Motionless Offense
by IUTex on Feb 9, 2010 9:38 AM CST
Email
PrintGeneral thoughts from the Drum last night:
• Barnes has lost this team. They have given up on him and he has given up on them
• As stated on ESPN radio (versus the homers over at 1300) this morning, the Motionless Offense Barnes runs is not new, so there should be no surprise to its stagnant nature, the issue is that we are totally dependent on a NBA caliber PG to run the show. Without it we are 4 guys standing around while one guy dribbles around circles and an occasional guy steps up with a half hearted pick and roll. Our offense is designed to allow future NBA stars to show their stuff, it is not designed so create an offensive engine that is far better than the sum of it’s the parts. Watch other top teams, they move the ball and as soon as there is the slightest defensive mistake, the ball rotates around for an open shot. It is a real thing of beauty when it works, our offense is just plain ugly.
• Pittman is novelty and not a big time player. But once again, if he played on a team with an offensive purpose and movement he could be very effective. He whines and is not mentally tough. I believe the coaches all realize they can push him around early and make him a mental basket case. As a team we telegraph when we are going to Pittman, we might as well put up a big sign announcing our intentions
• When we have movement it is random and without purpose.
What should we do:
• I love Dogus Balbay and been a proponent of his playing time, but based on sticking with the Motionless Offense we have no choice but to bet heavily on J’Covan Brown.
• I am not sure what to do with Jordan Hamilton, he seems so lost. Once again, if we ran a structured offense he might understand his role and what he is supposed to do, but right now he has no clue. I have never seem a player of this talent look so awkward on court
• You got to love James, I feel bad for him. At least he has a basketball career beyond Texas. He has really stepped up but the Power Forward cannot do it alone
• Jai Lucas is a bust, do not play him
• Gary Johnson can be a black hole, but he goes to the hoop strong and is not intimidated or ratted by the defense.
• I like Bradley, but he is not having fun out there and seems a little frustrated and without purpose
• I would go with J’Covan, Bradley, James, Johnson and (not sure, I would like to say give Hamilton a shot and see if he can settle into a flow, but I really am not sure)
All comments, FanPosts, and FanShots are the views of the reader-authors who create them.
9 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Good points
Johnson’s been giving a good, tough effort when everyone else seems out of it lately. He goes up for boards and is aggressive in the post. Last night, Kansas did not even guard Dogus for the most part. I like Dogus as much as anybody, but with this travesty of an offense, we have to have a guard who is a threat to shoot. I say play Brown if he continues to give strong efforts. This is unless Dogus steps up and gives driving-to-the-basket performances like we’ve seen at times from him in the past. We’ve got to have it.
Why can’t our team make layups?
Why can’t our team make mid-range jumpers?
Kansas was the ultimate barometer
With Brown playing well against that team, I think he deserves to start or at least get 30 minutes a game.
I agree on your Pittman take. Even more disappointing is how we’re not getting ANYTHING out of Wangmene, Hill, or Chapman.
While Barnes is a great recruiter in the sense that he can net the 5-star blue chips, there are a number of “recruiting busts” on this roster. He’s done a great job recruiting when it comes to our best players, but we need more out of our role players. And of course, if we ran any kind of an offense that involved ball-movement and player-movement, we’d be in a much better situation.
by goingforthecorner on Feb 9, 2010 10:57 AM CST reply actions
What happened??
While I do agree with your points. After watching the last 3 weeks I just don’t understand what has happened. Except for the last 3 weeks they had been putting up 80+ points and now they can barely get 60!!!! Barnes needs to work fast to figure out which 5 he will start for the rest of the season and don’t go so deep on the bench. Just play 8-9 players until the end and that is all. This rotating 10-11 guys in every game is not helping. It is so frustrating to be a Longhorn fan and then watch something like last night. It was so exciting watching them in Dec and most of Jan and now, sickening!!!! They will be lucky if they get an at-large bid to the tournament because they will not win the Big 12 if they play like last night!!!! I hate to say this but I am looking forward to baseball season now.
Agreed
I hate to denounce a coach who has done nothing but win since he has been here, but the facts are the facts. My main beef with Barnes has always been that he inadequately prepares his team for the next game (my biggest beefs being Syracuse ‘03, Memphis ’08 and any Duke game at MSG). Based on talent alone we generally win games, but not because of X’ and O’s. His mickey mouse offenses drive me up the wall and I end up not watching because it aggravates me so. Please Rick please gear your offense toward your talent, not the other way around.
I do believe I've seen it a couple of places
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. If they get mad, you're a mile away AND you have their shoes.
something's wrong with rick barnes
No team’s half court offense can remain productive without movement by players who DON’T have the ball. It’s a fact. Why hasn’t Rick Barnes addressed this even after everyone including the biased bastards at ESPN have pointed this out a number of times ?
Either :
(1) Rick Barnes is too ignorant to employ motion without the ball
(2) the players are too lazy to follow their coaches orders.
(3) Rick Barnes doesn’t have the balls to make players do what they are supposed to do on offense.
(4) Rick Barnes lacks the motivating ability to make players move without the ball in the half court offense.
Either way it doesn’t look good.
This is also what is eating into Dexter Pitman’s productivity and draft status. If there is no motion without the ball, the opposing defense rests and can collapse on the front court players easily. In fact they can defend the back court players just as easily.
People had the same exact concerns when he had KD
And Bill Simmons made RB a weekly punching bag for having KD stand around on offense and was constantly stuck launching contested three’s.
rick barnes
In addition, I’ve seen Rick Barnes have a uninspired attitude toward games. He often lets opposing teams go on long periods of unanswered points before calling time out. Unlike other coaches there is no attempt by him to stop opposing teams momentum. One ESPN reporter interviewed him at half time of one of the games this year and told him “you have the same look on your face whether your team is playing well or not.” He didn’t have an answer for that. I honestly think that rick Barnes is on drugs and doesn’t care anymore.
Many years ago, when Rick Barnes was first hired, I was happy to have a Dean Smith disciple on board. But over the years he has proved to be lackadaisical in his approach and very un-Dean like. Nowadays he seems to be worse than a lot of highschool coaches.
Seriously, a couple of years ago, he had the best player by far in the league -Kevin Durant along with a great point guard and couldn’t take advantage of it. Now he has BOTH the most talented team and the most deepest team in the league and soils his pants during all of our games.
Our players don’t look like they’re following plays. They look like playground kids who are looking to kill some time.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
