will take time to adjust.
8. We have an entire team of secondary players. We have no superstar that will carry the team through tough times. As much as some of our players would like to be "the guy", none of them are. And you want that attitude for the most part. It is what keeps them good secondary players. But can you think of anyone on our team that can impose their will on any other team? Everyone we have needs other people to help them. So they need to focus on helping eachother a little more.
Most of our money is not producing. We are paying Mike, Brad and Ron a combined amount of almost $30 million. And collectively they are the reason we have lost so many games. They are our three worst shooters right now. And they take most of the shots. If there was only one golden reason for our record right now it is that.
To think all teams, even championship teams, don't have issues throught the course of a year is rediculous. We have a set of problems that are compounding the other ones. All I ask for as a fan is that our guys work towards fixing those problems. If we lose some games on the way then so be it. As long as we make progress then I will be happy.
