Re: [外電] Building the Brow

看板Pelicans (新奧爾良鵜鶘)作者eliczone (C'est la vie)時間11年前 (2014/04/04 12:14)推噓3(3推 0噓 0→)

留言3則, 3人參與討論串2/3 (看更多)

※ 引述《ckbbwtb (曲終人不散)》之銘言： : http://grantland.com/features/building-the-brow/ : by Zach Lowe @ Grantlan : It’s telling that the comparisons have mostly stopped. When Anthony Davis : came into the league, with ridiculous arms and guard skills honed before a : late growth spurt, everyone rushed to find his NBA analogue. 現在大部分的比較都已經停擺。AD剛進聯盟時，擁有噁心的臂長以及後衛的技巧，每個人都急著要尋找他的模板 : Kevin Garnett was a popular choice. Comparisons with Tim Duncan dominated the : lead-up to Davis’s regular-season debut against San Antonio, even though : Duncan as a rookie was older and stouter and he had a back-to-the-basket game : that was historically great almost from the moment he entered the league. KG是普遍的選擇。也有人說像TD，雖然TD進聯盟的時間比較晚，而且TD有當代最佳的背框 : Davis has murdered this parlor game. People around the league don’t know : what to make of him anymore. They are just terrified, especially after having : watched Davis average 30 points, 13.5 rebounds, and three blocks per game on : 55 percent shooting over a 10-game stretch in March — a period during which : he turned 21 freaking years old. He’s already fourth overall in Player : Efficiency Rating, behind only LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Kevin Love. : His game has so many elements on both ends of the floor, it’s going to take : years for the Pelicans to figure out the optimal uses and roster construction : for him. It’s hard to decide what someone is best at when the answer might : be “everything.” AD已經完全宰制。人們已經不知道他還能進化成什麼樣子了，在他們看了他在三月一段十場以上平均30分13.5籃板以及3火鍋的表現，而且他才剛21歲。他現在已經在PER中排名第四，僅次於LBJ、KD和Love。他攻守兼具，鵜鶘會花很多時間去了解怎麼將他最大化以及替他建造球隊。 : The race to surround him with the right talent, and to figure out his ideal : positional use, is already on. The Pelicans will have only limited cap : flexibility in each of the next two summers, and the Magic and Cavaliers can : testify about the fragile and fleeting chance of surrounding a true superstar : with the right pieces — especially since that superstar will likely take his : team out of the lottery.1 幫他新增好的夥伴以及去了解他最佳位置的行動已經啟動。鵜鶘接下來兩季的薪資空間有限。 : “He is going to be his own player,” says Monty Williams, the team’s coach. : “People try and think back to re-create another A.D., but he’s not like : anyone we’ve ever seen.” 「他會獨樹一格，人們會試著再造出另一個AD，但我們從來沒有看過這樣子的球員」 Monty說 : “I’m not sure he reminds me of anyone now,” says Dirk Nowitzki. “In my 16 : years, I’ve never seen anyone like him.” 「我在他身上沒有看到誰的影子，在我16年的生涯中，從來沒有看過像他這樣子的球員」 Dirk說 : The new parlor game is to compare isolated parts of Davis’s game to their : equivalents belonging to someone else. He’s so dangerous on the : pick-and-roll, capable of snagging insane lobs and catching and dunking from : the foul line without a dribble, that he sucks in defenders like Tyson : Chandler and Dwight Howard — only Davis is also a 79 percent foul shooter. : One opposing assistant coach says Davis is the first player since prime : Rasheed Wallace who is fast and long enough to help off Nowitzki on a : pick-and-pop, and then recover back to Nowitzki before the big German can : release his deadly jumper. Another assistant offered up the comparison to a : prime Cliff Robinson — a 6-foot-10 guy with elite outside-in ballhandling : skills, only Davis, of course, has more potential in almost every other facet. 現在他已經是另一個世界的球員了。在擋拆時他是非常危險的，球只要往他那邊拋，基本上就是兩分，而且他不像是泰山和魔獸，他的罰球命中率高達79%。有一名別隊的助理教練說自從怒吼天尊後，AD是第一位夠快夠長到能夠去幫忙防守，之後又能趕快回去防守Dirk的跳投。 : And the Pelicans? They’re trying to mold Davis into some unholy amalgam of : Nowitzki, Hakeem Olajuwon, and whichever pick-and-roll smasher you prefer. 鵜鶘現在正在試著讓AD學習Dirk和大夢。 : “He’s his own player,” says Kevin Hanson, the Pelicans’ player : development coach, who works closely with Davis. “He’s got some Dirk, some : KG, and some Hakeem. I don’t think we’re even going to see what he really : is for at least a couple of years.” 「他就是他自己，他從Dirk那學到一點，從KG以及大夢那也學到一點。