If the MonStars were to come back today and steal the talents of Brandon Jennings, Paul Pierce, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard, and Yao Ming what offense would you have them run?
Not a question you get often, but that is what I found in my inbox a couple of days ago from Beckley Mason, the man behind the fantastic blog HoopSpeak.com (I also have to had that HoopSpeak is the latest fantastic addition to the TrueHoop Network).
This question is an interesting way to look at how coaches develop offensive systems based on what their GM gives them. I recommend clicking over and taking a look.
The Atlanta Hawks have practically the same roster as last year (give or take a few players), but you can expect to see a completely different team on the court. Why? Well, if the preseason is any indication, coach Larry Drew has the team playing differently on the offensive end.
The biggest difference that I have seen in the Hawks’ offense so far this preaseason is that there is a lot less ISO sets and a lot more movement off of the basketball. In fact, during their game against the Wizards, the Hawks only ran an ISO for Joe Johnson twice while the starters were in (I really focused on when the starters were in for this post. I just feel that this will give us the best indication of what they will do this season). This is a team that ran ISO sets 17.3% of the time (and Joe Johnson himself was ISO’d 37% of his individual possessions). The Hawks seem to want to focus more on both ball and player movement. There is no better indication of this than the fact that the Hawks are now running the flex:
