Should Gobert Get the Ball More?
- Thread starter Saint Cy of JFC
- Start date
LogGrad98
Well-Known Member
Contributor
20-21 Award Winner
2022 Award Winner
2023 Award Winner
2024 Award Winner
No one expects that. But after seeing him handle the ball better at the rim during the Olympics, he should get more than a brush-off when he is standing under the basket with only Pat Connaghton within 10 feet of him. It seems like he is purposely ignored.
I agree with the sentiment that we don't pass Gobert the ball because when he fails, it's embarrassing. Even when Gobert converts it can look very sketchy. One of the reasons why Gobert gets so much **** about his offense is because he looks so awkward....but effectiveness is what matters. If Gobert can score 7/10 times and embarrass himself the other 3/10 times, that's still really good offense for us. The team should definitely look for him more.
I also think we underrate passing to the bigs as a skill. It may look easy to make a simple pass or lob to Gobert, but there are definitely players who are better at it than others. Gobert drops down a couple usage points when Mitchell is on the court. That's to be expected because Mitchell shoots a lot, but also because he's not as good as someone like Conley or Ingles at passing to the big. Mitchell is much more of a kick out to a shooter type passer, which he is incredible at to give him credit. I don't think it's selfishness, just a skill level thing. If Mitchell can get better at it it would be huge for both of them.
Even if we don't think Gobert "should" get more touches, we should try it anyways. I think it goes in the same bucket as trying new defenses and playing Butler. These are things that won't necessarily help us in the RS and may cost us some games, but we could cash in on that experience and improvement down the line. Personally I think the strategy of taking size advantages on switches is easier said than done, but it can't hurt to have Gobert and the ball handlers practice that situation as much as possible. I don't think we need to practice going 1:1 with a small against a big.
I also think we underrate passing to the bigs as a skill. It may look easy to make a simple pass or lob to Gobert, but there are definitely players who are better at it than others. Gobert drops down a couple usage points when Mitchell is on the court. That's to be expected because Mitchell shoots a lot, but also because he's not as good as someone like Conley or Ingles at passing to the big. Mitchell is much more of a kick out to a shooter type passer, which he is incredible at to give him credit. I don't think it's selfishness, just a skill level thing. If Mitchell can get better at it it would be huge for both of them.
Even if we don't think Gobert "should" get more touches, we should try it anyways. I think it goes in the same bucket as trying new defenses and playing Butler. These are things that won't necessarily help us in the RS and may cost us some games, but we could cash in on that experience and improvement down the line. Personally I think the strategy of taking size advantages on switches is easier said than done, but it can't hurt to have Gobert and the ball handlers practice that situation as much as possible. I don't think we need to practice going 1:1 with a small against a big.
This goes back to me feeling that Quin fundamentally misunderstands money ball. My oldest son has a project in one of his classes right now where they compete against everyone in the class with having a set amount they can invest in the market over 60 days. This activity is ridiculous because the outcome favors volatility and doesn’t really teach the lessons they’re probably hoping (the very opposite, actually). Quin’s response on Mann going off was almost like he was totally baffled because since that trend doesn’t carry across a season, it therefore shouldn’t happen in a single game. You have to know your situations and navigate between both short- and long-term strategies. Money ball is only helpful in the amalgam. It isn’t helpful for **** in any specific situation.
We were also elite at scoring against small ball against the Clippers even though we hardly passed it to Gobert….and that was without Conley. It required Mitchell to be Superman….but that’s kinda who he is in the playoffs.
We didn’t utilize Gobert enough, but what we were doing was working really well. The amount of bigs who actually take advantage of smaller matchups on the regular are mostly the same guys who punish Gobert in the post.
We didn’t utilize Gobert enough, but what we were doing was working really well. The amount of bigs who actually take advantage of smaller matchups on the regular are mostly the same guys who punish Gobert in the post.
The Fresh Prince
Well-Known Member
Said it in another post, but if we gave 25-30% of the jumpshots we take, and replace it with feeding Gobert/Whiteside in the post we'd probably maintain leverage of our leads, and be undefeated. Whiteside is a proven low post threat/mid range shooter, but it seems like we want to relegate him to only score off putbacks. I think Hassans drop step into a dunk in Houston is a prime example that he can do damage in the paint. Our bigs shouldn't only be getting 5 shot attempts a night, when our shooters are throwing up 10-20 shots.
- I do think we need to give Gobert a few more touches per game to keep him happy and engaged
- I also realize that NBA players are so capable of helping/disrupting him, that I'm not sure the numbers are actually in his favor.
- Gobert's passing seems a little improved this year, so maybe by feeding him in the post a couple of times per game, would give some players some easy looks once defenders come to help.
I'm guessing it would be easy for someone with access to look up pts per Gobert postup vs pts per Donovan Iso? My guess is that the numbers are somewhat close.
- I also realize that NBA players are so capable of helping/disrupting him, that I'm not sure the numbers are actually in his favor.
- Gobert's passing seems a little improved this year, so maybe by feeding him in the post a couple of times per game, would give some players some easy looks once defenders come to help.
I'm guessing it would be easy for someone with access to look up pts per Gobert postup vs pts per Donovan Iso? My guess is that the numbers are somewhat close.
vegas
Well-Known Member
I know defense was what lost the Clippers series, but the inability to exploit the mismatch has to be a close second. If Gobert is Dunking all over on offense we score 130 a game and have successfully countered the small ball. It seems to be the definition of insanity that we have doubled down on the big dominant defense by signing Whiteside while we ignore the development of exploiting the mismatch of smallball.
Now is the time to get the bugs out of this.
Now is the time to get the bugs out of this.
