Comments from a guru - on Smoove

[jerrywest]

Comments from a guru "Flash" (Copied from Sekou blog comments in AJC)

Finally got to see em, and found a whole lot to like.

1.

Ball movement in the half court is light years improved from what I saw last year. Light years.

2.

JJ does not occupy the ball nearly as much in the half court as last year, which might explain the pouting, and his play does seem lackluster; have to say, at the same time, he looks like, well, a taller Oscar, only there was a businesslike quality to Oscar that made economical play able to produce reliable results.

It seems to me that JJ almost exudes the following: put it in my hands to make decisions, and I will produce reliably; put it in the group’s hands, and I have trouble trusting, and it translates over into trusting myself. Or, as Ando put it, he came here to be the man and ain’t interested in a new, in his eyes, lesser gig.

As impressed as I am in the improvement in the half court game, there is one major disappointment.

I do not see play operating through the middle, the pivot. To me, an inside-the-defense pivot point to an offense is a necessary ingrediant.

If Horford got touches early in the offense and the offensive flow pivoted off those touches I believe that a lot of good things would happen that are not. Horford has practically no roll in the offensive flow and that, in my opinion, is a huge misstake.

Sekou, you might want to pass this along to JS—let the chest collapse, the breast bone sink back into the chest cavity, in preparation for shooting from the floor or the line.

A few other words about JS’s shot. Anybody else notice that when he is on the line, his toes on both feet are pointed at least 10% to his right. His left shoulder is forward. HIs head is turned similarly to his toes, making it fairly clear (to me at least) that he is looking out of one eye.

These things, combined with an extended, rather than collapsed rib cage (a collapsed rib cage makes the arms far more responsive to what happens below; the cage expands and breast bone moves out and up as a natural response), create, imo, a lack of repeatability with regard to depth. Sort of like the early Tiger, he knew it was going way, way far, which was nice; knowing how far was much, much more important.

If this happens on his foul shot, what’s the chance it is different for his jump shot.

I wonder what Hakeem told him?

Oh, two other things to tell JS. A hook shot needs to be trusted not aimed. I love that JS uses one, but he has to use the lean of his body and foot direction to control the trajectory and direction of the shot, letting his arm flow like a sling shot.

Currently, when he gets on angles he is not familiar with, he interrupts the hook, and then tries to guide with his hands. Destroys the mechanical beauty of the sweep that is the hook shot.

I’m betting that one of his shoulder blades is stuck—that is, does not slide on top of his rib cage side to side and up and down the way he would like.

By the way, very impressed with what I saw of JS, very impressed.

[exodus]

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If Horford got touches early in the offense and the offensive flow pivoted off those touches I believe that a lot of good things would happen that are not. Horford has practically no roll in the offensive flow and that, in my opinion, is a huge misstake.

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If Horford isn't getting touches on offense then why is he averaging 3 turnovers per game?

[jerrywest]

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If Horford got touches early in the offense and the offensive flow pivoted off those touches I believe that a lot of good things would happen that are not. Horford has practically no roll in the offensive flow and that, in my opinion, is a huge misstake.

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If Horford isn't getting touches on offense then why is he averaging 3 turnovers per game?

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He's saying Horford "plays practically no roll in the offensive flow", not he isn't getting any touches. I think Horford needs to cut down on his travelings before he'll get a bigger role. He also seems to take his eye off the ball a lot, not expecting the ball to come to him, which ends up with him and others with higher TOs. These stuffs are not hard to fix.

[TheDude]

whoever that guy is, he sounds like he knows what he's talking about....sounds like a coach of some kind....to answer that guy's questions, hakeem probably showed him moves and uses of his pivot foot and fakes and what not...but angles of foot and shoulders etc...he probably did not.

i hope sekou can get that to smith or at least to woody to look at...sounds right..because if you think about it, smooth does look a bit rigid.

i mentioned in another thread that a lot of smith's layups look like luck..and this would explain in perfectly...there's not smoothness, they are all aiming.

[jerrywest]

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whoever that guy is, he sounds like he knows what he's talking about....sounds like a coach of some kind....to answer that guy's questions, hakeem probably showed him moves and uses of his pivot foot and fakes and what not...but angles of foot and shoulders etc...he probably did not.

i hope sekou can get that to smith or at least to woody to look at...sounds right..because if you think about it, smooth does look a bit rigid.

i mentioned in another thread that a lot of smith's layups look like luck..and this would explain in perfectly...there's not smoothness, they are all aiming.

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Heck! I've been a full time NBA surfer since the dawn of internet, and I've never read NBA articles, let alone blog comments, that are as insightful. After reading that I was like - "I don't know $hit".

[HAWKEYE]

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As impressed as I am in the improvement in the half court game, there is one major disappointment.

I do not see play operating through the middle, the pivot. To me, an inside-the-defense pivot point to an offense is a necessary ingrediant.

I wonder what Hakeem told him?

Oh, two other things to tell JS. A hook shot needs to be trusted not aimed. I love that JS uses one, but he has to use the lean of his body and foot direction to control the trajectory and direction of the shot, letting his arm flow like a sling shot.

Currently, when he gets on angles he is not familiar with, he interrupts the hook, and then tries to guide with his hands. Destroys the mechanical beauty of the sweep that is the hook shot.

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[jerrywest]

Larry Bird had a similar allignment. However, he was much softer through the torso, and, I’m not sure, but think that his feet were more square to the target. He might well have had a curve in the spine that made that allignment more comfortable. At any rate, Bird was completely relzsed through his rib cage and sternum, which was collapsed in creating the possibility of expansion in sync with energy transmitted from the ground up.

One benefit of such an alignment is that it actually makes it easier to more nearly creat anL shape with your shooting arm with the elbow pointing directly at the target.

At any rate, it appears to me, feels to me, like Smooth’s rigidity through the torso creates a disconnect between the smooth creation of power below and what happens with the arm and then the release. Then the foul shot, jump shot, is overcontrolled by the wilfull actions of the lower arm and hand that release the ball.

The release is most repeatable when it is the product of the rhythm, timing, degree of force, that the big muscles create. True in any sport.

BTW, I was mightily impressed with MW’s offensive game.

It should now be obvious, following Pete Carrill’s work with the Wizzards in the off season, that how the littles treat the bigs, incorporate them into the game, have a tremendous impact of a big’s ability to produce. Carrill also added a quality of calmness, lack of rush, to Heywood’s offensive game, not to mention a little hook shot.

He, I believe, was the difference last night, and imo, that has everything to do with how the offense gets organized. And, you know my theory that good offense leads to the ability to make important defensive stops.

[Diesel]

I didn't break it down like that, however, I looked at three different shots:

1. Set shot (body not squared) this includes free throws.

2. Moving shots (mystery).

3. Jumpers (always seemed rushed).

Smoove has a beautiful set shot, but his body never squares up with the bucket. It must be that collapsed rib cage think you're talking about. I just noticed that his feet and shoulders don't square up.

His moving shots is what I believe he had to work on this summer, but it requires more work. It's definitely a part of the Sf arsenal... but in the Wiz game, we started to mount a comeback and a lot of Smoove scoring was off the dribble with this moving shot. If you examine it mechanically, he doesn't ever seem to be picture perfect like Dr. J. or even Dominique but it went in.

Worst of all is jumpers. He does this when rushed. I think he realizes that he loses control when he jumps. I like it better for him to fake the jump, get space and either dribble pass or dribble penetrate.

One thing I have noticed about Smoove is that he is trying to do too much right now. He wants to be PG, SG, and Sf... I say just let the game come to him and shoot efficient shots... Part of that is PGing because he's getting the ball a lot with the clock going down.