Experiment for Rick Barnes
by feltgod on Jan 31, 2010 12:08 AM CST
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Dear Rick,
As a loyal fan of TX Basketball, I thought I would write you an open letter with my expert suggestions for an experiment you should consider for your struggling team. It is very simple and begins with a modification of your starting line up as follows:
PG - Avery Bradley
SG - Jordan Hamilton
SF - Damion James
PF - Gary Johnson
C - Dexter Pittman
On offense, let AB find himself as the PG and leader of our team. He has the requisite balance of speed, handles, court vision, and shooting accuracy that will no doubt make him an excellent PG and an upgrade over our other PGs who are lovable but have noticeable limitations. AB has also demonstrated the ability to handle the responsibilities of on-the-ball defense.
Jordan Hamilton will no doubt continue to frustrate with his questionable shot selection and defensive lapses, but he offers valuable potential as a rebounder and 3-point shooter. His value will increase also with the offensive and defensive changes I suggest below.
Damion James - This line up change will have the most impact on Damion as he will be requested to begin offensive sets on the wing. As a serviceable 3-point shooter and some ability to get to the bucket, he should be fine. We will see an increase in turnovers but i think on the whole our offensive and defensive efficiency will increase with Damo on the wing.
Gary Johnson - Gary deserves more minutes that he is currently getting. While Gary's game is not pretty, it is efficient. We will have Gary at the PF spot working the hi-lo game with Dexy as well as contributing a few mid range jumpers, a few put backs, and few dribble drives to the rack and FTs. Welcome to the starting line up sir.
Dexter Pittman - Business as usual for Dexy at the center position, however the changes to the line up should have the most positive impact on his game. With serviceable perimeter shooters now filling all of our guard and wing positions, team will no longer be able to sag on Dexy with impunity. Welcome back to the land of 20pts and 10reb a game for the big fella.
On offense, the game plan gets simple. Put Hamilton on Dexter's side and teach Jordan how to make a post entry pass. If the defender gives him a 3 and sags on Dex, then fire away. If their doubling Dex, reverse the ball through GJ at the top. He looks for Dex across the lane and then reversses to Damo and flashes to the hole. Yada Yada yada. The best thing on offense is that we now potentially have the best offensive rebounding team in the nation and the floor spacing should be much better given the presence of shooters on the outside.
On defense, swallow our immense pride and go to a 2-3 zone. This has the noticeable upside of protecting Jordan Hamilton who currently lacks the elite level of floor awareness and lateral movement needed for man defense. In a zone scheme with this new starting line up, we have the length and quickness to be devastatingly effective.
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I hate zones
especially the way we tend to play the 2-3. When I think of the zone all I remember is the Big XII Championship game from a few years ago and me yelling at the TV to get out of the zone because Chalmers, Rush and Collins were firing away without resistance.
I do like your lineup changes though and believe you have to get your five best players on the court and that’s something we’re not doing. The only thing I would be concerned with with that lineup is that we don’t have Johnson coming off the bench to sub for Pittman/James, whoever is in foul trouble first. Johnson has been giving us great energy/effort coming off the bench, although I guess that would be Balbay’s role with that lineup. Don’t know what can be done, but something has to change and in a hurry or else we will lose in Stillwater on Monday.
I hear you on hating the 2-3 zone. I am not a fan of the zone per say.
But with the line up I propose, TX in theory, should be able to run a darn good 2-3 zone. Just look at the length and athelticism of the players on the court. Avery is our shortest guy at 6-1, but plays bigger due to his athleticism. Everybody else is 6’6 plus and quick, excepting Dexter who gets to clog the middle and avoid some of the ticky tack fouls he’s been getting.
I don't mind any experimentation at this point
It would send a bad message to all of a sudden start someone like Hamilton who doesn’t deserve many minutes. I do like Johnson starting.
You know Barnes and his defensive mindset would refuse to take Mason or Balbay out of the starting lineup. It would be great to see teams not sagging off any player on the court, but that’s just not possible.
What’s Bradley’s experience at playing point guard? I might tweak yours and go with Brown, Bradley, Hamilton, Johnson, and Pittman.
by goingforthecorner on Jan 31, 2010 1:15 AM CST reply actions
Forgot someone there...
