Bigs and the Basket

Feb 4, 2018, 8:43 AM

I was excited by the first two minutes of yesterday's game. The bigs got the ball in their natural habitat and banged it in. It aligned with what I expected our game plan to be - an opportunity against a 'weaker' conference foe to work the ball inside-out. We know we can knock down the three, but we also know shooting threes isn't an offense.

After those first few possessions, I saw no consistent intent to get the ball inside. We have Eli playing the high screen game as we're used to and then we have Aamir moving all over the place, sometimes also lending a second high screen. I'm not sure why our game plan doesn't consistently involve one of them setting up shop in the post. I'd prefer it be Eli, obviously, who has a more developed back to the basket game and also, positionally, is the proper role for the gig. We know Aamir has great agility, evidenced by how well he plays that hedge-and-recover defensive approach that we're fond of employing as a counter to high screens. So why not make Aamir the high screen guy on offense?

Perhaps the issue is that if you have a big screening and rolling to the basket, you can't have another fella in the post clogging up where he would roll to. If that's the case, fair enough, maybe don't run the high screen on ~95% of our set offensive plays.

I'm frustrated with what appears to be a basic gap in the game plan. I want to see the bigs eat. I know Eli is capable. What am I missing here regarding our offensive approach? Are we trying and I just can't see it?

flag link

military_tech

thumb_down

thumb_up

It's interesting that we've come away with materially different opinions on Eli's post ability through the small sample sizes we've seen this season. I respect the point that he hasn't scored consistently in the post, but he hasn't had consistent opportunities to sufficiently conclude that in my opinion. He's sitting at 57% FG, which isn't stellar, but it isn't horrible. I suspect he's ~65-70% if I could carve out shots from outside 3 ft, but I can't locate that depth of data.

I also reject the idea that you don't try and score against bigs who are incrementally taller. A third of the post shots in a center's tool kit are unblockable even with a slight size deficiency.

I just want us to try.

I listened to BB's words on Eli, which to be fair I didn't before my original post. He didn't like the matchup. Fair enough. I hope we can find a way to get these fellas some more looks down the stretch.

Bigs and the Basket

Re: Bigs and the Basket

See my earlier post and BB's

Maybe__

Thomas

Re: Thomas

TigerBoard POTD