The Raptors lost 105-104 to the New Jersey Nets today. Vince Carter made a three point shot with 0.1 seconds left, highlighting three points: The Raptors were generally hosed in last year’s Vince Carter trade. Stats by Vince Carter today: forty five minutes and forty two points — stats by players traded for Vince Carter: DNP-CDs and fifteen minutes, seven points by Alonzo Mourning in the Heat-Blazers game. Key Lesson: Trade quality for quality. The Lakers also made this mistake last year by trading one of the top twenty players in the game (Shaquille O’Neal) and neglecting to get one …
Motion Offense Commentary
The Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, and Phoenix Suns have been the best teams in the Association so far this year. Can the success be attribute to mostly running motion offenses or are other factors at play? Recently, Phoenix has been using this “diamond set” often, signalled by Mike D’Antoni, in addition to their transition and pick and roll games. The “diamond set” gives Steve Nash some options by setting ballscreens (do not go under the screen — the Timberwolves hedged with Kevin Garnett, an excellent option for teams with athletic seven foot tall players). Detroit has their Circle Play …
A Bad Game for the Raptors
The Raptors delivered another atrocious performance tonight, a 113-106 loss to the Pistons that is respectable because Sam Mitchell left the starters in for the entire game. There was no need for Chris Bosh to play forty-four minutes tonight, although he set a career high in points and keeps adding elements to his game. From what I saw, Detroit torched Toronto with their signature play, the Circle Play. First of all, this play and all of its counters should be in any Association scouting report about the Detroit. Didn’t anyone read it? Bump Rip Hamilton off those cuts and force …
A Bad Week for the Raptors
The Raptors demonstrated some horrible execution this week. On Tuesday, they lost to Washington in overtime. To give credit where it is due, they ran a very cute side out for Charlie Villanueva to create a baseline jumper before the halftime buzzer. Usually, I find that Sam Mitchell’s quick hitters are dry and predictable, especially compared to what Kevin O’Neill would diagram. Occasionally, Mitchell comes up with a well-conceived, effective play. In overtime, I appreciated how the Wizards ran Gilbert Arenas off repeated dribble picks. Given that Arenas had dropped over thirty points, I don’t know why the Raptors did …
The Gifts of the Triangle
I’ve been reading a lot of my Tex Winter books lately. The Triple Post Offense – also known as the ubiquitous “Triangle” – never stops giving. It is not an offense that can be run in every situation but it provides some good teaching points to break down freelance and early offense principles into easy to learn pieces. Most interestingly, if one were to employ elements of the Triple Post set, they could hide a lack of size in the post and create a wide variety of scoring chances with an undersized line-up.