Announcement

Collapse

The Rules of Pacers Digest

Hello everyone,

Whether your are a long standing forum member or whether you have just registered today, it's a good idea to read and review the rules below so that you have a very good idea of what to expect when you come to Pacers Digest.

A quick note to new members: Your posts will not immediately show up when you make them. An administrator has to approve at least your first post before the forum software will later upgrade your account to the status of a fully-registered member. This usually happens within a couple of hours or so after your post(s) is/are approved, so you may need to be a little patient at first.

Why do we do this? So that it's more difficult for spammers (be they human or robot) to post, and so users who are banned cannot immediately re-register and start dousing people with verbal flames.

Below are the rules of Pacers Digest. After you have read them, you will have a very good sense of where we are coming from, what we expect, what we don't want to see, and how we react to things.

Rule #1

Pacers Digest is intended to be a place to discuss basketball without having to deal with the kinds of behaviors or attitudes that distract people from sticking with the discussion of the topics at hand. These unwanted distractions can come in many forms, and admittedly it can sometimes be tricky to pin down each and every kind that can rear its ugly head, but we feel that the following examples and explanations cover at least a good portion of that ground and should at least give people a pretty good idea of the kinds of things we actively discourage:

"Anyone who __________ is a liar / a fool / an idiot / a blind homer / has their head buried in the sand / a blind hater / doesn't know basketball / doesn't watch the games"

"People with intelligence will agree with me when I say that __________"

"Only stupid people think / believe / do ___________"

"I can't wait to hear something from PosterX when he/she sees that **insert a given incident or current event that will have probably upset or disappointed PosterX here**"

"He/she is just delusional"

"This thread is stupid / worthless / embarrassing"

"I'm going to take a moment to point and / laugh at PosterX / GroupOfPeopleY who thought / believed *insert though/belief here*"

"Remember when PosterX said OldCommentY that no longer looks good? "

In general, if a comment goes from purely on topic to something 'ad hominem' (personal jabs, personal shots, attacks, flames, however you want to call it, towards a person, or a group of people, or a given city/state/country of people), those are most likely going to be found intolerable.

We also dissuade passive aggressive behavior. This can be various things, but common examples include statements that are basically meant to imply someone is either stupid or otherwise incapable of holding a rational conversation. This can include (but is not limited to) laughing at someone's conclusions rather than offering an honest rebuttal, asking people what game they were watching, or another common problem is Poster X will say "that player isn't that bad" and then Poster Y will say something akin to "LOL you think that player is good". We're not going to tolerate those kinds of comments out of respect for the community at large and for the sake of trying to just have an honest conversation.

Now, does the above cover absolutely every single kind of distraction that is unwanted? Probably not, but you should by now have a good idea of the general types of things we will be discouraging. The above examples are meant to give you a good feel for / idea of what we're looking for. If something new or different than the above happens to come along and results in the same problem (that being, any other attitude or behavior that ultimately distracts from actually just discussing the topic at hand, or that is otherwise disrespectful to other posters), we can and we will take action to curb this as well, so please don't take this to mean that if you managed to technically avoid saying something exactly like one of the above examples that you are then somehow off the hook.

That all having been said, our goal is to do so in a generally kind and respectful way, and that doesn't mean the moment we see something we don't like that somebody is going to be suspended or banned, either. It just means that at the very least we will probably say something about it, quite possibly snipping out the distracting parts of the post in question while leaving alone the parts that are actually just discussing the topics, and in the event of a repeating or excessive problem, then we will start issuing infractions to try to further discourage further repeat problems, and if it just never seems to improve, then finally suspensions or bans will come into play. We would prefer it never went that far, and most of the time for most of our posters, it won't ever have to.

A slip up every once and a while is pretty normal, but, again, when it becomes repetitive or excessive, something will be done. Something occasional is probably going to be let go (within reason), but when it starts to become habitual or otherwise a pattern, odds are very good that we will step in.

There's always a small minority that like to push people's buttons and/or test their own boundaries with regards to the administrators, and in the case of someone acting like that, please be aware that this is not a court of law, but a private website run by people who are simply trying to do the right thing as they see it. If we feel that you are a special case that needs to be dealt with in an exceptional way because your behavior isn't explicitly mirroring one of our above examples of what we generally discourage, we can and we will take atypical action to prevent this from continuing if you are not cooperative with us.

