How to counter the high pick and roll

[freetiago]

The downfall of the spurs since 2010 with nash/amare
2011 M.Gasol/Arthur&conley torched us with it
2012 westbrick&Abaka/Collison beat us again

Spurs have done pretty well in all areas of defending it except for getting out and contesting the bigs mid range shot
and even though its the most inefficient shot and the one you want the team to take SA makes it way to easy
I think the best way to defend it would be to put Leonard on the big who sets the picks instead of Splitter/Duncan
vs a team like okc/miami/clippers this means that Leonard would be guarding Griffin/Bosh/Abaka
Spurs match up well vs Clippers where it wont hurt them at all
but vs OKC/Miami Durant and Lebron would have to be guarded by jackson/green/ginobili or random trade SF
Obviously they would win that matchup handedly but I would rather have Durant/Lebron get theirs vs random scrubs gaining confidence and draining every shot they take

Amir johnson/Abaka/Earl Clark/Robin Lopez/Spencer Hawes/Darrel Arthur are just a few of the random scrubs who've gone off vs us by the open mid range shot
With Leonard guarding the pick and he can still show on the pick and roll and recover fast enough to put some resistance on the mid range
neither Splitter/Duncan can do that effectively

[Leetonidas]

I think the Spurs' gameplan is to force teams to take the high midrange jumper in those situations. It's the most inefficient shot in basketball. I agree though they can't just be leaving players wide open and daring them to beat them because it seems like teams have figured that out and each have a big that is great at shooting from the top of the key.

[TJastal]

I thought Diaw was supposed to have enough length and footspeed to do this kind of job.

[Paranoid Pop]

I thought Diaw was supposed to have enough length and footspeed to do this kind of job.

None of our bigs are good at it and Baynes is not the answer either, they have to get a quicker PF with high monkeyballing potential like McGee or Derrick Williams.

[freetiago]

SA has 3 semi-realistic options
a) Acquire Monkeyballer (Anthony Randolph?)
b) Make Leonard the primary defender of the screen setter
c) Gain more athleticism on the perimeter to send double teams but still rotate to cover the 3 ball (Knicks game exposed that the current spurs can not do this)


Also SA won 5 straight vs Memphis
Darrel Arthur didnt play in any of those games
Darrel Arthur plays 5-1
bigger issue then people think

[freetiago]

Good time to bump this when Cunningham is going for a career night in the first quarter off open mid range shots