Vinny
01-24-2006, 03:32 PM
Sorry if this has been posted but didn't see it.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=justcallitotown&prov=tsn&type=lgns
Just call it O-town
By Sean Deveney - SportingNews
Better get yourself a pencil and paper because you'll have to write down the following: 425 Twist. Hawk cut. Misdirection post-up. Got it? Good, because if you truly want to understand what is going on in the NBA these days, you'll need to know phrases such as these.
There has been no bigger story through the league's first three months than the scoring surge in a less-than-likely locale -- Detroit, where four years of the Pistons' clock-chewing, paint-drying pace under coaches Larry Brown and Rick Carlisle have been replaced by the offensive ingenuity of new coach Flip Saunders. The same Pistons lineup that ranked 24th in scoring last season has zipped to ninth. Such stats got point guard Chauncey Billups thinking. "You guys," Billups says (you guys presumably refers to reporters, fans and anyone else remotely associated with the NBA), "had no idea we could score, did you?"
Well, no. But, heck, even Pistons sixth man Antonio McDyess says, "I wouldn't say I am surprised that we're scoring more. But I am surprised we are scoring this much more."
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Saunders isn't. Last fall, when his coaching staff sat down to watch tapes of its new team, the consensus was the Pistons had untapped offensive potential. Brown and Carlisle had drilled the Pistons on fundamentals, and the team focused on winning games with defense. With a group of big, strong defenders, Detroit had put together one of the smartest and most versatile defenses in the league. The Pistons ranked in the top two in points allowed in each of the past three seasons. "But, watching the film, it seemed that the same qualities that made this such a good defensive group could be applied to offense, too," says assistant coach Don Zierden. "They are unselfish. They work hard. They're athletic. Those things can help you score, too."
Saunders has been a shrewd diplomat and has avoided making wholesale changes. "He doesn't have the ego for that," Zierden says. Saunders' offense, a mutation of the motion-heavy flex offense, has a notoriously thick playbook. But Saunders recognized that the Pistons were a veteran team coming off consecutive trips to The Finals. One of his first orders of business was to decide which aspects of Brown's system would remain, and he even kept alive some of Carlisle's plays. As a result, the Pistons are only about halfway through Saunders' playbook -- and are 32-5 nearing the halfway point of the season. Saunders' deference to Brown and Carlisle reflects the humility with which he approached the job.
"If he had come in and started tearing down everything, that would have been a mistake," Billups says. "But he respects players, and he is going to have a give-and-take. He asked all of us what we liked, what we should keep. That's how you should treat a veteran team."
Still, there have been significant changes in the overall approach. Saunders allows players to take quick shots if they're open, a practice frowned upon under Brown. Saunders has revamped the team's fast break and permits more 3-point attempts. In fact -- get that pencil and paper out again to keep your brain from getting itself into a 425 Twist -- every Pistons starter's offensive role has been altered this season.
PG Chauncey Billups
No player has benefited more from Brown's arrival in Detroit than Billups. This season, no player has benefited more from Brown's departure.
Brown is tough on point guards. He calls most plays from the bench, and Billups' role was to initiate the offense by making a quick pass. The play would develop, and Billups would wait to get the ball back for a shot attempt or a pass late in the possession. Brown helped mold Billups into a better playmaker, but he used him almost interchangeably with shooting guard Richard Hamilton -- Hamilton never was far behind Billups in assists.
Saunders has installed Billups as a standard point guard; he allows Billups to be the brains of the offense and gives him freedom to make on-court decisions. Saunders says that when he decides to call a play from the sideline, he frequently finds Billups already calling the play on the floor. Little wonder -- Billups played in Saunders' offense for two seasons with the Timberwolves before coming to Detroit.
Billups' understanding of Saunders' offense has been a blessing. Saunders wants his point guard to be aggressive, attack the defense and make read-and-react decisions -- even if it means breaking off plays. Billups still exploits his strengths -- working in pick-and-rolls, using his muscle to overpower smaller point guards and getting into the lane to draw fouls.
But Saunders is clever and unpredictable, and his point guard should be the same. One of Billups' favorite tricks is to start into a pick-and-roll situation and catch the defending guard in the screen. Billups keeps the ball and steps behind the 3-point line for an open shot -- he caught Steve Francis in that trap in the second quarter of a win over the Magic and nailed three of his career-high 37 points.
