another coaching problem

[elindholm]

The Suns do not punish teams for overplaying defensively. It should be true that overplaying defensively is like a blitz in football: a gamble at the point of attack that accepts the risk of a weakness farther away. When the Suns get pressured 30 feet from the basket, all they try to do is survive. If they succeed in escaping, they settle down long enough for the defense to get back in position. So it's a risk-free play for the defense, which is why we see it happening to the Suns so much, especially as the game gets tight.

When the defense gambles itself out of position, the offense needs to sense that that's the time to attack. Of course it won't always work, but that has to be the goal. Understand what weakness the defense is exposing, and go after it before they can recover. I don't see any urgency from the Suns to move the ball quickly once they've recovered from an overplay. Once in a while they'll get bailed out by one-on-one heroism, but those cases are going to be rare until they learn how to counterattack as a team.

 

[Suns_fan69]

Good point, and thinking about it a bit more there's a couple things I've noticed along the way.

One is that Booker usually lets the defense get to him and then floats passes out when he's pressured, giving time for defenses to recover. I'd rather see him either pass right away when he sees it coming with nice sharp crisp passes to catch the second defender in no man's land, or attack away from the double team to find an opening for someone else.

The other reason they have a hard time attacking is because realistically Booker, Crawford and Warren are the only guys that can attack off the dribble, and Warren (so far) isn't great at setting up others when he does so. Jackson can do it at times but he's hit or miss. This is where having another capable ball handler would be really useful. Doesn't necessarily have to be a PG, but someone that can attack a scrambling defense and make the right play based on how the defense reacts.

 

[1Sun]

A natural result of a coach who is as passive and reactive as they come.

 

[Errntknght]

Booker does it now and then when he can get the guy on his hip but it never triggers a response by the whole team. I suppose the simplest ploy would be for someone to set a pick for him - on the side where the defender is, The idea being to help Booker get more separation. If the pick worked, the pick setter's defender would have to switch, If that's an advantageous switch Book goes for the shot and if not the pick setter rolls to the rim. Of course he rolls to the rim for the rebound, in any case. What does everyone else do? Mainly stay out of the way.
Another general manuever would be to take advantage of Bookers open field of view so slash sharply across it or back door your defender it he gets distracted. Pretty basic stuff but young guys might not trust their instincts.

 

[1Sun]

Booker does it now and then when he can get the guy on his hip but it never triggers a response by the whole team. I suppose the simplest ploy would be for someone to set a pick for him - on the side where the defender is, The idea being to help Booker get more separation. If the pick worked, the pick setter's defender would have to switch, If that's an advantageous switch Book goes for the shot and if not the pick setter rolls to the rim. Of course he rolls to the rim for the rebound, in any case. What does everyone else do? Mainly stay out of the way.
Another general manuever would be to take advantage of Bookers open field of view so slash sharply across it or back door your defender it he gets distracted. Pretty basic stuff but young guys might not trust their instincts.

Or might be getting bad directions/instructions from the coach.

 

[SirStefan32]

One thing that I've noticed over several games is that the pick defender "shows" Booker. Booker back off and Ayton stands there. They need to practive this a lot. The second the pick defender shows/ overplays Booker, Ayton needs to roll, and one of the wings needs to get open. Booker should either pass to Ayton directly, or pass to the wing who will pass it to Ayton who should have a mismatch since the big man (pick defender) is still stuck on Booker or the wing.

This is an example of a time you can see Booker is not a point guard. Guys like Nash and Stockton would destroy defenses attempting to show/ overplay.

 

[Errntknght]

One thing that I've noticed over several games is that the pick defender "shows" Booker. Booker back off and Ayton stands there. They need to practive this a lot. The second the pick defender shows/ overplays Booker, Ayton needs to roll, and one of the wings needs to get open. Booker should either pass to Ayton directly, or pass to the wing who will pass it to Ayton who should have a mismatch since the big man (pick defender) is still stuck on Booker or the wing.

This is an example of a time you can see Booker is not a point guard. Guys like Nash and Stockton would destroy defenses attempting to show/ overplay.

As much as we will use the pick and roll, it would be smart to bring in some master of it, like s Nash or s Stockton, to work with our guys. Booker could learn most of it and he's going to be involved whether he's playing point or not. Heck, there are fine points to something as elementary as standing in the corner but only about one guy in ten masters them.

 

[SirStefan32]

Agreed.

 

[Krangodnzr]

As much as we will use the pick and roll, it would be smart to bring in some master of it, like s Nash or s Stockton, to work with our guys. Booker could learn most of it and he's going to be involved whether he's playing point or not. Heck, there are fine points to something as elementary as standing in the corner but only about one guy in ten masters them.

It's sad watching clips of Nash working with Curry....

 

[Ronin]

It's sad watching clips of Nash working with Curry....

I am happy Nash finally got his rings.