Erick Blasco
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Posts posted by Erick Blasco
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Lol...Any NBA coach could bring this team to where they are now. He hasn't done anything special.
But I will credit where credit's due, Congrats to Spoelstra for leading them here and like I've said all season the Heat will represent the East in the Finals.
He's installed an exceptional defense, that isn't easy to do. I shudder to think where the Heat would be with Mike D'Antoni as coach.
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I thought Spo should have been gone at the beginning of the season, and for good reason; the team was dysfunctional, not performing, and he refused to implement offensive sets until over a month into the season (and no, it wasn't that they weren't running the plays, he admitted he didn't implent them before the season started). Luckily for him, the team pulled together, started performing, and he finally started to make the kind of adjustments that win you a championship.
Give him credit for focusing on other things. He still doesn't run a great offense (though they have a corner screen into high ball screen philosophy), but you can make up for that with overwhelming talent.
He got them to buy into defense (look at what he's done to Chris Bosh! Who is this guy!), he never panicked when the team struggled, he never pointed fingers at his players (even during the LeBron bump early in the season), yet he also never coddled them.
The Heat stars aren't perfectionist self-sacrificers like KG and Ray Allen (Pierce is a bit of a showman), and they came with a lot of bad habits. Those habits began to be erased as the season wore on, and the finished product is excellent.
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I don't even have words to describe this.
Yes you do. They begin with "I'm sorry I overreacted to every minor flaw Mr. Eric Spoelstra." Don't underrestimate any member of the Pat Riley coaching tree. They know how to get results. Coaching is more than melodramatic halftime speeches.
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I can't believe the Heat won this game either...that was a complete and utter meltdown by the Bulls. They had everything going for them; Brewer was hitting shots, Wade was being shutdown, LeBron had missed 9 straight shots, they had a double digit lead with the crowd going crazy, all the momentum, and they blew it. Rose choking and some bad fouls on Wade/LeBron and LeBron eating Derrick Rose and the Chicago's Bulls' soul buried Chicago.
Ohhhhh, good quote by Kerr! Robinson as the MVP in the mid-90's getting dominated by Hakeem. That IS exactly what this was like.
Let's bring back the rematch! Wade vs. Dirk!
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I think it's safe to say he's backed everything up. His play this postseason should be more than enough to convince everyone how great he is. He seems completely locked in right now, similar to Kobe the past 2 years.
Well, he COULD shoot 12% against the Mavs...
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Tell me about it. He is basically a slightly better version of Russell Westbrook, yet he gets put up on a pedastool while Westbrook is a borderline scrub according to so man people. He is just as poor of a decision maker (see all of those stupid jumpers over James instead of driving like he should) than Westbrook is but he can compensate for it a bit better due to being more athletic and being a better finisher in the paint.
James clutch shooting continues to be remarkable. Watching him and Dirk close games out in these playoffs have been a thing of beauty.
Rose is a better decision-maker, reads defenses a bit better, is more athletic, and is an average defender while Westbrook is poor---but yeah.
And for all the LeBron haters, I thought his performance against Boston quieted you guys. This was a Jordanesque performance. Not only with his offense, but with his defense. His fourth quarter was incredible.
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Hey does anyone happen to know how I can find the average PER for NBA players that have come out of college? I can't seem to find a website for that anywhere.. Perhaps I'm just looking in the wrong places. I don't know.
You may have to just take the average PER of an NBA player and compare that to the average PER of high school players. That should be fine.
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This isn't as bad a hire as it's being made out to be, but all the criticisms are valid. Brown may not be able to reel in Kobe, and isn't a good offensive X's and O's guy. He does know how to get people to buy in on defense, and if he's smart, he'll have Brian Shaw teach him and continue to implement the Triangle. The Triangle wasn't Phil Jackson's offense when he ran it, and the Spurs had success with Greg Popovich giving lots of responsibility and voice to his staff.
I don't know if Brown has the chops to motivate the Lakers when they're down though, and Kobe might tune him out. I don't think he's a guy who'll take the Lakers to the next level. I think he's a Conference Finals coach, on a team whose star player is an NBA championship guy.
As for people wanting JVG to coach, I think he's having such a blast announcing he wouldn't want to get back into coaching unless teams opened up a vault for him. Keep in mind, he hasn't had a world of success either, though he clearly has the knowledge and the personality to get results.
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You know what---you're right. Enjoy the treat we'll have the next few weeks---there's no guarantee we'll have a season next year.
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Charley Rosen takes a look at the Thunder.
Where do the Thunder go from here? That depends on where they want to go.If surviving into the Western Conference finals is satisfactory, then the team should stand pat. If they truly aspire to win a championship, then radical changes must be implemented.