"He has the ability to do things on the floor on his own," says small forward Tayshaun Prince. "He has a ton of experience, and now he is getting a chance to show what he can do. It is all paying off."
Billups' payoff has been career highs in points (18.7 per game) and assists (8.6) while keeping his turnovers down (2.1). Further payoff could come with an All-Star appearance and perhaps more -- there is sentiment that Billups could be the league's MVP if the Pistons keep up their pace.
SG Richard Hamilton
Just as Billups' role as a point guard has been refocused, Hamilton has sharpened his role as a pure scorer. He handles the ball less, and his assists per game have dropped from 4.9 to 3.0. But he is shooting more -- 16.7 attempts per game, up from 15.3 last season -- and his .507 shooting percentage is the highest of his career.
Hamilton is the perfect example of Saunders' ability to mesh his plays with those of coaches who came before him. Hamilton's best assets are his tireless legs and his ability to pop midrange jumpers coming off screens -- Brown and Carlisle designed large portions of their offenses to take advantage of that. Saunders was not going to change that. "We did want to give him more scoring opportunities that took advantage of what he does, though," Zierden says.
Watch how Hamilton gets set for his screens now -- he starts at the top of the key and cuts toward the basket before curling off a double screen near the basket, usually from Prince and Ben Wallace. This is called a "Hawk cut," made popular when Mike Fratello was coaching the Hawks, and it is a favorite of Saunders. The Pistons start 50 to 75 percent of their plays out of the Hawk cut. In the past, much of what the Pistons did was side to side, but bringing Hamilton on the up-and-down Hawk cut gives him more options -- he gets cleaner looks on jumpers, and it is easier for him to drive to the basket.
What's more, Saunders has removed any signs of shooter's guilt that might have been put there by Brown. "We're in a position now where if we have a shot, we can take it," Hamilton says. "Doesn't matter if it is early in the clock. I don't feel like if we are not making four passes anymore, we are doing something wrong."
SF Tayshaun Prince
Outside of perhaps Darko Milicic's, no player's role on the team has remained more consistent than Prince's. With Billups now a more traditional point guard, Prince handles the ball less, and his averages in assists (2.4) and turnovers (1.1) have decreased sharply. The Pistons still believe Prince is an effective ballhandler -- they used him as the backup point guard when Carlos Arroyo was out because of a suspension -- but the team wants the ball in Billups' hands.
Prince's offensive advantages are obvious. He has long arms, he is tall, he is a good finisher, and he can make spot-up jumpers from long range. Saunders, like Brown, finds opportunities to capitalize on the lanky Prince's physical advantage in post-ups and by featuring him on fast breaks. Saunders uses Prince as a screener more than Brown did, and as a wrinkle, Saunders likes to have Prince break out of his screen and cut along the baseline to the basket.
Also, Prince is a deadly 3-point shooter when left alone, so Billups -- who works out with Prince in the offseason and has a good rapport with him -- always is looking for Prince when a defender loses track of him behind the arc. With Hamilton and Billups playing at All-Star levels, defenses rarely double-team Prince, which has lifted his 3-point attempts from 1.7 per game last season to 2.5.
PF Rasheed Wallace
When Billups, sitting in the Pistons' locker room, shrugs off the notion of winning the league's MVP award, he points a few lockers down. "Rasheed," he says. "He's the MVP of the team." Magic assistant coach Tom Sterner calls Wallace "the critical matchup when you play the Pistons." Indeed, when Detroit dismantled the Spurs in San Antonio earlier this month, it became clear Saunders will use Wallace in the post as his primary offensive weapon in big games. Saunders attacked Spurs stalwart Tim Duncan in the opening minutes of the game -- four of the first eight plays Saunders called were isolations for Wallace, who outscored Duncan, 27-17, in the game.
Wallace's numbers are not much different than they were a year ago, but he, too, is given more freedom by Saunders. In return, Saunders is taking better advantage of Wallace's versatility, allowing him to shoot more 3-pointers (he is taking 4.9 per game, up from 3.0 last season) while still getting more production from him in the post. "It's almost as if Flip made a deal with Rasheed," says one East scout, "along the lines of, 'I will let you take more 3s if you give me more down low.' It's worked out, inside and out."
