Analysing the offense of the Suns

by paulimer on Nov 10, 2009 9:49 PM MST

First I must apologize for my English as I am from the opposite half of the globe.

I’ve been keeping track of the offensive plays the suns used in the D’antoni, Porter, Gentry w/Shaq, and finally this year’s Gentry w/o Shaq era. A lot can be said in the different plays preferred by the coaches, but let’s look at how they come together and lead to our current early success.

Many of us don’t want to recall our failed experiment last year, may be especially the players who suffered a lot mentally. However, things don’t just happen without leaving any footprints, and in this case, I think it’s a positive one.

In the D’antoni era we seldom see players doing post-up offense, except maybe Diaw and STAT (whom I think is not really good at that). Mismatch is emphasized only if the defending teams switch pick and rolls on Nash and STAT, and Nash will either drive or shoot over the bigger defender.

If the Suns do a group offense it will first start with a side pick and Nash driving to the middle, then another cutter curves in from the opposite side and Nash pass to him. Then a third "curver" will come in from the original side and receive the ball and drive or the ball is kicked out to the wide open Diaw shooting 20ft jumper from top of key because all defenders will be drawn into the paint.

In the Shaq era, there are several plays being emphasized:
1) the forever-present mismatch of Shaq, and there should be a lot of drills on how to space the shooters on the floor and cut in when he got double-teamed.
2) Mismatch is also emphasized when PG (Nash) picks and rolls with SG or SF (Hill or JRich) on wing situation, and the SG or SF would be posting up the PG of the other team.

3) The most successful play, top-of-the-key pick-n-roll of Nash and STAT, is only used in key situations like at the end of the quarter or in clutch time. The side effect of these is Nash assist numbers go down, because there were a lot more 1-on-1 plays.

4) There was a special play which had made a strong impression. Shaq posts up and Nash dribbles on top of the key. JRich or LB, standing near baseline behind Shaq, curves around Shaq from outside to cut to the middle and catch the pass from Nash near the FT line and drives for layup. They were quite successful with the play during last season.

How has AG changed the offense?

On fast-breaks:

First, AG is NOT doing 7-secs-or-less, unlike what many analyses are saying (by-default) out there. The main difference between D’antoni and Gentry fast breaks is that D’antoni focuses a lot of transition 3s. At that time we have Bell, LB, Nash, and even Diaw to run the transition 3. But this year, we only nash and LB who can shoot transition 3s stably. Frye is not as athletic in running up the floor, and Hill was not as accurate from downtown. Also, Gentry prefers a more traditional layup attack with higher accuracy, especially with Shaq in line-up. Second, last year after Porter was dumped, many other players threw fastbreak outlets from baseline or after getting rebound (mostly Nash, Shaq, and Barnes). But this year the ball has to go through the PG to make the decision.

On half court:

Gentry brought back the top-of-the-key pick-n-roll as the default execution, but this year Nash has the luxury of Channing Frye rolling out to 3s. All left is the PG reading the defense and improvising and finding open shooters.

Gentry kept the JRich and LB curve in middle from behind play from Porter. And somehow the Suns learned to how to make use of the mismatches by posting up JRich or Hill. This play helps to get the team going when it is a bit sluggish, which can be seen in first half playing Wizards and 76ers.

The beneficiaries:

Nash definitely benefitted the most from this system because he is more of the key of offense than in Porter / Shaq era. He makes more decisions and directs the ball to the open guys and that’s why he is now the leader of assists in the league.

The whole team learned a few more tricks from Porter which helped them a lot this year as well, especially on moving the ball to find open shooters, and that accounts a lot for the many 3s made.

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Nice breakdown!

Thanks for posting this!

Twitter: @MikeLisboa

by Mike Lisboa on Nov 11, 2009 9:37 AM MST reply actions

agreed

very nice write up

by alimoe on Nov 11, 2009 10:45 AM MST reply actions

Good stuff

I totally agree that the Suns aren’t running the 7SOL in the same way. They are running at a high Pace however close to 100 possessions per game which is higher than in D’Antoni era (around 98 per game). But I think those extra possessions are coming off improved rebounding instead of quick shooting.

The Suns offense this year is more focused on getting an early drag (pick and roll in transition) as opposed to bombing away from three. That helps with rebounding AND more importantly transition defense since the floor is balanced and the team is prepared for those shots to go up in the half court offense.

I have to say the Suns offense this season so far looks a lot like the Mercury. Fast but not breakneck. Using the action (pick and roll) to create open looks.

If there’s a hole at all it is the lack of a post up game. Amare isn’t a good post player and you can argue that in the playoffs those kind of easy post buckets are important as teams are better and better able to defend the pick and roll.

As for your point here:

And somehow the Suns learned to how to make use of the mismatches by posting up JRich or Hill. This play helps to get the team going when it is a bit sluggish, which can be seen in first half playing Wizards and 76ers.

I am not sure that Nash see’s it this way. He might look at the other way which is too say the team is sluggish (and has more turnovers) when they try and play through the post and and take advantage of mismatches.

