Originally Posted by Rhylan
A lot of you need to realize, this isn't football. The coach doesn't call a play that goes to a specific offensive executor each time down the court. You only call stuff some of the time, and when you do, it's an offensive set with several options. In order for all the options to present themselves, the players have to execute proper player and ball movement better than the defense executes their scheme and anticipation.
This is not like when Nellie was here and he'd call to exploit specific mismatches on the court that meant taking the ball out of Dirk's hands.
These days, Dirk not getting the ball for stretches is an execution problem that is a result of the following:
1. Lack of energy on the part of teammates and of Dirk. The two feed off of each other. When nobody's doing well, Dirk gets down, or vice versa. This is what I think happens a lot when you see Dirk being weak with the ball when he gets it, letting it get poked away. Or when he doesn't hustle to beat his defender to a good spot on the floor. It comes out of being sick of working so hard to get into position or of not having anyone besides JKidd who can get him the ball in a good spot. And it's becoming even harder for JKidd to get him the ball in a good spot because of our lack of other options on the floor. Worse now than at any other time in Dirk's time as a Mav, there is a lack of consistent scoring ability on the floor at every position but his.
2. Personnel problems. These cause the frustration that leads to #1. Personnel problems include NOBODY capable of creating their own shot on the team other than Dirk. No consistent second scoring option. Barea being absolutely exposed by teams who have scouted him and realize he is not going to make the right pass, ever, yet still getting the ball each time down the court, because when he's in the game, that's what he's called on to do. Force the issue and make offense. The guy is 5'9" for crying out loud - he's a SPECIALIST in the most extreme case. A coach with the skills of a Rick Carlisle is playing him this much out of pure desperation and lack of other options. Only the greatness of Dirk and smart play of Kidd and sometimes Marion (defensively) have the Mavs where they are right now record-wise. That and Dampier's great start to the season.
Barea and Howard are offensive kryptonite for this team. They are effective only when they dominate the ball. For Howard, this is bad because when he's off, he tries to shoot his way out of it, and when he's on, he heat checks his way out of being hot. See second quarter against Portland on Saturday.
Barea can be a useful weapon in this vein if he's used for 10-15 minutes and does NOT initiate the offense. But because of his non-existent ball distribution skills, when Barea initiates the offense, we become a one option offense. So let him floor the ball, then crowd him on D. You'll either get a forced shot or a forced kick out. Most teams have figured that out in the last couple of months - that's why his effectiveness has gone to crap.
Bottom line, the Dirk-suddenly-not-getting-shots issue is a personnel issue exacerbated by a coaching playing ineffective players too much, and a coach playing ineffective players too much because of personnel shortcomings... in other words, time for a shake-up.
I also think you can't underestimate the effect Dampier's knee issue has had on the team D. Team D was sliding once he started having problems and lost some mobility, and has slid off the deep end along with the team's psyche the last couple of weeks. Snowball effect.
And another note in this rambling post... Shawn Marion's defense has been outstanding, without question, but his offensive game has become Antawn Jamison without the touch around the basket, without the solid fundamental shooting form, and without the range. In other words, you can only feel good about him shooting a layup. He is completely gravity bound on the offensive side of the ball, all of a sudden.
To those of you who wonder why Roddy isn't playing more.. the only reasonable explanation I can come up with is the knucklehead factor. The Mavs have an overabundance of players who are, when at their very best, a mere hair's breadth away from becoming a full blown knucklehead.
Howard, Gooden, Barea, and Terry are all in this category. 4 very below average basketball decision makers. The conditions under which you'd be willing to roll out a mercurial rookie who probably has a knucklehead streak of his own are very limited when your team is so dependent on that Knucklehead Quartet.
|