Pop's obsession with the midrange needs to die off. We still lack consistent shooters and we don't have nearly enough slashers.
I understand due to pace and lack of shooters we aren't going to be a great 3 point shooting team over the course of the season (which is a death knell in today's NBA) but being so poor at attacking the rim outside of DD is also frustrating.
This team needs to be major players by the trade deadline because the roster is awkwardly constructed right now.
The slashers this team has are mostly on the shelf (Murray, White, and Walker) while the shooters are playing up and down (Forbes, Beli) or just aren't very good in the first place (Mills, Bertans). The problem is the complete lack of wings and/or defenders. Like you said, the roster just isn't well constructed.
The offense is solid though, defense is killing us
Sure, we can keep it up.
7th in offensive efficiency but only 15th in FG%
And despite that, 8th in ORtg, 10th in overall ppg, 2nd in FT shooting %, and turn the ball over the least in the league.
For comparisons sake, they were 17th in ORtg, 27th in PPG and 16th in FT% last season. (TO's they were 3 spots up, so still very good in that regard)
Point is, despite the lack of 3 point shooting compared to other teams, to this point they remain one of the top 10 offensive teams in the league. They are utilizing the personnel they have to do what they do best, and they're doing it efficiently.
Our main weapons are Aldridge and Derozan. What do you expect?
Pop can't just tell Aldridge to stay in the paint and tell Derozan to fire away from three.
Do you want to lose games? Because that is how you lose games.
Sure, it would be great if they could just run in for layups every time, but unfortunately, there usually tends to be another team in the way trying to prevent that.
Dead last in 3's attempted, bottom 5 in paint (I could see that improving) and #1 in midrange attempts. And we're 6-3. So it's not like we're some kind of terrible team. The defense isn't good, I could also say that for a majority of the NBA. Obviously GSW stand apart from the rest but teams like OKC might be good on defense but I think we'd match up with them fairly well. But the offense has worked pretty well and it's been pretty damn good.
I mean, Aldridge really should shot more in the paint. I don't get why he hates it. He's good at it, and the league is bad at stopping him from that range. I think DeRozan is fine offensively. If the team has problems with threes is comes from the role-players. Pop may well be discouraging guys shooting threes unless they're wide open, which could explain why they fake and drive way more than their skill-sets suggest they should. They also seem only to run plays for three when they have to. When you don't have enough scorers to play the iso style you want to play, you've got to tailor the offense to get other guys consistent looks. Beli seems underutilized. Forbes is pretty much just there to bring the ball up and space the floor. Bertans gets like two plays a game. Pop by and large hand picked this group of players. Gotta leverage them better than this.
It's also mystifying to me why Aldridge is so comfortable taking shots one step inside the three point line, but not taking three pointers. If anything, it would open the driving lanes a little if he took a few threes a game.
I thought he was shooting a lot more in the paint last year. Maybe it's just easier to get him looks near the basket when he's the main focus on offense. Seems he's getting the ball later in the shot clock this season.
The beautiful game
Love it
I think Aldridge will be fine in the paint. Can he be more aggressive sometimes? Well, us on the couch says yes, because we've seen how we effective and unstoppable he van be when done.
But that gets tiring. He is picking his spots and pacing himself for the whole season. I mean, you guys realize how much of a burden he carried for us last year already?
Let him pick his spots, especially this early in the season.
Thank you. Good post.
op right now... Everyone else is jumping off the cliff mom, I should too.
It's best to play to the players you have. Play to your strengths and limit your weaknesses. It's facts of life. Any mature person knows that. We got DeMar in a trade. LMA is the only major free agent to choose us. We ain't exactly at the grocery store. We make the best of what we have and what we can get. These sheep posts get on my nerves. Get over it. Our offense is potent. That's not the problem. We dam near put up 150 on the Lakers. But to be balanced we have to improve the defense, which is gonna have an affect on the offense.
But I thought you knew which of those is more important.
Bottom line, everyone thinks the meta for the game is launching 3's and playing at elite pace, and that's so because the Warriors keep winning. It was the same thing when the Spurs were winning. Everyone wants to copy the champions. But when Durant leaves the Warriors, they ain't gonna be some world beaters anymore. They'll be very mortal. Some astute of the game might of notices that when the pace slows down and the game goes to a half court game Warriors struggle. Houston and other teams have shown that much. It's about controlling the tempo and who can play to their advantage or their game. Unfortunately differing styles have no chance cause the Warriors are so stacked, so it's moot. But I'm not of the mindset that 3's and elite pace is the only way to win. It just looks that way cause of how things are.
But it already did. The desire for more and better 3pt shooting is why Forbes, Ferrari, and Bertans are on the roster.
But the desire has not been fulfilled this season, yet, for various reasons that are clear enough.
Pop needs to start playing more lineups of 3 shooters around LA and DD.
Cunningham needs to start playing less in games where he's not needed to guard a superstar SF and/or isn't producing. Which are most of them.
LMA likes the 20 footers because he's not bout that bangin' in the post lyfe (most days). It puts a lot of wear and tear on the body. Look at how Duncan stopped doing it later in his career too.
What a disastrous formula..
Yes they’re 6-3, 4th place in west. About where everyone thinks they should be.
The 3 point attempts is misleading. I mean Houston, Boston, Golden St, etc etc have had games where they've shot 50 three pointers. We are never going to be like that so I dnt see why people are ing about that. We are better this year than last year ( i assume bc I'm too lazy to look it up) in our number of makes and our 3 pts field goal percentage. That's what really matters. And also what helps cancel out the lack of 3s is us shooting more free throws. There are other ways to score than just 3s and focusing on only that will make you go 0-27 on attempts like Houston last year.
Do you think they will stay top 4 throughout the season??
Is this a surprise to anyone? Merely a reflection of the strengths of their players. Primarily DD and LMA.
Recipe for success in the modern NBA.
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