Amare and the Suns offense

[George O'Brien]

One of the most frustrating things about the Suns is that adding Amare has caused confusion in the way the offense is run. In a way it is inevitable. While there are some similarities between the FJ approach and the D'Antoni approach to the offense, it is radically different since Stephon left.

It should be obvious that an offense that was evolved, using Marion at PF, is not going to work with Amare there. Marion cannot really use the ball in the low block except on a backkdoor play, while Amare needs to be close to the basket to be effective.

The decision to "go small" is actually a decision to use Amare in place of Jake at center. In theory, Amare should be a better rebounder than Jake, but seems to be out of position too often. In any case, Amare is obviously a better shot blocker.

Playing Amare at center is not really all that much "smaller" than playing Jake there. Jake is supposed to be taller, but they weight about the same and Amare is much more physical. Plus Amare can jump and has great hands.

D'Antoni needs to work on implementing an offense that deals with Amare's skills and use him where he needs to be. There will be fewer pick and rolls to Jake with Amare in the low block, but more opportunities for interior passes from Amare off the double team.

It's easy enought to draw the diagrams, but hard to get guys to understand what they are doing on the court. But they need to keep working on it because small is not going to get it done.

 

[Errntknght]

"It should be obvious that an offense that was evolved, using Marion at PF, is not going to work with Amare there. Marion cannot really use the ball in the low block except on a backkdoor play, while Amare needs to be close to the basket to be effective."

I'm not disagreeing with your point but while Marion isn't generally effective posting up, he could be very effective on the baseline. His offense would be considerably expanded from what it is now. He'd have to work harder and become more of an opportunist, but that's not a bad thing as he's pretty much deadwood now when he doesn't have the ball in his hands. On the baseline he'd be a constant threat. And one of the secrets of a good offense is to have everyone being a threat most of the time - that keeps their defenders from being as effective at help D, which is a critical part of most defenses in the NBA. With Shawn on the baseline his defender has to stay close and watch him since he's a couple of steps from taking an alley-oop pass and if someone else shoots he has to block him off the boards. When Shawn is on the weakside, his man is going to have his back to whatever is developing while Shawn is viewing it easily - a nice little advantage in itself.

Far from bein in Amare's way on the baseline, one benefit is that Amare would be able to get a daylight from his man much more often than he does now. Shawn could screen for him at times but the better chances probably come from Amare screening for Shawn - sort of a baseline version of the pick and roll. Shawn's man would be ill placed if he followed behind him past Amare's pick and if he elects to go above the pick then he's in the way of Amare's defender when Amare curls (the roll) to the basket along the baseline. This may result in a defensive switch which the Suns could then exploit. One of the beauties of this type of maneuver is that it's done without the ball yet the proximity to the basket means it has to be sharply defended - which takes those two defenders completely out of whatever is happening with the ball. They wouldn't be in great shape to rebound either for a couple of seconds.
Off that play I'd expect to see Marion get an occasional shot very close in, when his man followed him past the pick and more short baseline jumpers when he went above it. Another maneuver is for Amare or the high post man dropping down to set a 'down' screen and Shawn curls up and across near the FT line - a play we haven't seen much of since Shawn became a de-facto auxillary SG. He'd also set himself up for a short baseline jumper when his man needed to help in the paint.
The opportunistic part is quick darts into the middle of the paint whenever his defender is distracted or poorly positioned to follow him close - mostly coming toward the ball from the weakside. Against zones he should get many opportunities to do that.
He should also look out for Amare by making himself available for a pass when the ball goes in to him. Not so much to take a shot as be a quick relief valve. A quick re-feed often works well in those cases.

Thus emploved Shawn probably wouldn't be able to go 40+ minutes night in and night out but far too often he's not much of an asset on offense the way he's playing - basically any night he's not nailing his 3's. Heck, if he started playing the baseline and worked hard it, the calls to trade him would probably fade away to a distant echo.

I'm not expecting to see anything like this as D'Antoni doesn't seem to have arrived at using off-ball screens of the simplest kind yet - occasionally on an out of bounds play is it. In fact, if he has any kind of a coherent plan for structuring the offense, I haven't been able to detect it. About our only reliable play is a kick out for a 3 - other than that it's one-on-one(or more). Oh rats, I think I'm making a case for getting Kobe... our coach isn't smart enough to come in out of the rain so get him guys he doesn't have to coach.

 

[George O'Brien]

It sounds about right. One issue is that Marion prefers to go left, which means he seems uncomfortable on the baseline when on the right side. The strange part is that he is effective going baseline when he puts his mind to it, but so far he doesn't do it much.

As a fan, I have a hard tim knowing what is planned and what is a result of the players free lancing. Is it Marion's fault or D'Antoni's fault that Marion is not on the baseline more? Is the goal to pull his man by having the PG drive and pitch back so Marion can shoot his foater in the middle of the lane?

Bad plays, poor execution, or players free lancing? It is hard to choose.