Also please be aware that you will not be given a pass simply by claiming that you were 'only joking,' because quite honestly, when someone really is just joking, for one thing most people tend to pick up on the joke, including the person or group that is the target of the joke, and for another thing, in the event where an honest joke gets taken seriously and it upsets or angers someone, the person who is truly 'only joking' will quite commonly go out of his / her way to apologize and will try to mend fences. People who are dishonest about their statements being 'jokes' do not do so, and in turn that becomes a clear sign of what is really going on. It's nothing new.

In any case, quite frankly, the overall quality and health of the entire forum's community is more important than any one troublesome user will ever be, regardless of exactly how a problem is exhibiting itself, and if it comes down to us having to make a choice between you versus the greater health and happiness of the entire community, the community of this forum will win every time.

Lastly, there are also some posters, who are generally great contributors and do not otherwise cause any problems, who sometimes feel it's their place to provoke or to otherwise 'mess with' that small minority of people described in the last paragraph, and while we possibly might understand why you might feel you WANT to do something like that, the truth is we can't actually tolerate that kind of behavior from you any more than we can tolerate the behavior from them. So if we feel that you are trying to provoke those other posters into doing or saying something that will get themselves into trouble, then we will start to view you as a problem as well, because of the same reason as before: The overall health of the forum comes first, and trying to stir the pot with someone like that doesn't help, it just makes it worse. Some will simply disagree with this philosophy, but if so, then so be it because ultimately we have to do what we think is best so long as it's up to us.

If you see a problem that we haven't addressed, the best and most appropriate course for a forum member to take here is to look over to the left of the post in question. See underneath that poster's name, avatar, and other info, down where there's a little triangle with an exclamation point (!) in it? Click that. That allows you to report the post to the admins so we can definitely notice it and give it a look to see what we feel we should do about it. Beyond that, obviously it's human nature sometimes to want to speak up to the poster in question who has bothered you, but we would ask that you try to refrain from doing so because quite often what happens is two or more posters all start going back and forth about the original offending post, and suddenly the entire thread is off topic or otherwise derailed. So while the urge to police it yourself is understandable, it's best to just report it to us and let us handle it. Thank you!

All of the above is going to be subject to a case by case basis, but generally and broadly speaking, this should give everyone a pretty good idea of how things will typically / most often be handled.

Rule #2

If the actions of an administrator inspire you to make a comment, criticism, or express a concern about it, there is a wrong place and a couple of right places to do so.

The wrong place is to do so in the original thread in which the administrator took action. For example, if a post gets an infraction, or a post gets deleted, or a comment within a larger post gets clipped out, in a thread discussing Paul George, the wrong thing to do is to distract from the discussion of Paul George by adding your off topic thoughts on what the administrator did.

The right places to do so are:

A) Start a thread about the specific incident you want to talk about on the Feedback board. This way you are able to express yourself in an area that doesn't throw another thread off topic, and this way others can add their two cents as well if they wish, and additionally if there's something that needs to be said by the administrators, that is where they will respond to it.

B) Send a private message to the administrators, and they can respond to you that way.

If this is done the wrong way, those comments will be deleted, and if it's a repeating problem then it may also receive an infraction as well.

Rule #3

If a poster is bothering you, and an administrator has not or will not deal with that poster to the extent that you would prefer, you have a powerful tool at your disposal, one that has recently been upgraded and is now better than ever: The ability to ignore a user.

When you ignore a user, you will unfortunately still see some hints of their existence (nothing we can do about that), however, it does the following key things:

A) Any post they make will be completely invisible as you scroll through a thread.

B) The new addition to this feature: If someone QUOTES a user you are ignoring, you do not have to read who it was, or what that poster said, unless you go out of your way to click on a link to find out who it is and what they said.

To utilize this feature, from any page on Pacers Digest, scroll to the top of the page, look to the top right where it says 'Settings' and click that. From the settings page, look to the left side of the page where it says 'My Settings', and look down from there until you see 'Edit Ignore List' and click that. From here, it will say 'Add a Member to Your List...' Beneath that, click in the text box to the right of 'User Name', type in or copy & paste the username of the poster you are ignoring, and once their name is in the box, look over to the far right and click the 'Okay' button. All done!

Rule #4

Regarding infractions, currently they carry a value of one point each, and that point will expire in 31 days. If at any point a poster is carrying three points at the same time, that poster will be suspended until the oldest of the three points expires.

