tlongII
12-20-2007, 03:24 PM
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-28-410/Breaking-Down-Brandon-Roy.html
During the team's shootaround, prior to the game, Nate McMillan, at one point, stopped the instruction and announced to the Blazers that Brandon Roy had just been named the Western Conference Player of the Week, for the second-consecutive week. Brandon's teammates broke out in applause. The incredibly-humble Roy, who took the entire team out to dinner following the announcement of his award last week, said he planned to do the same thing this week. He went on to say, "this is a team award, not just mine."
A little while later, Roy scored 24 points on 10 of 17 shooting, and dished out 8 assists, and was rock solid in the clutch, as usual. No way this is a second-year player in this league.
The Blazers are on this fantastic winning streak, and their star is Brandon Roy, but as I talk to people from across the country -- not surprisingly -- the vast majority of them have pretty much never seen him play. The games are on too late or not at all. Even if you have League Pass most Blazer games are blacked out because of some ongoing squabble.
So I thought it might be helpful to watch some video and attempt to answer the question: what does Brandon Roy do?
The whole defense can be expecting him to score, and he can just get a layup. And here. And here. There's a non-crunch time one here. And from his rookie year, the last highlight of this series. There are many more.
We're talking about the game on the line, the defense prepped and set, everyone in the gym knowing the ball is going to Brandon Roy, double-teams at the ready, and then somehow or another he fairly consistently gets layups.
It's fun to watch. But it's also a basketball mystery. How does he do it?
My theory is that he does a lot of things well, which keeps the defense from committing to much of anything. And he is masterful, at the young age of 23, at exploiting a defense's indecision.
To investigate that theory, I spent the afternoon using Synergy Sports' amazing video tool to watch clips of every single time Brandon Roy touched the ball in Portland's most recent game against the Hornets.
Here is a version of pretty much everything I saw.
Passing
Roy finished the game with eight assists, but passed to players in scoring position far more than eight times. For instance:
A typical Brandon Roy play begins with a high pick and roll on the left side. Four times last night the Hornets trapped Roy, leaving Channing Frye wide open. Four times Roy hit an open Frye with passes in the sweet spot. Frye hit only the first of those.
Roy brings the ball up, and drives the baseline until he is met by Tyson Chandler. Roy then dumps the ball to Raef LaFrentz, who has been abandoned by Chandler and has a date with the rim. Tragically, the pass is broken up.
Roy catches the ball on the left wing, dribbles below the free throw line and draws a crowd, then fires the ball to a wide open Steve Blake in the right corner, who drains a three. Later in the game, on an nearly identical play, Roy finds Jarrett Jack, who misses the shot.
Roy is trapped by a double team on the left perimeter, and has a wide open Travis Outlaw spotted up nearby. David West manages to pick the ball off as Roy attempts the pass.
Spotting Up
Roy has made 24 of 68 three-pointers this season, which is 35%. That percentage is far from top ten, but it matches Ray Allen, and is sligthly better than Rasheed Wallace, Kobe Bryant, Kyle Korver, Mehmet Okur, Matt Barnes etc. Last night he caught the ball in rhythm on the perimeter and fired three-pointers four times.
One was something of a shot-clock beating miracle that made the highlight reel. Another was a meaningless shot after the game was decided. Another was a clean look from the corner that missed, and there was another three where Roy caught the ball with the shot clock winding down, hesitated, and missed a 26-footer as the clock expired.
There was one play where Roy drew a crowd, got the ball to Travis Outlaw, and then faded to the perimeter, where he had room. Outlaw quickly found Roy, who drained a very long two (ideally, he'd move back a few inches on that play, to get himself a three).
On the Break
Roy isn't touted as a speed merchant, but early in the game last night Roy easily beat Rasual Butler down the floor for a right-handed layup.
Scoring in the Lane, Off the Dribble
The meat and potatoes of his game:
Doubled on the left side, he hesitates, and cocks the ball in one hand, as if to fire a pass. Everything seems really slow. Then he power dribbles baseline, past Bobby Jackson, and gets himself a nice little dunk.
A few moments later, he is isolated one-on-one on the left side, and without even a definable move he herks and jerks his way from the permeter all the way in for a layup.
Not long after that, Roy brings the ball up (in addition to the starting shooting guard, Roy is one of Portland's backup point guards) and looks to be moving so slow. He's surveying, and even blowing on his hands, like "ooh, it's chilly in here." Then he fires up the jets, turns the corner, dices through everybody at an unusual angle, elongates his body, and snakes in a layup.
Not too long after that, he gets a pick at the top of the key from little Steve Blake. Having just scored with the right hand, this time he cuts to the lane and finishes with the left hand, in a crowd that includes Tyson Chandler.
