ROY comments on our offense - is there a problem here?

This thread is almost a big as the one where KingSpeed wanted to give one of our trainers ASSLOVE!

 

Re: Fuck Brandon Roy

The first thing is that the offensive scheme that Portland runs requires Roy to be effective in order to get other people open. It also requires that shooters go to certain spots so the spacing is right. It also depends on the fact that those players out there doing the spacing can hit an open perimeter shot. Roy knows where those spots are, and over his career, has shown to be a very effective player at finding those open guys. The cause for most flaming bag passes in my view, is "pounding the rock". Not ISO offense. You can have an ISO offense without causing a lot of flaming bag passes. But the ISO offense must start quickly, and have lots of time on the clock to get the first attempt. The ISO offense also has to be able to hit cutters who are moving. One of the biggest problems Portland has about it's offense, is how far out on the floor it starts. Because it starts so far out on the floor, the defense has a ton of time to adjust. If we had just one player, who constantly caught the ball only a few feet from the hoop so the defense would be forced to react immediately, things would change.

 

Re: Fuck Brandon Roy

While I agree that that's the best defensive 1-3, I don't agree that it's the overall best 1-3 lineup. I think Miller is a much better player than Matthews, even if worse defensively.

That's just an aside, not really a major point, since the main thrust is what the team's philosophy vis a vis Roy should be, and that's pretty irrelevant to Miller, since Miller is not a long-term building block.

I'm not saying that he is, necessarily, saying "Give me the ball and let me figure it out." As I said, I don't know what he's thinking. The general vibe I've gotten from his comments over the past year or so is that he's a bit of a basketball conservative: he feels he and team have found a good place and therefore why change things.

It's a perfectly valid viewpoint (assuming I'm correct) but I think, in my admittedly amateur viewpoint, that it's a mistake. I think Roy, not being a true point guard, makes his own task harder when he controls the ball most of the time. He's a scoring guard who can pass, not a true distributor. Much of the time, he's looking to score but he's taking the hard way by isolating and driving into the teeth of the defense.

I want him to score. I want him to score a lot. While I think he can handle and pass, I think scoring is his main talent and calling. I think some of that means getting him easier shots. That definitely doesn't mean sitting in the corner and waiting for a pass. While I don't think he did a lot of that last year, it did happen. Most of that, IMO, was some level of unfamiliarity with playing off the ball. If you're not used to it, playing off the ball can end up devolving into floating on the perimeter.

A proper off the ball game would involve Brandon diving to the hoop backdoor a lot, without the ball, to receive the pass near the hoop for a conversion. It would involve plays designed to run him off screens to get him open mid-range and perimeter shots.

This is the adaptation that I was referring to in Jordan (and one Kobe made also). This is why Jordan became more efficient as a scorer...because isolating and driving to the hoop, even with Jordan's talent, is punishing and doing it the hard way. Stars need to do that to some extent, because schemes will only get you so many open shots. Sometimes you just have to talent up and beat the other guy(s). But it's not at all good to score that way exclusively.

A true off the ball game would net Roy more easy shots. It would get him more total shots, more points and it would also make him harder for the defense to account for. A player who generally has the ball is easy to account for...you always know where he is: where the ball is. Putting the ball in someone else's hands and running Roy through screens, having him attack from any angle, can create a lot of defensive confusion. Even more importantly, it takes a lot of defensive pressure off Roy. No sane defense can double a player who doesn't have the ball. If he catches backdoor for a layup/dunk attempt or catches and shoots, he gets his shot attempt before the defense can run another player at him.

This is, in no way, about de-emphasizing Roy. It's about maximizing his impact and getting him more shots. But more shots in a way that reduce the physical punishment he takes, gets him more efficient shots and makes the Blazers' team offense more difficult to defend. As I said, I'd love for Roy to end up taking more shots. I just want those shots to come in more varied ways, which means taking him off the ball some.

That doesn't mean he should never initiate. While scoring is his forte, he does have passing and dribbling skills that should be exploited. He should have plenty of opportunities to drive and either score or dish. But I wouldn't mind if A. his shots went up and B. the percentage of his shots coming from drives off the wing went down.

You may be right that that is exactly the kind of thing Roy is hinting at. I don't know. I can't tell. I hope so! As I said earlier, I'm more discussing this with fans who seem skeptical of having Roy play off the ball than I am directing this "at" Roy as a criticism.

 

Re: Fuck Brandon Roy

This place is crazy! I would love to see more people get involved in the offense, but what he said is true. We win when he has the ball in his hand, plain and simple! Why hate on our star player when he speaks the truth?

 

Re: Fuck Brandon Roy

We've won what exactly? (in the playoffs, where it counts)

 

Re: Fuck Brandon Roy

Brandon Roy is such a fucking liar

 

Re: Fuck Brandon Roy

Honestly!!!!????? Did you miss the fact that we had 313 games missed due to injury and STILL FUCKING WON 50 GAMES! WHat did you expect from a team torn apart from injuries. Brandon goes down in the last game of the year...... has FUCKING SURGERY and still makes it back to play in the 1st round. You have to put shit in perspective man! After Joel went down I swore we weren't even MAKING the playoffs.

 

Re: Fuck Brandon Roy

Without Andre Miller, we dont even make the playoffs

 

Re: Fuck Brandon Roy

I agree, what's your point?

 

Re: Fuck Brandon Roy

My point is, if last year, we would have kept Blake and played the way Roy wanted to, we wouldnt have made the playoffs

 

Re: Fuck Brandon Roy

Good Points in this Thread.

I'm pretty torn on this issue, but Once Again only time will tell my friends.

 

Re: Fuck Brandon Roy

We should be blessed we have a true leader on our team who wants the ball in his hands. Coach's love when their leaders bring that attitude. He is a competitor and he is filling his leadership duties.

 

Re: Fuck Brandon Roy

For reasons I can't explain, many posters on this board seem to want Roy to play off of the ball more.

 

Re: Fuck Brandon Roy

Link?

 

Re: Fuck Brandon Roy

Right, because Andre Miller is a bigger part of this team than Brandon Roy, and we didn't make the playoffs two years ago with Blake and Roy starting.

 

Re: Fuck Brandon Roy

Link?

 

Gee, Roy seems to be advocating what I was advocating in this thread through my "thick-headed" skull.

 

Maybe one of Roy's Boyz read this thread.

 

Re: Fuck Brandon Roy

Well, he IS a "shooting" guard

 

Then it's not easy to game plan against.