Rule #5

When you share or paste content or articles from another website, you must include the URL/link back to where you found it, who wrote it, and what website it's from. Said content will be removed if this doesn't happen.

An example:

If I copy and paste an article from the Indianapolis Star website, I would post something like this:

http://www.linktothearticlegoeshere.com/article
Title of the Article
Author's Name
Indianapolis Star

Rule #6

We cannot tolerate illegal videos on Pacers Digest. This means do not share any links to them, do not mention any websites that host them or link to them, do not describe how to find them in any way, and do not ask about them. Posts doing anything of the sort will be removed, the offenders will be contacted privately, and if the problem becomes habitual, you will be suspended, and if it still persists, you will probably be banned.

The legal means of watching or listening to NBA games are NBA League Pass Broadband (for US, or for International; both cost money) and NBA Audio League Pass (which is free). Look for them on NBA.com.

Rule #7

Provocative statements in a signature, or as an avatar, or as the 'tagline' beneath a poster's username (where it says 'Member' or 'Administrator' by default, if it is not altered) are an unwanted distraction that will more than likely be removed on sight. There can be shades of gray to this, but in general this could be something political or religious that is likely going to provoke or upset people, or otherwise something that is mean-spirited at the expense of a poster, a group of people, or a population.

It may or may not go without saying, but this goes for threads and posts as well, particularly when it's not made on the off-topic board (Market Square).

We do make exceptions if we feel the content is both innocuous and unlikely to cause social problems on the forum (such as wishing someone a Merry Christmas or a Happy Easter), and we also also make exceptions if such topics come up with regards to a sports figure (such as the Lance Stephenson situation bringing up discussions of domestic abuse and the law, or when Jason Collins came out as gay and how that lead to some discussion about gay rights).

However, once the discussion seems to be more/mostly about the political issues instead of the sports figure or his specific situation, the thread is usually closed.

Rule #8

We prefer self-restraint and/or modesty when making jokes or off topic comments in a sports discussion thread. They can be fun, but sometimes they derail or distract from a topic, and we don't want to see that happen. If we feel it is a problem, we will either delete or move those posts from the thread.

Rule #9

Generally speaking, we try to be a "PG-13" rated board, and we don't want to see sexual content or similarly suggestive content. Vulgarity is a more muddled issue, though again we prefer things to lean more towards "PG-13" than "R". If we feel things have gone too far, we will step in.

Rule #10

We like small signatures, not big signatures. The bigger the signature, the more likely it is an annoying or distracting signature.

Rule #11

Do not advertise anything without talking about it with the administrators first. This includes advertising with your signature, with your avatar, through private messaging, and/or by making a thread or post.
See more
See less

Tbird analysis: How to scout a team checklist

Collapse
X
Collapse
 
  • Page of 1
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
Previous template Next
  • #1

    Tbird analysis: How to scout a team checklist

    Hello again everyone....it's great to have basketball as part of our lives again.

    The topic today is scouting, in this case our own Indiana Pacers.

    This is on my mind because while the Pacers have played 3 preseason games, I have yet to be able to see any of them. Therefore, I basically have been relying on the raw data and statistics, plus the analysis given on Pacers Digest to get a basic idea of how we are playing. However, since I look at things from the viewpoint of a coach/scout, there is alot of information I'm unable to find out from these methods. It is in the minutae of basketball that my inner nerd comes out, and I'd love to know the intricate detailed analysis of the Pacers that I am missing. I am basically not interested at this point on individuals, but on how the overall scheme is being put together on both ends. I thought it might be fun for some of you if I actually posted some of the "insider details" of things scouts actually look for when analyzing a team. I'm also hoping that I can learn new things as well, as I generally think this is a great group of passionate intelligent fans that post on here. Here is a partial checklist of some things I'd be watching if I could, and that maybe those of you who see the games can give in a report following the next few games:

    (In no particular order)

    1. Defensively, how early is our point guard beginning his pressure on the opponents primary ballhandler? Where on the floor is this taking place in our new defensive scheme? Is it varying depending on who the ballhandler is, or whom the defender is? Can we pick them up full court and bother them?

    I ask this one because much like UB I love point guard defense, and think it is a gigantic gaping hole in Tinsley's game, and in the Pacers in general. Are we still sagging alot to prevent Tinsley from being beaten? Are we playing conservatively to hide him or others?

    2. Defensively to go along with the first question, are our wing defenders denying the first pass to the opponents offense, or are they allowing a catch because the are having to "sink" in to show help early against an immediate drive by the opposing point guard?

