Alright, so a few days ago I gave Greg Popovich some advice on how to beat the Lakers. Surprisingly, he didn't heed the advice of a first time blogger with absolutely no coaching experience but my advice (surprisingly even to me) was actually fairly accurate.
My main pieces of advice were to play Ime Udoka more and to play small ball by having shooters on the court as opposed to having your horrible big men Fabricio Oberto and Robert Horry on the court.
Popovich did do one thing correctly. He played Brent Barry who actually had a good game (23 points, 5 rebounds). "Pop" deserves credit for that.
However, Pop did do several things wrong. He only played Ime Udoka for eight minutes and Kurt Thomas (their next-best big man) for 1 minute! I see absolutely no reason not to play Thomas for 20 minutes per game. He was a huge role player in the Phoenix series and he consistently hits open shots and rebounds - two things Horry and Oberto can no longer do. Instead he played Horry for 16 minutes, Oberto for 22 minutes, and Bruce Bowen for 35 minutes. Horry, Oberto and Bowen combined to play 73 minutes and contribute 9 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, and 9 fouls.
We also can't look past Manu Ginobili's Chokefest 2008. Looking at his playoff stats you'd think Trevor Ariza was guarding him but he is being shut down by perennial Defensive Player of the Year Award candidates Vladimir Radmonovic and Sasha Vujacic.
People, remember that in 2009 the Lakers will have Andrew Bynum and Trevor Ariza. And the starting lineup of your 2009 NBA champs: Gasol, Bynum, Odom, Bryant, Ariza. Yes you heard it here first, in 2009 Phil Jackson will start Trevor Ariza at point guard. Point Guard? Yes Ariza at point guard. For those of you who have followed Phil Jackson's career you know that Jackson has always had a thing for having small forwards that are good defenders play at the point guard. During the Bulls later championship years (after BJ Armstrong) the Zenmaster would often have Scottie Pippen (6-7) defend the opposing point guard and bring the ball up the court. They could do this because they had Toni Kukoc to take Pippen's place at small forward. During the Bull's amazing 72-10 season Jackson started Ron Harper (6-6) at point guard. Harper only played 23.6 minutes per game and only averaged 7.4 points and 2.6 assists but his length helped bother point guards.
This is why I am very confident that Jackson will start Ariza at point guard next year even if it is only for about 20 minutes per game. I guess Odom will play the role of Kukoc which sounds right because both guys have been known to play big at times and disappear at other times.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment