New Offense: Less Dribbling, More Passing & Cutting

[Kingster]

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/03/4876587/smart-is-ready-to-put-stamp-on.html

Also, he thinks that the depth and athleticism on D can disrupt (i.e. get steals & create turnovers). He's definitely right on that one; I just hope he can get them to implement it.

 

[mac]

For the first time ever, I wondered... what if Smart actually turns out to help our team a lot, and establishes himself as a good coach, but when his contract is up for renewing the Maloofs don't want to pay him that much ...

 

[Kingster]

For the first time ever, I wondered... what if Smart actually turns out to help our team a lot, and establishes himself as a good coach, but when his contract is up for renewing the Maloofs don't want to pay him that much ...

I'ts sad when we have to hope for mediocrity because that's all we can afford...

 

[Kingster]

"[Smart] said in approximately 7,000 defensive possessions for the Kings there were only about 30 where all five players were in a defensive stance at the same time."

This is from a Jason Jones tweet.

That's quite a stat. That just shows how much this D underachieved.

 

[Kings Faithful]

"[Smart] said in approximately 7,000 defensive possessions for the Kings there were only about 30 where all five players were in a defensive stance at the same time."

This is from a Jason Jones tweet.

That's quite a stat. That just shows how much this D underachieved.

That is pretty shocking. It makes a lot of sense though.

 

[bajaden]

That is pretty shocking. It makes a lot of sense though.

Whats impressive is that Smart watched that much film to come to those figures. Whether all of his research and effort add up to wins or not remains to be seen. But it appears that he might be more than just a one note somba clone of Nellie.

 

[Padrino]

Whats impressive is that Smart watched that much film to come to those figures. Whether all of his research and effort add up to wins or not remains to be seen. But it appears that he might be more than just a one note somba clone of Nellie.

what's more impressive is that, across 7,000 plays, keith smart was unable to motivate his team's defense to do more than poke and jab at the ball...

i am really not fond of smart's overall defensive strategy, which, as far as i can tell, asks each player, 1-5, to reach in on a consistent basis. its a lazy commitment to defense that breeds bad habits in young players, particularly one as foul-prone as, say, demarcus cousins...

 

[mac]

what's more impressive is that, across 7,000 plays, keith smart was unable to motivate his team's defense to do more than poke and jab at the ball...

i am really not fond of smart's overall defensive strategy, which, as far as i can tell, asks each player, 1-5, to reach in on a consistent basis. its a lazy commitment to defense that breeds bad habits in young players, particularly one as foul-prone as, say, demarcus cousins...

That is one of the things that came to mind when he talked about using our athleticism to disrupt the opponent's offense. I just hope we don't end up seeing every player gambling for steals. Would have been far more reassuring if it was "use athleticism to stay in front of their man and rotate quicker", or something to that effect.

 

[Kingster]

That is one of the things that came to mind when he talked about using our athleticism to disrupt the opponent's offense. I just hope we don't end up seeing every player gambling for steals. Would have been far more reassuring if it was "use athleticism to stay in front of their man and rotate quicker", or something to that effect.

I think Smart is going to use more traps and presses. It takes energy and athleticism to employ those tactics, and the Kings have that. He certaintly can't do it every possession, but he can do it a lot more than he did. I can see Robinson as particularly good at doing this. He's a big guy with high energy that can be all over the floor. This team needs a complete rebuild in their D, starting with the fundamentals, and working their way up.

 

[CruzDude]

what's more impressive is that, across 7,000 plays, keith smart was unable to motivate his team's defense to do more than poke and jab at the ball...

i am really not fond of smart's overall defensive strategy, which, as far as i can tell, asks each player, 1-5, to reach in on a consistent basis. its a lazy commitment to defense that breeds bad habits in young players, particularly one as foul-prone as, say, demarcus cousins...

Again,its only the first day of training camp and the first comment from Coach about defensive focus. He is still getting to know the new players so I like his first emphasis and understanding how to get better with the high motor bunch he now has which for any Kings coach is very different and encouraging. Lets see what happens after 5 or 6 pre-season games as first indicator then see what blends into a team after a few weeks to a month.