Forget about any talk of their humbling at the hands of the Mavs providing valuable experience for OKC's youngsters. There's nothing positive to be gleaned from their blowing Game 4 and wilting down the stretch again in Game 5. A hard look at the way the Thunder work and play together is much more meaningful than indulging in wishful thinking.
And forget about all the team's accomplishments in the regular season because the late rounds of the playoffs are a totally different form of the game. Indeed, the dissimilarity can be compared to scrambled and hard-boiled eggs — the same substance in two vastly different manifestations.
With only Kevin Durant, Kendrick Perkins and Nick Collison locked into long-term contracts, the team has a lot of room to maneuver.
Here are the keepers, the losers and the tweaks necessary to make the Thunder a legitimate threat to win the gold.
KEEPERS
Kevin Durant is a bona-fide franchise player. To maximize his stupendous skills, however, the offense must be expanded. Running him off high screen/rolls or isolations that end up with the ball in his hands a step above the three-point line puts too much of a burden on KD — plus missed bombs usually become fast breaks going the other way. The Thunder's defense is too porous to be so vulnerable to easy scores on the run.
Durant needs to post up more, get the ball on the move and be the beneficiary of the same kind of screens — and run the same routes — as Boston's Ray Allen.
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Serge Ibaka is a bargain at $1.28M next year followed by two option seasons at $2.25M and $3.35M. He's a shot-blocker with terrific defensive range and, once he got over his playoff jitters, was able to knock down his mid-range jumpers. Yes, he makes mistakes of commission and omission, yet Ibaka is still only 21 and is nowhere near the kind of dominant player he's destined to be. Among other aspects of his game, his post-up efficiency must be improved.
LOSERS
Will Russell Westbrook ever learn how to play the point? He certainly hasn't made significant strides in this direction over the course of his three seasons in the NBA. He's still a questionable shooter who takes questionable shots and continues to take too many ill-advised risks with the ball. His often foolish head-long drives to the rim in the face of stacked defenses leave the Thunder with poor court balance and susceptible to opponents' fastbreaks. And how many times has Westbrook over-handled and either ignored Durant or dumped the ball off to him with a short shot clock?
His incredible athleticism makes Westbrook a highlight finisher in a broken field, but he's simply incapable of implementing a half-court offense — and his limited vision makes him a bad fit with Durant.
With only one year guaranteed, Westbrook is prime trade bait.
Nazr Mohammed earned $6.88M for playing limited minutes and producing limited returns. At best, he was asked to block one shot, hit one jumper and avoid embarrassing himself on defense. Bid him good-bye and good luck.
http://msn.foxsports...s-Harden-052511
More after the link
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Dirk has one more test. I don't think he's ever seen a defense in the playoffs as good as Miami's. A strong performance against that defense would be the stuff of true legends. Should Chicago come back, it would be a similar case.
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I wouldn't say just as big but yeah he has been disappointing, seems as if he regressed as as oppossed to progressing since last years seriers.
Anyway
I'm happy for the Mavs and their fans, great story, all these Vets playing together...He shouldn't get an easy pass. He's a scorer who's supposed to generate easy shots, supposed to demoralize teams at the rim, who's supposed to hit clutch shots, and who can will his team to wins over great defenses. He didn't do his job as often as he needed to, and left plays on the floor.
His redeeming quality---he's young, he should figure things out. But he didn't put his best foot forward.
Also, it's nice that Rick Carlisle, a good coach who's coached some very good teams, will get a chance to go to the Finals. He deserves this. As does Dirk for some very big fourth quarters.
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The Thunder are still too immature. The entire team needs to bulk up and get stronger so they can score in the paint. Scott Brooks needs to open up the playbook, Westbrook needs to learn how to run an offense, and Durant needs to play stronger or he'll just be another jumbo-sized volume scorer. He should get better, but the Thunder dropped two games where they had huge leads late. They clearly have the talent---their lack of heart got in the way.
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And finally, this is where Kevin Durant isn't an MVP player. He's so timid on his drives. He only looks to step back and can't finish in traffic, or shed ball-denial. He's been an incredible disappointment, just as big as Westbrook.
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And here's Dirk's chance to erase the past. Two free throws here. He's been great all series.
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I'm proud of this Mavs team. They've stayed confident even when down, and when they've had a chance to take advantage of mistakes, they've assassinated the Thunder. And the defense and decision making by Jason Kidd? This is why they traded for him all those years ago. People still think that was an awful trade. He's been exceptional.
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And when criticizing the Bulls offense, can we please give some credit to the Heat defense? What magic play are the Bulls going to run that will generate offense? The Bulls don't have enough one-on-one scoring or playmaking to consistently score against exceptional defense except when Rose gets strung out by a screen and the Bulls can get the ball to Noah at the foul line with a numbers advantage. Miami's defense is championship-caliber.
