Why?

[DERRENMATTS]

This has been a question that's been on my mind since like the 3rd week of the season--why aren't we, or can't we, run plays for Ray Allen the way the Pacers used to run for Reggie Miller?

Ray Allen, even though he's playing with a superstar (KG) and another star player (Pierce) is shooting the low percentage of his career. And each and every game, he has to work to get the bulk of his points.

Maybe on occasion, he'll flash across the baseline and curl around a pick, and receive a pass that he can catch and shoot in rhythm. But its becoming rarer with each game.

Ray's best attribute is his shooting, and he's a good catch and shoot player. So why aren't we using him like Reggie Miller? Wouldn't that help Ray, thus benefitting us? On this team, there's no way he should be shooting under 47%

[runrondo]

I don't know how we can't run better plays in general on offense..We have 3 stars who require attention, don't you think we could come up with better plays than the stuff we've been doing lately? Ray should be running the screens always just like Rip does now and Reggie did before him..Most possessions we should lob it down low to KG and run our offense through that since KG is a good passer but lately we've just been dead on the offensive side..

[FLCeltsFan]

It all comes back to the fact that Doc has never been a good X and O coach. The defense has been incredible and is what has won us games most nights and that is thanks to Tom Thibodeau. The players we have now mask a lot of Doc's weaknesses but the offensive sets are on Doc.

[Roadrunner]

Coaching an under achieving team is different than coaching a suppose to be good team. My guess is that Allen is hurt.

[DERRENMATTS]

I'm beginning to think that as well, FL. I mean, on a team with three star players, none of the three star players should be shooting under 45%, especially when they are good shooters on their own. You would think that having big time players would make it easier for them to get open shots, but only KG is shooting better than 45%.

The Nets, with their trio of star players, have Carter and Jefferson shooting better than 46%.

Pierce is shooting 44% and Ray is at 42%, and it just leaves my head scratching. On a bad team that only won 24 games the entire season, Pierce shot 44%--that's with a whole lot of youngsters playing alongside of him. He's now got KG AND Ray Allen with him, but still a lot of his points are well earned. Ray is even worse, which is the reason why I started this thread. Why is he working so hard to score? With KG and Pierce supposedly drawing away defenders, RAllen should be having a field day with his deadly outside shooting--so how is he shooting just 42% and working for every shot?

I think our defense is the juggernaught that is paving the way to a 30 - 5 record, and our offense has been masked by the terrific play of our Big Three + House and Posey (credit also be given to Rondo).

Tom Thibodeau has done his job on defense, but I'm beginnin to wonder what's going on on offense. We've been struggling lately on this end, and like I mentioned previously, our guys shouldn't be working this hard to get open shots.

I believe Doc is a terrific player's coach. He can unite a team and build chemistry. But maybe he's not a good X's and O's coach.

[cfoo]

See I disagree with this. Allen has never played like rip hamilton or Reggie Milller. he is not those players. Both Pierce and Garnett are shooting above their career average. Garnett is shooting well above his career average. It's not as simple as saying Ray you run off picks all day, because of the way the spacing in our offense is set up. I think we will be fine. I'd like to see us utilizing ray's strengths better and we can, ie running more plays for him, but it's not as easy as it sounds when you have 3 players sharing the ball. Ray so far has kind of had the biggest adjustment being the 3rd wheel, and we have to do a better job utilzing him. Ray also has to do a better job making his shots. You have ray runnign off screens all day and you take away one of his biggest strengths which is handling the ball. I think it's more about Pierce and Garnett finding Ray when he is open vs having him running off screens and picks all day or running plays for him. Our offense would look really funky with Ray running along the baseline all game consdering we have Garnett and perk down there. Rip and REggie were players that played like that but those teams also had no lowpost presence like Garnett. What Ray should be doing and he does is feeding the post and playing off of that and running through and being ont he outside for the kickout and also driving. Which he does. We should use some motion and we do, but asking Ray to do that all game is not what we are and should be. We just have to do a better job of incorporating him and he has to do a better job of making his shots. Rip and Reggie Miller are different players than Ray. I'm not saying he shouldn't be running off screens but there is more to his game than that.

[cfoo]

Our biggest flaw of late is energy imo... We've kind of gotten complacent and a bit tired imo. It's more just a lull imo. If you've noticed Ray has been playing a lot more with the 2nd unit lately which is fine, and he should be, but I think we are better with Pierce doing more of that.

I also wish we'd stop going small at the end of games. We've kind of fallen into this mode of taking Perk out late in games and its hurting our rebounding late in games. It also makes us more of a perimeter team which hurts our shooters imo, because teams are able to lock down on us outside. We fall into that mode of becoming a perimeter team late that can't offensive rebound and I wish we'd get away from that. I think we've just gotten a bit tired and complacent and need to concentrate more on getting to the basket and moving the ball and finding the open man underneath and then kicking to the shooters vs jacking up contested shots which we have been. Ray is guilty of that in a lot of regards.

