To Run Or Not To Run: Jerry Sloan vs. Deron Williams
With Jerry Sloan stepping down, there are a lot of reports that Sloan decided to step down after growing tired of butting heads with Deron. The two have reportedly but heads all season, with things really getting heated on Wednesday. Again, according to reports, a lot of the stuff between Williams and Sloan was due to different mindsets when it came to the issue of halfcourt offense vs. transition offense. I don’t think I need to tell you who was in favor of what, but here is an interesting excerpt from Jack McCallum’s great piece on Sloan from yesterday:
And there are reports that his talented point guard, Deron Williams, was growing upset with the Sloan half-court system, believing that more transition offense (and a few different players) was the way for the Jazz to climb out of their doldrums.
After looking at the numbers and watching through the tape you can see why both Williams and Sloan feel the way that they do, and video evidence suggests that this (whether or not to run more) is why their relationship deteriorated.
Why Williams Wants To Run?
The Utah Jazz actually lead the league in points per possession in transition with a PPP of 1.231 on 63.1% shooting (also first in the league in transition). However, despite the positive numbers, the Jazz don’t run all that much, with only 13.1% of their total possessions labeled as “transition” by Synergy Sports Technology, which is only the 11th most in the NBA.
So if you are Deron Williams and you are seeing your team putting up solid number both in terms of scoring and in terms of shooting percentage, you are probably going to wonder why the team doesn’t run more than it does. Also, you are going to believe that if you run more that you can keep the efficiency levels the same.
Why Sloan Doesn’t Want To Run?
Now, Sloan has always been a guy who ran a half court offense, so some of this has to do with him not wanting to change his system (and rightfully so, if you ask me). However, in addition to that, there are numbers that suggest running might not be the best thing for this Jazz team. First, the Jazz turn the ball over a lot in transition, posting a team turnover percentage of 13.0% when in transition, which is just 24th in the NBA. So while the Jazz are posting a high shooting percentage, Sloan probably thinks his team can be more efficient in the halfcourt where they turn the ball over much less (12.3% of halfcourt possessions – 7th lowest TO%), giving them more possessions.
Another reason why Sloan may not want to run is because Deron Williams isn’t a very good point guard in transition. Williams is posting a PPP of 1.16 when in transition which is 164th in the NBA. This is due mostly to turnovers as Williams is turning the ball over on 15.5% of his individual transition possessions which is good for a ranking of 246th.
Williams Breaking Off Sets
In addition to the reports that had Sloan and Williams getting into it over the number of fastbreak opportunities, there are reports that talk about Williams breaking off of Sloan playcalls and just doing his own thing on the court. When watching through the tape, I didn’t really notice Williams breaking off of sets in the halfcourt too much (though I am sure I don’t know every single set that Sloan runs), and when he does it seems to be in the flow of the game and not a “me against the world” thing. However, where I did notice Williams breaking things off and doing his own thing is when he would decide to try and force the issue and create fastbreak opportunities that didn’t exist instead of slowing things down and running a set that Sloan calls out:
In this case, the entire Chicago Bulls team is back on defense after a jump shot where nobody crashes the offensive glass. Instead of slowing it down and getting into a set, Williams tries to create a transition opportunity. He attacks the middle, but the defense is there and ready to help, forcing Williams into a bad pass.
Once again, Williams tries to create a transition opportunity when he doesn’t have the numbers in the above clip. Again, the defense cuts him off and doesn’t let him get to the rim. Williams tries to throw a pinpoint pass that is off the mark, creating another turnover.
Here, after getting the outlet pass, Williams once again tries to create a transition opportunity, this time, outrunning his entire team. He ends up getting caught in the air too far underneath the rim. With the rest of his team trailing the play, he has nobody to kick the ball out to, and the result is yet another turnover.
Finally, in this clip, Williams again tries to create a transition opportunity. Again, the defense is back, so there is no clear reason to try and run. The defense collapses on Williams, knocking the ball off of him and out of bounds.
Now, Williams is still a very good point guard, and when fastbreak opportunities are there organically in the flow of the game, Williams scores and he scores effectively. However, he still insists on forcing things and it wouldn’t surprise me if he and Coach Sloan have had discussions about this very thing.
If this is a stand that Williams is making, it is kind of a strange one. To me, it’s like he is saying, “I don’t care if forcing the issue makes me a worse point guard, I am going to keep doing it over and over.”
In all of the clips above, it is a pretty good bet that Sloan would have wanted Williams to run the offense rather than force the issue and trying to make something out of nothing.
