Killer Lineup: The old-is-new-again Spurs

[ace3g]

Tony Parker | Danny Green | Kawhi Leonard | Tim Duncan | Tiago Splitter
Minutes Played: 179
Offensive Rating: 105.3 points per 100 possessions
Defensive Rating: 89.1 points per 100 possessions

How it works offensively
The Spurs get to their spots on the offensive end of the floor immediately and entirely without confusion. The offense is like a well-produced stage play -- every actor knows his marks, the rhythm between those actors is seamless and the audience almost forgets it’s watching a performance.

It might be ballet, but the offense isn’t a juggernaut like some of the other elite starting units in the league such as the Thunder, Heat and Clippers. As has been the case for years, the Spurs all but concede the offensive glass. In fact, of the 50 most frequent lineups in the NBA, this unit ranks 49th in offensive rebounding rate. Who’s 50th? The same lineup, except with Boris Diaw in Tiago Splitter’s place. In addition, the Spurs' starters don’t get to the line all that frequently.


How it works defensively
“Last year we were a very good offensive team, but we were a middle-of-the-road defensive team,” Gregg Popovich said in early November after the Spurs came out of the gate 4-0. “So that’s been our emphasis this year, to try to become a significantly better defensive team as we always have been.”

Popovich’s imperative has become a reality. Seventy-eight lineups in the NBA have played 100 minutes or greater, and none are more defensively efficient than this group. Ever since Leonard returned and Splitter became more comfortable with the starters, this unit has surrendered only 88.3 points per 100 possessions -- even better than their overall rating of 89.1.

continue reading:

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/53864/killer-lineup-the-old-is-new-again-spurs

[skin]

In fact, of the 50 most frequent lineups in the NBA, this unit ranks 49th in offensive rebounding rate. Who’s 50th? The same lineup, except with Boris Diaw in Tiago Splitter’s place. In addition, the Spurs' starters don’t get to the line all that frequently.


That's really bad.

[benefactor]

That's really bad.
Not really. Many times being a good defensive team = being a bad offensive rebounding team because transition defense is stressed over getting offensive boards.

[Spursfanfromafar]

Its an excellent take by Kevin Arnovitz.

The question is what do the Spurs do when it is not the starting five on the court?

For one, some videos that I have seen on Youtube (by "Coach Nick of basketballbreakdown") suggest that Ginobili generally replicates Parker's actions through the "zipper cuts"/ pick and rolls and therefore fits the Parker role quite seamlessly while adding a dash of unpredictability and some more passing nous in the transition offense (as opposed to one-on-one/many action initiated by the fastest running Parker).

But it would be great to read about this kind of information from the more regular Spurs watchers for other lineups (featuring Diaw, Bonner, Jackson, Neal & the rest)

[FromWayDowntown]

Arnovitz's claim that Kawhi hasn't had an unassisted field goal all season ("In fact, Leonard hasn’t had an unassisted field goal all season. ") seems incredible at first blush because it would necessarily mean -- at a minimum -- that Kawhi hasn't converted a solo breakaway even once this season. Kawhi has been inefficient in those circumstance, undoubtedly, but it seems unlikely that he's failed every single time.

[xellos88330]

That was a great read. Thanks for posting!

[jyra]

Arnovitz's claim that Kawhi hasn't had an unassisted field goal all season ("In fact, Leonard hasn’t had an unassisted field goal all season. ") seems incredible at first blush because it would necessarily mean -- at a minimum -- that Kawhi hasn't converted a solo breakaway even once this season. Kawhi has been inefficient in those circumstance, undoubtedly, but it seems unlikely that he's failed every single time.

That's one statement that confused me too. According to Hoopdata (http://www.hoopdata.com/player.aspx?name=Kawhi%20Leonard) Kawhi has been assisted on 73.3% of his made field goals.

[maverick1948]

Arnovitz's claim that Kawhi hasn't had an unassisted field goal all season ("In fact, Leonard hasn’t had an unassisted field goal all season. ") seems incredible at first blush because it would necessarily mean -- at a minimum -- that Kawhi hasn't converted a solo breakaway even once this season. Kawhi has been inefficient in those circumstance, undoubtedly, but it seems unlikely that he's failed every single time.

The breakaway steal against the New Orleans Pelicans Wednesday was an assist for the Pels player. :lol:lmao:rollin

[TrainOfThought5]

Arnovitz's claim that Kawhi hasn't had an unassisted field goal all season ("In fact, Leonard hasn’t had an unassisted field goal all season. ") seems incredible at first blush because it would necessarily mean -- at a minimum -- that Kawhi hasn't converted a solo breakaway even once this season. Kawhi has been inefficient in those circumstance, undoubtedly, but it seems unlikely that he's failed every single time.

i took it to mean half court sets. but even then hes had a few dribble pullups.

[Splits]

If Tony Parker isn’t slicing his way to the rim, he’s firing a pocket pass to Tim Duncan and Splitter, who are rolling to the basket. Nearly two-thirds of Danny Green’s shot attempts come from beyond the 3-point line, and the vast majority of Kawhi Leonard’s shots materialize one of two ways -- an uncontested 3 (usually from the corner), or in the immediate basket area off a baseline cut or drive. In fact, Leonard hasn’t had an unassisted field goal all season.

:wow Could this possibly be true?

[Spursfanfromafar]

Arnovitz's claim that Kawhi hasn't had an unassisted field goal all season ("In fact, Leonard hasn’t had an unassisted field goal all season. ") seems incredible at first blush because it would necessarily mean -- at a minimum -- that Kawhi hasn't converted a solo breakaway even once this season. Kawhi has been inefficient in those circumstance, undoubtedly, but it seems unlikely that he's failed every single time.