 

[Padrino]

Again,its only the first day of training camp and the first comment from Coach about defensive focus. He is still getting to know the new players so I like his first emphasis and understanding how to get better with the high motor bunch he now has which for any Kings coach is very different and encouraging. Lets see what happens after 5 or 6 pre-season games as first indicator then see what blends into a team after a few weeks to a month.

i'll grant you that we, of course, have to see what happens on the court before we snap too quickly to judgment. i'm just not a fan of keith smart's defensive philosophy, which has been, since day one, a risk-taking, undisciplined system of reach-ins and overplays. i find his reiteration of such a gameplan discouraging, and i will adopt a "wait and see" stance regarding his commitment to teaching and installing a well-prepared man-to-man defense, with my preference being that it utilizes its players' athleticism in occasional zone, rather than in persistent gimmick...

truly, i have nothing but hope for this team, as unbalanced as the roster remains. the talent is there, but the biggest problem facing these kings is actually not one of development but one of duration (and, by proxy, one of financial commitment). time is, effectively, running out, and i think "wait and see" is only advisable to a point not that distant in the future. i hope kings fans recognize that we're entering into the pressure cooker phase of this team's present construction. after this season, the team has to make a decision regarding the contract status of tyreke evans. and sometime before the end of next season, they have to put a hefty extension for demarcus cousins on the table, one that he may not be interested in signing if the team does not make considerable strides in the next two years. though he has a good relationship with keith smart, the grass will be greener on the other side for that young man if the culture of losing persists, and, obviously, if the money is better elsewhere...

point being, i want to see a team taking itself seriously this season, from the top down. i don't want to see the continuation of gimmick ball offenses and lazy, gimmicky defensive schemes from the kings head coach, because that gameplan underutilizes its players' talents, and encourages bad habits in the most formative years for many of these young talents. it amounts to the spinning of wheels, and the end result will be that we watch evans and cousins walk out the door. the former may be "good riddance" to some, but i think we can all at least agree on the importance of the latter. its time to play basketball, rather than the sad approximation of basketball that we've seen from this kings team the last two seasons...

 

[mac]

i'll grant you that we, of course, have to see what happens on the court before we snap too quickly to judgment. i'm just not a fan of keith smart's defensive philosophy, which has been, since day one, a risk-taking, undisciplined system of reach-ins and overplays. i find his reiteration of such a gameplan discouraging, and i will adopt a "wait and see" stance regarding his commitment to teaching and installing a well-prepared man-to-man defense, with my preference being that it utilizes its players' athleticism in occasional zone, rather than in persistent gimmick...

truly, i have nothing but hope for this team, as unbalanced as the roster remains. the talent is there, but the biggest problem facing these kings is actually not one of development but one of duration (and, by proxy, one of financial commitment). time is, effectively, running out, and i think "wait and see" is only advisable to a point not that distant in the future. i hope kings fans recognize that we're entering into the pressure cooker phase of this team's present construction. after this season, the team has to make a decision regarding the contract status of tyreke evans. and sometime before the end of next season, they have to put a hefty extension for demarcus cousins on the table, one that he may not be interested in signing if the team does not make considerable strides in the next two years. though he has a good relationship with keith smart, the grass will be greener on the other side for that young man if the culture of losing persists, and, obviously, if the money is better elsewhere...

point being, i want to see a team taking itself seriously this season, from the top down. i don't want to see the continuation of gimmick ball offenses and lazy, gimmicky defensive schemes from the kings head coach, because that gameplan underutilizes its players' talents, and encourages bad habits in the most formative years for many of these young talents. it amounts to the spinning of wheels, and the end result will be that we watch evans and cousins walk out the door. the former may be "good riddance" to some, but i think we can all at least agree on the importance of the latter. its time to play basketball, rather than the sad approximation of basketball that we've seen from this kings team the last two seasons...

We can only hope then, that with a full offseason and training camp Smart will get the team playing real basketball.

