How to get the best out of the roster - thoughts?

[joesha1698]

This is something I had on my mind and I wanted to share. It's also like a pet peeve of mind. It seems some coaches do not actually take the time to build the offense around a players skill set. My question is, what is your opinion of how our current players are being used and what can be done better?

Luka - I think he needs to play facilitator and push the break off the rebound. We know Luka can create points for himself but he needs to improve. This idea that HE should just accept not giving more of a defensive effort, not contributing more on the glass, and continuing to overcomplain to the refs is silly. He needs to improve these parts of his game and become a better leader.

Theres 3 things LeBron does extremely well that Luke needs to get better at.

1. Pushing the ball down the court and forcing pace on the other team. Lebron ( especially when he was younger) destroyed the league with his ability to go coast to coast every play. Luka won't be able to finish like LeBron but his IQ and passing ability will afford his teammates so many open shoes and finishes at the basket if he gets more rebounds and pushes the ball off of the glass.

2. Luka needs to develop more into a facilitator where his main focus is rebounding, pushing the ball in the transition for easy shots, and making a better effort on defense. He's 6'8 and 220-230 and has good footwork there is no reason he cannot improve in this area.

3. Stop complaining and focus on your teammates. Be a leader. Luka needs to be challenged in those areas. Make your teammates better and the scoring will be better in the 4th quarter when it's time to turn it on.


Kyrie - they need to treat him like weapon x. And minimize the amount of time he has the ball in his hand dribbling unless it's absolutely necessary. Kyrie ala Allen Iverson is a great scorer. To reduce toil on his body for its imperative that he's moving without the ball, coming off screens, and cutting to the basket for easy shots. This idea that Kyrie needs to score so many points in isolation is not a recipe in the long run. As good as he is one on one it's malpractice by a coach to fall in love with this style of play. The same could be said for luka who basically manufactures our offense. Let me say it again, Dallas basically doesnt have an offense. Lukas pick and roll at the top of the key is basically our offense in the half court. Which is more reason we should have designed action for Kyrie that puts him in position to score in the half court. Think Kobe in the triangle and allen Iverson in Philly. We have to turn Kyrie into more of a quick hitting score where the defense cannot hone in on him and slow him down as easy and make him go one on one so much. I think Boston and when he was with LeBron are the only teams that used Kyrie this way. Especially in Boston they kept him moving and cutting, and he probably has his best year.

Josh Green - this is the last player I will talk about for now. I think he improves drastically if Luka becomes that facilitator that pushes the ball down the court off of glass and is looking for cutters and spot up shooters. He lacks confidence but his role needs to simplified. He should be asked to push the break on the wing, spot up for the 3, and really get after it on defense. A guy like Josh Green needs a lot of teaching so he can developed an identity. I can't help but think of a guy like him under Greg Popvich why he develops his game and perfects his role. He needs to get tougher and needs someone on him to toughen him up and solidify his role. I'm hard on Green but he has potential but he needs to be taught and develop some toughness.


These are the three guys I wanted to highlight. I would love to see the coaching staff make these changes and I think it would improve this team a lot. Just my opinion. What are your thoughts?

[joesha1698]

I guess my biggest point is this team needs more of a structured identity in how they play. Too much isolation and too much Luka creating the entire half court offense tells me this needs to be refined more.

[Archx]

I don't know how many games you watched but 90% of the stuff you said about Luka, he's already doing it. Other things about gameplan changes etc.. You'd have to talk to Kidd about that. He's the same since he replaced Rick and i guess he won't change anytime soon, he simply can't coach.