Roy misses a layup in traffic, but feels that he had been fouled and really lets the referees have it for a moment afterward.
The most telling play of the game comes when Roy runs a pick and roll with Joel Przybilla. Roy, with the ball, ends up streaking down the left side of the lane with all kinds of Hornets looking nervous. Przybilla is rolling down the other side of the lane, but in traffic, and Roy decides against it, instead firing the ball back up to the top where Channing Frye isn't as open as he had been earlier in the game. Roy retreats to the perimeter, as Frye struggles to get an angle to Jarrett Jack, who is drifting near half-court trying to get open. Roy figures out what was going on and cuts back door where Frye hits him with a lovely pass. Roy has a head of steam and one of the league's elite shot-blockers, Tyson Chandler, in his path. But Roy has so scrambled Chandler's ability to anticipate -- and has him thinking so many different things -- that as Roy's lefty layup drops through the hoop, Chandler still has yet to jump.
Mid-Range
With just about three minutes left in a tight game, Roy brings the ball up and calls his own number, scampering down the left side and launching a tough banker -- honestly, I'd just as soon he not shoot this one -- with two Hornets in his face. It bounces around and eventually falls in.
On another play, Roy executes a pick and roll with Raef LaFrentz, dribbles to the left elbow, and misses a pullup jumper.
Roy catches the ball with all kinds of room on the perimeter, and dribbles to meet about four defenders over whom he misses a pull-up jumper.
Doubled at the top of the key, he waits for traffic to clear, then makes a decisive move leading to a pull-up jumper, which bricks.
At one point he is double-covered at the top of the key, and gives the ball up to Jarrett Jack, who promptly returns it to Roy, who is now only covered by one defender. Roy has some room from his defender, takes a dribble, and hoists a long two from the top of the key, which misses.
The Mix
The key to that is that he is threatening to do so many different things. At the moment he gets into the lane, as this home video kind of demonstrates, he is likely to pass to an open shooter. He is also likely to pass. He is likely to go fast and strong, and he is likely to go slower than anyone else in the league. He uses herky jerky movements -- there are about 15 body fakes on every possession. He is right-handed, but most of his layups are left-handed.
All that combines to make Brandon Roy anything but a one-trick pony, and someone who is as likely as anyone in the league to get a layup on a key possession.
During the team's shootaround, prior to the game, Nate McMillan, at one point, stopped the instruction and announced to the Blazers that Brandon Roy had just been named the Western Conference Player of the Week, for the second-consecutive week. Brandon's teammates broke out in applause. The incredibly-humble Roy, who took the entire team out to dinner following the announcement of his award last week, said he planned to do the same thing this week. He went on to say, "this is a team award, not just mine."
A little while later, Roy scored 24 points on 10 of 17 shooting, and dished out 8 assists, and was rock solid in the clutch, as usual. No way this is a second-year player in this league.
The Blazers are on this fantastic winning streak, and their star is Brandon Roy, but as I talk to people from across the country -- not surprisingly -- the vast majority of them have pretty much never seen him play. The games are on too late or not at all. Even if you have League Pass most Blazer games are blacked out because of some ongoing squabble.
So I thought it might be helpful to watch some video and attempt to answer the question: what does Brandon Roy do?
The whole defense can be expecting him to score, and he can just get a layup. And here. And here. There's a non-crunch time one here. And from his rookie year, the last highlight of this series. There are many more.
We're talking about the game on the line, the defense prepped and set, everyone in the gym knowing the ball is going to Brandon Roy, double-teams at the ready, and then somehow or another he fairly consistently gets layups.
It's fun to watch. But it's also a basketball mystery. How does he do it?
My theory is that he does a lot of things well, which keeps the defense from committing to much of anything. And he is masterful, at the young age of 23, at exploiting a defense's indecision.
To investigate that theory, I spent the afternoon using Synergy Sports' amazing video tool to watch clips of every single time Brandon Roy touched the ball in Portland's most recent game against the Hornets.
Here is a version of pretty much everything I saw.
Passing
Roy finished the game with eight assists, but passed to players in scoring position far more than eight times. For instance:
A typical Brandon Roy play begins with a high pick and roll on the left side. Four times last night the Hornets trapped Roy, leaving Channing Frye wide open. Four times Roy hit an open Frye with passes in the sweet spot. Frye hit only the first of those.
Roy brings the ball up, and drives the baseline until he is met by Tyson Chandler. Roy then dumps the ball to Raef LaFrentz, who has been abandoned by Chandler and has a date with the rim. Tragically, the pass is broken up.
