Everything Valanciunas

[GLF]

I remember hearing Dwane Casey saying JV is a good passer in one of his interviews recently. To me that's a good sign because it shows that the coach is finally acknowledging it as well. Dwane has never said that before. So hopefully that means JV will get more opportunities to be a passer in this offense.

[Raptorsnz]

Imagine him in a tank

Thankfully thats' the first reference to a tank I've heard on these forums in a long time.

[S.R.]

Ball movement between JV and the guards has looked a bit better lately. He's getting some easy buckets under the rim when the D collapses on a drive, they're looking for him on the roll, especially with lobs (tough because the D usually sticks to him on the roll), and JV has made a couple nice passes back to a cutting guard the last couple of games. Much better stuff than the ISO clear-outs they used to give him. Hopefully the trend continues...

[GLF]

Yea I kind of see why they don't give it to JV on the roll that much. Guys respect JV a lot offensively and they stick to him tight anytime he's rolling. I think last game Kyle made a lob pass to JV on the pick and roll, which shocked me, but it almost got picked off. He caught it and finished but it could have easily been a turnover. Nobody guards Biz and Bebe (when he played) in the pick and roll so it's easier to make that pass to them. Well it's still hard to make that pass to Biz because he can't catch a simple pass, but you know what I mean.

[Mess]

Ball movement between JV and the guards has looked a bit better lately. He's getting some easy buckets under the rim when the D collapses on a drive, they're looking for him on the roll, especially with lobs (tough because the D usually sticks to him on the roll), and JV has made a couple nice passes back to a cutting guard the last couple of games. Much better stuff than the ISO clear-outs they used to give him. Hopefully the trend continues...

Yeah that pass he made to Lowry right under the hoop was pretty good. He's slowly erasing my doubts about his passing deficiencies...emphasis on slowly.

[OldSkoolCool]

Our guards snake the screen too often because they are looking for theirs and it really ruins a lot of opportunities to use JV as the roll man

[DanH]

I don't have an issue with the guards mostly looking for their shot first on pick plays, precisely because opponents DO treat JV with a lot of respect rolling down the lane and tend to stick to him very tightly, leaving a lot of room to operate for the guards.

My issue is that even when that tight coverage on JV slips for a play, the guards tend not to be looking until they hit a dead end on their own drive, so often the play gets choked out if that happens unless the guard can find JV with a mid-air pass (mid-air because they've left their feet to attempt a tough contested shot with two defenders on them before realizing they should probably pass). This also gives the secondary defence (the rotating wing, usually) time to get low for a potential strip at the ball or foul preventing the easy basket by the big. The easier play is to make the defence move, recognize the lack of coverage on the screener, and find him early with momentum down the lane, and we rarely do that with any of our bigs because the mindset seems to be that the screen is set to get the guard a shot first and foremost.

[KHD]

I don't have an issue with the guards mostly looking for their shot first on pick plays, precisely because opponents DO treat JV with a lot of respect rolling down the lane and tend to stick to him very tightly, leaving a lot of room to operate for the guards.

My issue is that even when that tight coverage on JV slips for a play, the guards tend not to be looking until they hit a dead end on their own drive, so often the play gets choked out if that happens unless the guard can find JV with a mid-air pass (mid-air because they've left their feet to attempt a tough contested shot with two defenders on them before realizing they should probably pass). This also gives the secondary defence (the rotating wing, usually) time to get low for a potential strip at the ball or foul preventing the easy basket by the big. The easier play is to make the defence move, recognize the lack of coverage on the screener, and find him early with momentum down the lane, and we rarely do that with any of our bigs because the mindset seems to be that the screen is set to get the guard a shot first and foremost.

i think the bold is the big problem with our team in general.

You said it, the mindset is that the screen gets a guard a shot. I don't think they've been asked / taught to recognize the correct play.

[JWash]

i think the bold is the big problem with our team in general.

You said it, the mindset is that the screen gets a guard a shot. I don't think they've been asked / taught to recognize the correct play.

Yup that's a coaching thing, definitely.

Obviously not exactly the same, but I remember when I played high school basketball, our backcourt were our two leading scorers and we ran a ton of on ball screens but looking for the roll man was always viewed as sort of a last resort and not really emphasized. The primary goal was simply to free up the guards to get going towards the basket.

Not every on ball pick is meant to be a pick and roll finish basically.

[Superjudge]

I think JV drops or bobbled enough passes to lose the trust of his mates. Its a tough thing to regain, right or wrong.

[DanH]

I think JV drops or bobbled enough passes to lose the trust of his mates. Its a tough thing to regain, right or wrong.

Biyombo drops twice as many passes and somehow receives more of them. Not buying that logic.

[Mess]

so often the play gets choked out if that happens unless the guard can find JV with a mid-air pass (mid-air because they've left their feet to attempt a tough contested shot with two defenders on them before realizing they should probably pass). This also gives the secondary defence (the rotating wing, usually) time to get low for a potential strip at the ball or foul preventing the easy basket by the big.

I think JV drops or bobbled enough passes to lose the trust of his mates. Its a tough thing to regain, right or wrong.

These are connected. How many passes are not caught because Lowry throws a pass at his knees or like one play in Philly, he whips a wraparound pass that nobody has a chance at catching.

[Axel]

These are connected. How many passes are not caught because Lowry throws a pass at his knees or like one play in Philly, he whips a wraparound pass that nobody has a chance at catching.

Far too many. Lowry is a willing passer, but he isn't very gifted at it.

[OldSkoolCool]

95% of the time if the player cant catch the pass, it was a shitty pass, not a shutty catch

[Barolt]

These are connected. How many passes are not caught because Lowry throws a pass at his knees or like one play in Philly, he whips a wraparound pass that nobody has a chance at catching.

I've noticed this for our shooters too. Patterson and Ross both have really quick shooting motions when they catch it in the pocket, but Lowry throws it at their knees a lot.