Hmm..it could be possibly that Kawhi does not have a single un-assisted field goal while playing with this particular lineup.

[FromWayDowntown]

Hmm..it could be possibly that Kawhi does not have a single un-assisted field goal while playing with this particular lineup.

That might be true and would make sense.

[Spursfanfromafar]

That might be true and would make sense.

It has to be!

Data from Basketball-reference - http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/plus/event_finder.cgi?request=1&player_id=leonaka01&event_code=fg&year_id=2013&is_playoffs=N&team_id=&opp_id=&quarter=&time_remain_quarter=&margin=

This shows that Leonard almost never has unassisted field goals early in the first quarter, which is when the lineup described by Arnovitz is most played.

[timvp]

Great stuff :tu

[Trainwreck2100]

The article said Leonard has not had an "unassisted 3 point fg" not just fg.

[jyra]

294892979716517888

[FromWayDowntown]

The article said Leonard has not had an "unassisted 3 point fg" not just fg.

It's been revised, as Arnovitz has explained. I copied and pasted the precise sentence as it originally appeared in post #5 above.

The fact that he hasn't made any unassisted 3pt FG this season seems far less remarkable (even though it still speaks to the Spurs' ball movement). I would guess that there are a whole lot fewer unassisted 3's than there are unassisted 2's.

[Bruno]

The staring lineup is just dominant defensively and is able to remain good offensively. Spurs have some room to improve their bench play which should be doable with talented players like Ginobili, Diaw and Jackson.

[snickles]

against the lakers he had a 1-dribble step-back 3. theres a gif of it in the gif thread.

so either the refs called it a 2 (which im pretty sure they didnt), even with the dribble and fake an assist was credited, or the above is incorrect.

[Mel_13]

against the lakers he had a 1-dribble step-back 3. theres a gif of it in the gif thread.

so either the refs called it a 2 (which im pretty sure they didnt), even with the dribble and fake an assist was credited, or the above is incorrect.

Leonard made 2 three-pointers in that game. Tony was credited with an assist on the first and Manu got an assist on the second.

[elemento]

Nice article. Thanks for sharing it.

Very excited to see the defensive end as a priority again. I felt like we were the Suns in the last 2 seasons. That doesn't feel good at all.

[Obstructed_View]

The fact that he hasn't made any unassisted 3pt FG this season seems far less remarkable (even though it still speaks to the Spurs' ball movement). I would guess that there are a whole lot fewer unassisted 3's than there are unassisted 2's.

Yeah, seems kind of a non-story to me. There are only two guys on the entire team you want shooting threes off the dribble, and Kawhi isn't one of them. If he hits an unassisted three this season, it's going to be at the end of the shot clock or the end of a quarter.

[SpursIndonesia]

Not hitting the offensive board is okay as long the transition defense is secured and we hit the offense efficiently (high percentage).

[therealtruth]

I think you could replace Green with Manu and increase the margin even more.

[cd021]

The breakaway steal against the New Orleans Pelicans Wednesday was an assist for the Pels player. :lol:lmao:rollin

Got Em.

[cd021]

Nice article. Thanks for sharing it.

Very excited to see the defensive end as a priority again. I felt like we were the Suns in the last 2 seasons. That doesn't feel good at all.

Whats actually funny about that is that that Phoenix team wasn't garbage defensively (17th, 16th, 13th in 04-05, 05-06, 06-07 seasons) Granted we are much better since 2010 than they were defensively but. They're offensive effieceny was down right obscene. They're worst season, they still scored on nearly a full point per possession more than we did in our best offensive season (2010-2011) since we became offensively oriented.

[therealtruth]

Nice article. Thanks for sharing it.

Very excited to see the defensive end as a priority again. I felt like we were the Suns in the last 2 seasons. That doesn't feel good at all.

Agree. It's better to take pride in defense. Like Pop says sometimes shots fall and sometimes they don't.

[hater]

Kawhi is a horrible fast break player

[cd021]

Kawhi is a horrible fast break player

Exept when he is alone...

[racm]

Not really. Many times being a good defensive team = being a bad offensive rebounding team because transition defense is stressed over getting offensive boards.

And any disadvantage when surrendering second chances is negated by getting high percentage shots.

[racm]

The Parker-Green-Leonard-Splitter-Duncan lineup has a win percentage of...

http://www.82games.com/1213/1213SAS2.HTM

... 90.9%! That's simply absurd.

[DrSteffo]

I really like this starting lineup and what's also great is that Manu can lead the second unit. If we had one more reliable big that could play D and a better backup pg then this team would be very very difficult to stop in the POs.

[racm]

I really like this starting lineup and what's also great is that Manu can lead the second unit. If we had one more reliable big that could play D and a better backup pg then this team would be very very difficult to stop in the POs.

Bonner and Neal for Barea. DO EET RC

[DrSteffo]

Bonner and Neal for Barea. DO EET RC

Barea wd be great. Mills or CoJo could also be included in a trade I guess.

[exstatic]

Barrea sucks. He's a 5'9" ball hog. I'd rather give CoJo a go.

[therealtruth]

The problem I have with the starting lineup is I am not sure if DG is reliable enough on offense or his defense will always make up for it.

[racm]

The problem I have with the starting lineup is I am not sure if DG is reliable enough on offense or his defense will always make up for it.

The fact remains though that you can't still leave him open beyond the arc. To play Green well the trick is to force him to drive and throw up an ugly floater (Blair has one. Bonner has been improving in the post. Even Splitter has been finishing better).