Saunders is using Wallace much as he used Kevin Garnett in Minnesota -- as a scorer in the low post and a passer in the high post. Wallace is averaging 2.6 assists, his highest total in eight seasons. This is where "452 Twist," one of the staples of Saunders' offense, takes on added importance. The play is a misdirection post-up, meaning it looks like a pick-and-roll on one side but morphs into a post-up for Wallace on the other. Most teams concentrate so hard on defending the pick-and-roll that they let up after they think they have it covered. That allows Wallace to take advantage inside.
When the Pistons want Wallace on the perimeter, they run him in high screen-and-rolls with Billups, which allows Wallace to flare backward after screens. Defenders don't usually follow him to the 3-point line, and he has been getting wide-open looks (that helps explain his 42.0 percent 3-point shooting). "He is impossible to stop when he is shooting like that," Billups says. "He is not the kind of guy who wants to score 30 a night, but you know he is capable of it."
C Ben Wallace
Wallace is the only Piston whose offensive role has been reduced this season. Brown tried desperately to make Wallace an offensive threat, and Wallace averaged 9.0 shot attempts for Brown. In fact, Brown attempted to start every game by calling an offensive play for Wallace, simply to appease the big guy.
Saunders is more realistic. Wallace is a poor ballhandler and free throw shooter who has limited offensive moves. There are too many other offensive weapons in the lineup to put the focus on getting shots for Wallace, and his attempts per game have dropped to 6.3. Though Wallace now says he is fine with his role on the team, he did grouse in mid-December, telling reporters, "I don't even know what my role is. ... I am sick of this." Saunders has called more plays for Wallace since that outburst, but they usually come when Wallace is on the floor with the reserves.
Wallace still is one of the league's best centers and its most ferocious rebounder, and he is the linchpin of what the Pistons do defensively. Saunders knows that and has not missed an opportunity to praise Wallace's contributions. A few days after Wallace's complaint, Saunders told reporters, "Everyone talked about the play of Chauncey and the play of Rip and the play of Sheed, and those guys have been playing at an All-Star caliber, but Ben is also playing at that same All-Star-caliber level."
On this team, with this offense, it's hard to find someone who isn't.
Sean Deveney is a staff writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at sdeveney@sportingnews.com.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=justcallitotown&prov=tsn&type=lgns
Just call it O-town
By Sean Deveney - SportingNews
Better get yourself a pencil and paper because you'll have to write down the following: 425 Twist. Hawk cut. Misdirection post-up. Got it? Good, because if you truly want to understand what is going on in the NBA these days, you'll need to know phrases such as these.
There has been no bigger story through the league's first three months than the scoring surge in a less-than-likely locale -- Detroit, where four years of the Pistons' clock-chewing, paint-drying pace under coaches Larry Brown and Rick Carlisle have been replaced by the offensive ingenuity of new coach Flip Saunders. The same Pistons lineup that ranked 24th in scoring last season has zipped to ninth. Such stats got point guard Chauncey Billups thinking. "You guys," Billups says (you guys presumably refers to reporters, fans and anyone else remotely associated with the NBA), "had no idea we could score, did you?"
Well, no. But, heck, even Pistons sixth man Antonio McDyess says, "I wouldn't say I am surprised that we're scoring more. But I am surprised we are scoring this much more."
ADVERTISEMENT
Saunders isn't. Last fall, when his coaching staff sat down to watch tapes of its new team, the consensus was the Pistons had untapped offensive potential. Brown and Carlisle had drilled the Pistons on fundamentals, and the team focused on winning games with defense. With a group of big, strong defenders, Detroit had put together one of the smartest and most versatile defenses in the league. The Pistons ranked in the top two in points allowed in each of the past three seasons. "But, watching the film, it seemed that the same qualities that made this such a good defensive group could be applied to offense, too," says assistant coach Don Zierden. "They are unselfish. They work hard. They're athletic. Those things can help you score, too."
Saunders has been a shrewd diplomat and has avoided making wholesale changes. "He doesn't have the ego for that," Zierden says. Saunders' offense, a mutation of the motion-heavy flex offense, has a notoriously thick playbook. But Saunders recognized that the Pistons were a veteran team coming off consecutive trips to The Finals. One of his first orders of business was to decide which aspects of Brown's system would remain, and he even kept alive some of Carlisle's plays. As a result, the Pistons are only about halfway through Saunders' playbook -- and are 32-5 nearing the halfway point of the season. Saunders' deference to Brown and Carlisle reflects the humility with which he approached the job.
