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Message: [QUOTE="OttoMets, post: 1728454, member: 716"] This could get lost in the other thread, so I'll quote some of what I said here: Nova played like kids with the full toolbox of basketball skills. Love what we did last week, but last night was a reality check. Watching Nova, I saw a ton of stuff that we don't have and haven't had for a long time. -Guys who can run a fast break with their heads up and find a teammate. -Guys who can get to the rim and have a made lay-up be practically automatic (opening possession notwithstanding). -Guards who can back down their defender and score. -Big men who can be patient with their back to the basket, wait for personnel to move, and either take a hard dribble and score or rifle a letters-level pass to a shooter on the perimeter. Our standards have dropped, especially with our weird post and guard play. We're happy when our point guard even identifies his teammate on a pick and roll, forget about how he executes a pass. We're quick to make a positive post praising our center when he doesn't bring the ball low on the block, a basic fundamental that is a given for the highest-level players. Taking the ball upcourt with under 5 seconds, legally screening two defenders, and delivering a good pass to an open shooter? Forget about it - see the Pittsburgh threads to realize how far we are from that kind of play. Richardson, Lydon, and Howard are very nice offensive building blocks, but we've still got to improve by leaps and bounds to look anything like those two teams last night. We'd need big improvement from someone at the center position (and still not be nearly as good as Ochefu or anyone on Carolina). We need Roberson to be comfortable shooting from 15', not looking over his shoulder nervously and clogging up the offense. We've got to get all of our guards adept at delivering passes to a shooter's hands, not shins (for as much heat as Gbinije caught for blowing that catch on Saturday -- and it was bad -- since when do we ask an open player to gather a pass at his knees?). The championship highlighted how far we are (and have been for four years) from having five guys who can all do everything a great team needs a player to do. There's a big difference between where we are and a complete team. [/QUOTE]

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