Or do you think James should be the 6th man?
I’d love to see Bradley and Brown more at the point, but Brown and Hamilton’s D precludes just this sort of experiment
Nah I just forgot him
lets go with Brown, Bradley, James, Johnson, Pittman. No Hamilton in the starting lineup makes it look a lot better. With this lineup however, the only scoring punch you’re getting out of your bench is… Hamilton and Lucas? Everyone else a defensive role player or a scrub big man.
by goingforthecorner on Jan 31, 2010 2:18 PM CST up reply actions
Agree that Hamilton doesn't deserve many minutes in our current scheme
In a man defense and in a dribble drive offense, Hamilton can only be effective to a certain point until he gets better. But in my scheme, he gets to roam the perimeter on defense and challenge shots and use his hands to create deflections and turnovers. I think this suits his current defensive skill set very well. On offense he gets play on the same side as Dexter and thus his offensive decision-making will be limited to pass to dexter, blow by my man, shoot 3 or reverse the ball. Meh that’s still too many options for him, but maybe he could handle it easier.
PS I like the 5 you propose in cases where Damo needs some rest and Dexy is on the court,
Open to experiment...
But i dont think this is it… I dont like the idea of having Bradley doing the ball handling… I could see taking out Hamilton, sliding Bradley into shooting guard, and then rolling along with Dogus at the point as a possible idea however. I wouldnt mind him splintting time with Brown though. The biggest problem with this lineup is that foul trouble for either Johnson or Damion would completely trash the lineup. Not a BAD idea though :]
What do you not like about AB handling the ball?
Having either Dogus and/or Mase in the game completely blows up the offensive efficiency of the line up I propose as their man gets to effectively sag in to limit Dexter all game.
I would go a little different
I would go a little smaller than current and make the following changes:
1. Move Brown from point and into a SG role.
2. Put Bradley at small fwd
3. Balbay as the main PG
4. James as the best PF in the country
5. Dexy at C.
I would show a lot more patience with Dex. Let him play through more foul trouble. In addition, Rick seems to panic when Dex has some issues on the defense end and ignores the matchup issues he causes to other team D.
I'm on board with this.
I would show a lot more patience with Dex. Let him play through more foul trouble.
If I’m another team, I’d ALWAYS attack Dexter early in the game. You know that if he gets 2 fouls early on, Rick’s putting him on the bench.
I honestly like it.
I think we need Hamilton on the court.
He gives us one more guy that can create a shot, and one more guy you need to defend.
"The best decision I ever made was coming to Texas," James said. "The second-best decision was coming back."
Are we watching the same guy?
At this point, it feels like the only reason this guy is getting minutes is because he was such a highly touted recruit. With Bradley, we see some lapses in judgment, but there are flashes of brilliance, too. Hell, Clint Chapman may have more utility to this team than Jordan Hamilton.
Jordan’s a turnover machine. Even the shots that do fall look forced. My take: I think he came in to Texas as one of the biggest recruits in the country. From early on, he’s played second fiddle to Avery Bradley. So, in what time he does see on the floor, he’s going to try and get his looks, even if the shots aren’t there. He’s pressing. For all the hype of being the most gifted/natural recruit in the nation, nothing about his play looks natural.
If I’m Rick Barnes, I bench the kid for one, maybe two games. Same with Jai Lucas. Let them watch how the team performs without them. Get some perspective. I’m certain they are both supremely talented, but they need to let the game come to them and stop forcing things.
Unbelieveable timing.
I still have issues with his play, though. Last night was a huge step forward. Rarely do you get to see a guy, THAT on fire. However, that’s not sustainable over the course of a season.
I don’t know if it’s on him or Rick Barnes, but the kid is never in motion. He’s always standing on the wing, with his hand up, calling for the ball, so he can jack up a three. Whether he’s open or not is irrelevant to him as is the time remaining on the shot clock. Beyond that, his play still looks really erratic.
I’ll admit that he did look better last night. Hopefully that’s a sign of future progress as well.
Agree with your criticism of his play, but I can see why he is doing it.