Roy catches the ball on the left wing, dribbles below the free throw line and draws a crowd, then fires the ball to a wide open Steve Blake in the right corner, who drains a three. Later in the game, on an nearly identical play, Roy finds Jarrett Jack, who misses the shot.
Roy is trapped by a double team on the left perimeter, and has a wide open Travis Outlaw spotted up nearby. David West manages to pick the ball off as Roy attempts the pass.
Spotting Up
Roy has made 24 of 68 three-pointers this season, which is 35%. That percentage is far from top ten, but it matches Ray Allen, and is sligthly better than Rasheed Wallace, Kobe Bryant, Kyle Korver, Mehmet Okur, Matt Barnes etc. Last night he caught the ball in rhythm on the perimeter and fired three-pointers four times.
One was something of a shot-clock beating miracle that made the highlight reel. Another was a meaningless shot after the game was decided. Another was a clean look from the corner that missed, and there was another three where Roy caught the ball with the shot clock winding down, hesitated, and missed a 26-footer as the clock expired.
There was one play where Roy drew a crowd, got the ball to Travis Outlaw, and then faded to the perimeter, where he had room. Outlaw quickly found Roy, who drained a very long two (ideally, he'd move back a few inches on that play, to get himself a three).
On the Break
Roy isn't touted as a speed merchant, but early in the game last night Roy easily beat Rasual Butler down the floor for a right-handed layup.
Scoring in the Lane, Off the Dribble
The meat and potatoes of his game:
Doubled on the left side, he hesitates, and cocks the ball in one hand, as if to fire a pass. Everything seems really slow. Then he power dribbles baseline, past Bobby Jackson, and gets himself a nice little dunk.
A few moments later, he is isolated one-on-one on the left side, and without even a definable move he herks and jerks his way from the permeter all the way in for a layup.
Not long after that, Roy brings the ball up (in addition to the starting shooting guard, Roy is one of Portland's backup point guards) and looks to be moving so slow. He's surveying, and even blowing on his hands, like "ooh, it's chilly in here." Then he fires up the jets, turns the corner, dices through everybody at an unusual angle, elongates his body, and snakes in a layup.
Not too long after that, he gets a pick at the top of the key from little Steve Blake. Having just scored with the right hand, this time he cuts to the lane and finishes with the left hand, in a crowd that includes Tyson Chandler.
Roy misses a layup in traffic, but feels that he had been fouled and really lets the referees have it for a moment afterward.
The most telling play of the game comes when Roy runs a pick and roll with Joel Przybilla. Roy, with the ball, ends up streaking down the left side of the lane with all kinds of Hornets looking nervous. Przybilla is rolling down the other side of the lane, but in traffic, and Roy decides against it, instead firing the ball back up to the top where Channing Frye isn't as open as he had been earlier in the game. Roy retreats to the perimeter, as Frye struggles to get an angle to Jarrett Jack, who is drifting near half-court trying to get open. Roy figures out what was going on and cuts back door where Frye hits him with a lovely pass. Roy has a head of steam and one of the league's elite shot-blockers, Tyson Chandler, in his path. But Roy has so scrambled Chandler's ability to anticipate -- and has him thinking so many different things -- that as Roy's lefty layup drops through the hoop, Chandler still has yet to jump.
Mid-Range
With just about three minutes left in a tight game, Roy brings the ball up and calls his own number, scampering down the left side and launching a tough banker -- honestly, I'd just as soon he not shoot this one -- with two Hornets in his face. It bounces around and eventually falls in.
On another play, Roy executes a pick and roll with Raef LaFrentz, dribbles to the left elbow, and misses a pullup jumper.
Roy catches the ball with all kinds of room on the perimeter, and dribbles to meet about four defenders over whom he misses a pull-up jumper.
Doubled at the top of the key, he waits for traffic to clear, then makes a decisive move leading to a pull-up jumper, which bricks.
At one point he is double-covered at the top of the key, and gives the ball up to Jarrett Jack, who promptly returns it to Roy, who is now only covered by one defender. Roy has some room from his defender, takes a dribble, and hoists a long two from the top of the key, which misses.
The Mix
The key to that is that he is threatening to do so many different things. At the moment he gets into the lane, as this home video kind of demonstrates, he is likely to pass to an open shooter. He is also likely to pass. He is likely to go fast and strong, and he is likely to go slower than anyone else in the league. He uses herky jerky movements -- there are about 15 body fakes on every possession. He is right-handed, but most of his layups are left-handed.
All that combines to make Brandon Roy anything but a one-trick pony, and someone who is as likely as anyone in the league to get a layup on a key possession.