Four Lessons from the Hornets
By Adam Lauridsen
Monday, May 5th, 2008
Watching the Hornets make the Spurs look their age has been one of the
more
enjoyable scenes so far of 07-08 Playoffs. There are moments with Paul and
company streaking up the court when - if I go cross-eyed and color blind -
the action looks a lot like the Warriors at their finest moments. With a
similar fast-break, point-guard dominated style, the Hornets provide a
vague
outline for one path the Warriors could pursue this off-season and beyond.
It's the small differences between the teams, however, that when rolled
together account for the biggest difference of all: the Hornets are still
playing.
Let's start with the similarities:
Penetration Offense - Unlike the structured offenses of the Spurs and
Lakers
or the broken hybrids of the Suns and Mavs, the Hornets put the ball in
Chris Paul's hands and let him work his magic. He makes the players around
him better because he's able to attract a lot of defensive attention with
his penetrating ability, then find his teammates once the defense sags
towards him. At his best, this is how Baron plays. There are many other
meaningful comparisons between the two players, but the positive ones stop
here.
The Green Light to Shoot - The Hornets are not a team that's going to beat
you with in the paint points. Chandler gets his oops and garbage points
and
West has some nice post moves, but the core of the Hornets' offense rests
between 8 and 22 feet. The Warriors stretch that arrangement a bit - more
like 14-25 feet - but they operate on a similar drive-and-kick model. Both
teams typically give 4 of their 5 players on the court at any time the
green
light to shoot. Just because the Hornets' model is the same, however,
doesn't
mean it produces the same results.
Slim in the Middle - Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry will always be linked
by
their draft day consolidation on the Bulls. In a sense, the Bulls knew
what
they were doing. If you took the average weight of Chandler and Curry and
spliced Tyson's defensive skills with Eddy's offensive moves, you'd have
an
elite center (I was going to suggest adding Chandler's motor to Curry's
heart, but that would not only be an ignorant basketball statement but
also
a punch-line at the expense of someone with a medical condition, and I'd
like to hold this blog to higher standards). To make a rambling point
short,
Chandler doesn't take up much space, but he covers a lot of ground. He
uses
his long arms for rebounds and shot-blocking. He's not an offensive
threat,
but he knows his role and contributes when he can on the pick-and-roll.
He's
a model for what Andris can be with a little more seasoning (it similarly
took Chandler 6 seasons before he cranked it up a notch). Andris might end
up being more gifted than Chandler offensively - and we might need to turn
to Wright for Tyson's shot-blocking - but the Hornets' center's play
against
Duncan demonstrates that you don't need to be a bruiser to be a
defensively
solid big man.
With these points of comparison in mind, the differences between these
teams
become glaring. Here are the ones that stand out to me and what the
Warriors
could consider to fix them.
Paul's Playmaking - I use the word "playmaking" very specifically here.
There are countless times on the court when Paul takes the ball, heads
into
the key, and invest a legitimate basketball play out of what was an
otherwise stagnant half-court set. His teammates have increasingly learned
how to move around him to get the ball, whether for dunks or threes, but
it
all starts with CP3's pressure on the defense. Baron, as I said, has been
this player at his best. He was rarely this type of playmaker for more
than
a quarter at a time last season. Cutting Davis' minutes might give him
some
more energy for this type of play, but my guess is it's mostly a mental
thing. Nelson taking the ball out of Davis' hands for long stretches to
play
Monta at the point didn't help matters. I still believe Davis has it
within
him to have this type of impact on the Warriors, but I don't hold out much
hope for him doing it. The pressure then falls on Monta to take another
leap
from a scoring guard that can make the occasional nice pass to a true
point
guard who can generate offensive looks for his teammates despite tight
defensive pressure. This time last season I would have put the odds at
next
to nil that Monta could be this type of player. After his improvement this
past season, I'm more optimistic but still think it's a bit of a long
shot.
That leaves us with finding a diamond in the rough of the mid first round
or
taking a gamble on someone else's back-up point guard via trade and hope a
change of scenery works wonders.
If all of the above fails, one choice remains: abandon the style of play
that relies upon one highly skilled player to create looks in favor of a
system that, through discipline and order, cranks out scoring
opportunities.
I'm not inclined to abandon our run-and-gun system quite yet, but if Davis
doesn't improve or a new point guard doesn't emerge over the course of the
next season, it's a possibility we're going to have to consider.
Selective Shooters - The Hornets have their fair share of traditionally
low
percentage (Peterson) and streaky (Pargo) shooters. The difference between
the Warriors and the Hornets is the Hornets aren't building the offense
around them. Whereas the Warriors depend upon Jackson and Harrington to be
their high volume shooters, the Hornets are able to line-up high
percentage
guys for their first three offensive options (Paul, West, Peja). Peja in
particular brings a dead-eye shot to the court that no Warrior can match.