我不認為我們能夠知道他未來會變成什麼樣子」鵜鶘的球員發展教練Kevin Hanson說 : Those goals aren’t crazy. Davis has a ton to learn on both ends, but he’s : already so good that contemplating what he might become is an exercise in : fanciful imagination. It is Homer Simpson conjuring the Land of Chocolate. : LeBron’s decline is years away, but when it happens, I suspect we will have : hearty debates about whether Davis or Kevin Durant is the world’s best : player. There will likely be a day, during Durant’s mid-thirties, when Davis : ascends to the throne as the NBA’s undisputed top player. We haven’t seen a : big man with this kind of defensive potential enter the league since Howard. : Throw in efficient scoring from all over the floor and you’ve got a : league-altering monster. 這些目標並不瘋狂。AD在攻守兩端還有的學，但他已經很棒了。當有一LBJ和KD都下滑時，我想毫無疑問地AD會是聯盟最棒的球員。 : The Offense : The Pelicans are building Davis’s offense piece by piece. They started with : his jump shot last summer, helping him raise his release point above his head : and make sure the ball comes off his right index finger, Hanson says.2 Davis : is stronger than he was a year ago, but he’s still skinny; and he doesn’t : have much of a back-to-the-basket game yet. : He’s quicker than almost every big man, so the Pelicans have encouraged him : to broaden his face-up game. This way he can either launch a midrange jumper : from the wing3 or drive to the basket. His first step draws heaps of fouls : from reaching bigs who can’t keep up. : The Pelicans are wary that this approach could become predictable. Davis : prefers to drive baseline, because there are fewer defenders that way and : less danger of running into contact, Hanson says. They’d like him to drive : toward the middle more, especially since doing so can draw the defense away : from the Pelicans’ shooters. “He’s just not comfortable yet taking that : initial hit in the middle,” Hanson says. : Having more shooters would help. Jrue Holiday is a solid 3-point shooter, but : he has been out since early January. Ryan Anderson might be the league’s : best 3-point-shooting power forward, but he’s missed almost the entire : season. Even at full health, the Pelicans have mostly started a small forward : who can’t shoot in Al-Farouq Aminu and a rotating collection of stiffs at : center who mostly just foul and get in Davis’s way. Toss in Tyreke Evans, : still a liability when he doesn’t have the ball, and Davis often struggles : just to navigate the floor. He has no path to the rim when defenses overload : on his rolls, as the Clippers do on this Evans-Davis pick-and-roll:The Pelicans are building Davis’s offense piece by piece. They started with : his jump shot last summer, helping him raise his release point above his head : and make sure the ball comes off his right index finger, Hanson says.2 Davis : is stronger than he was a year ago, but he’s still skinny; and he doesn’t : have much of a back-to-the-basket game yet. : He’s quicker than almost every big man, so the Pelicans have encouraged him : to broaden his face-up game. This way he can either launch a midrange jumper : from the wing3 or drive to the basket. His first step draws heaps of fouls : from reaching bigs who can’t keep up. : The Pelicans are wary that this approach could become predictable. Davis : prefers to drive baseline, because there are fewer defenders that way and : less danger of running into contact, Hanson says. They’d like him to drive : toward the middle more, especially since doing so can draw the defense away : from the Pelicans’ shooters. “He’s just not comfortable yet taking that : initial hit in the middle,” Hanson says. : Having more shooters would help. Jrue Holiday is a solid 3-point shooter, but : he has been out since early January. Ryan Anderson might be the league’s : best 3-point-shooting power forward, but he’s missed almost the entire : season. Even at full health, the Pelicans have mostly started a small forward : who can’t shoot in Al-Farouq Aminu and a rotating collection of stiffs at : center who mostly just foul and get in Davis’s way. Toss in Tyreke Evans, : still a liability when he doesn’t have the ball, and Davis often struggles : just to navigate the floor. He has no path to the rim when defenses overload : on his rolls, as the Clippers do on this Evans-Davis pick-and-roll: : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wyDuoKne6Q

