This year's team doesn't seem to attempt many interior passes. I don't know what the real number is. But it feels like we get between 0 and 3 interior passes per game. And of those we do attempt, most seem to be the last-ditch desperation kind than ones that are intentionally planned and cleverly executed.
By interior pass, I mean one player in the paint passing to another player in the paint. The obvious example being a guard driving to the hoop and drawing a forward's/center's defender out of position, freeing that forward/center to receive a pass for an open layup or dunk. But there are many more interior pass combinations than just that.
For some reason, we seem allergic to interior passing this season. We didn't execute tons of them in prior years, either. But, if I recall correctly, we did do them a lot more than this year's team. And we did them more deliberately and successfully.
From a purely selfish fan standpoint, I wish we had closer to a dozen or more. When done well, they're great fun to watch. And they're pretty effective at getting a team's big men the ball for easy scoring opportunities. Doing that is something we could use given our outside shooting slump.
It also gets and keeps Cliff energized and focused. An energized and focused Cliff can be the beast that beats down on other teams mentally all game long. We haven't really seen that Cliff much this season. Mostly just in Mag's first comeback game.
I'm not sure our coaches/players have time to work on this sort of thing in practice. It's more likely something that some of our guards have to start working out for themselves in practice scrimmages, dumping ball after ball into a big man's gut in the paint until our big players learn to expect it all the time.
Anyway, this has turned into a bit of a rant. Sorry.
But yeah, my kingdom for some interior passing. I think getting this aspect of the game right can transform this season's team in a very positive way.
By interior pass, I mean one player in the paint passing to another player in the paint. The obvious example being a guard driving to the hoop and drawing a forward's/center's defender out of position, freeing that forward/center to receive a pass for an open layup or dunk. But there are many more interior pass combinations than just that.
For some reason, we seem allergic to interior passing this season. We didn't execute tons of them in prior years, either. But, if I recall correctly, we did do them a lot more than this year's team. And we did them more deliberately and successfully.
From a purely selfish fan standpoint, I wish we had closer to a dozen or more. When done well, they're great fun to watch. And they're pretty effective at getting a team's big men the ball for easy scoring opportunities. Doing that is something we could use given our outside shooting slump.
It also gets and keeps Cliff energized and focused. An energized and focused Cliff can be the beast that beats down on other teams mentally all game long. We haven't really seen that Cliff much this season. Mostly just in Mag's first comeback game.
I'm not sure our coaches/players have time to work on this sort of thing in practice. It's more likely something that some of our guards have to start working out for themselves in practice scrimmages, dumping ball after ball into a big man's gut in the paint until our big players learn to expect it all the time.
Anyway, this has turned into a bit of a rant. Sorry.
But yeah, my kingdom for some interior passing. I think getting this aspect of the game right can transform this season's team in a very positive way.