 

[Padrino]

We can only hope then, that with a full offseason and training camp Smart will get the team playing real basketball.

indeed. it is not hopeless. the kings could very well make strides in spite of their coach's gameplan. demarcus cousins certainly has already. but with a .333 win percentage last season, i definitely wanna see this team push .400 ball. that does not seem an overly ambitious nor nigh impossible goal...

 

[bajaden]

indeed. it is not hopeless. the kings could very well make strides in spite of their coach's gameplan. demarcus cousins certainly has already. but with a .333 win percentage last season, i definitely wanna see this team push .400 ball. that does not seem an overly ambitious nor nigh impossible goal...

To be honest Padrino, he hasn't even had a chance up to now to install any kind of defense, and he's said as much. He's stated that he favors the type of defense that the Spurs play under Pop's. Defense is one of those things that a lot of players don't pay much attention to, unless there's a penalty for not doing so. Its much easier to put together an offense since most players have been playing offense since grade school. In highschool, unless you go to one of the factorys, you don't see much defense either. If you happen to go to a school like Syracuse or Baylor, that plays predominately a zone, your not learning any defense.

For that reason alone I think it takes more time to become a good defensive team with young players. But there's no reason you can't make significant improvements. Shouldn't be that hard to go up from the bottom. I'll take a wait and see attitude for now. But I do want to see improvement..

 

[JB_kings]

To be honest Padrino, he hasn't even had a chance up to now to install any kind of defense, and he's said as much. He's stated that he favors the type of defense that the Spurs play under Pop's. Defense is one of those things that a lot of players don't pay much attention to, unless there's a penalty for not doing so. Its much easier to put together an offense since most players have been playing offense since grade school. In highschool, unless you go to one of the factorys, you don't see much defense either. If you happen to go to a school like Syracuse or Baylor, that plays predominately a zone, your not learning any defense.

For that reason alone I think it takes more time to become a good defensive team with young players. But there's no reason you can't make significant improvements. Shouldn't be that hard to go up from the bottom. I'll take a wait and see attitude for now. But I do want to see improvement..

I would agree with this. It's much harder to work on defense. And to add to it, these college players coming in have rarely faced the kind of speed, size and strength you see in the NBA every night. It's a bigger jump to that next level than some realize.

 

[Kingster]

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/03/4876604/coach-is-pushing-center-cousins.html

More on defense. Smart wants Cousins to get honorable mention on the All Defense team. Why not? He has excellent quickness for his size and nobody should be able to move him from the post position.

 

[rainmaker]

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/03/4876604/coach-is-pushing-center-cousins.html

More on defense. Smart wants Cousins to get honorable mention on the All Defense team. Why not? He has excellent quickness for his size and nobody should be able to move him from the post position.

Will only have a chance of happening if our perimeter defense is a hell of a lot better and there isn't a freeway to the rim, leaving Cuz in a no win situation. Cut down penetration, Cuz has a chance. If he's dealing with guards/SF's regularly beating our defenders, it'll be foul trouble and layups/dunks.

 

[Kingster]

Will only have a chance of happening if our perimeter defense is a hell of a lot better and there isn't a freeway to the rim, leaving Cuz in a no win situation. Cut down penetration, Cuz has a chance. If he's dealing with guards/SF's regularly beating our defenders, it'll be foul trouble and layups/dunks.

That makes sense. It's hard to be All-Anything on a bad team. If everybody starts picking it up defensively, that should help Cousins. Also, Cousins has got to continue to get better at staying away from the silly fouls. That's all on him.

 

[Bricklayer]

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/03/4876604/coach-is-pushing-center-cousins.html

More on defense. Smart wants Cousins to get honorable mention on the All Defense team. Why not? He has excellent quickness for his size and nobody should be able to move him from the post position.

VERY very tough for a non-shotblocker. We would have to improve our Team Defense from last in the league to Top 15 at least for their to be any chance. Dwight will be there. Bynum will anchor a very stingy defense. So will Hibbert. Chandler won DPOY. Bogut's back. Just etc.