: “What hurts him now,” Williams says, “is that we just don’t have guys who : can shoot. We have to add shooting. When we put more shooting around him, he : is going to be unguardable.” Davis mentions Anthony Morrow specifically as a : guy with whom he enjoys playing, precisely because defenders can’t leave : Morrow to crash down on his cuts. : The Pelicans envision Davis as the fulcrum of their offense in the mode of a : prime Dirk. They want Davis to get the ball in the center of the foul line, : face the defense, and operate from there with shooters around him. : The Mavs have always run a ton of pick-and-rolls for Nowitzki, and defenses : early in his career countered by switching defenders. That left a little guy : on him, but Nowitzki would continue rolling down the lane, where the second : big-man defender along the baseline would switch onto him — a second switch, : removing the size advantage the first one produced. Don Nelson and Avery : Johnson taught Nowitzki to counter by stopping his roll at the foul line, : trapping the little guy in a mismatch, Nowitzki says. : Nowitzki learned to do everything from that spot — shoot, drive, back down : into post-ups, and dish to shooters. That’s what the Pelicans want for : Davis. “We envision him being able to work from there similar to the way : Dirk does,” Hanson says. : The speed is there. Kosta Koufos and his ilk can only foul and/or pray: : http://i.minus.com/i8FSfA1LdVK1Q.gif

: Davis so far is only comfortable using one-dribble moves. That single dribble : often isn’t enough to get him all the way to the rim, or even into layup : range, leaving him prone to the occasional awkward in-between shot: : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJP7coSt5A0

