San Antonio Spurs – The Numbers*

• Pace: 94.3 (16th)
• Offensive Efficiency: 109.4 (2nd)
• True Shooting Percentage: 56.7% (3rd)
• Assist Rate: 21.34 (8th)
• Turnover Rate: 12.80 (7th)
• Offensive Rebound Rate: 24.95 (21st)
• Free Throw Rate: 29.9 (14th)
• Three Point Rate: 26.1 (6th)

San Antonio Spurs - Strengths

Spot Up Shooting

When it comes to shooting in Spot-Up situations the Spurs are third best team in the league posting a PPP of 1.08 on 42.9% shooting (the 2nd highest FG% in the league).  The Spurs have predicated their offense this season on spot-up shooting, particularly in the corners, and it is interesting to see who gets the most spot up possessions on their team.  Richard Jefferson, Gary Neal, Matt Bonner, and George Hill make up 56.6% of the Spurs’ spot-up possessions (the only other player in the top 5 is Manu Ginobili).  All four of these guys are in the top 20% of the league in terms of PPP and three of them (Jefferson, Neal, and Bonner) are in the top 9%.  Even more interesting is that all of these guys seem to be most effective (and get most of their possessions) spotting up off of pick and roll action.  Richard Jefferson gets 40.7% of his spot up opportunities out of the pick and roll, and he is shooting 43.6% off of it:

As you probably know, Richard Jefferson gets most of his shot attempts from the corner and this is designed.  With the pick and roll drawing the defenses attention, Jefferson is able to spot up and get open look after open look in the corner.  Here, Tim Duncan sets a screen for Tony Parker, and Parker is able to get in the lane.  This forces the defense to sink in and Jefferson is open for the kick out.

Gary Neal gets 39.5% of his spot up opportunities off of pick and roll action and he is shooting 50.5% off of it.

In my opinion, Gary Neal basically plays the same roll as Jefferson in terms of spotting up.  Here, Parker comes off of the screen and Neal’s man sinks in ever so slightly to defend against the roll man. Neal spots up, gets the pass, and knocks down the three.

Matt Bonner gets 46.4% of his spot up opportunities off of pick and roll action and he is shooting 48.7% off of it.

I don’t have any numbers on this to confirm (NBA’s HotSpots don’t update anymore), so I could be wrong, but it seems that Matt Bonner gets most of his three point looks at the top of the key/wings instead of the corners.  This is exactly what happens in the above clip.  Parker comes off of the screen and attacks the middle.  Bonner’s man helps, and Bonner is able to catch and shoot off of the kick out pass.

Finally, George Hill gets 44.5% of his spot up opportunities off of the pick and roll and he is shooting 40.7% off of it.

George Hill is yet another shooter that the Spurs can put in the corner and watch teams sink off of him.  This play is a perfect example of the Spurs’ mindset this season.  You have a pick and roll at the top of the key, with the ball going to Duncan on the roll.  It’s team Duncan, so teams naturally sink off of him, but Duncan doesn’t really look for his shot anymore.  Duncan throws a touch pass to the corner for a wide open Hill who knocks down the three.

Coming Off Of Ball Screens

The reason why Jefferson, Neal, Bonner, and Hill are able to spot up and get so many looks is because the Spurs are really effective in the pick and roll.  While Duncan is always a threat on the roll, the Spurs are even better when the ball handler keeps the ball and looks to score.  When the ball handlers keeps the ball and looks to score off of a ball screen, the Spurs are the second most efficient team (only behind the Heat), scoring 0.904 points per possession.  This is all Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili as these two use 74.6% of the Spurs’ PNR BH possessions (Parker gets 43.4% and Ginobili gets 31.2%).  Both are in the top 17% of the league in terms of PPP.  Both guys get a bulk of their screens at the top of the key (50%) and both guys have a very even split when it comes to taking a jumper vs. driving the lane (Parker takes a jumper 53.4% of the time and drives it 46% of the time – Ginobili is 47.6-51.9), and this makes it even tougher to defend because there isn’t really a tendency.  The difference comes to how these guys get  to the rim.  Parker utilizes his quickness.

