The EuroLeague qualifiers, a sixteen team single elimination tournament determining the final two EuroLeague regular season participants, started up yesterday with 4 of the first 8 games taking place.  During the course of these games, we are going to take a look at some of the action.

When I did my scouting report on Jonas Valanciunas earlier this offseason, I pointed out that one of his man weaknesses was post defense.  As Valanciunas represented Lithuania over the course of the summer, both on the U19 and the Men’s level, we have seen this lack of strength hurt him here and there.  However, yesterday while playing for his domestic club, Lietuvos Rytas, his poor post defense, especially the ease of which opponents can back him down, was very apparent.

Anytime his opponent got the ball on the block, Valanciunas was backed down very easily, leading me to tweet about his lack of strength.  A Lithuanian basketball follower responded with this:

@SebastianPruiti Lithuanian NTs coaches say that Valančiūnas has enough strength but he doesn’t know to use it properly.

Watching tape, especially from yesterday, this lack of technique is pretty apparent.  Take this possession for example:

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Last year, I started something called NBA Mythbusters, I’m bringing it back this offseason.

Background

You ask any Raptor fan to finish the sentence “Andrea Bargnani is…” and you are more than likely going to get the phrase “a terrible defender.”  Bargnani, the number 1 pick in 2006, is the player that Raptor fans point at when looking to blame someone on their roster for their terrible defense.  This past season, the Raptors had the worst defensive efficiency in the NBA, allowing opponents to score 109.8 points per 100 possessions with Bargnani anchoring the defense.

However, is this Bargnani’s fault, and is he truly a “terrible” defender.  To be terrible, you shouldn’t really be able to do anything good (in this case, on the defensive end).  Does Bargnani fit into this category?

Evidence

In my opinion, when you look at a player’s skill defensively, you need to focus on two very distinct aspects.  On ball defense and off ball defense (help defense).

On Ball Defense

Despite the reputation, Bargnani is actually a very good on ball defender, both on the block and when put in isolation one-on-one situations.  I recently looked at Bargnani’s post defense, here is what I wrote last week:

Despite the reputation, Andrea Bargnani is actually a good post defender.  In the 205 times he was posted up last season, Bargnani held his opponent to just 182 points (0.888 PPP) on just 46.8% shooting.  The key is length.  Bargnani has length, and when defending on the basketball, especially in the post, he knows how to use it well:

Bargnani isn’t going to block a lot of shots, but he is able to go straight up and use his length to contest shots without fouling (fouled opponents on the block just 7.6% of the time) by going straight up.

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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.

Past Editions: Kyrie Irving (#1) | Derrick Williams (#2) | Tristan Thompson (#4) | Jan Vesely (#6) | Bismack Biyombo (#7)

As I mentioned when looking at Tristan Thompson, Jonas Valanciunas to the Cavs was looking like a lock, but as we got closer to draft night, it was getting more and more up in the air, partially due to Valanciunas’ buy-out forcing him to stay overseas for a year and partially due to how impressed they were with Thompson’s workouts.  As we all know, the Cavs took Thompson allowing Jonas Valanciunas to fall in the Raptors, who need a true center, lap.

Strengths

Off Ball Offense

Valanciunas’ biggest strength offensively is when he is working off of the basketball cutting and in pick and roll sets, and his international team, Lietuvos Rytas was smart enough to build Valanciunas’ offense around that, as 43.3% of his offense was either cuts or pick and rolls (if you want to add offensive rebounds, off ball offense makes up 65.1% of Valanciunas’ offense).

As the roll man in pick and roll sets (23.2% of all offensive possessions) Valanciunas posted a PPP of 1.434, which puts him in the top 4% of all international players as he shot 74.7%.  Valanciunas rolled to the rim 97% of the time in pick and roll sets (slipping the screen the remaining 3%), showing his ability to find lanes when rolling to the rim, making the catch, and getting the ball on the rim:

Valanciunas doesn’t set the best screens and that probably needs to be improved upon (though we have seen guys like David Lee, David West, and Amar’e Stoudemire have success without setting the best screens), but when he is rolling to the rim he does just about everything right.  He makes himself available and once he makes the catch, he is going right up with it and has the ability to finish over the help defender (something we also saw during the u19 tournament).

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Last year, the Toronto Raptors were the worst defensive team in the NBA, allowing 109.8 points per 100 possessions (5.4 points per 100 possessions above the league average).  With that in mind, there is little surprise that the Raptors seem to be focusing on that side of the basketball this offseason.  First and foremost, they hired Mavericks’ assistant Dwane Casey as their head coach.  Casey was the architect of the Mavericks’ championship defense and the man who was responsible for the team’s turnaround on that end.

The second thing that the Raptors did during the offseason that showed an emphasis on the defensive end was drafting Jonas Valanciunas.  While Valanciunas is staying overseas for one more season, the Raptors’ front office and new coaching staff have big expectations for him on the defensive end.  While doing my player comparisons for Basketball Prospectus, Kevin Pelton’s player similarity scores showed us that Valanciunas compared most closely to Tyson Chandler.  Funny enough, the man who just coached Chandler and will be coaching Valanciunas in the future saw the same things, as Holly MacKenzie tweeted:

Quote from Casey on Valanciunas: I just came from having Tyson Chandler and Tyson Chandler at this age was not as good as this young man.

