For the past two offseasons, we have been looking at players coming to the NBA after playing at least as season overseas. With the lockout, we are going to have plenty of time on our hands. With that being said, I plan on doing scouting reports for each of the 30 first round picks from this past draft.
Despite having a similar player in D.J. Augustin, the Charlotte Bobcats took Kemba Walker with the ninth pick when he dropped to them in the draft. What’s interesting is that even though they play in similar ways, Charlotte’s coaching staff is making noise about playing Augustin and Walker together.
Strengths
Scoring Off The Pick And Roll
When Walker is looking for his own shot coming off of a ball screen, he is a very dangerous player. He does a good job of creating space for his shot, but what makes him really special is his ability to get to the rim when coming off of a ball screen. Walker was in the top 15% of all college players (in terms of PPP) when taking it all the way to the rim coming off of a ball screen drawing a foul 33.3% of the time (Basically, every three times Walker attacked the rim off of a screen, he went to the free throw line):
What makes Walker so tough to cover when coming off of a ball screen is that he has a combination of quickness and shooting ability. Walker is a good enough shooter that if you go under the screen, he is going to pull up and knock down the jumper. This means that defenses need to try to go over screens while hedging. Walker is simply too quick and is able to take advantage by driving by the hedge man and getting into the lane (while not shying away from contact). Finally, he is good enough with the ball that he won’t turn it over often (only turned it over 3% of the time when attacking the rim).
Last year, we took a look at players coming to the NBA after playing at least as season overseas. This year we are going to be doing the same thing, and with Bismack Biyombo being drafted in the first round and a manageable buyout, he is definitely going to be in the NBA next season, which is why we are taking a look at him.
Bismack Biyombo took the world by storm by posting a triple double in the annual Hoop Summit game featuring the best prospects in the world. Despite playing just 13 games in the ACB (the Spanish Pro league and maybe the second best league in teh world), Biyombo found himself as the #7 pick to the Charlotte Bobcats.
Strengths
Pick And Roll Offense
Everything that you have read or heard about Biyombo tells us that he is extremely raw on the offensive end. While that is true, there is one area where Biyombo is slightly better than average, and that is in the pick and roll game. As the roll man on pick and rolls, Biyombo shot 64.7% and posted a PPP of 1.091 (top 50% of all international players) while drawing a foul 31.8% of the time.
The way that Biyombo sets screens is straight out of the Amar’e Stoudemire/David Lee/Daivd West mold of not really setting a screen, but showing it and then quickly rolling to the rim. My guess is that Biyombo or his coaching staff had him doing this for a couple reasons. First, it lets him avoid setting moving screens, and second, it allows him to get to an area where he can catch and go right up with it easily:
A team’s performance after a timeout may be the best way to judge a coach’s Xs & Os knowledge, and his ability to draw up plays. The Clipboard Awards is a competition where I choose the top three post-timeout plays each night, adding up the scores over the course of the season.
Play 3 (1 Point) – Paul Silas/Charlotte Bobcats
This play starts with D.J. Augustin bringing the basketball up the court, kicking it out to the wing, and then coming off of a backscreen to the block. Augustin curls it to the opposite block and gets in position to set a screen for Stephen Jackson. The beauty of this play is that Jackson gets to pick one of two screens to use based on how his defender is playing him. His defender plays him over the top, cheating and trying to prevent him from coming off of the pindown screen, so Jackson simply uses the cross screen, gets open, and knocks down the easy jumper in the paint.
A team’s performance after a timeout may be the best way to judge a coach’s Xs & Os knowledge, and his ability to draw up plays. The Clipboard Awards is a competition where I choose the top three post-timeout plays each night, adding up the scores over the course of the season.
