The Bulls and The Inability To Create Shots(Long)
Posted: Fri Jan 4, 2008 8:25 am
We can complain about rotations or who's getting what minutes or what Pax should be doing tradewise/goalwise/etc forever, but ultimately both of these things are going to depend on if and how we can utilize what we have. As I watched the game vs Portland, the thing that stuck out to me - and this isn't something I just realized, but since I don't watch that many games(I don't live in Chicago and I don't have LP) it sort of hit home tonight - is that as a team, we are completely incapable of creating shots. There is not a single player on this roster who can create his own shots on any kind of consistant basis, nor is there a player on this roster who can create shots for others on any kind of consistant basis.
This is the fifth year now that we have tried to force Kirk into being a PG, and he's not getting any better at it. He is a score-first guard, and while he's not neccessarily bad at passing and getting assists, that is not the same thing as creating shots for others. You can rack up assists by making no-brainer passes on fastbreaks or by dishing to an open man. That's not creating shots. And Kirk is not even 'racking up' assists(6apg - good but not great). He is an undersized 2 that has been asked to play the 1. And the fact is, Kirk is an average guard regardless of which position he plays. The only aspect of his game that is above average is his one-on-one man defense(which is quite good). The point is, if anybody still thinks he can create shots consistantly, they haven't been paying any attention at all, imo.
And Duhon just isn't that good, I'm afraid. He has the mentality of creating shots(as opposed to Kirk who has always been shoot-first), but he just isn't that good at it. Furthermore, the offense we run doesn't even really try to utilize what shot-creating ability he may have. On a short tangent, I think in a way Duhon and Tyrus are sort of the opposite of each other. Duhon has high basketball IQ but he doesn't have a lot of skill. Tyrus has a lot of skill but no basketball IQ, so he has no idea how to use his skill. Tangent over. Onwards.
Our young bigs(Tyrus and Noah)...You don't really expect big guys like that to be able to create shots unless they're back-to-basket, so that's not really a disappointment with them. However, their offensive skills could be utilized in a MUCH more productive and fruitful fashion if we had a real PG who could create (close, high percentage) shots for the two of them on a consistant basis. Think Chris Paul and Tyson Chandler, except that both Tyrus and Noah have more raw offensive skill than Chandler. Kirk doesn't do that, Duhon doesn't do that, Gordon certainly doesn't do that. I'm not saying we need to get someone as good as Paul(that would mean either Kidd, Deron Williams, Nash, or Paul himself, and the only that has a chance in hell of happening is Kidd), but we need to get someone who can create shots for those guys on a consistant basis, as well as the perimiter guys(Gordon/Deng/Hinrich).
As for guys that can create shots for themselves....ultimately, guys that are consistantly offensively productive and that can create shots for themselves are more often than not stars, imo, and that subject has been talked about ad nauseum. But there is a reason for it. The scorers we have(Gordon, Deng) need to get their shots off a pass or a screen nine times out of ten. Neither Gordon nor Deng is ever going to carry any team anywhere if they can't create their own shots. You can't take over a game if you're depending on somebody else to create opportunities for you. I think Gordon probably has the instincts to improve his shot-creating skills(for himself, that is), but his height and ballhandling skills are really holding him back in that respect. Deng doesn't have the shot-creating instinct at all. He's tremendously skilled, but he doesn't drive the lane, he doesn't have great ballhandling skills, he's not a great penetrater, and for the most part he's content to wait for the ball to get to him. So you have our two most offensively-skilled guys, and neither one is good at creating shots for themselves.
We have offensively skilled players who can't create their own shots(Gordon, Deng, Hinrich to a lesser extent), players who NEED shot-creators in order to be productive on offense at all(Tyrus, Noah, even Big Ben), and NO floor general shot creators. It's an awful combination.
Specific problems that are created as a result are talked about about a lot(Gordon and Hinrich not complimenting each other, Gordon going to the bench so Duhon can start, Duhon's lack of productivity, Tyrus's lack of offensive production/consistancy in the limited minutes he gets, Deng's relative inconsistancy, the need for a post scorer, the need for a 'star', etc), but I feel like the overarching problem isn't directly stated enough: Nobody on this team can create shots for anybody and, as long as that's true, we're not winning anything.
