That turnstile D against the Kings was pathetic and disheartening. Is it that hard to defend against an elbow screen rubdown for a backcut? Awful. Slide under the pick, don't just run into the picker. And the man who's man is screening has to communicate and at least show to prevent the easy backdoor pass for an easy bucket. Something else I cannot watch is how the perimeter players invite a player one way and then the player waltz' in for a layup. How about trying to stay square to the player. Look at the bellybutton (anything on the player) and not the ball and stay in front. Bobby Knight preached that for 35 years and yet the players are still lazy. Stay square and force the jumper. Please.
That was pretty horrendous and pretty evident as to why Nellie is reluctant to play young guys. They lose sight of the basics. But, I think it's a pretty good (humiliating) learning experience. The good thing is that basic fundamentals can be taught and learned (let's exclude Pietrus).
A lot of blown switches and rotations by the young guys. It was hard to watch but it'll be a learning experience.
Yep, that's the hardest part of learning as a rookie, at least that's what most NBA people say (what do I know?) Most guys can score coming into the league (the numbers are usually what get you recognized by scouts) but defensive schemes, learning switches, and just learning how to deal with every player on the court being a tough, elite-level athlete must be overwhelming. You see Brandon Wright getting caught with his back to the ball and passes whizzing right behind his ear to an open man under the basket... it's telling of why Nellie gets frustrated with the young guys. But they're learning, I'm sure. Defense didn't seem like a problem for Jason Thompson, though... that guy is a beast. The Warriors wanted him at #14... everyone said he was a late 1st to early 2nd round pick, and that the Kings made a huge, shocking reach to get him. Looks like a fantastic pick to me...
I'm pretty darn happy with Randolph though. Like his decisiveness when he's on the court, not lost like O'Bryant, Marco, B Wright, even Biedrins before this year. He knows what he wants to do and goes for it (although not a good shot sometimes.)
^^i think that the shot will start to fall once he gets comfortable in the league...he's rebounding, blocking, and handling the ball extremely well for a 6'11" guy...so i'm happy overall.
Marco has been playing some pretty good D. As Jim Barnett says, the young guys need to focus on D first and all the rest will fall into place (if the skillset is there).
Rule No. 1, stop shading to one side. Buddy once showed me how if someone shades you one way, dares you to go left say, you take one step that way then crossover and the defender is dead once he moves.
The warriors got to learn how to play man to man and give 110% effort on D. It's hard because the dubs don't seem to communicate defensively or run back on D with maximum effort. I also agree. Shading is for guys who just don't have the lateral quickness or strength to man up. They get beat by the offensive players first move because they aren't in position to recover on the angle of the drive. Our whole defense gets broken down because guys aren't playing tough individual defense or communicating on team defense.
