Offense

There is a drastic difference between what we used to be to the modern day version of what we currently have become. At first, we were a half court, slow the tempo down to a halt , value every possession as if it was our last, low scoring, New York Knicks of the 90's team that relied heavily on our defense to keep us close in games so that we could do just enough on the offensive end to get by. That is a long poorly written line but it describes us perfectly when we first came into the league. If we scored more than 50 it was a miracle and a rarity that we barely achieved more than a handful of times. We would rely on our stout defensive tactics and rather than run out and take advantage we would immediately walk the ball up the court in hopes of boring our opposition to the point where they would be so bored that they would simply give up their goal of trying to score the basketball. Sounds crazy I know, but it worked....once in awhile.

Now we have done a 180 degree turn in terms of what we try to do week in and week out. Turning over the ball is a problem for all teams and it certainly has been an issue for us at times, but when you play the style of basketball we like to play, accruing 12 turnovers a game isn't out of the realm of possibility. That would have been enough for 2 games back in the old days because when you walk the ball up the court and run a half court set by passing the ball 15 times around the horn it is tough to throw the ball away. Nowadays, we are flying up and down the court like greyhounds and it is very likely that in that rapid topsy-tervy style there will be some passes that are a bit more risky or that somehow never reach their intended destination.

As a casual observer you might think that we play somewhat recklessly, as if we do not value the ball or the possession as much as we used to. That is a fair assumption I suppose but I guarantee that there is no team playing that can handle what we do for 40 minutes a game. Sure, there are games where we get a little winded and have to slow things down for a couple of minutes but when we are playing Clip Joint basketball at our peak, we never stop pushing the tempo. From the minute we get a rebound or the minute we are taking the ball out of the basket after a made shot, that ball is being shoved down the throat of our opponent. Want to make a substitution after a loose ball goes out of bounds? I don't think so, the ball is thrown in bounds quicker than Rob can take his breath to blow the whistle.

We went from being a team that struggled to score 50 to a team that scores in the 70's and 80's on a good day. You would think teams would adjust and realize that they do not want to get into a run and gun situation with us. Slow it down, walk the ball up the court, force us into half court sets where at times we do have a harder time enforcing our will. We feature one player who is taller than 6-1, and he plays only about 15 minutes a game. We have no real inside presence. Part of that is because we try to constantly push the tempo and part of that is we love to shoot the 3-ball. I guess we could be compared more easily to the modern day Phoenix Suns....the team before they went ahead and traded for Shaq.