Interesting Article

[KB21]

http://www.hickory-high.com/?p=3634This is one of the things that bugs me about Larry Drew. He got the job based on the premise that he would get away from the isolation heavy offense, but here we are. The Hawks are still one of the more isolation heavy teams in the league even though they are clearly not an efficient isolation team. Where they do seem to be very efficient is when they use their motion offense and run the pick and roll based on the numbers, but for some reason, they do not seem to run this enough or with the right personnel at times. I said in another thread that this is largely a perimeter oriented offense overall, so when they are running the pick and roll with Zaza Pachulia, they are basically having Josh Smith spot up for a jumper on the baseline. I think this clearly has some effect on his shooting. He's not efficient at it all, but it seems like the way they run their sets, they put him into a position to shoot the jumper or isolate himself. It will be interesting to see if Larry realizes that the smaller line up may be his ticket to getting out of the first round and back into the second round of the playoffs. He was lauded for his use of Jason Collins, who is an essentially worthless player, on Dwight Howard in last year's playoffs. Let's see if he can figure this out, because another criticism I have for his coaching is his line up usage.

[Dexmethylphenidate]

I don't get why they even do pick and roll with Zaza. He's not going to get the ball so it put the ballhandler at a greater pressure.

[KB21]

Nice observation and cool article. I have long thought of LD as a reactionary coach as opposed to someone who forces the issue and makes the other team react to his moves. He never goes with a small line-up if the other team is playing somewhat big. I recall the 90s Suns using a 3 guard set, sometimes their opponent would stay with their big line-up but most of the time it forced them to go small to match up. Why not force the issue? I have yet to understand this yet.

In his short sample size, I think Larry clearly has some strengths and some weaknesses. Right now, I think the weaknesses outweight the strengths at this point. I am hoping to see some growth in him, but the main things that I see as weaknesses are:1. As you stated, he seems to be reactive rather than proactive.2. I do not feel like he does enough to maximize the ability of his players.3. There is till too much reliance on the isolation play.4. I think overall, his scheme is too perimeter oriented.I think he is a solid x's and o's coach overall, but I would like to see him do more to maximize his talent and get the most out of what he has.