    Coach Carlisle did this "sinking" more than I liked to try and protect Tinsley, and I thought it made our defense easy to play against. How has it changed, if at all?

    3. Defensively, are we contesting jump shots at an "A" level, "B" level, or worse?

    By definition, an "A" level contested shot is one where the defender rises up with the shooter with his hands outstretched, a "B" level contested shot is with your hands high but where the defender stays on the ground to not attempt to influence the shooter, and anything worse than that might mean a half hearted run out to an open shooter that is way too late, or to not rise up or put a hand up on a shooter you are in front of.

    Is anyone exceptional at this? Is anyone terrible? What are our overall percentages of each level of jumper taken against us, not based on opponents shooting percentage, but on contested "A" and "B" shots forced?

    4. How easy is it for a team to catch in the low post against us?

    Do we fight for position or stay behind? Are we doubling after the catch is made, after the post player dribbles, as the ball is in the air BEFORE the post player is cathcing it, or are we not doubling at all? Does this depend on who it is?

    5. How have we been trying to defend the screen/roll?

    6. How easy is it for teams to reverse the ball against us? Are we keeping the ball to one side of the floor, or are teams swinging it around with ease from one side to the other?

    7. Offensively, what do we think we can "hang our hat" on? Do we have a go to situation or set play that we will run when scoring is a must? If so, what is it? What should it be?

    8. I know from reading that most of you think we are moving the ball faster....my question is, are we moving it quickly at the cost of not waiting on our cutters to get open? I ask this because moving the ball too soon in a motion offense (before cutters can get open) can sometimes be as much of a problem as holding it too long.....

    9. Have we shown any tendencies to become either right handed or left handed? (this means tending on starting our possessions predominately on one side or the other). Anybody care to try and chart this?

    10. When we defensive rebound, who is our first outlet pass going to predominately? Is it always our point guard or are we using different players to get this pass?

    This is a key question if you truly are going to try and run, because if it is always one guy who gets the outlet pass, this can easily be defended by a prepared smart defensive team, and has been a major problem for many years in Indiana.

    11. Who is taking the ball out of bounds?

    This is a key question in the half court, because in close games this is a key question in end of game situations...do we have someone we trust?

    12. When we run after a miss, is it a "controlled break" (are people running to predetermined spots?) or are we just reacting and adjusting on the fly depending on where each individual may be on the floor?

    13. Are we screening well off the ball?

    Are we being physical, or are we just like ships passing in the night? In the preseason, sloppy screens may still be effective, but once the season starts and teams start preparing for you, they will stop you. How good of screen setters have we been?

    14. Do we get the ball reversed well? Are teams able to keep us to one side of the floor?

    15. Are we consistently getting good shots? Regardless of our shooting percentage, or we getting shots we are comfortable as fans with our guys taking them? Are we getting shots that are being defended at an "A", "B", or "C" level?

    16. How do our players look in the huddle? Are we tightly together and all paying attention, or are guys staring into space or otherwise not being professional, whether they are in the game or not? Are we running back to the huddle when a time out is called, or are our guys walking back? Are we spending a bunch of time griping to officials on the way back to a huddle?

    17. Do we "pick scabs" often? (run the same play over and over in the same formation and same way) Do we run multiple set plays IN THE SAME ORDER alot, or are they mixed up well so far? (You'd be surprised how many coaches tend to run one set play, then run specific one right after it....it is a tendency scouts see alot).

    18. Are our guys comunicating with one another well on the floor, or are they being directed alot from the bench? Who is talking to whom during free throws, coming out of the huddle, etc etc.

    19. Are our point guards looking to the bench to recieve instructions or do they have the freedom to call their own plays while bringing the ball up?

    20. What are we doing that a smart opponent would try and take away? How would a smart opponent attack us on either end? Can we be rattled, and if so how and who can be exploited?

    21. Are our best players getting the most shots? Are we playing at our most efficient method?

    22. In a normal possession after a made basket by an opponent and with no defensive pressure being applied, how quickly is our point guard getting the ball up the floor and into our offensive flow?

    23. Can we be shot or pass faked easily?

    24. Do we fight through screens, or do we just accept the screen and hope for help?

    25. Are we fighting for loose balls, or are we just reaching for them? Do we dive or reach?

    26. Who is responsible for being back defensively? Is it a particular individual, or does it depend on who is where on the floor?