 

[TyFreak Evans]

Without John Salmons on the team, the rest of the guys would at least have a good shot at establishing some sort of an offensive game...
With John Salmons on the team, the rest of the guys will have a shot good at establishing how much of a ball hog the dude really is

 

[Prog]

Without John Salmons on the team, the rest of the guys would at least have a good shot at establishing some sort of an offensive game...
With John Salmons on the team, the rest of the guys will have a shot good at establishing how much of a ball hog the dude really is

I think you're still under the impression of his previous stint with the team. Last year he actually had the third lowest Usage Percentage among all kings players (only ahead of Hayes and Honeycutt). It's tough to be a real ball-hog with such a stat.

 

[Telemachus]

To be honest Padrino, he hasn't even had a chance up to now to install any kind of defense, and he's said as much. He's stated that he favors the type of defense that the Spurs play under Pop's. Defense is one of those things that a lot of players don't pay much attention to, unless there's a penalty for not doing so. Its much easier to put together an offense since most players have been playing offense since grade school. In highschool, unless you go to one of the factorys, you don't see much defense either. If you happen to go to a school like Syracuse or Baylor, that plays predominately a zone, your not learning any defense.

For that reason alone I think it takes more time to become a good defensive team with young players. But there's no reason you can't make significant improvements. Shouldn't be that hard to go up from the bottom. I'll take a wait and see attitude for now. But I do want to see improvement..

I have to agree. In all the years I have watched the NBA, I can't remember a single team that successfully installed a new defense mid-season. I have seen a lot of teams change their offense, but never their defense. That is what training camp is for, but appearantly somebody forgot to tell Westphal about it. I honestly wonder what they did in training camp last season. They had no offensive or defnesive sets that I could ever decern, and obvioully didn't use the time for conditioning.

 

[Kingster]

VERY very tough for a non-shotblocker. We would have to improve our Team Defense from last in the league to Top 15 at least for their to be any chance. Dwight will be there. Bynum will anchor a very stingy defense. So will Hibbert. Chandler won DPOY. Bogut's back. Just etc.

It is tough for a non-shot blocker getting recognition, if only because of the sexiness of shot blocking. But Cousins has shown an exceptional ability to anticipate where the ball is going on the court, and that's pretty extraordinary for someone so young. Add to that his quickness and his strength, he could really be disruptive for the opposing team.

If I had to rank our players on defensive potential, I'd say:

Tyreke - A+ - He has the potential to be first team, All Defense
Cousins - A
Robinson - A
IT - A-
Thompson - B
Thornton - C/C-
Salmons - B/B+ - depends on whether he plays the 2 or 3 and how that match-up goes
Fredette - D - He's going to have to play very smart and very hard to be an average defender
Brooks - I don't know
Johnson - I don't know, but from all the reports it sounds like he'd be at least a "B".
Hayes - C/C+ - could be higher; maybe we didn't see the real Hayes last year.
Garcia - C+
Outlaw - B/B+

So, in my opinion, there is a huge gap between actual performance and defensive potential on this team. With good coaching, more experience, and commitment by the players, I think this team could surprise some people with their defense.

 

[mac]

It is tough for a non-shot blocker getting recognition, if only because of the sexiness of shot blocking. But Cousins has shown an exceptional ability to anticipate where the ball is going on the court, and that's pretty extraordinary for someone so young. Add to that his quickness and his strength, he could really be disruptive for the opposing team.

If I had to rank our players on defensive potential, I'd say:

Tyreke - A+ - He has the potential to be first team, All Defense
Cousins - A
Robinson - A
IT - A-
Thompson - B
Thornton - C/C-
Salmons - B/B+ - depends on whether he plays the 2 or 3 and how that match-up goes
Fredette - D - He's going to have to play very smart and very hard to be an average defender
Brooks - I don't know
Johnson - I don't know, but from all the reports it sounds like he'd be at least a "B".
Hayes - C/C+ - could be higher; maybe we didn't see the real Hayes last year.
Garcia - C+
Outlaw - B/B+

So, in my opinion, there is a huge gap between actual performance and defensive potential on this team. With good coaching, more experience, and commitment by the players, I think this team could surprise some people with their defense.