"If he had come in and started tearing down everything, that would have been a mistake," Billups says. "But he respects players, and he is going to have a give-and-take. He asked all of us what we liked, what we should keep. That's how you should treat a veteran team."
Still, there have been significant changes in the overall approach. Saunders allows players to take quick shots if they're open, a practice frowned upon under Brown. Saunders has revamped the team's fast break and permits more 3-point attempts. In fact -- get that pencil and paper out again to keep your brain from getting itself into a 425 Twist -- every Pistons starter's offensive role has been altered this season.
PG Chauncey Billups
No player has benefited more from Brown's arrival in Detroit than Billups. This season, no player has benefited more from Brown's departure.
Brown is tough on point guards. He calls most plays from the bench, and Billups' role was to initiate the offense by making a quick pass. The play would develop, and Billups would wait to get the ball back for a shot attempt or a pass late in the possession. Brown helped mold Billups into a better playmaker, but he used him almost interchangeably with shooting guard Richard Hamilton -- Hamilton never was far behind Billups in assists.
Saunders has installed Billups as a standard point guard; he allows Billups to be the brains of the offense and gives him freedom to make on-court decisions. Saunders says that when he decides to call a play from the sideline, he frequently finds Billups already calling the play on the floor. Little wonder -- Billups played in Saunders' offense for two seasons with the Timberwolves before coming to Detroit.
Billups' understanding of Saunders' offense has been a blessing. Saunders wants his point guard to be aggressive, attack the defense and make read-and-react decisions -- even if it means breaking off plays. Billups still exploits his strengths -- working in pick-and-rolls, using his muscle to overpower smaller point guards and getting into the lane to draw fouls.
But Saunders is clever and unpredictable, and his point guard should be the same. One of Billups' favorite tricks is to start into a pick-and-roll situation and catch the defending guard in the screen. Billups keeps the ball and steps behind the 3-point line for an open shot -- he caught Steve Francis in that trap in the second quarter of a win over the Magic and nailed three of his career-high 37 points.
"He has the ability to do things on the floor on his own," says small forward Tayshaun Prince. "He has a ton of experience, and now he is getting a chance to show what he can do. It is all paying off."
Billups' payoff has been career highs in points (18.7 per game) and assists (8.6) while keeping his turnovers down (2.1). Further payoff could come with an All-Star appearance and perhaps more -- there is sentiment that Billups could be the league's MVP if the Pistons keep up their pace.
SG Richard Hamilton
Just as Billups' role as a point guard has been refocused, Hamilton has sharpened his role as a pure scorer. He handles the ball less, and his assists per game have dropped from 4.9 to 3.0. But he is shooting more -- 16.7 attempts per game, up from 15.3 last season -- and his .507 shooting percentage is the highest of his career.
Hamilton is the perfect example of Saunders' ability to mesh his plays with those of coaches who came before him. Hamilton's best assets are his tireless legs and his ability to pop midrange jumpers coming off screens -- Brown and Carlisle designed large portions of their offenses to take advantage of that. Saunders was not going to change that. "We did want to give him more scoring opportunities that took advantage of what he does, though," Zierden says.
Watch how Hamilton gets set for his screens now -- he starts at the top of the key and cuts toward the basket before curling off a double screen near the basket, usually from Prince and Ben Wallace. This is called a "Hawk cut," made popular when Mike Fratello was coaching the Hawks, and it is a favorite of Saunders. The Pistons start 50 to 75 percent of their plays out of the Hawk cut. In the past, much of what the Pistons did was side to side, but bringing Hamilton on the up-and-down Hawk cut gives him more options -- he gets cleaner looks on jumpers, and it is easier for him to drive to the basket.
What's more, Saunders has removed any signs of shooter's guilt that might have been put there by Brown. "We're in a position now where if we have a shot, we can take it," Hamilton says. "Doesn't matter if it is early in the clock. I don't feel like if we are not making four passes anymore, we are doing something wrong."
SF Tayshaun Prince
Outside of perhaps Darko Milicic's, no player's role on the team has remained more consistent than Prince's. With Billups now a more traditional point guard, Prince handles the ball less, and his averages in assists (2.4) and turnovers (1.1) have decreased sharply. The Pistons still believe Prince is an effective ballhandler -- they used him as the backup point guard when Carlos Arroyo was out because of a suspension -- but the team wants the ball in Billups' hands.