    27. How many are we sending to the offensive glass, and how many are retreating back defensivley?

    28. Have we shown any particular in-bound plays yet from under our basket or on the side? if so what are they and who are they for?

    29. Have we shown a tendency to run special plays out of timeouts or the beginning of quarters? Any habits or tendencies?

    30. Are we in better shape than our opponents physically and cardio wise?

    31. Is there any combination of players or group of players that seem to play better or worse together? Do we run different plays depending on who our point guard is? (think of the remarkable difference in how we played offense back in the Jackson/Best days)

    32. If our opponent plays small/big, do we match up or do we try and exploit them with who we have playing? Do we DICTATE, or REACT, to our opponents strategy?

    33. Who is shooting our technical free throws?

    34. Who is our lead assistant if Jim O'Brien is tossed, suspended, or ill?

    35. Are our assistants sitting together, or spread out on the bench? What do they all do during games? Do any of them talk to the players who aren't in the game, or maybe just came out?

    36. How deep can our rotation be without having a significant drop off? Can guys play multiple positions, and defend multiple types of players?

    37. Are we going to have regular rotations, or will it be based on how they are playing, the opponent, etc etc. Coach Carlisle basically was an adjustor to the situation guy I thought, where others like Jerry Sloan have more rigid plans.....what is this staff going to be like?

    38. How are the players relating to one another? Is the bench happy and active during the game? Do our guys seem to get along on the floor? Are we tied together as a unit, or are we fractured into cliques? Are we just 12 individuals? Can you tell by watching anything obvious?

    39. If an opposing player gets hot, who can be our stopper defensively?

    40. What are the 3 absolute things our opponents can take advantage of to beat us? What are the 3 things we must do to win?


    Ok, off the top of my head those are my top 40.

    Scouting is an imperfect science done by humans, and while most of the time you can be right, there are times when you are just totally wrong about how best to do something. I can think of many times scouting opponents and making up my mind about a particular player who seems weak and easy to defend, only to have that same player have a career night. Also, smart people can watch a team play many times and then turn in almost diametrically opposing reports about them. That is all part of my fascination with the game of basketball.

    I don't expect anyone to be able to answer all that extensive list, but if any of you can share your thoughts and opinions about any of the questions in the top 40, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

    As always, the above is just my opinion....

    Tbird
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Re: Tbird analysis: How to scout a team checklist

    Well I have only seen one game till now, which changes tonight, so I wont even try to answer any of these questions now, and IF I can stay awake all night to see the game, I will most certainly answer as many as I can based upon my opinon tomorrow.
    So Long And Thanks For All The Fish.

    If you've done 6 impossible things today?
    Then why not have Breakfast at Milliways!

    Comment

    • #3
      Re: Tbird analysis: How to scout a team checklist

      For those of you who were either in attendance or were able to watch the game on television, did anyone learn anything about the questions I'm curious about tonight? I know Able will respond on Thursday hopefully....can anyone else contribute? I'm dying here for knowledge....

      Tbird

      Comment

      • #4
        Re: Tbird analysis: How to scout a team checklist

        Well I'm gonna base most of my observations on the 1st half, for several reasons the 2nd half was not half as interesting and imo also less of a barometer then the 1st, either fatigue or the score or a combo of both makes that we still let the opponent "sort of" back in the game, but we still close them out with relative ease.

        In most situation the PG starts picking up the D round about half court, Diener slightly more then Tins, but in both cases they are fairly active in interrupting the progress, lots of ball poking and "leading" the opposing PG in to the team's defensive channels.
        There is definitely way less sagging off in comparison to last year. In principle most of the time depending on who of the opp brings the ball up, we are interrupting early and actively, PG's on our side usually keep their man in front unless going for the steal which seems to be an intricate part of the defensive system, specially when Quis and Tins were in together, they were very active in chasing the interception, poking and disrupting the passing lanes.
        This goes on to whoever plays the SF position, and in general the wings are very active in trying to prevent passes and shots, I would say that unless our D gets out of position, which at times (to oft) still happens, it is very hard to get a shot off, certainly even if out of position almost impossible to get a shot of that is not in some way contested, in their face or at least jumping in the shot to alter it.

