Short Shot Clocks

And Joe Prunty.

For example, when Tony Bennett coached WSU he openly admitted his preference for a deliberate, methodical style of basketball like his father taught him. And, even though this is strictly an assumption on my part, I’m sure Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Fratello were satisfied that their teams played at a snail’s pace and didn’t want to alter it.

At this point, I honestly question McMillan’s ability to deduce his own style of coaching. It’d be one thing if he’d finally said something like through the years he’s always coached at a slow pace and is finally looking to switch things up, but all his comments ever are is empty rhetoric like the team needs to get shots earlier in the clock and whatnot.

Now, I’m not a fan of run-and-gun basketball whatsoever; yet, I’d laugh uproariously if UO women’s basketball coach Paul Westhead came in to Trail Blazer practice someday and actually had them all running like the wind during scrimmage. I guaranteed you a control freak like McMillan would have a hysterical conniption fit watching all the turnovers and sloppiness, but at least then maybe he’d realize that he is, was, and always will be a slow-paced basketball coach.

I think with this now on the table, it opens up a lot of things, not the least of which is it gives Martell more of a green light when he has an opening. Now….he has to hit them.

I also agree that Bayless on the court would help solve this, too.

Finally, I recall the data said that Brandon is killer coming off screens and shooting immediately, but they run almost no plays like that. Why not?

are being masqueraded as a playing style.

last year it seemed Outlaw or Roy were often forced to rush up shots as the shot-clock was winding down, so it’s no surprise to see the trend continue this year. It really is a bad habit that’s been hard to break. Methodical play is one thing, but aimless clock management is another. It seems when the team is forced to throw one up against the shot clock buzzer it puts the entire team out of position to rebound the ball or get back on D. When the shot goes in it’s great, but more often then not the team is caught off-guard and at the mercy of the opponent’s quicker reacting schemes.
One thing that makes me laugh is watching Steve Blake off the inbound. He typically lets the ball get ahead of him before he picks it up, in what I’ve assumed to be an attempt to add a bit more time to execute the “offense.”

update posted with comparison to last year.

Sergio was always getting those cool lobs to Rudy. This has to be Miller’s fault.

its pretty evident what the blazers need to do and some of the commenters are spot on with reference to the offensive scheme but the quickest fix, one that is even more efficacious, and one that Nate once proved he could do (!!) is to push the tempo. Wait no no, i don’t mean run run run. I don’t mean 7 seconds or less. I mean his rule last season at the playoff push where he had the players cross half court in 3 seconds or less (or whatever it was). That way we have 21 seconds instead of 16. And trust me with Blake or Roy brings that ball up, we have 16. We start on a short clock, so its no wonder that after 12 seconds of movement we have to rush a shot. If we push the ball across half court not only will we have more time, but we will catch transition defenses unawares and unprepared-and that’s how you score easy buckets.

And of course, as has been said time and time again, Blake should be benched until he proves he can do something—anything to play at this level—and no, NOT TURNING OVER THE BALL doesn’t count. He can do that even better from the sideline.

“Flaming bag”? I’m curious how much that comes into play, since it isn’t part of the stats. It’s one thing for Brandon or Steve to dribble the clock down and take a shot, and something entirely different to have someone get into trouble and throw an out-of-rhythm pass with 2 seconds on the clock. Seems like our Flaming Bag ratio is way up this year.

if it happens. Hopefully it won’t be another empty promise, like “we’ll run more.” Roy needs to be on board, since it is often him that is dribbling down the clock.

I would be curious what Andre Miller’s percentage is in shooting short shot clock shots. He seems to get stuck with them a lot too. He’s gets out of about 1/4th of them by drawing a foul.

If this is going to work, one thing that has to happen is that plays need to develop faster and/or be changed. A lot of the time, the Blazers seem to pass the ball into the high post for absolutely no reason I can see (the player receiving the ball doesn’t even look toward the basket) and then spend 5-8 seconds trying to get the ball back to the person who passed it there in the first place. If anybody knows the point to this, I’d love to be educated, because as it is, it drives me nuts.

Fantastic insight into the inner workings and adjustments of an NBA team. Not many fanbases would have access to this type of insight.

Good to know the Blazers recognize part of the problem. Have to find a middle ground between Lamarcus rushing 22 foot jumpers with 16 seconds on the shot clock, and three perimeter guys playing hot potato until the clock ticks down to three. The key is to focus on getting good aggressive looks attacking the bucket or in the midrange, or open spot up threes, while there’s still time.

I suspect this analysis contributes to Nate’s pending decision to start Dre and ramp up Bayless’s minutes.

Wishlist
Bigger role for Greg (check)
More mins for Bayless (check)
Start Miller (check)
Blake sucks (check)
Push the pace (TBD)

Rudy has an adjusted shooting percentage of 58.3% When adjusted to weight for the 3pt shot.

Aldridge 40.9 in adjusted fg% only those two over 35% in adjusted fg% in short shot clock situations.

You all have finally convinced me that the Blazers suck.

So I’m doing the only logical thing – rooting for the team you all really want to see.

To support your hypothesis. Great job getting the info and putting all together. This is a quality post.