After this season (once he comes over), Jonas Valanciunas will most likely be the Raptors’ starting center.  His starting power forward?  Most likely Andrea Bargnani.  Despite the reputation Bargnani has for being soft and a terrible defensive player, I think the combination of Valanciunas and Bargnani can work on the defensive end.  While Raptor fans are probably rolling their eyes at me, because both Valanciunas and Bargnani have strengths and weaknesses right now defensively.  Luckily for them, their strengths compliment each other well, and they should be able to hide each other’s weaknesses.

Despite the reputation, Andrea Bargnani is actually a good post defender.  In the 205 times he was posted up last season, Bargnani held his opponent to just 182 points (0.888 PPP) on just 46.8% shooting.  The key is length.  Bargnani has length, and when defending on the basketball, especially in the post, he knows how to use it well:

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I do some writing at a few different places, and this week I have been given the opportunity to look at a few interesting things.  Instead of doing a separate post for each link, I decided to lump them all together.

Over at ESPN.com, there is a new feature called 5-on-5 where TrueHoop Network bloggers are grouped together with ESPN.com writers.  Yesterday, Graydon Gordian, Rahat Huq, Beckley Mason, myself, and David Thorpe looked at some coaching related questions, including who has done the least with least:

Sebastian Pruiti, NBA Playbook: George Karl. No disrespect to the players currently on the Nuggets’ roster, but Carmelo Anthony left the team and we all wondered if they would be able to score enough. Not only have they been able to score, but they are now the most efficient offensive team in the league, and a lot of it has to do with Karl’s offense.

Meanwhile, today at SBNation.com’s NBA page, I took a look at the Triangle, and how the offense creates scoring opportunities in the low post:

When people think of Phil Jackson’s Triangle offense, they think of an offense that is designed to cater to superstar wings (guys like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant), isolating them on the perimeter.  While there are options that lead to isolation sets, the Triangle offense is so much more than that, especially when it comes to the post-up game.  In the Triangle offense, there are a number of different sets/options designed to get the basketball on the block to the Lakers‘ big men.

Finally, over at Basketball Prospectus, Dan Feldman and I looked at the interesting case of DeMar DeRozan, a player who is a strong long two shooter, but very poor when it comes to taking threes:

College stats don’t always project smoothly to the NBA, but DeMar DeRozan‘s three-point shooting has held up.

Unfortunately.

DeRozan, who made just 6-of-36 three-pointers (16.7 percent) in his lone season at USC, has been quietly putting together one of the worst three-point shooting seasons in NBA history. With six games remaining, DeRozan has made just 4-of-41 three-pointers (9.8 percent). Just 10 players have posted worse three-point-shooting seasons (minimum: 30 three-point attempts). Here are the 20 worst three-point shooting-seasons in NBA history:

All of this is very interesting stuff and I hope you take the time to head on over to the links and check them out.  Thanks!

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) – Jay Triano/Toronto Raptors

Coming out of a SLOB set, the Raptors get the ball into Jerryd Bayless.  Bayless gets the ball into Andrea Bargnani, and it looks like the Raptors are working a two man game (in fact they ran this play to start the game).  However, this is not the case as Sonny Weems cuts through the middle and Leandro Barbosa comes off of a pindown screen open behind the three point line.

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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) – Avery Johnson/New Jersey Nets

This is a play that the Nets use coming out of a timeout to set up Brook Lopez in the post.  It starts with Sundiata Gaines getting the basketball on the wing and coming off of a Brook Lopez ball screen.  After setting the screen, Lopez comes off of two backscreens as Gaines takes the ball to the middle of the court, using another ball screen.  Normally, this play is designed for a post up opportunity, but the defense overplays that and both Gaines and Lopez read it, Lopez stays on the opposite side of the rim, waiting for the lob.  Gaines throws it, and Lopez is able to finish.

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On Friday, I  was interviewed by the guys over at ThunderGround Radio who do a weekly podcast for the TrueHoop Network’s Thunder blog, Daily Thunder.  For the most part we discussed the Thunder’s late game execution and why they seem to struggle.  One of the things that I suggested was that the Thunder run more pick and rolls with Kevin Durant as the screener and Russell Westbrook as the ball handler.  Well, that is exactly what they did on Sunday against the Raptors with the game tied and with just 37 or so seconds left.  However, the Thunder came away empty, and this is because the Raptors defended the pick and roll perfectly.

As Russell Westbrook brings the basketball up along the wing, Kevin Durant gets in position to set a screen for him.  Westbrook uses the screen to take the ball to the middle of the court.

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With the game tied, the Toronto Raptors needed to get one stop to be able to force their game against the Utah Jazz into overtime.  The Raptors were able to force Devin Harris into a tough shot, but they were unable to secure the defensive rebound, and the Jazz were able to tip home the game winner:

We pick up the play with Devin Harris on the elbow with his dribble picked up and he is making his move to get the ball on the rim.  Highlighted is Reggie Evans, one of the better rebounders in the league, leaning up against Al Jefferson.  As of right now, he is in proper position as the shot is about to go up.

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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) – Gregg Popovich/San Antonio Spurs

This play takes a little while to develop, but George Hill eventually gets the ball to Tim Duncan on the wing as Antonio McDyess flashes to the elbow.  After making the pass, Hill flashes to the ball side corner.

Once McDyess spots up on the elbow, Duncan enters the basketball to him.  After making the pass, Duncan sets a screen for Manu Ginobili.  Meanwhile, Marc Gasol gets sucked into a double team of McDyess.

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