        One the PG picks up the opp at the middle line, our acting C/PF moves to the top of the key to "close the hole" untill the PG comes closer to that positionand the wings move in at which time the C/PF fall back

        In general the defense looks still a work in progress but certainly at times it is clear to see that the D being "looser" on one end is far more team orientated then it was, it seems still a bit rough, i.e. to loose, but it is quite clear that disruption is a major anchor of this system and help-D very important, if they move in synch it works to perfection, once one is late (Danny in quite a number of instances looked like he was wondering where he was going to go, Murph looked a bit lost at time as well, as did Ike) it becomes a race to chase the ball and still get in the way of the shot or the pass, but due to the speed of f.i. Quis it usually ends up with a well defended shot, lapses left where they are right now.

        The ball is moving faster but not that much, it is just that the ball is moving more often and has more "end-stations" then before.

        A lot of movement of the ball helps that as well, one or two instances where JO has the ball down low, the D hesitates to collapse on him and the movement of our players is such that once JO starts to move, D collapses and he in most cases has the pass for an open shot (Murphy missed 4 of those in a row in the first Q 2 3pt 1 mid and 1 lay-up)

        One play in the second half (when JO, Tins and Quis were in) had JO with the ball, Tins cutting, drawing a defender and Quis right after him open for the lay-up and getting the ball in stride.

        The outlet pass is usually made by whoever is nearest the ball, there is no set player doing it, no waiting, catch and go to whoever is free an able to bring it up, only when they started a full court pressure we went to Tins to break that up.
        In most other instances it is not per se the PG that brings the ball up or initiates the O, Quis, Dun, Granger, they all did it at times.
        Certainly on rebounds the first pass is going to the "open" player, not perse the point.

        The speed of the offense and the ball movement somehow made it hard for them to follow us when the ball went round, certainly more then last year if the ball was in the post and due to the movement around the open player was hit much faster.


        I did not really recognise a trend of using one similar play over and over again, it was very much read and react time.

        That players as Diener have more problems with that then Tinsley is to be expected, most clearly that was when after about 6 min in the 1st Tins came in the game, the score was 17-16, and the Q ended 31-22 (i.e. a 14-6 scoreline in 4 minutes)

        It also became clear later in the game when Diener had some problems (he was pressured hard) and it only went for a short time before Tins was brought back in again.

        Players (team) seem to mash well, they almost all participate in the huddle and no "outcasts" are sitting on the bench during a timeout.

        On several plays we saw the bench jumping up and even JO and Tins jumped up to cheer a good play at times.

        Though JOB paces a lot, I have not noticed whoever brings the ball up looking a lot at the bench to "get a play", it seems that they have marching orders and go by them.

        Certainly in the early days of the season I see the opponnents rattle us with sharp ball movement, fast side to side will be a problem as long as the movement on D is not automated, going on in the season that will be less of a problem.
        Also as I noted before, there is a lot of gambling from the G position for intercept and steals, which almost certainly in the early days of the season will leave opportunities, untill the rest of the team "knows" their position.

        hitting the glass on both sides seems a priority, unless it is an early shot, in which case we don't even bother and everyone goes back on D, which makes it very hard to run a fast break on us, several times that fast break turned in a 2 on 4 situation which was then breaking up the fastbreak.

        The most particular inbound play is "hit the open man and start running"

        When Diener ran the O in the beginning with the starters in, Dun did a lot of passing, working well btw

        I was definitely under the impression that we dictate rather then what we used to do react.

        As far as one can determine this at this moment in time, I do think we will have fairly set rotations, but they will also be based on "hot hands" as in we will not have a clock for who gets how many minutes, but if you are playing well, and not fatigued, you play.

        Quis definitely made a good D contrib and so did JO, in fact JO was giving a lesson in taking charges again but in general he remains our best defensive player.
        I think however that stopping the hot hand will be not only in the hands of for instance Danny and Marquis, but in the hands of the team by dissalowing the pass to that "hot" player.

        Advantage for the opponent is still speed in the backcourt, but with Quis next to Tins that was mitigated quite nicely, though I do not consider this opponent a measuring stick, so totally different weakness can pop up on Sat.

        Our best chances are speed, open shots and JO, if the movement is there, then the cutter will get the ball either from the point or from JO, who also had very little trouble and needed no time to find either, it is however (looking at Murphy in this case) a must that those open shots are made.

        (had some people hit "more accurately" then JO would have ended up with 6 or 7 Ast at least.)

        In general I was impressed with our team at times, and though I hope for more I am quite sure we will not end up way below .500 it will however depend on the progress our D makes, once that comes along, the O will have little problems, because the speed of the O is a result from the D's output.