When we're on the court, we just dribble the ball around and move/pass the ball hoping to do it faster than the other team's defenders can move so that somebody can get open. That's what the whole dribbling in and passing back out thing that this team has been doing for the last three years is all about - just moving the ball around at a fast pace trying to get at least one defender to be late getting back to his man resulting in an open shot. That's our offense. And it's ugly to watch.
That about concludes this long-winded (and probably not too original) observation.
This is the fifth year now that we have tried to force Kirk into being a PG, and he's not getting any better at it. He is a score-first guard, and while he's not neccessarily bad at passing and getting assists, that is not the same thing as creating shots for others. You can rack up assists by making no-brainer passes on fastbreaks or by dishing to an open man. That's not creating shots. And Kirk is not even 'racking up' assists(6apg - good but not great). He is an undersized 2 that has been asked to play the 1. And the fact is, Kirk is an average guard regardless of which position he plays. The only aspect of his game that is above average is his one-on-one man defense(which is quite good). The point is, if anybody still thinks he can create shots consistantly, they haven't been paying any attention at all, imo.
And Duhon just isn't that good, I'm afraid. He has the mentality of creating shots(as opposed to Kirk who has always been shoot-first), but he just isn't that good at it. Furthermore, the offense we run doesn't even really try to utilize what shot-creating ability he may have. On a short tangent, I think in a way Duhon and Tyrus are sort of the opposite of each other. Duhon has high basketball IQ but he doesn't have a lot of skill. Tyrus has a lot of skill but no basketball IQ, so he has no idea how to use his skill. Tangent over. Onwards.
Our young bigs(Tyrus and Noah)...You don't really expect big guys like that to be able to create shots unless they're back-to-basket, so that's not really a disappointment with them. However, their offensive skills could be utilized in a MUCH more productive and fruitful fashion if we had a real PG who could create (close, high percentage) shots for the two of them on a consistant basis. Think Chris Paul and Tyson Chandler, except that both Tyrus and Noah have more raw offensive skill than Chandler. Kirk doesn't do that, Duhon doesn't do that, Gordon certainly doesn't do that. I'm not saying we need to get someone as good as Paul(that would mean either Kidd, Deron Williams, Nash, or Paul himself, and the only that has a chance in hell of happening is Kidd), but we need to get someone who can create shots for those guys on a consistant basis, as well as the perimiter guys(Gordon/Deng/Hinrich).
As for guys that can create shots for themselves....ultimately, guys that are consistantly offensively productive and that can create shots for themselves are more often than not stars, imo, and that subject has been talked about ad nauseum. But there is a reason for it. The scorers we have(Gordon, Deng) need to get their shots off a pass or a screen nine times out of ten. Neither Gordon nor Deng is ever going to carry any team anywhere if they can't create their own shots. You can't take over a game if you're depending on somebody else to create opportunities for you. I think Gordon probably has the instincts to improve his shot-creating skills(for himself, that is), but his height and ballhandling skills are really holding him back in that respect. Deng doesn't have the shot-creating instinct at all. He's tremendously skilled, but he doesn't drive the lane, he doesn't have great ballhandling skills, he's not a great penetrater, and for the most part he's content to wait for the ball to get to him. So you have our two most offensively-skilled guys, and neither one is good at creating shots for themselves.
We have offensively skilled players who can't create their own shots(Gordon, Deng, Hinrich to a lesser extent), players who NEED shot-creators in order to be productive on offense at all(Tyrus, Noah, even Big Ben), and NO floor general shot creators. It's an awful combination.
Specific problems that are created as a result are talked about about a lot(Gordon and Hinrich not complimenting each other, Gordon going to the bench so Duhon can start, Duhon's lack of productivity, Tyrus's lack of offensive production/consistancy in the limited minutes he gets, Deng's relative inconsistancy, the need for a post scorer, the need for a 'star', etc), but I feel like the overarching problem isn't directly stated enough: Nobody on this team can create shots for anybody and, as long as that's true, we're not winning anything.
When we're on the court, we just dribble the ball around and move/pass the ball hoping to do it faster than the other team's defenders can move so that somebody can get open. That's what the whole dribbling in and passing back out thing that this team has been doing for the last three years is all about - just moving the ball around at a fast pace trying to get at least one defender to be late getting back to his man resulting in an open shot. That's our offense. And it's ugly to watch.
That about concludes this long-winded (and probably not too original) observation.