When the Spurs locked down on defense, he forced them to stretch with his
clutch shooting. Far too many times this season the Warriors attempted the
same strategy only to either miss a ton of shots or get frustrated and
force
penetration, resulting in turnovers. The Hornets also restrain themselves
from behind the arc, typically working from a few feet closer than the
Warriors despite having two of the game's best long distance shooters in
Peja and Pargo.
When it comes to moving beyond their poor shooters, the Warriors have
already taken the first step by building Monta into the offense. I expect
the trend to continue next year. Andris on the pick-and-roll also brings
some high percentage scoring, but a single move does not equal an
offensive
option. He'll need to continue to develop to take a place in the offensive
system. The two question marks for the Warriors are their rookies. If
Belinelli could even show shades of Peja's consistency, we'd be a much
better team. He has a similar lightening quick release and movement
without
the ball. As for Wright, it's unlikely he's going to develop West's inside
moves anytime soon. He could, however, work with a similar mid-range jump
shot, on which West scores many of his points. A nice baby hook could also
help exploit his length / weight difference from most power forwards.
Regardless of where they find the offense, the Warriors cannot hope to
compete with the West's best with another year built on the fragile
foundation of streaky outside shooting.
Defensive Intelligence - During the Hornets third quarter stomping of the
Spurs, there was plenty of Warriors-style scrambling defense. Chandler and
Paul were rotating to help and poking free balls to trigger the break. But
that was only a part of the defense. When the Spurs settled into their
half-court sets, the rest of the Hornets were vigilant in closing on each
and every jump shooter. For Parker, famous for abusing guards off the
dribble, the Hornets defenders kept constant awareness of his positioning,
allowing them a few split-seconds more to slow him down on the way to the
basket. These small adjustments by the back-court allowed their bigger
players time to rotate to the basket, increasing the degree of difficulty
on
Parker's shots. How would this have played out with the Warriors? Most
likely Baron would have been abused, leaving Nellie no choice but to
rotate
Monta. Monta would have been able to stay in front of him on some plays
but
would have lost focus on others, leading to lots of easy buckets in the
key
(and/or unnecessary fouls on Andris trying to guard the rim).
As with Baron's playmaking, the first change the Warriors need to make is
a
mental one. Closing on shooters needs to become a priority. Keeping focus
on
scorers needs to become more important than mindlessly drifting to the
ball
for slaps and jabs even when it's in the hand of a non-scorer. The
Warriors
have the speed to be an outstanding defensive team, particularly when it
comes to covering a lot of ground quickly on rotations. They need to be
smart, however, in when they commit and when they stay home. Far too often
this year they simply drifted with the ball like water sloshing from
corner
to corner. Teams with solid ball movement picked them apart. The second -
and more immediate - change the Warriors can make is integrating Wright
into
the defense as a shot blocker. Chandler bails out the Hornets when their
perimeter defenders do miss assignments. He denies high percentages shots
that otherwise would be open. Brandan can do the same thing, if he gets
the
chance. Getting him out on the court, however, isn't good enough. If
Wright
leaves a guy like Duncan or Boozer to block a shot by Parker or Williams,
he's
not strengthening the defense. A large part of liberating a shot blocker
to
do his thing is finding defensive match-ups that he can stray from. This
means using guys like Andris or Al on the primary low-post offensive
threats
while leaving Wright open to roam. When Nelson put Wright on the court, it
was rarely in match-ups where he had the big man support to be an active
shot-blocker.
Blended Bench - Last but not least, the Hornets built a bench from nothing
as the season went on. First, they brought in a few veterans (James,
Pargo,
Bowen, Ely) hoping they'd get lucky with one or two. Pargo turned out to
be
that guy. Beyond merely relying on scraps, however, they made a trade for
Wells to add bench versatility. Bonzi isn't a star, but he's a famous
playoff gamer, capable of playing three positions, and a step above anyone
the Warriors had on their bench. Finally, the Hornets made a point of
giving
their youngsters minutes. Hilton Armstrong got 11 minutes a game over 60
contests during the season. Julian Wright managed roughly the same. While
Wright has been a much bigger factor so far than Armstrong, both have
enough
experience to know the system but the young, fresh legs capable of blowing
past an older team like the Spurs. The rotation isn't stunning, but it has
3
veterans (Pargo, Wells, Ely) and 2 youngsters (Wright, Anderson) that
Scott
trusts on the floor. The Hornets have a bench that can give their starters
enough of a break to stay competitive against the League's best. Scott
rarely plays his guys more than 40 minutes a night because he has built
consistent time into his rotations for the bench. It's indisputable that
Nelson never showed such commitment to his bench and that the Warriors
lacked similar production from it. Whether those two facts are connected -
and how - is what we're still debating.
As the Hornets beat up on the Spurs, I'm encouraged. It warms my heart to
see fast, free, team-oriented basketball succeed over the plodding,
whining,
cheap-shot spectacle that is the Spurs at the moment. It's too early to
say
San Antonio is finally grinding to a halt, but this will be their biggest
test yet. As the Warriors consider whether to stick with their current
program or scrap it for something more traditional, the Hornets provide
the
model of what we could hope to be if we stay the course.
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