Blogging Suns Basketball . twitter: @phoenixstan

by Seth Pollack on Nov 11, 2009 12:00 PM MST reply actions

Amare's Post Up Game

I think he is actually becoming better at posting up this year, especially with that baby hook he has been using. If he can incorporate the hook consistently, we will have a lot of easy buckets coming our way. He will also have more in common with Kareem than just the goggles ha…

by bangbang240 on Nov 11, 2009 12:17 PM MST up reply actions

Good point

but I want to see it a few more times (like several months more)

He’s good but against Centers who are often defending him so they can put a more mobile PF on Frye, Amare’s advantage is facing up anyway

In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think Frye is a very crucial part of the offense and not just his shot but the way his shot is spacing the floor for everything else

Blogging Suns Basketball . twitter: @phoenixstan

by Seth Pollack on Nov 11, 2009 3:36 PM MST up reply actions

D'Antoni's theory about Amare..

before the injury, was that Amare was so fast on offense as to negate any strength or bulk advantage any opposing center would have over him. That’s why he played him at the 5, (and Trix at the 4, for similar reasons) in 04-05. That, and the fact that at the time Amare shouldn’t shoot a damn.

"True glory consists of doing what deserves to be written, and writing what deserves to be read".

by Pliny the Elder on Nov 11, 2009 10:35 PM MST up reply actions

A few things on Amare

Phoenix Stan has a good point there about Nash’s feeling on using mismatches. I read it from one of the post game stuff and forgot about it. Building on that, the questions is do we need Amare doing post-ups? There are 2 ways of looking at it.

1. Will it stagnant the ball movement just like what Nash is feeling?
2. Or will it bring another weapon to our F/22A hangar?

However, as a development of a player it is necessary for him to have a more all-rounded post-up game. When he gets older and lose his explosiveness, he needs those bank shots or turnarounds, like what Rasheed, KG, and Duncan is doing.

I also firmly believe that whatever you practice on it brings improvement to what you have been doing, like his 18ft jumper will help him have a better touch on in-the-paint finishing. Nash has been practicing a lot of moves that he doesn’t do in games. May be Stan, who is much closer to the players than I do (like 10000 miles closer?), can tell us more on how Amare practices?

by paulimer on Nov 11, 2009 5:26 PM MST reply actions

Post-ups

Having J-Rich and Hill at the 2 and 3 gives us good size/post scoring at the wing positions. In spite of Nash’s offensive genius, a balanced/versatile offense is so much harder to deal with, and post-ups will be especially deadly given our league-leading 3 pt accuracy. Teams like the Spurs have shown us that scouting + an adequately prepared coaching team will really punish us for running what is essentially the same play over and over again in the playoffs.

Not many teams have the luxury of having big/strong 2-guards, so J-Rich in the post(this is further complemented by the 3 point range of our center) is likely to get a high percentage shot off pretty often. In the event of a size mismatch, although Nash doesn’t agree with it, I usually see him dropping the ball off to those teammates, so overall I wouldn’t be too concerned with Nash’s dislike of post-ups as long as he keeps making the right plays on offense(which he almost always does).

Watching our team this season though, I realise that it doesn’t really bother me at all with regards to the whole championship-thing. As long as they play hard and play well, I’m happy enough.

Nash: Nash has always been a good team defender, but he just isn’t able to guard any of the good PGs at all. They blow right past him or shoot comfortably over him. It’s more of an inability rather than unwillingness. Having to fight through repeated hard screens also reduces his strength/energy for offense, which he will need in order to shoot that incredible percentage of his and to cut down on turnovers. Nash’s turnovers tend to come from 2 main sources, excessive contact and miscommunication. Dragic’s continued improvement is much appreciated.

Amare: Has he changed for good? Thus far he’s been the Amare that everyone knew he could be. Sadly, he performs this way every year in the early season. I really hope he can sustain the defensive effort and be a legitimate force on the boards in addition to his stellar offensive contributions. We will be needing this very badly because Frye is terribly weak/skinny. This was especially pertinent against the Mammoth Celtics frontline, Perkins and Garnett toyed with Frye like he was a rag doll. We will shortly be put to the test against the Gargantuan Lakers frontcourt, definitely the most intimidating frontcourt in the league(a combined 800 lbs of muscle, towering height and massive wingspan).
But then again, Toronto pays the same price on the glass and on D through their use of Andrea Bargani. You can’t eat your cake and still have it.

http://themeanderingtruth.evony.com/ ve watched, loved, and rooted for the Suns for half my life! I hate smug and hypocritical Laker fans.

by felixthm on Nov 12, 2009 6:34 AM MST reply actions

I think suns should

have Amare run some fast breaks and some plays because he is one of the few big man wiho can go coast to coast and he can make j’s and dunk on anybody. Plus he can easily outrun other bigs and if he has a smaller man defending the break he can dunk on them and scowl at them for their stupidity and incompetence. Smare could get a ton of (and ones) because those guards are not gonna stop him from dunking on them. He is just too powerful.

There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq Chuck Norris lives in Texas

by Mike Fox on Nov 13, 2009 10:57 PM MST reply actions