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What confuses me even more is that Russell Westbrook gets so much heat for playing so poorly, yet Rose is struggling mightily himself. We always talk about him being the "modest superstar" but the problem is, he's not. Like you just mentioned, he takes hero shots (like the two potential gamewinners on LBJ late in the fourth), and simply isn't a great passer. When teams like Miami lock in on this Bulls team, it's very easy to exploit match ups because no one can create their shot outside of Derrick. Boozer is just as soft as Gasol, Deng needs to be spoon-fed his shots, and Korver is only good when teams fall asleep on him as he rolls off screens.
I'd post the thread during the first round of the playoffs where I said there was a double standard because nobody criticized Rose for being unable to run an offense and being a poor decision maker, but that would be arrogant of me.
What I actually am proud of is that all the hyper-reactionary criticism of Spoelstra has taken a backseat. The Heat don't run the most complicated offense, but his baseline screen stuff gets some off-ball action, and allows his players to attack from the baseline, mostly Wade. Plus the man knows how to coach defense and how to hold people accountable. All the "patience" and "trust the system" stuff he talked about early in the season is paying off---and I'm impressed with the product. He's stuck with Anthony, he's made Bosh into a quality defender, and the Heat swallow teams up. Let's see how their killer instinct is in Game Five.
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Sometimes in the NBA a team comes out much more ready to play than its opponent and rides that activity level to a victory. That was exactly the case in the Dallas Mavericks’ 93-87 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game One.
After fantastic offensive performances in Dallas, the Thunder seemed lethargic at the onset. Screens were more perfunctory than purposeful. Cuts were non-existent. Meaningful weak side action was seldom run. Players settled for contested jumpers. By the time the Thunder woke up, they were down 23 points.
Meanwhile, the Mavericks played spirited defense at the onset.
- Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, and DeShawn Stevenson each took turns defending Kevin Durant early. Their physicality forced Durant to catch the ball farther out than he would optimally want, and Stevenson and Marion used their length to eliminate entry passes. Later in the game Tyson Chandler would take a few turns defending Durant to a positive effect.
- Dallas shows on screens were excellent, with even Dirk Nowitzki hedging perfectly and delaying the ball handler on screen/rolls.
- The Mavs scouted and had their help defenders chuck Durant when he cut along the baseline from one side of the floor to the other.
- Dallas’ help defense was active, always providing assistance on drives to the basket.
- After James Harden blitzed the Mavs in Game Two, Rick Carlisle adjusted and gave Jason Terry help by trapping Harden’s screen/rolls.
- Dallas attacked Durant’s defense with Marion early, and it appeared to discourage Durant.
- The Mavs pounced on any faulty pass or dribble, coming up with five steals in the first quarter.
- With Dallas’ defense creating turnovers, the Mavs were able to fuel their transition game. This allowed Marion to get going early, and discouraged the Thunder.
http://cdn0.sbnation.com/images/blog/star-divide.v777cf8a.jpg
Of course, many of the Thunder’s problems were self-induced.
- The dirty secret of the Jeff Green-<a href="http://www.sbnation.com/nba/players/4348/kendrick-perkins" class="sbn-auto-link">Kendrick Perkins trade is that Perkins has been a dud in the playoffs. His rotations were frequently late or absent, his passing was abysmal, he takes too long to gather himself at the basket, and too often he found himself trying to tip out rebounds rather than securing them, leading to extra Mavs possessions.
- When Durant is faced with aggressive ball denial, he’s not strong enough to shed the defender. Against the Grizzlies, the Thunder countered this by having Durant screen the ball and fan, but the Mavericks aren’t coming off Durant’s body to hedge on the screen the way the Grizzlies did. Instead the Mavs are switching the screens because they’re comfortable with Stevenson or Kidd checking Durant.
- Durant also missed several shots from in close where he doesn’t have the body to ward off Tyson Chandler’s physical length.
- Russell Westbrook committed four acts unbecoming of a point guard in the opening frame. He forced a drive into traffic and was stripped for a turnover, he forced an early offense jumper that clanged out, he pushed off on Stevenson on a stepback attempt for another offensive foul, and he missed a layup.
- Westbrook also committed faulty closeouts, seemed unawares as to how to fight through a screen, and put no pressure on Jason Kidd while setting up the offense.
- Finally, Scott Brooks deserves some of the blame. His offense has virtually no continuity, so once a primary option is taken away, it’s up to the players to make offense appear out of nothing.
This is disappointing, because once the Thunder picked up their effort, they had some success.