Our transition defense has also suffered of late which is a sign of fatigue and lack of communication imo, which leads to a lot of easy buckets and doesn't allow our offense to get going because the opposing team is back on defense. It's difficult to push the ball and get a lot of open looks against a team that is scoring in transition. I'm not overly concerned and I think most of this stuff will be corrected.

[cfoo]

Anyways I think it's more about finding Ray's comfort zone. Ray is a complete offensive player and can do a lot of different thigns, and I think you take the ball out of his hands and you take away one of his strengths. What he should be doing is is feeding the post and playing off of that and running through and being ont he outside for the kickout and also driving. He also should be "the" wing player as the offense comes up the floor on fast breaks and in the half court. Rondo should have ray with a bullseye on him as he comes up the court. Having him play like Rip Hamilton or Reggie is not his comfort zone. I think Doc has tried to rectify some of this by having him play more with the 2nd unit which is fine, but we fall into the same trap and it compounds itself because we ahve other shooters out there in House and Posey and we become this perimeter team that we shouldn't be. It's just more a amtter of having 3 players in pierce, allen and garnett on the court and finding Allen's comfort zone which will come imo.... He has had the most difficult task because he can do so many things and being the 3rd wheel is not that easy.

I'm not saying we don't need to free Ray because we do. But there is more to it than that. If you watch ray he does run along the baseline. And tries to free himself up. He also will stand at the 3 pt line and attempt to drive. It's more about our offense being stagnant at times because we aren't doing enough of a lot of things right now due to fatigue and complacency imo. We get in that mode of going one on one and standing around and letting teams get easy buckets and that's when things go bad. I don't think it's an x's and o's thing. Teams getting bored or fatigued or complacent can make a lot of things look bad. The ball movement slows down. Players aren't as quick to run. Players arent as quick running off a picks. The spacing gets messed up. That's when things go bad and we end up looking stagnant and Ray looks like a man in a cage. Our spacing has not been as good lately. Neither has our ball movement, motion and transition defense. I think if we pick up our intensity you will see Ray is allowed to play his game more. I also think Ray has kind of been hobbled lately and hasn't been so quick to do things himself.

I think when our offense slows down Ray and Rondo suffer the most because they are up tempo players, and motion players, and we are more geared to be a defensive team as it is. We aren't the suns. We are trying to be a defensive team that stops people and when we slow to a crawl Ray and Rondo really suffer. It's a tough balance between trying to be a defensive minded team, and keeping the tempo up and motion, where we can really take advantage of players like Rondo and RAy. That's a tough balance and we have to make more of a concerted effort to keep the energy up offensively. Which means better ball movemtn and the offensive execution has to be flawless. It's not as simple as saying we are going to have the suns offense and the spurs defense, and Ray you run off picks all day. There are reasons why teams like the Spurs struggle offensively sometimes, and the suns struggle defensively. Ultimately what we'd all like to see is a good balance and we have for the most part, but it's not as simple as it sounds. You put Ray or Rondo on teh suns and they'd be putting up major numbers but I guarentee they wouldn't be playing the defense they are. Ray's numbers may even be down coexisting with players like Amare and Nash and all the shooters they have. Detroit is a good example of a team that strikes a good balance between teh two and we are right there but just need to execute better to really reach our potential. Ultimately if you watch our offense we are modelling this team after Detroit in a lot of ways but it takes time. We also are different then them and have more potential than them. Ray is a more complete player than Rip and in order to utilize him it does require him handling the ball a lot more than Rip does. But yeah he should be playing that role in some regards. But Ray is better than RIp and can do a lot more. what we'd all like to see is a mix of the spurs, phoenix and detroit and we kind of are that in how we play. We just have to do a better job of it. Ultimately we just have to do a better job playing to "our" players strengths and it takes time.

[cfoo]

I know Derren you get in this mode that you want us to play like the suns here. A lot of people also are quick to think something is a simple fix. But one thing I've learned from playing sports and watching them is things are not always like they seem. I listen to Doc after the games and he knows exactly what he is doing. He might say something you don't agree with but you have to understand what he's actually saying. I listen to him and he and the players say the same things I am, that we have to do a better job and get better at what we are doing. I know exactly what he means by that. When the offense breaks down he always says its because the ball movement slows down and the spacing breaks down and we get complacent and he is absolultely right. Doc knows what he is doing.

Basketball isn't about x's and o's so much. It's more about players being allowed to play their game and taking advantage of players strengths while also keeping that within the team concept. IT's not as simple for this team to play an open offense. You look at teams like the Suns and the GS who are offensive minded teams, but they struggle defensively because their focus is not on the defensive end of the floor. They aren't even a great x an o's team offensively either. They are just more open and take a ton of shots and really push the ball and have great pg's.... We are trying to be better than that and actually have a cohesive offensive unit while also playing defense. The spurs are a good example of that but we have more offensive firepower than them and should be better than them as well. Detroit is a team that actually has an x's and o's offense, and also plays defense. We are trying to be that but more open imo.... SA also has a very restrained offense anda great defense but we are trying to be more balanced.