The problem however, is that Cousins likes to take charges more than he challenges shots. Whether that results in a shotblock is one thing, but a 6'10 guy jumping with outstretched arms is going to make it more difficult for a shooter to put the ball in. Now you add in a) the league's new ruling on flops and b) Cuz's "relationship" with the refs and I'm not so sure that he's going to be leading the league in charges drawn anymore.

That said he does have quick feet for a big, but doesn't quite have the explosiveness to challenge shots well, so I'd put his defensive potential somewhere around a B.

 

[Kingster]

The problem however, is that Cousins likes to take charges more than he challenges shots. Whether that results in a shotblock is one thing, but a 6'10 guy jumping with outstretched arms is going to make it more difficult for a shooter to put the ball in. Now you add in a) the league's new ruling on flops and b) Cuz's "relationship" with the refs and I'm not so sure that he's going to be leading the league in charges drawn anymore.

That said he does have quick feet for a big, but doesn't quite have the explosiveness to challenge shots well, so I'd put his defensive potential somewhere around a B.

I hope you're wrong about the flop rule influencing Cousins' game. I've been wondering about that myself. My view is that Cousins doesn't flop; those are legit charges he takes. So I'm hopefull he will still get the same calls he did last year, but admittedly we might see a lot more calls on Cousins this year with refs overcompensating for the new flop rule.

 

[mac]

I hope you're wrong about the flop rule influencing Cousins' game. I've been wondering about that myself. My view is that Cousins doesn't flop; those are legit charges he takes. So I'm hopefull he will still get the same calls he did last year, but admittedly we might see a lot more calls on Cousins this year with refs overcompensating for the new flop rule.

Ah, believe me he does flop. If not in the taking charges sense then at very least on the offensive end where a tiny shove from the defender sends his whole arm flying and all. Now is it something where the majority of his charges taken are actually flops? Probably not - he is actually good at anticipating and beating the man to the spot. He's also not like Griffin and some other players that go out of their way to sell calls game in and game out. Still, we have to acknowledge and anticipate that there will probably be some sort of an impact.

 

[Kingster]

Ah, believe me he does flop. If not in the taking charges sense then at very least on the offensive end where a tiny shove from the defender sends his whole arm flying and all. Now is it something where the majority of his charges taken are actually flops? Probably not - he is actually good at anticipating and beating the man to the spot. He's also not like Griffin and some other players that go out of their way to sell calls game in and game out. Still, we have to acknowledge and anticipate that there will probably be some sort of an impact.

There is a fine line between "selling the call" and an actual flop. It's going to be interesting how this thing goes. Will the refs be calling every single charge/block situation as a block early in the season? Will they maintain continuity as the season goes on? Will they be very judicious in their calls? Will they give Cousins a break because he did league the league in taking charges, or vice-versa? We will see....

 

[Padrino]

To be honest Padrino, he hasn't even had a chance up to now to install any kind of defense, and he's said as much. He's stated that he favors the type of defense that the Spurs play under Pop's. Defense is one of those things that a lot of players don't pay much attention to, unless there's a penalty for not doing so. Its much easier to put together an offense since most players have been playing offense since grade school. In highschool, unless you go to one of the factorys, you don't see much defense either. If you happen to go to a school like Syracuse or Baylor, that plays predominately a zone, your not learning any defense.

For that reason alone I think it takes more time to become a good defensive team with young players. But there's no reason you can't make significant improvements. Shouldn't be that hard to go up from the bottom. I'll take a wait and see attitude for now. But I do want to see improvement..