Here, Devin Harris, the man covering Tony Parker, goes under the screen and even then he can’t keep up with Parker who drives on a straight line to the rim and finishes at the basket.

Ginobili on the other hand is crafty and uses that to get himself to the rim:

Here, Ginobili throws a hesitation dribble at the defense once he gets to the free throw line.  These gets the defense leaning forward, then Ginobili takes two very long strides getting to the rim.

San Antonio Spurs – Weaknesses

Finishing At The Rim/Off Of Cuts

Maybe the one weakness the Spurs have on offense is finishing at the rim after a nice cut to the basket.  In terms of PPP and FG% the Spurs are 28th in the NBA on possessions labeled as cuts.  The biggest culprit for the Spurs is DeJuan Blair.  Blair gets the most “cut” possessions (27.1% of the Spurs total “cuts”), but he is one of the worst finishers for the Spurs.  Blair is in the bottom 1/4 of the league in terms of PPP at the rim, and a large reason for this is because he doesn’t have the height to easily finish after catching a pass off of a cut.

In both of these plays, Blair gets the ball in pretty good position to score.  However, because he doesn’t have the size he needs to put the ball on the floor, pump fake, and attempt to finish in traffic.  He has trouble doing this (unlike someone like Glen Davis who thrives on finishing at the rim against taller players).

Memphis Grizzlies – The Numbers*

• Pace: 94.7 (17th)
• Offensive Efficiency: 104.4 (16th)
• True Shooting Percentage: 53.4% (19th)
• Assist Rate: 19.18 (23rd)
• Turnover Rate: 12.99 (9th)
• Offensive Rebound Rate: 28.89 (6th)
• Free Throw Rate: 29.1 (18th)
• Three Point Rate: 13.6 (30th)

Memphis Grizzlies - Strengths

Scoring Off Of Offensive Rebounds

Above I mentioned that the Grizzlies have the 6th highest offensive rebound in the league.  They are even better at taking these offensive rebounds and converting them into baskets.  The Grizzlies are 4th in the league in terms of PPP on shot attempts/possessions off of offensive rebounds. The two most productive offensive rebounders for the Grizzlies are Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol.  Gasol posts a PPP of 1.13 and is in the top 1/4 of the league, and he is able to get his rebounds by trailing his teammate who attacks the rim:

On both of these plays, Randolph heads straight to the rim right as his teammate attacks the rim.  Usually, Randolph’s defender decides to help on the attack on the rim.  This forces the miss, but it also gives Randolph an area to follow up the shot and put it in.

Like Randolph, Gasol is also very effective when it comes to converting on offensive rebounds.  In fact, Gasol is even more efficient than Randolph, putting up a PPP of 1.36.  This puts Gasol in the top 5% of all players in the NBA.  Gasol is able to get his offensive rebounds just by outworking people (not saying Randolph doesn’t do this, but Gasol is such a hard workers):

On both of these offensive rebounds, you just see how much Gasol wants the basketball and that hard work is what puts himself in position to not only grab the rebound, but also convert this rebound into two points.

Memphis Grizzlies - Weaknesses

Spot Up Shooting

The Memphis Grizzlies are the worst team in the NBA in terms of PPP in spot-up situations.  The Grizzlies shot just 37.6% in spot up situations, posting a PPP of 0.898.  Their worst spot up shooter is Tony Allen who shots 30.5% despite getting 139 of these spot up opportunities.  Allen’s biggest problem is that he settles for shots without dribbling.  In spot up situations when Allen attacks the rim he is shooting 39.3%.  When he takes a dribble jumper he is shooting 36%.  These aren’t fantastic numbers, but they are well above his total FG% and much better than when Allen shots a jumper without a dribble (25.4%).  The problem is that Allen takes no-dribble jumpers more than anything, doing so 47.7% of the time.

The numbers prove that Allen is a much better shooter when he takes at least 1 dribble to gather himself, but he doesn’t do this enough.  As you can see in the clips above, when he doesn’t take a dribble, he struggles badly.

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*All numbers come from the fantastic website Hoopdata.com