Doc is basically trying to get the offense set up so the players have the freedom to play in it in a way. I think ultimately we will be a defensive powerhouse, while also being able to score points if we stay within the concept of spacing and moving the ball and allowing players to play their game. It is ultimately on the players if the offense is set up that way. That also doesn't mean we don't have an offense and don't call plays and have a strategy. I'm not talking OBie here. Doc has an actual strategy and does call plays and we do have an actual offense ala detroit in a way.

I guess the point is when I was younger I used to be quicker to think everything was a quick fix and I used to be quick to think people didn't know what they were doing, I see people do this all the time. But I later realized these people knew exactly what they are doing. There's a bigger picture. I still think Doc knows exactly what he's trying to do. You can't judge someone until you see the end result. This team is still in the initial stages here and have only been together for 35 games, and there are going to be issues along the way. Belicheck wa sa guy who struggled mightily early in his career and it wasn't until he had the right players and the team really grew together that we are now seeing what kind of system he has in place. The patriots weren't always this powerhouse under belicheck. He got fired in cleveland and I guarentee a ton of fans thought he was clueless. Francona was the same thing. So many people thought francona was an idiot when he first came to boston. Danny Aigne hated Doc, until he actually talked to him and knew where he was really coming from and what his philosophy actually is. Doc is the same thing as Francona and Belicheck and will be fine imo..... Belicheck isnt this master x's and o's guy and neither is Francona. Coaches like that aren't that great anyways. A lot of x's and o's guys don't understand the game and can't coach it. They make for good assistants. The best head coaches are the ones who have a good understanding of players and the game can defer to the players and their assitants, but are also very much involved at the same time, and Doc fits that mold.

[runrondo]

^4 posts in a row!! Koolaid point!..Anyway..I read most of what you wrote but I'll just pick up on one thing...This team plays half-court basketball and it doesn't..You mentioned something like this but i do believe this team should be a little more up tempo because when we let up and go into half-court basketball we completely falter(like the first game against the Pistons)..We should be playing a slightly more up tempo offense but we have trouble doing that because we focus so much on defense and what not...Rondo suffers the most when we slow down obviously because we just sit there and waste the shot clock until there's 9 or so seconds left which is stupid..I don't care how we're playing or which way we should never purposely waste the clock just standing there not running our plays...And what's all this about fatigue?..The Big 3 are all averaging around their career averages(Ray may be worn down) but we had many days to rest before the game against the Bobcats...We should never be scoring 78 points in a game with three threats, ever!..I agreed with another point you made with that Pierce should be playing with the second unit rather than Ray along because then we focus on outside shots and i HATE small ball..It seems like Doc hates Perk or something because Perk is always out when we need him most!..Doc's a nice person coach but he's not a very good adjustment coach..I watch his post game conferences all the time and i hear him but i don't believe he'll fix it..Last year when we sucked he said many of the same things about the offense(i.e no ball movement)...And about our transition defense, we still only let up 85 points against the Wizards..A team with the three all-stars should be scoring more efficiently..You said the Big three are shooting around their career average or slightly better, well they should be shooting a lot better since they've never had so much pressure off them..Simply, we need more plays that involve the Big three setting picks for each other, running around Garnett, playing through Garnett/post..We're starting to become all about outside shots and when we don't work the down low we falter..Garnett is a great passer so why not start your offense down low with the ball on him?..


"which is handling the ball"

Ray shouldn't be handling the ball..The point guard should..Ray is a catch and shoot guy though he can handle the ball but he's a deadly catch and shoot guy..I don't want him running a track meet like Reggie used to because he'll completely tire but i want him getting picks and all that..We draw up Isos for Pierce once we get the lead and start protecting it, why?..Keep the tempo a little up(not a highly fast paced game like the suns) but keep the pressure..Why become satisfied with the lead and waste your offense..You ruin your offense wasting clock time...And Perk needs to play MORE! Garnett has gotten fewer rebounds because he's not playing with Perk as much..Perk boxes out the guys and is the perfect duo with Garnett on this team with size problems and what not..

In conclusion ;D
The C's are struggling with how to balance the offensive games of KG, Paul and Ray right now. I think a lot of it has to do with how the minutes are staggered and the player combinations/rotations. The other half has to do with the inconsistency with which the C's actually run plays for Ray... and I don't consider having him run the Pick and Roll/Pop HIS type of play. The guy needs to be able to work that baseline pick/screen game with back door cuts and curls and all that. Right now the C's don't feature that enough. And Perk cannot disappear in the 2nd half he needs to keep playing..These last few games just show Danny that we'll need a backup center for when Perk comes out or if Perk goes down and a backup point guard to run the 2nd unit because the 2nd unit is all about threes unless Pierce is with them..But 30-5 is not a fluke..These games are just highlighting are little flaws..I'll give Doc time but i have a gut feeling he'll mess it up come playoff times..Other coaches will make adjustments in a series and he'll get outsmarted..but for now, he's the coach of a 30-5 team and they'll only get better...

[kofanis0880]

maybe Ray should take some shooting pointers from Rajon.