Fast and Loose?

[Delaware]

This would be a major mid/late season gamble and course correction, but we have seen K make them before (Duhon replacing Nate and going small/quick when Boozer went down). This one might be more drastic, but worth a shot.

It seems to me that either Nolan is hurt or slowed by something and we know Paulus has the heart of a lion, but is limited on defense in the man to man. Z is a bit too slow in his post moves on offense as well as on defense to recover in our man to man.

The backcourt trap and the half court trapping zone actually looked effective for stretches in recent games, but we are not comfortable with it as man to man is the main defense, so we don't fully commit. This team has some long, lean fast bodies. Singler, Thomas, McClure, Plumlee and G can all run, defend, block shots, recover quickly and get out on the break and finish.... so here goes....

Start a long, quick, lean line-up of Jon, G, Singler, Thomas and Plumlee and come with Williams and McClure (and Nolan and Pocius if and when they get healthy) off the bench and commit to trap full court and zone trap half court constantly. Play fast and loose... get turnovers, run, block shots, recover on defense.

If and when in the half court, Jon can be a good playmaker off our high ball screens and drive the ball rather than settling for corner 3's.

It would have to be a full commitment, buy-in and a massive change in thought process, but it is bold and I think it would be worth a try. It could completely blow up and not work and might be suicide. But.... simply tweaking what we are doing now is not going to provide significant upside.

Thoughts?

[BlueintheFace]

This would be a major mid/late season gamble and course correction, but we have seen K make them before (Duhon replacing Nate and going small/quick when Boozer went down). This one might be more drastic, but worth a shot.

It seems to me that either Nolan is hurt or slowed by something and we know Paulus has the heart of a lion, but is limited on defense in the man to man. Z is a bit too slow in his post moves on offense as well as on defense to recover in our man to man.

The backcourt trap and the half court trapping zone actually looked effective for stretches in recent games, but we are not comfortable with it as man to man is the main defense, so we don't fully commit. This team has some long, lean fast bodies. Singler, Thomas, McClure, Plumlee and G can all run, defend, block shots, recover quickly and get out on the break and finish.... so here goes....

Start a long, quick, lean line-up of Jon, G, Singler, Thomas and Plumlee and come with Williams and McClure (and Nolan and Pocius if and when they get healthy) off the bench and commit to trap full court and zone trap half court constantly. Play fast and loose... get turnovers, run, block shots, recover on defense.

If and when in the half court, Jon can be a good playmaker off our high ball screens and drive the ball rather than settling for corner 3's.

It would have to be a full commitment, buy-in and a massive change in thought process, but it is bold and I think it would be worth a try. It could completely blow up and not work and might be suicide. But.... simply tweaking what we are doing now is not going to provide significant upside.

Thoughts?

You will not see this lineup consistently. You will not see Paulus kicked out of the rotation.

[Delaware]

You will not see this lineup consistently. You will not see Paulus kicked out of the rotation.


But would it be a good idea?

[WeepingThomasHill]

Delaware, with all due respect, that lineup would be awfully limited offensively. That may work for your Blue Hens, but not here...

[darkblue2769]

I know Paulus gets a lot of heat for his "defensive incompetence" but taking him out of the lineup completely? For one thing, I believe people immediately jump to Paulus's defense to criticize him simply because everybody else seems to do it. I will admit that he has his moments where he leaves us wondering if he even knows what defense IS, but I have really never thought him to be horrible. Everybody has off moments. Simply put, we need him in the game. His leadership and his shooting (most of the time) are going to be necessary if we want to win.

[Delaware]

Delaware, with all due respect, that lineup would be awfully limited offensively. That may work for your Blue Hens, but not here...


So how many points did Z, Greg and Nolan put up in the last game? I say we are limited right now with the current line-up.
And I've left our three best scoring options lately in the line-up. My point was also to get the team playing such that they did not rely on the half court as much.