McDonald: Duncan's Passing? Pass It On

[duncan228]

http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblogs/courtside/archives/2008/03/jeff_mcdonald_d_10.html

Jeff McDonald: Duncan's passing? Pass it on

Interesting tidbit related to us by our colleague Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune ...

It seems Timberwolves center Al Jefferson, as he is often wont to do, was studying tape of Tim Duncan recently, when he came across something intriguing on film of the Spurs-Celtics games.

It seems Boston coach Doc Rivers was slow to bring double teams at Duncan. Jefferson found this odd, because Rivers seemed to release the hounds on him from every which angle any time the Celtics faced the Wolves. It didn't take Jefferson long to find a reason for the discrepancy in strategy.

"Because he's too good a passer," Jefferson said. "So I figured then, I had to get better at that. I had to see the open guys. I had to get guys easy layups. That way, eventually, they'll stop double-teaming so much."

Jefferson is astute in his analysis. For his career, Duncan averages 3.2 assists per game, fairly high by big man standards.

So if you see Jefferson zipping passes all around the AT&T Center on Friday night and carving up the Spurs as if he were Steve Nash, well, you know who to blame.

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

"So if you see Jefferson zipping passes all around the AT&T Center on Friday night and carving up the Spurs as if he were Steve Nash, well, you know who to blame."


Jeff must be trying out JimCS's reverse mojo style of writing.

[peewee's lovechild]

"So if you see Jefferson zipping passes all around the AT&T Center on Friday night and carving up the Spurs as if he were Steve Nash, well, you know who to blame."


Jeff must be trying out JimCS's reverse mojo style of writing.


LOL!!!!

That worked wonders during the football season.

[TDMVPDPOY]

al jeff is wasting his talent on that joke of a team that you call the wolves with mchale at the helms....

dude should be in a spurs jersey

[bdictjames]

Dude is learning from the best.

[roycrikside]

Seems like a selfish player to me. Even when he came to the realization that he has to pass the ball, he's not doing it from the perspective of getting his team easy points but rather so that opponents won't double HIM as much so HE can score more. No wonder Minnesota sucks.

[stéphane]

Seems like a selfish player to me. Even when he came to the realization that he has to pass the ball, he's not doing it from the perspective of getting his team easy points but rather so that opponents won't double HIM as much so HE can score more. No wonder Minnesota sucks.

Yeah sure. Trying to get better to help your team is so selfish.
Good low block players who abuse their defender one on one always try to find a way to keep getting easy basket. Al Jeff is their best player by FAR. If he doesn't put his team in a position to win games who will?

[SAGambler]

Seems like a selfish player to me. Even when he came to the realization that he has to pass the ball, he's not doing it from the perspective of getting his team easy points but rather so that opponents won't double HIM as much so HE can score more. No wonder Minnesota sucks.

I bet you think Duncan passes out so he can eliminate so much double team, and be able to score himself. Right?

[roycrikside]

Um, where did I say that?

I don't get the animosity at all. I was trying to point out the DIFFERENCE between Jefferson and Duncan.

Duncan passes the ball because other guys will score it and it will help the team WIN. He doesn't care who scores the points.

Jefferson, on the other hand, going by his quote, seems to be interested in passing the ball to other guys only so it will make it easier for him to score down the road. He never mentioned anything about winning.

[Ronaldo McDonald]

Um, where did I say that?

I don't get the animosity at all. I was trying to point out the DIFFERENCE between Jefferson and Duncan.

Duncan passes the ball because other guys will score it and it will help the team WIN. He doesn't care who scores the points.

Jefferson, on the other hand, going by his quote, seems to be interested in passing the ball to other guys only so it will make it easier for him to score down the road. He never mentioned anything about winning.


He's saying that in order for the team to be able to utilize his scoring ability in the post - their biggest and best threat - the best they possibly can, he needs to become a better passer.

He wants the ball in his hands when it's crunch time, and if you saw the last time they played the Spurs, why blame him? Sometimes you need to be a little selfish in order to win.

[J.T.]

I don't think Al Jefferson's comments were selfish at all. Teamwork means all five guys on the court working together. By becoming better at finding open teammates, Jefferson helps his teams. If doing so eliminates the usefulness of double teams and Jefferson finds himself in man-to-man, then he can put his offensive talents to much more effective use. It's a win-win situation, and you wonder why Tim Duncan has been named to so many first team All-NBA teams when the Amare Stoudemires of the NBA may average better offensive stats than Tim.

[ShoogarBear]

If I wanted to be more selfish, I'd certainly watch a lot of Tim Duncan film.