|
The older readers may remember the game show “Name that Tune”. The principle of the show was simple, the more notes you heard, the easier it was to pick up on the pattern or song. The same rule applies to an NBA offense. The more you see it, the easier it is to figure out the patterns. Beyond that, a 7 game series becomes a test lab. Instead of seeing different players and different teams every night, you get to see the same team trying different techniques seven different nights. Patterns and problems are easier to pick out.
The Bulls offense, at its base is a rather simple offense using common NBA moves. Anyone who has watched the Bulls knows the base patterns:
• The high pick and roll run for Derrick Rose.
• The pick and rolls run on the elbows for both Gordon and Rose.
• Gordon coming around screens.
• The center getting the ball on the right elbow and having guards cut around him
In virtually every base set, you had the off ball players standing in a familiar pattern. One player stands at the top of the key as an outlet. The other players not involved in the play stand on the off ball side, well away from the lane. In every play, these players have the option of cutting to the hoop if their man leaves them.
The contrast to Skiles’ offense is rather interesting. Skiles’ offense was actually more complicated and at the same time, more rigid. The primary difference was what happens in the lane. With Skiles, the people not involved in the play would hang out near the lane and cut out to take 20 foot jumpers when available. With Del Negro, the players hang out at the 3 point line and cut into the lane for layups when available. Obviously, I prefer Vinny’s offense. I’ll get back to this later.
Getting back to this year, the skill sets of the players involved determined how (smart) teams would defend the Bulls. As I mentioned in another article, the goal of any modern defense is to take away high percentage plays and concede low percentage ones. Teams can only take away so much though. The better teams like Boston are better at recovering, allowing them to take away more.
Before the trade, the Bulls had a lot of things you could concede:
• Derrick Rose’s jumper
• Tyrus Thomas anywhere
• Noah anywhere
• Deng at the 3 point line and you didn’t have to worry about him driving
After the trade, the number of things that teams could concede to Chicago dwindled noticeably. You have to respect Salmons out to the three point line and you have to worry about him driving. You have to worry about Miller at any distance and he is a good (but overrated, IMO) passer. This opened the base plays for Rose and Gordon up and opened up the back door cuts for Noah and Thomas.
The end result was that the same exact offense went from being really bad to really good. On a per possession basis, the Bulls were bottom 10 before the trade. After the trade, the Bulls were top 5.
The Bulls offense still had some things that could be conceded and one huge flaw. Boston took advantage of this. Most of the above listed plays have screens by big men somewhere in there. The Bulls set *horrible* screens. This was brought up in the telecast and watching Perkins and Davis set crushing screens while Tyrus and Noah were turnstyles made the issue obvious. So the Celtics just ran through the screens, cheated off Tyrus and Noah and let the Bulls struggle. Even still, the Bulls offense didn’t do too bad against Boston.
One issue I have had all season is trying to reconcile the obvious issue with players holding the ball too long and my gut feeling that the Bulls offense worked the best when someone dribbled the ball into the lane. Go back to the above comment about off-ball position and movement. For the most part, off ball players only make effective cuts as a reaction to their defender moving. The end result is that when a Bulls player gets into the lane, it collapses the defense. That opens up other people, for layups and wide open jumpers. IMO, the issue with players trying to take their man in isolation was not just the concept. It was the execution. When Gordon or Salmons dribbles the ball left and right, taking away time, only to take a contested 20 footer, the results were not good. However, when they did manage to get by their man, the results were excellent. Most of the good offensive play was initiated by someone getting into the lane off the dribble. You would see dribble, pass to an open guy, quick pass to a cutter, layup.
I can’t emphasize this enough, only two plays in the Bulls playbook has off ball movement as the initiator of the offense: The Gordon screen and the center with the ball at the elbow are those two plays. Unfortunately, these were weak plays. The screens being set for Gordon sucked and when Noah had the ball at the elbow teams played 15 feet off him to guard against cutters.
So, where do the Bulls go from here? A true post player would be great. A true post guy breaks down the defense as soon as he gets the ball. He accomplishes the same thing as a guard driving into the lane. The issue is that true post players are exceedingly rare. Not only do they have to be high percentage players in the post, but they have to be good at recongnizing double teams and passing to the open man. A post player who doesn’t do this is easily nullified in today’s games by double teams. I really don’t think the Bulls will be getting a true post player.
The target has to be Amare. The Bulls have to change nothing in their offense and it becomes absurdly good. Quite simply, teams defended all those pick and rolls by doubling Rose and Gordon to cut off penetration. Guys like Noah and Tyrus (even Miller) were not great at taking advantage of this. If teams defend the Bulls with Amare like that, Amare sets all kinds of single season offensive records. He sets good screens, can roll to the hoop in devastating fashion and he can shoot. Effectively, teams lose a number of things they can “concede” to the Bulls, opening up other stuff, like Derrick driving around picks.
The negative of this offense is Luol Deng. It really doesn't set up well for him at all. You have few backdoor cuts. He isn't a threat from three and he can't be the guy to break down the defense with the dribble. Early on, the question many people had was if Rose and Deng could mesh. The issue all along was Deng's role in the offense and this was exposed by Salmons' skill set. The offense is set up well for current players like Rose and Gordon and it showed in their stats. Gordon needs to stop dribbling down the clock though. Rose needs to get a three point shot. These are fixable issues though. Personally, I think Rose would have looked much worse under Skiles. The chances of a Deng or Amare trade happening are probably low. At the minimum, the Bulls need to set much better screens to free up guards both on and off the ball in order to have the offense function at a playoff level. {mos_fb_discuss:5}
|
