Zeller, Bradley and Smart are all great athletes and Rondo, Turner and Bass are good athletes. Everyone but Zeller has unique skills.
We definitely have different definitions of a good athlete. Zeller is an ok athlete but known as a good runner rather than a lights out athlete. Bradley is undersized but decent athlete. Smart is above average but he doesn't blow by guys like he did in college because he can't bully them as easily. I think Rondo was once an elite athlete, but now I am not so sure. Bass is a good athlete. Turner is average in athletic ability and known for his shooting.
I don't expect a twig like Bradley to ever be a good screener, but screening is not an advanced skill for a pro basketball player. Bass and Olynyk should be above average screeners. They just need to actually put their bodies in the right place and stop slipping the screen when they shouldn't.
I think screening is done poorly every level of the game. Shoulder to shoulder, so the screenee can't get through the screen is rarely done at any level because players do not relish the contact. There are a lot of half effort screens at every level of basketball.
I understand that someone like Olynyk will need to sometimes pump fake once or twice, but if you are pump-faking 5 times it's just indecision.
Caused by his inability to shoot over guys. I do think he hesistates too much, I wish he would take the first jumper when he gets open as with his speed the defender can react and contain him. Some of it is confidence but getting swatted will do that to a guy. He usually passes well if he gets in trouble.
And I'm sorry, regardless of how far you fell in the draft, if a guy is wide open you need to be able to pass it to him without the ball going 5 feet over his head. I think they are screwing this stuff up because their thinking about the offense instead of just reacting and making a play.
If they do not know the offense by now, they should not be pros. I think the opposite because of some guys limitations they have to think because they can't blow by or go over guys.
The other thing is that I don't think teams should have the same options/progressions for every player at the same position. If Bradley has an option to set a screen, he should only do it as a last resort. The screen has about a 90% chance of accomplishing nothing. That's what I think is the Celtics' problem. They have players with incomplete skillsets who are great at some stuff and terrible at other stuff, and it doesn't look like any thought is put into how to put them in a position where they can do what they're great at.
Bigs are the best screeners for two reasons. 1) They have the body to knock a player out of the defensive picture, 2) They can roll for a secondary threat. I have not seen AB screen a lot in this system, he usually drops down to the elbow extended or the corner. Usually is it is a big in the high post.
There's too much "this is our lineup, lets just run the offense" instead of picking a lineup that makes the actual strengths of our players tough for a particular team to defend, and emphasizing a few ways to exploit your advantages.
That may be but are advantages are not many. System coaches or guys who do not adapt their system like Pitino, I think make the worst pro coaches. I 'd like to see what Stevens could do with some real talent and not the hodge podge roster that is the Boston Celtics. I still root for us to win once the games start. Our team is fun to watch but we will be hard pressed to have one all star this year. Green deserves it, too, I think.
Topic: Brad Stevens and the motion offense (Read 10648 times)