The Thunder successfully crowded Nowitzki on his isolations, fronted his post ups, and closed out hard on his catch-and-shoots. The Thunder also elected to two-time Dirk from the baseline. As a result, Dirk had a rough second half.
Serge Ibaka used his length to contest Dirk’s jumpers, forcing Dirk to miss all three of his isolations against him.
Nick Collison’s strong upper body and relative quickness prevented Dirk from getting separation. Collison bodied Dirk into shooting only 2-5 against him (with a pair of blocked shots), plus Collison’s ferocious hands wrenched the ball from Dirk twice, leading to three turnovers. Dirk also failed to seal Westbrook on a post up, meaning Dirk’s one-on-one ventures in the first quarter only generated four points in 12 possessions, an exceptional ratio.
Dirk also was blocked on a roll to the basket, and shot 3-7 on various catch-and-shoots, usually after setting a screen then fading, to create open space. For the most part though, Dirk was a non-factor.
Likewise, Jason Terry couldn’t find the range—3-12 FG—but he kept his forced shots to a minimum, moved the ball, and hit a big floater late. On the defensive end, he was better at staying attached to James Harden’s body on screen/rolls, and funneled him into help. Considering how Dirk struggled though, Terry’s poor performance was another win for the Thunder.
Westbrook continued to knock down his screen/roll jumpers and abused J.J. Barea in the fourth quarter. It should also be noted that on Westbrook’s assaults, Chandler was usually able to provide effective help and meet Westbrook above the lane, while Brendan Haywood’s help was often a step late.
However, despite these successes, the Thunder couldn’t completely overcome the huge deficit they set for themselves allowing the Mavs to hang on for the win.
What do they need to do differently to capture Game Four?
- Get more continuity in their offense. Since Westbrook has so much trouble making the appropriate trigger passes, how about the Thunder run some 1-2-2 sets in the first quarter where Westbrook brings the ball up, makes an entry pass to Ibaka, and cuts through to the corner to effectively set a double screen or a split cut with Durant? This gives Durant some options to come to the ball, generates weak side action, and puts Westbrook along the baseline where he’s effective as a cutter. Oklahoma City can still run some continuity bringing Westbrook back around to post up or screen/roll.
- Kendrick Perkins has to be given a shorter leash if he’s not going to play with maximum effort. It’s a risk giving extra minutes to Nick Collison because the foul trouble he could be placed in, but against Haywood and the Mavericks bench, how about giving Nazr Mohammed and his short range jumper some time?
- If not Mohammed stealing some minutes from Perkins, the Thunder need to play small to create spacing for entry passes to Durant.
- Putting James Harden in screen/rolls puts the ball in the hands of Oklahoma City’s best playmaker.
- Keep crowding Dirk and hope the refs hold their whistles.
- Most importantly, come out with full energy right from the onset to put the Mavs on their heels and not the other way around.
As for the Mavs, they can take solace in winning a road game in which its two best scorers didn’t play particularly well—a testament to the team’s defensive fortitude and maturity. A similar defensive performance in Game Four will have them in the lookout seat with the NBA Finals coming in to view over the horizon.
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Good link.
One of the dudes from the Paroxysm has seen the lottery process too.
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The maturity Mayo showed while dealing with a very turbulent season makes me believe that he should be a core piece going forward. It's also going to be tough to trade Gay with his contract. Who are the Grizz going to get back? Rashard Lewis or Gilbert Arenas?
How about trying out Gay as a sixth man? He's not a great shooter and his iso game clashes with Memphis' post philosophy. Mayo can work off the ball some, stretches the floor with his range, and really D's up. The Grizz can start Allen at the three and have Gay as the first man off the bench.
They can also trade Mayo as they may not have the cap room to sign him the season after next. One thing Memphis does have is some depth on the wing so they can take the loss of Mayo if they bring back a productive player.
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The NBA product has improved considerably since the age limit was introduced.
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Haslem is a baaaad dude.
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And, that's not what a lot of people have been saying. It makes much more sense to use the NHL's lottery where a team can only drop down a maximum of one sport, or move up four spots.
Go count the number of times the word fixed has been typed in this thread.
I like the idea that decent teams can win the jackpot and get the #1 pick. One, even though they didn't make the playoffs, they still have a light at the end of the tunnel. Two, thanks to the draft, it's easier for awful teams to become really good than mediocre teams. The way the NBA lottery is set up allows decent, but non-playoff teams to have a chance at striking gold. Three, it mitigates the effectiveness of tanking. The lottery is fine.
GM5: Miami at Chicago (MIA 3-1)
in Chicago Bulls Team Forum
Posted
Nope, he's blasted away all my criticisms of him with the past two series. My goodness, how he's improved his jump shooting too.