        It was good to see that the few times they decided to follow all the movement, JO had no trouble whatsoever to score.

        Of course doubling JO would leave at least one player open or a cutter free, so it is becoming a choice of poison.


        Yes I know there are way better teams out there, and yes I know it will be harder then it has been so far.
        I also know that it is pre-season and not to much must be read, but 3 Q's of 30+ and 1 of 29 says something.

        It also says something despite the teams we have played being pushovers that we have won all 4 emphatically, and despite "comebacks" in the 4th have never seen a lead deteriorate to a catchup.

        Looking at what I have seen now in two games I would not be surprised to see a starting lineup of Tins, Quis, Dun, JO and Foster, if Danny starts then Quis will be coming of the bench, but I am sure that Murphy will have to improve his work in order to get the nod over Foster.
        I know Murphy started all games, but I am not so sure it will stay that way.

        Finally, I am glad JO is on our team, as well as Tinsley, with Dun seemingly (he said cautiously) coming into himself and playing very good (certainly up to his contract imo) as well as a healthy Quis we have a good base to work form, Danny and Shawne as well as Ike can hold the fort and I am sure Diener and Owens will deliver what we need in a backup PG spot, better then we had the last couple of years.

        I do think that it will be hard for JOB to split the minutes but in the end I expect a rotating 10 man rotation with a core of 7 or 8 that will see minutes every game.

        In all we can say it is a work in progress, but the steps we took from the latter part of last season to now seem to be very big in outlook.

        The players seem to like it, like each other and the coaching staff (which also seems very much a unit instead of "put together") and in general there is a lot of talking on the court, corrections explained, smiles and high fives.

        Now of course I do not know what will happen when we lose a few in a row, but for now I don't even "expect" that to happen, I am sure we will be in a dogfight for a playoff spot, but seeing the east that can just as easy be 4 as it can be 8.

        However before we start contemplating whether we end up with .500 or above or under, I think we can safely say that what we've seen so far is encouraging and for the first time in 3 years I have the feeling we have a team instead of a collection of good individual players, if they keep that up, then I would venture to say that the sum of the team will be better then the sum of the collected individuals.
        JO seems to be better in this situation (is that possible?) then when it was "(quoting bball) JO ball".
        In 28 mintes, 6 - 12 fga, 10 -12 fom the line, 11 reb (4 off) 22 pts 3 Ast (which should have been 6 ore more!) a block, a number of deflections, charges taken, he looks to be on his way again to a good year.
        If he and Tins can do a healthy year, we have something to look forward to.
        So Long And Thanks For All The Fish.

        If you've done 6 impossible things today?
        Then why not have Breakfast at Milliways!

        Comment

        • #5
          Re: Tbird analysis: How to scout a team checklist

          Thanks Able....that's some good information.

          Comment

          • #6
            Re: Tbird analysis: How to scout a team checklist

            Yes, thanks Able, I like the game being broke down this way. I copied T-Birds checklist, so I might have a go at it myself after I get League Pass.

            T-Bird, if you have any checks to add, please do so.

            Comment

            • #7
              Re: Tbird analysis: How to scout a team checklist

              Originally posted by thunderbird1245 View Post
              Thanks Able....that's some good information.


              Well I tried to put it in a readable form so others had some fun with it if you want your points more specifically answered, then I will gladly do so, just let me know which ones


              a
              So Long And Thanks For All The Fish.

              If you've done 6 impossible things today?
              Then why not have Breakfast at Milliways!

              Comment

              • #8
                Re: Tbird analysis: How to scout a team checklist

                Originally posted by thunderbird1245 View Post
                3. Defensively, are we contesting jump shots at an "A" level, "B" level, or worse?

                By definition, an "A" level contested shot is one where the defender rises up with the shooter with his hands outstretched, a "B" level contested shot is with your hands high but where the defender stays on the ground to not attempt to influence the shooter, and anything worse than that might mean a half hearted run out to an open shooter that is way too late, or to not rise up or put a hand up on a shooter you are in front of.

                Is anyone exceptional at this? Is anyone terrible? What are our overall percentages of each level of jumper taken against us, not based on opponents shooting percentage, but on contested "A" and "B" shots forced?

                From what I remember Marquis is great at this, and across the board I feel there are sometimes big lapses with this on the weakside when the ball is swung to the other side, but generally speaking we're making the effort to at least "B" level the player with the ball.

