NBA Coaches And The Systems They Force On Their Players

By Court Zierk @courtzierk on November 25, 2014

Square pegs don’t fit into round holes. We all know this. It is an axiomatic truth that we accept without question or reluctance. There is no forcing it to fit within its boundaries, and regardless of how hard we may try, physics prevents it from being possible.

Yet we continue to see examples of systems being forced down the throats of NBA teams by their respective coaches. Instead of playing to the strengths of their rosters, coaches lean on what they have always known, and attempt to shape and mold their players into the type of athletes they envision. Whether its stubbornness or naivety, it rarely works. Even worse, it creates tension between the players in the locker room, and most damagingly, between players and coaches.

The Maddening Dance

Brian Shaw has a roster full of extremely athletic and generally youthful players that have previously thrived in situations where they were allowed to get out and run the fast break at every opportunity. Yet, for some reason, it feels like he is constantly fighting an unwinnable battle to turn them into a team that slows down the pace, grinds out offensive sets and has a primarily defensive identity.

Perhaps understandably, after the ousting of George Karl, Shaw took over this team with an implied mandate to play a style of basketball more conducive to playoff basketball. That’s all well and good for a team that had the components to play that style of ball, but this team clearly doesn’t.

The scene that played itself out over the course of last season appears to be taking place again this year, albeit at an accelerated pace. It looks something like this. Shaw imposes a slow and deliberately paced system, the Denver Nuggets struggle to adapt, they go on a losing streak, they realize they aren’t good at playing that style of basketball, they pick up the pace, and they begin winning games. It is a predictable and maddening dance that Shaw and his players continue to engage in.

The Stubborn Implementation

David Blatt was hired this summer to coach the Cleveland Cavaliers, despite having zero head coaching experience. This isn’t an unprecedented event in and of itself, but it is when you consider that he also has no experience as a player in the league either. This essentially means that every one of his players has more experience with the NBA game, and a few players arguably have more experience as a leader/mentor.

Blatt’s hire wasn’t without criticism or scrutiny, but the majority of pundits actually praised the decision, claiming him to be something of a basketball genius. His offensive system was purported to be beautifully complex, and able to translate to the NBA, not without some growing pains of course. I am not here to tell you that none of that will end up being true, but through the first month of the season, Blatt has almost undeniably mishandled his implementation of the offense, given the players available to him.

Case and point. Kevin Love is one of, if not, the best catch-and-shoot players off the screen in the game of basketball. Yet, Blatt has refused to utilize the pick and roll at even the most basic of levels, in order to leverage the elite skills of one of his best players. That is absurd to me. I understand the insistence on implementing a system, and remaining dedicated to that even through the pains of acclimation, but to completely ignore the makeup of your roster is just bad coaching.

The Triangle

I have to tread lightly here so as to avoid insulting the almighty triangle and the zenness that accompanies it, but I have become absolutely fed up with the relentless attempts to implement this mysterious entity under any and all circumstances.

The triangle relies almost exclusively on precise floor spacing, crisp and willing ball movement, and quick decision making based on the position of defenders. I will pause here. Which of those three elements has Carmelo Anthony ever proven to be proficient at?

Let me make sure I understand the thinking of the New York Knicks as an organization. Hire one of the greatest coaches of all time as president of your organization — I’m with them so far. Hire a coach, Derek Fisher, with zero head coaching experience, but with vast and important experience as a player in Jackson’s system, and possesses the important characteristics of a good coach — a little less with them now, but I’m still listening. Re-sign Carmelo, one of the best scorers in the game, to a five year, $124 million contract, solidifying his place as the cornerstone of this franchise — starting to lose me now. Implement a system that has proven to be effective, but only in situations with the type of players that are willing to do the things necessary to make it so deadly — okay, they lost me.

Sure, Carmelo has said and done all the right things. On the surface, he appears to be a willing participant of the triangle implementation. But, when push comes to shove, I have no doubt that he will resort to what comes natural to him — stopping the ball movement and jacking up shots.

Now, in Carmelo’s defense, he has definitely evened out the number of shots he is taking off the dribble (a sign of poor ball movement), and the shots he is taking off the pass (a sign of triangle-ish offense). Through the first month, he is taking 6.3 pull-up shots per game and 5.3 shots off of a pass. Last year, he was taking 8.3 shots off the dribble versus 5.7 off the pass. This could also just be the result of the Knicks slowing down the pace of their offense to a grueling speed too. They have fewer possession than any other team in the league right now. So, color me skeptical.

Conclusion

What do all three of these situations have in common? Poor execution, collective frustration and team losses. It wasn’t until the Nuggets began to play a style of basketball they were more comfortable with that they began to win some games. The Cavaliers are struggling to figure out who they are, and nobody on that team seems like they want to be part of that team right now. And the Knicks, well, they are just bad. Really, really bad.

The bottom line is that part of good coaching is demonstrating the ability to adapt the unique talents of your roster, and to implement a game plan around that. Conversely, it is the job of the front office to secure players that best fit into the system the head coach wants to implement. Poor judgment by either party results in bad basketball, and nobody wants that.

Court Zierk is a Columnist for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @CourtZierk, “Like” him on Facebook or add him on Google.