The biggest single issue on this team is ...

[billsin01]

... making open shots. I realize this is nothing new, nor is it the only problem. But I think the nagging problem that -- with or without fab -- makes this team unlikely to win a title or even go all that deep is the fact that they often struggle to make open shots. Combine that with a struggle to consistently get good looks and it's a major issue.

Today, in the last minute of the first half and the first 10 minutes of the second half you saw Joseph air ball a WIDE open 3, miss badly on a second open 3, Waiters hit the top of the backboard on an open 3, Triche miss a picture perfect 3 from the wing and southerland missed a really good look at three (at this point they were 3-for-19 from deep).

I know it goes without saying, but you simply have to make shots. For all the issues we had today, if we make a decent percentage of our open jumpers, we win rather easily.

 

[RF2044]

Good post.

I'd say that the biggest issue is lack of an inside game / post presence. Defense ignore us inside and overcompensate defending the perimeter due to the fact that we can't hurt most teams inside.

Earlier in the year, we more than compensated by forcing turnovers, generating easy scoring opportunities in transition. We also masked our lack of balanced scoring by getting "enough" quasi-inside game from Fab by him running the fast break and getting the occasional putback. Without even that modicum of inside game, we are very one-dimensional offensively.

 

[longislandcuse]

Post up KJo?

 

[sufandu]

None of our shooters are great. They're streaky and when they get hot we can score in bunches, but I don't think that's our biggest problem. Our biggest problem is that we don't find other ways to score. I see other teams executing offenses and getting shots other than threes with players that aren't any more talented, if even as talented, as ours. Why aren't guys coming off of double picks for midrange shots? Where are the weakside backpicks to get guys layups? Against a zone why don't we get the ball to the foul line, make the center step up, and then hit someone cutting along the baseline like Pitt seems to do against us most years? Are we capable of executing the occasional give and go? Why do we not have one guy on the roster that can post up and use a drop step, up and under, or baby hook? These are skills that are taught in highschool.

 

[billsin01]

Good post.

I'd say that the biggest issue is lack of an inside game / post presence. Defense ignore us inside and overcompensate defending the perimeter due to the fact that we can't hurt most teams inside.

Earlier in the year, we more than compensated by forcing turnovers, generating easy scoring opportunities in transition. We also masked our lack of balanced scoring by getting "enough" quasi-inside game from Fab by him running the fast break and getting the occasional putback. Without even that modicum of inside game, we are very one-dimensional offensively.

Yeah, that's where the lack of consistently getting good looks comes in. Those folks who either didn't think Jackson was much of a post threat or felt we didn't really have to "replace" him this year should take note that a player of Jackson's ilk is exactly what this team needs right now.

 

[rrlbees]

... making open shots.

Without a doubt and its not even debatable IMO.

Sent from my DROIDX

 

[SoBristol]

Without a doubt and its not even debatable IMO.

Sent from my DROIDX

It (veterans not hitting open shots) is the main factor, but you can add a list of factors next in line -- weak play in the paint (both ends of the court) would be high on that list.

Other teams I watched yesterday (even bad teams) had a lot better movement (of the players, as well as the ball). Have to factor in whether they were playing against man or zones, of course. Don't see a lot of inside players as limited as Rak & Baye -- and those two did about as well as they could yesterday.

 

[GonzoInMD]

They also tend to get enamored with the idea of the outside shot...and this has been true all season.

 

[Noexcuse]

Biggest issue to me is that it seems they are not taking advantage of the mismatches on offense. The best SU teams have always done that but this one seems to settle on outside shooting even though they are not a great outside shooting team. Maybe it's just a coincidence or something that the teams that are giving us the most trouble this year are playing great team defense to make up for the individual mismatches, but yesterday we had one at every positon and never really took advantage of that.

 

[pfister1]

None of our shooters are great. They're streaky and when they get hot we can score in bunches, but I don't think that's our biggest problem. Our biggest problem is that we don't find other ways to score. I see other teams executing offenses and getting shots other than threes with players that aren't any more talented, if even as talented, as ours. Why aren't guys coming off of double picks for midrange shots? Where are the weakside backpicks to get guys layups? Against a zone why don't we get the ball to the foul line, make the center step up, and then hit someone cutting along the baseline like Pitt seems to do against us most years? Are we capable of executing the occasional give and go? Why do we not have one guy on the roster that can post up and use a drop step, up and under, or baby hook? These are skills that are taught in highschool.

Winner winner chicken dinner. With our shooters how do you shoot 29 and 23 shots form behind the arc in our last two games. We are not a good 3 point shooting team, if we are going to just keep shooting them hoping some will go in, we might as well pack the bags to come home.

We look absolutely stupid on offense. The primary tenet of JB's defense is we want the other team to settle for shots that we think they won't make at a very high percentage. Then we go out and he lets our offense fall into that same trap game after game. Someone wake JB up, it's time for him to make an adjustment and not just hope the shots will start to fall.