I have to agree. In all the years I have watched the NBA, I can't remember a single team that successfully installed a new defense mid-season. I have seen a lot of teams change their offense, but never their defense. That is what training camp is for, but appearantly somebody forgot to tell Westphal about it. I honestly wonder what they did in training camp last season. They had no offensive or defnesive sets that I could ever decern, and obvioully didn't use the time for conditioning.

see, this is where i think people forget just how intimately connected nba offenses and defenses actually are. there's a reason that gregg popovich's spurs were an utterly mediocre defensive team last season: they played a high octane, up-tempo offense that took big risks on defense, played the passing lanes, and poked at the ball to initiate fast breaks off of turnovers. an offense styled with speed in mind, regardless of your defensive predisposition, will not find much success on D, overall, because too much energy is devoted to one side of the ball. its the same reason mike d'antoni's phoenix suns teams were pathetic on the defensive end. same goes for don nelson's warriors teams. now, pop's skill in adapting to the talent available on his roster is unrivaled. he's done amazing work in stretching out the competitive life of a forever-aging team, but last season's spurs experiment resulted in an anemic defensive culture, and their offense, for all of its adaptability and fluidity, got absolutely clobbered by the stalwart defense of the oklahoma city thunder. compare that to the methodical, back-to-the-basket offensive schemes of spurs teams past, and then think about the defensive mindset those teams carried. offenses rooted in the half court set are often the most successful, defensively, because the pace of the game lends itself to the expenditure of effort on both sides of the ball. sure, its difficult to alter a defensive mindset midseason, but you do yourself no favors by installing an offense that encourages bad habits on the other side of the court. if someone can convince me that keith smart is gonna alter his offensive philosophy enough to slow the game down so these young kings can learn how to play effective half court defense, then i might back down from my original assertions. but i don't think anybody is seriously gonna be able to argue that keith smart, a disciple of don nelson, has any desire to slow the game down. thus, expect consistently poor defensive showings from this particular kings team, already thin on defensive talent, and decreasingly effective due to their coach's gimmick-filled gameplan...

 

[Kingster]

see, this is where i think people forget just how intimately connected nba offenses and defenses actually are. there's a reason that gregg popovich's spurs were an utterly mediocre defensive team last season: they played a high octane, up-tempo offense that took big risks on defense, played the passing lanes, and poked at the ball to initiate fast breaks off of turnovers. an offense styled with speed in mind, regardless of your defensive predisposition, will not find much success on D, overall, because too much energy is devoted to one side of the ball. its the same reason mike d'antoni's phoenix suns teams were pathetic on the defensive end. same goes for don nelson's warriors teams. now, pop's skill in adapting to the talent available on his roster is unrivaled. he's done amazing work in stretching out the competitive life of a forever-aging team, but last season's spurs experiment resulted in an anemic defensive culture, and their offense, for all of its adaptability and fluidity, got absolutely clobbered by the stalwart defense of the oklahoma city thunder. compare that to the methodical, back-to-the-basket offensive schemes of spurs teams past, and then think about the defensive mindset those teams carried. offenses rooted in the half court set are often the most successful, defensively, because the pace of the game lends itself to the expenditure of effort on both sides of the ball. sure, its difficult to alter a defensive mindset midseason, but you do yourself no favors by installing an offense that encourages bad habits on the other side of the court. if someone can convince me that keith smart is gonna alter his offensive philosophy enough to slow the game down so these young kings can learn how to play effective half court defense, then i might back down from my original assertions. but i don't think anybody is seriously gonna be able to argue that keith smart, a disciple of don nelson, has any desire to slow the game down. thus, expect consistently poor defensive showings from this particular kings team, already thin on defensive talent, and decreasingly effective due to their coach's gimmick-filled gameplan...

The Spurs had the same culture last year they always did. They just ran more. Their defense wasn't as good because of their age and lack of athleticism and defensive ability, not their culture. They got beat by OKC because of their deficiency in talent, not their culture. Pop's "experiment" was a great success in my opinion. He did what very good coaches do - tailor the game to the player's talents on his team. Rather than being doctrinaire, he adapted to what he had, and frankly he went a lot further than most thought he ever could with that old team.

 

[pshn80]

Most of our guys have the tools to play decent defense, except maybe Thornton, Fredette, Hayes. More emphasis on defense, and more consistent emphasis will help a lot. We have more experience in NBA play and less dependence on rookies. We are in a good position to see improved play on both offense and defense. I look for performance to be significantly better this year. With the inexperience and short time coaching experience we had last year, we had to depend too much on one-on-one play to stay in games. We will continue to get too much one-on-one until our guys see other options work. Let's hope we see the growth I'm talking about.