Prince's offensive advantages are obvious. He has long arms, he is tall, he is a good finisher, and he can make spot-up jumpers from long range. Saunders, like Brown, finds opportunities to capitalize on the lanky Prince's physical advantage in post-ups and by featuring him on fast breaks. Saunders uses Prince as a screener more than Brown did, and as a wrinkle, Saunders likes to have Prince break out of his screen and cut along the baseline to the basket.
Also, Prince is a deadly 3-point shooter when left alone, so Billups -- who works out with Prince in the offseason and has a good rapport with him -- always is looking for Prince when a defender loses track of him behind the arc. With Hamilton and Billups playing at All-Star levels, defenses rarely double-team Prince, which has lifted his 3-point attempts from 1.7 per game last season to 2.5.
PF Rasheed Wallace
When Billups, sitting in the Pistons' locker room, shrugs off the notion of winning the league's MVP award, he points a few lockers down. "Rasheed," he says. "He's the MVP of the team." Magic assistant coach Tom Sterner calls Wallace "the critical matchup when you play the Pistons." Indeed, when Detroit dismantled the Spurs in San Antonio earlier this month, it became clear Saunders will use Wallace in the post as his primary offensive weapon in big games. Saunders attacked Spurs stalwart Tim Duncan in the opening minutes of the game -- four of the first eight plays Saunders called were isolations for Wallace, who outscored Duncan, 27-17, in the game.
Wallace's numbers are not much different than they were a year ago, but he, too, is given more freedom by Saunders. In return, Saunders is taking better advantage of Wallace's versatility, allowing him to shoot more 3-pointers (he is taking 4.9 per game, up from 3.0 last season) while still getting more production from him in the post. "It's almost as if Flip made a deal with Rasheed," says one East scout, "along the lines of, 'I will let you take more 3s if you give me more down low.' It's worked out, inside and out."
Saunders is using Wallace much as he used Kevin Garnett in Minnesota -- as a scorer in the low post and a passer in the high post. Wallace is averaging 2.6 assists, his highest total in eight seasons. This is where "452 Twist," one of the staples of Saunders' offense, takes on added importance. The play is a misdirection post-up, meaning it looks like a pick-and-roll on one side but morphs into a post-up for Wallace on the other. Most teams concentrate so hard on defending the pick-and-roll that they let up after they think they have it covered. That allows Wallace to take advantage inside.
When the Pistons want Wallace on the perimeter, they run him in high screen-and-rolls with Billups, which allows Wallace to flare backward after screens. Defenders don't usually follow him to the 3-point line, and he has been getting wide-open looks (that helps explain his 42.0 percent 3-point shooting). "He is impossible to stop when he is shooting like that," Billups says. "He is not the kind of guy who wants to score 30 a night, but you know he is capable of it."
C Ben Wallace
Wallace is the only Piston whose offensive role has been reduced this season. Brown tried desperately to make Wallace an offensive threat, and Wallace averaged 9.0 shot attempts for Brown. In fact, Brown attempted to start every game by calling an offensive play for Wallace, simply to appease the big guy.
Saunders is more realistic. Wallace is a poor ballhandler and free throw shooter who has limited offensive moves. There are too many other offensive weapons in the lineup to put the focus on getting shots for Wallace, and his attempts per game have dropped to 6.3. Though Wallace now says he is fine with his role on the team, he did grouse in mid-December, telling reporters, "I don't even know what my role is. ... I am sick of this." Saunders has called more plays for Wallace since that outburst, but they usually come when Wallace is on the floor with the reserves.
Wallace still is one of the league's best centers and its most ferocious rebounder, and he is the linchpin of what the Pistons do defensively. Saunders knows that and has not missed an opportunity to praise Wallace's contributions. A few days after Wallace's complaint, Saunders told reporters, "Everyone talked about the play of Chauncey and the play of Rip and the play of Sheed, and those guys have been playing at an All-Star caliber, but Ben is also playing at that same All-Star-caliber level."
On this team, with this offense, it's hard to find someone who isn't.
Sean Deveney is a staff writer for Sporting News. E-mail him at sdeveney@sportingnews.com.