                5. How have we been trying to defend the screen/roll?

                We are blitzing the ball-handler and the team D recovers if he still gets the pass off to the big who set the screen/pick.

                8. I know from reading that most of you think we are moving the ball faster....my question is, are we moving it quickly at the cost of not waiting on our cutters to get open? I ask this because moving the ball too soon in a motion offense (before cutters can get open) can sometimes be as much of a problem as holding it too long.....

                I think we're mostly waiting for the cutters to get open.

                10. When we defensive rebound, who is our first outlet pass going to predominately? Is it always our point guard or are we using different players to get this pass?

                Sometimes they're looking for the PG, but often it's just whomever is open and ready to dribble it up the floor.

                11. Who is taking the ball out of bounds?

                This is a key question in the half court, because in close games this is a key question in end of game situations...do we have someone we trust?

                If you mean after a made basket, I've seen multiple positions. If you mean from the sideline, I recall Mike Dunleavy doing it, but obviously at least one or two others must be doing it. I trust Mike in that position.

                13. Are we screening well off the ball?

                If you mean players doing screens for other players without the ball on the other side of the floor, yes I've noticed this.

                14. Do we get the ball reversed well? Are teams able to keep us to one side of the floor?

                I don't remember us being pinned to one side of the floor.

                15. Are we consistently getting good shots? Regardless of our shooting percentage, or we getting shots we are comfortable as fans with our guys taking them? Are we getting shots that are being defended at an "A", "B", or "C" level?

                I'd say the majority are good shots. Sometimes we're WIDE open. Other times I notice us taking shots that are being defended at "C" level. I'm sure others are B and A though. I don't mean to imply it's coming easy or anything, but I've felt like we get 'plenty' of good looks each game.

                18. Are our guys comunicating with one another well on the floor, or are they being directed alot from the bench? Who is talking to whom during free throws, coming out of the huddle, etc etc.

                I can't answer each part of this, but I've noticed multiple players pointing and talking on defense, and Jim is seemingly constantly coaching on both ends of the floor.

                19. Are our point guards looking to the bench to recieve instructions or do they have the freedom to call their own plays while bringing the ball up?

                I haven't noticed the PGs looking to the bench for instructions very often at all.

                22. In a normal possession after a made basket by an opponent and with no defensive pressure being applied, how quickly is our point guard getting the ball up the floor and into our offensive flow?

                As I said it's not just the PG by a long shot. Often the 2 and 3 are bringing it up, and most often it is within 3 seconds or less. When Memphis used full court pressure it bothered us somewhat, but since we're not depending on just one guy to bring it up I don't see how it will be a big problem for us except when it's used to mix things up defensively.

                25. Are we fighting for loose balls, or are we just reaching for them? Do we dive or reach?

                I've seen Diener, Williams, and I believe others diving for the ball.

                27. How many are we sending to the offensive glass, and how many are retreating back defensivley?

                I want to say we're usually sending 2 back immediately to guard the paint until the other 3 get back seconds later, but it's a fuzzy memory and I haven't been paying close attention.

                33. Who is shooting our technical free throws?

                Travis Diener and Mike Dunleavy.

                34. Who is our lead assistant if Jim O'Brien is tossed, suspended, or ill?

                I don't know, but I'd say it'd have to be Dick Harter because of his experience and since he's our lead D guy. But it may not be.

                36. How deep can our rotation be without having a significant drop off? Can guys play multiple positions, and defend multiple types of players?

                The reason I could see Shawn Williams taking Ike Diogu's rotation spot is because he can play 2-3 positions and Ike's purely a post guy. I also feel Andre Owens could see limited time at the 2 with Diener at the 1, though I wouldn't want to see it for long stretches.

                38. How are the players relating to one another? Is the bench happy and active during the game? Do our guys seem to get along on the floor? Are we tied together as a unit, or are we fractured into cliques? Are we just 12 individuals? Can you tell by watching anything obvious?

                Everyone I've paid attention to seems to be neutral to happy IMO.

                39. If an opposing player gets hot, who can be our stopper defensively?

                People will say Danny Granger, but don't underestimate Andre Owens. Also, I think ultimately we're all about being a team defense, so as a team we'll do whatever we can to drive the hot players nuts.
                My answers are in bold. I hope that helps you a little bit.

                Comment

                Previous template Next
                Working...
                X