Play 3 (1 Point) – Paul Silas/Charlotte Bobcats
This is a baseline set, but the Bobcats quickly get the basketball to D.J. Augustin at the top of the key so they can run their set. They quickly run Dante Cunningham off of a pindown screen, with Cunningham curling it to the opposite key. After Cunningham curls off the pindown, Gerald Henderson comes off the same pindown screen. Henderson makes the catch and knocks down the jumper. What makes this play work is the double run off of the screen. The defense is really focusing on Cunningham as he comes off of the screen, not prepared for Henderson to come off of the same screen.
Taking a break from all of the Carmelo Anthony madness today, I did a post over at Basketball Prospectus looking at DJ Augustin and how his improved play in the pick and roll has lead to somewhat of a breakout season:
After Raymond Felton left the Charlotte Bobcats this past offseason, the keys to Charlotte’s offense were handed over to D.J. Augustin. Augustin took them, and at the All-Star break, he is having the best offensive season of his NBA career. He has not only seen his Offensive Rating jump from 106 to 116, but his True Shooting Percentage is up (from 51.6 percent to 55.6 percent), his assist percentage is up (21.7 to 31.8), and his turnover rate is down (13.1 to 12.5).
When breaking down the game tape, you notice that this offensive success has come from Augustin’s play in the pick-and-roll game. According to Synergy Sport Technology, Augustin uses a pick as a ballhandler 45.1 percent fo the time (this number combines his passes and shots as the PNR ballhandler). What makes Augustin so successful with the pick-and-roll is because he mixes things up very well. When coming off of screens, Augustin looks for his offense 49.5 percent of the time and he passes out of it 50.5 percent of the time. Because he doesn’t have a tendency, he is definitely a hard cover.
The Lakers went out and lost to the Charlotte Bobcats by 20 points (109-89) last night, and everyone seems to be looking at the Lakers’ three point shooting as the problem. Many people were talking about how Charlotte turned the Lakers into a three point shooting team, but that is simply not the case. Sure, the Lakers took a few more threes than they do over the course of the season, 24% of the Lakers shots last night were threes when they have shot 22.3% threes over the course of the season, but the Lakers weren’t settling:
As the chart illustrates, the Lakers were getting to the rim more than usual last night, as 40% of their total shots were at the rim, compared to 28.5% over the course of the entire season. The problem with the Lakers’ offense is that they were missing at the rim more than usual. Los Angeles is 6th in the NBA, shooting 66.9% on shots located at the rim. Against the Bobcats, that number dropped all the way to 50%, which would be worst in the league by far (the Bucks are worst in the league shooting 57% at the rim).
Against the Sixers last night, Gerald Henderson scored 6 of his 11 points in the final minute forty. 4 of those 6 points came off the same play, a play where Henderson came off of a staggered screen. Here is what the play looked like (via the fantastic application FastDraw):
In this set, Gerald Henderson starts in the middle of the lane, and he has two different options. He can use the single screen set by Gerald Wallace, or he can use the staggered screens set by Stephen Jackson and Boris Diaw. In both instances, Henderson decided to use the staggered screens, and in both instances, Henderson was able to get a wide open look:
In the Charlotte Bobcats-Philadelphia 76ers game we saw two fantastic sideline out of bounds sets with 7.7 seconds left in the 4th quarter. The first came with the Sixers trailing by three points. The Sixers, needing a three pointer ran a nice set that resulting in a catch and shoot three pointer from Lou Williams.
As the ball gets handed to the trigger man, Andre Iguodala, Lou Williams sets a screen for Jodie Meeks.
Meeks uses the screen and then comes off of another screen set by Elton Brand. At the same time, Jason Kapono sets a screen for Lou Williams.
The Charlotte Bobcats were up by two points against the Toronto Raptors, and they were looking to extend their lead to a two possession game. To try and achieve that, the Bobcats ran a nice little play that involved a curl off of a pindown screen.
As the Bobcats bring up the basketball, both Matt Carroll and Gerald Wallace go from the corner to the block. Wallace to set a screen and Carroll to use it.
OK, fine. Ever might be too strong of a word, but the first half of Friday’s Nets-Bobcats game was really bad. The numbers don’t even do it justice. Just watch this video:
