ducks
11-05-2004, 10:10 AM
Offensively challenged in low post
By Marcus Thompson II, CONTRA COSTA TIMES
OAKLAND - Add another item to the endless list of new experiences for Warriors first-year coach Mike Montgomery: running an offense without a dominant post.
Montgomery is used to having a big man anchoring his offense and causing matchup problems for the opponent. He's used to relying on the post-up abilities of players such as Adam Keefe, Tim Young, the Collins twins and Rob Little.
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"One of our strengths has always been being better at that spot, and we always took advantage of it," Montgomery said of his long-lost days at Stanford, where he was head coach the past 18 years. "You think about Jason Collins and (Curtis) Borchardt and Mark Madsen. We always had the better player there. We made people bring a second guy."
Montgomery would no doubt love to bring the same philosophy to the Warriors. The only problem is, he's inherited Adonal Foyle and Dale Davis as his posts -- both defensive-oriented centers.
Foyle, who signed a six-year, $40.6 million deal this offseason to become the Warriors' starting center, never has been a post-up kind of player. His offensive strengths lie in running the floor and getting garbage buckets, but he hasn't even done much of that.
He's averaged just 4.6 points over his first seven NBA seasons, never once topping 5.9 points per game for a season. He's a career 46.4 percent shooter. He has 806 blocks compared with 503 free-throw attempts, of which he's made fewer than half (242, 48.1 percent).
Davis -- on the books for $10 million this season, the final year of a contract he signed with Indiana -- never has been known for offense, either. He's averaging just 8.7 points on 53.3 percent shooting (56 percent from the free-throw line) in 13 NBA seasons. Davis has just 270 fewer career rebounds (8,045) than he has career points (8,315).
Not exactly scoring machines, these two. Getting some offense from them is going to take some creativity, a task Montgomery obviously wasn't up for in Wednesday night's 78-75 loss to visiting Portland.
Foyle played just 12 minutes. He got two early fouls trying to guard Portland power forward Zach Randolph, then didn't play at all in the fourth quarter. Davis played 19 minutes, and Cliff Robinson, who switches between power forward and center, played 20.
All three combined to score 10 points on 5-for-11 shooting. The Warriors had just 32 points in the paint.
"We're not establishing them in the low post and giving them a chance," Montgomery said. "(We need to) give them a chance to make a play. It's hard to evaluate a guy in 12 minutes. We'd like to let them be a part of the offense and so forth."
An inside offensive presence would go a long way toward helping Montgomery's offense. The Warriors shot 38.3 percent from the field Wednesday in large part because they were forced either to penetrate from the perimeter, and into shot-blocker Theo Ratliff, or shoot from the outside. Many of the shots were contested.
Not only will a post presence help get open looks for the rest of the team, but it also will prevent teams from clamping down on the perimeter players. Montgomery said the Blazers did exactly that Wednesday night.
"Obviously, what Portland did is they said, 'We're going to play small and athletic and we're not going to worry about your size,'" Montgomery said. "We've got to find a way to not let them get away with it. They played small and athletic and we didn't make them pay a price."
• TODAY: vs. Jazz, 7:30 p.m. TV: FSNBA. Radio: 680-AM.
By Marcus Thompson II, CONTRA COSTA TIMES
OAKLAND - Add another item to the endless list of new experiences for Warriors first-year coach Mike Montgomery: running an offense without a dominant post.
Montgomery is used to having a big man anchoring his offense and causing matchup problems for the opponent. He's used to relying on the post-up abilities of players such as Adam Keefe, Tim Young, the Collins twins and Rob Little.
ADVERTISEMENT
Search. Compare. Save.
"One of our strengths has always been being better at that spot, and we always took advantage of it," Montgomery said of his long-lost days at Stanford, where he was head coach the past 18 years. "You think about Jason Collins and (Curtis) Borchardt and Mark Madsen. We always had the better player there. We made people bring a second guy."
Montgomery would no doubt love to bring the same philosophy to the Warriors. The only problem is, he's inherited Adonal Foyle and Dale Davis as his posts -- both defensive-oriented centers.
Foyle, who signed a six-year, $40.6 million deal this offseason to become the Warriors' starting center, never has been a post-up kind of player. His offensive strengths lie in running the floor and getting garbage buckets, but he hasn't even done much of that.
He's averaged just 4.6 points over his first seven NBA seasons, never once topping 5.9 points per game for a season. He's a career 46.4 percent shooter. He has 806 blocks compared with 503 free-throw attempts, of which he's made fewer than half (242, 48.1 percent).
Davis -- on the books for $10 million this season, the final year of a contract he signed with Indiana -- never has been known for offense, either. He's averaging just 8.7 points on 53.3 percent shooting (56 percent from the free-throw line) in 13 NBA seasons. Davis has just 270 fewer career rebounds (8,045) than he has career points (8,315).
Not exactly scoring machines, these two. Getting some offense from them is going to take some creativity, a task Montgomery obviously wasn't up for in Wednesday night's 78-75 loss to visiting Portland.
Foyle played just 12 minutes. He got two early fouls trying to guard Portland power forward Zach Randolph, then didn't play at all in the fourth quarter. Davis played 19 minutes, and Cliff Robinson, who switches between power forward and center, played 20.
All three combined to score 10 points on 5-for-11 shooting. The Warriors had just 32 points in the paint.
"We're not establishing them in the low post and giving them a chance," Montgomery said. "(We need to) give them a chance to make a play. It's hard to evaluate a guy in 12 minutes. We'd like to let them be a part of the offense and so forth."
An inside offensive presence would go a long way toward helping Montgomery's offense. The Warriors shot 38.3 percent from the field Wednesday in large part because they were forced either to penetrate from the perimeter, and into shot-blocker Theo Ratliff, or shoot from the outside. Many of the shots were contested.
Not only will a post presence help get open looks for the rest of the team, but it also will prevent teams from clamping down on the perimeter players. Montgomery said the Blazers did exactly that Wednesday night.
"Obviously, what Portland did is they said, 'We're going to play small and athletic and we're not going to worry about your size,'" Montgomery said. "We've got to find a way to not let them get away with it. They played small and athletic and we didn't make them pay a price."
• TODAY: vs. Jazz, 7:30 p.m. TV: FSNBA. Radio: 680-AM.