http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~29583~1769865,00.html Triangle just starting to take shape by Jim Cleamons There have been a lot of questions this week about where our offense is and how quickly our new guys are picking it up. It sounds complicated, but I think if Tex Winter were here, he'd tell you the triangle is basically a junior high school offense. The thing you have to remember is that these are basketball players of the 21st century. Basketball always has been a game in which the ball is supposed to be shared. But it's become a game built on individual stars in the NBA. That's just a thought to keep in mind as I explain some things. We run an offense called the sideline triangle or triple post. It was developed by our assistant, Tex, from his old college coach, Sam Berry at USC. Our offense is predicated on ball movement and player movement. We try to create an overload situation on the court. We use a lead guard -- we don't call him a point guard -- when we start, and that's Gary Payton. In transition, Gary is supposed to look for what we call a lane runner coming down the sideline. That lane runner then can drive the basket or pass the ball inside to Karl Malone or somebody else who's also running down the court. If that lane runner isn't open, Gary has the option to dribble to the basket. We want to score as quickly as possible and also find the right balance between dribbling and passing to do it. If there's no transition, the distance is cut back and we want to flow into our offense. Our most basic pattern is called strong side guard fill, and it's set up a little like this: Our lead guard wants to pass to the wing -- usually Devean George -- and fill the corner. Our big guy, Shaquille O'Neal, will be in the middle and there will be a triangle created on the floor between Devean, Shaq and Gary in the corner. Most teams don't create that overload right there. With his cut, Gary has overloaded the defense on that side of the floor. Kobe Bryant will move to the top of the key and Karl to the weak side. And if you start connecting all five figures on the court, you see how you can get triangles all over the place. That's the scheme we play from. We're continually building triangles and moving people around to get shots. We want to do that by setting screens, coming together, breaking apart and giving ourselves space to work. As of now, our guys have barely scratched the surface of the offense. And the biggest problem we face is the culture of the game today. Our two new guys have been great. Karl and Gary came here knowing they would have to accept the way we play and say, "I want to fit in." But we have to learn how to use each other's talents. Gary is learning that maybe he can't penetrate all the way to the cup every time like he did all those years in Seattle. But he can do it on occasion. He has to learn when and how to do it. We know there's a learning curve. Kobe has to learn there are other guys to rely on in crunch time. He doesn't have to do everything himself anymore. Shaq has to learn the ball can't go into him every time. But if it goes to Karl, that can free him for offensive rebounds. Because of the marketing of this sport, however, the individual becomes most important. All anybody worries about is their number of touches and how many shots they made. Our game has suffered. The teams that are really good see the individual qualities of what each player possesses and learn to play to them. Like I said in the beginning, what we're doing is a junior high school offense. It's very simple. But you learn it at one speed in practice and when you play for real, the competition jumps out at you. And you have to think on your feet. What we're doing right now is not playing on instinct. Our guys are trying to memorize what to do. We don't want our guys to play like robots. So how do you get there? By repetition, repetition, repetition. You learn a little more every day about yourself and your teammates and the format in which you play. It all takes time. It's like a farmer who says he's hungry. The first thing he has to do is plow land to plant the crop. Then he's got to plant the seed. Then he has to hope it's a good field. Then he has to hope for a mix of sunny days and rainy days. Then he has to give it time to grow. We've just planted the seed. --

※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ※ 編輯: chpan 來自: 61.59.77.164 (11/17 00:22)