He is so tall and athletic that he can shoot over most college defenders, imagine what it was like for him in high school. He is coming from a time when he was the man and was supposed to take every shot for his team. He is now having to adjust to a different level of competition and play a supporting role. Strong defensive players like Bradly can do this easier, because part of their game was working their ass off on defense. He will adjust, but I don’t think benching him is the answer. Barnes needs to keep on going to him, and then pulling him quickly when he is out of control, taking (and not making) bad shots, or not keeping his head in the game on defense. We have to realize the guy is nine months out of high school and for some players the learning curve is a lot longer than others.
The learning curve is an important point.
It’s one I hadn’t given too much thought, but was brought up in another thread. It’s difficult enough making the transition from high school to college. He’s making that transition and missed his entire senior season. It is abundantly clear that this kid is talented. The game just needs to slow down for him. Most importantly, it needs to slow down for him before mid-March.
As much as I loathe the way he plays, the OSU game made it clear to me that we need him to step up if we’re going to win it all. Rarely do you get a team with this much talent and solid senior leadership. When the stars line up like this, success seems fairly binary to me. You win it all or you don’t, everything else is ancillary, including having to suffer through watching Jordan find his game.
Count me in as wanting to see him play some more, with the caveat that Barnes needs to make him aware of his limitations. Just because your role is as a scorer, it doesn’t mean you have to try to score every time you touch the ball.
At this point, it feels like the only reason this guy is getting minutes is because he was such a highly touted recruit.
And this is why you give highly touted recruits playing time, deservedly or not.
by goingforthecorner on Feb 1, 2010 10:44 PM CST up reply actions
Respectfully disagree, even after Hamilton's performance tonight
1. The Damion James at 3 thing has been tried before and has been a failure. So far this year he has played 4 and has been one of the best players in the nation. The last thing we should do is change his position mid-season. Keeping him playing the same role would involve a complete renovation of the offense, which is something this team of freshmen, etc., do not need right now.
2. I watched tonight’s game, and I still wouldn’t start Hamilton. Everyone knows the guy can go off, and he probably will be a solid NBA player at some point- but… He needs to wait for it to come to him instead of constantly forcing it, and he’s a defensive liability. I’m not gonna give him the benefit of the doubt after only one game. That said, I love him as the 6th man on this team, and if he does in fact learn to selectively shoot we’ll see a few more 20+ point games this season.
3. I say keep Gary where he’s at, simply because Dex and Damion need to start and Gary is the perfect energy-player/post that a Top 10 team needs coming off the bench.
4. You can justify not starting Mason and Balbay together, but you can’t justify taking both out. Balbay is one of the best perimeter defenders in the nation, which is something this team desperately needs. Mason has issues too (and I’ve probably defended him a bit too much), but he’s leagues ahead of Hamilton and Brown on D and rebounding, he’s a smart team player who will compliment good scorers, and he’s a hell of an athlete. Both of them need their time.
5. Start Bradley at point guard? Why would we do that when we have 3 points already and not enough wings? I like Barnes’ decision to not play Lucas tonight, but he’ll still play a valuable role during some games this season. Bradley needs to start on the wing on this team.
My starting 5 is Balbay, Brown, Bradley, James, Pittman. If Hamilton plays within himself during the next 2 games I’d move him into the lineup at 3 and move Bradley to 2.
--always Texas--
Your starting 5
My starting 5 is Balbay, Brown, Bradley, James, Pittman.
Is way too small. Maybe it could work against teams that are guard oriented and small, but Bradley can’t guard true 3’s. Then again, Balbay just owned James Anderson last night.
I would replace Mason with either Hamilton or Johnson.
by goingforthecorner on Feb 2, 2010 1:42 PM CST up reply actions
Nope
Disagree with the too small thing- too small was DJ and AJ in the backcourt. With Dex at 6’10 290 and James, the Big 12’s leading rebounder, in the game, you can afford to go 6’1", 6’1", 6’2", especially when you consider how athletic balbay and bradley are. Hell, Mason has started at 3 most of his career including now and he’s only 6’2".
--always Texas--
by longtimelonghorn on Feb 2, 2010 7:08 PM CST up reply actions
Don't agree about WAY too small
While it is a smaller lineup, it is not that far out of the norm. It may need to be changed if a team has a really strong 3, but in general it matches up well with most teams. Bradley’s jumping ability and arms allow him to play bigger than he is.
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