: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJrc92osZ4o

: Davis’s body on these plays looks like it’s almost moving too fast — like : his feet are about to slide out from under him as he flings up these : floaters. But Davis practices those shots, and he has such great touch that : he can make them at rates a normal big couldn’t sniff. “He has the ability : to make awkward shots,” Williams says. “For us, it’s weird. But for him, it : ’s natural. He’ll go left, jump off his left leg, and shoot it with his : right hand. You can’t name a big in the history of the league who has that : shot.” : His repertoire will be limited until he can nail the second and third : dribble, and mastering that is Plan A for Hanson this summer. Quicker power : forwards understand that if they can just slide with Davis for that one : dribble, or at least stay attached to him, they’ll be able to contest : whatever shot he’ll launch.4 About 94 percent of Davis’s shot attempts have : come after either zero dribble or one, per SportVU data provided to Grantland. : Davis is still uneasy with contact. The first dribble is an escape mechanism; : the second and third are bulldozers, and Davis just doesn’t have that in his : game yet, coaches in both New Orleans and elsewhere say. The second dribble : is also the countermove — the spin back in the other direction, say. “I’m : very long and lengthy,” Davis says, “so I can usually get to the basket in : one dribble. But if I can get to that second dribble, and get to my counters, : guys can’t slide with me. That’s going to be huge for me.” : He’ll also have to hone his passing skills, and the Pelicans are letting him : stretch a bit at the elbow, delivering dribble handoffs and searching out : cutters à la Joakim Noah. But Davis’s assist numbers are middling for an : offensive centerpiece, and passing on the move, with the defense in flux, is : a skill that comes only with experience. “Passing is something you can’t : really teach,” Hanson says. : The Defense : Davis will get all of this; he’s too good not to. It’s just going to take : some time. Same goes on the other side, where Davis projects as a regular : Defensive Player of the Year candidate. He’s a shot-blocking menace, even if : New Orleans’s overall numbers don’t reflect his impact yet. The Pelicans : are a bad defensive team, 25th in points allowed per possession, and that : number has barely moved regardless of whether Davis is on the floor or the : bench. Teams shoot more often, and more accurately, in the restricted area : when Davis is on the court, per NBA.com. : It’s unclear if those numbers really say anything about Davis. Injuries have : decimated New Orleans and removed a strong defender from the point of attack : in Holiday. The other pieces brought in to defend either don’t do it well : (the centers) or can’t shoot well enough to earn consistent playing time. : The roster is young, and young teams are generally bad. : Davis has also spent about 70 percent of his time at power forward, and smart : defenses will take him away from the rim by involving his man in a : pick-and-roll high on the floor. He’s also had to chase around a lot of : stretch power forwards, including Paul Pierce and Dorell Wright in recent : games, and like a lot of young big men, he’s had trouble balancing perimeter : defense with rim protection instincts. “But that’s beneficial for me,” : Davis says. “I love that challenge. I loved guarding Paul Pierce.” : The nuances of NBA defense are hard. Pick-and-roll ball handlers blow by : Davis surprisingly often5 when the Pelicans have him drop back to contain : those ball handlers near the foul line. He has a tendency to turn his body : almost completely sideways, parallel to the sideline, giving ball handlers an : obvious driving lane: : http://i.minus.com/ijlU0lMwhEh11.gif

: Sometimes he’ll get caught in no-man’s-land, between dropping back and : jumping out hard at a ball handler: : http://i.minus.com/iVxWqO5M9OoNw.gif

: The Pelicans are aggressive defensively, and Williams asks his players to : help and rotate around the floor more than most teams. Davis occasionally has : trouble making those reads on the fly, leaving the next pass open. : Those are blips in the learning process. The dude is going to be a destroyer. : He already blocks shots no one else approaches. He gets 3-point shooters on : flying closeouts. He comes from off your television screen to nail a poor, : unsuspecting spot-up shooter in transition. He’ll even tip unblockable shots : one-on-one in the post. “He actually blocked one or two of my jumpers,” : Nowitzki says. “That doesn’t happen very often.” : He terrifies ball handlers, and his long arms allow him to correct initial : positioning mistakes. A typical example: : http://i.minus.com/i2ncuVoxsPbez.gif

: New Orleans errs in letting Dennis Schroder get to the middle on this side : pick-and-roll, theoretically opening up both a path to the rim and a lane for : Schroder to hit Paul Millsap on the roll. But Davis’s length in both : directions spooks Schroder into taking the easiest and least efficient out. : Opposing teams have shot just 48 percent on shots near the basket when Davis : is near both the shooter and the rim — a solid number, though a bit behind : the very stingiest this season, per NBA.com.6 : He’s alert, and getting smarter every day. He notices things on film the : coaches don’t, Hanson says. “He’s so smart,” Hanson says. “He’ll see : something else in the clip I didn’t see, and say something like, ‘Hey, : Austin [Rivers] has to get through that screen up there.’ And I’ll say, ‘ : Hey, A.D., we’re not really talking about Austin right now.’” : Kelvin Sampson, Houston’s lead assistant, watched tape of the Pelicans : defending side pick-and-rolls with some decoy action taking place on the : other side of the floor. He wanted to see how Davis reacts when he’s not : directly involved in the pick-and-roll — when he’s guarding the team’s : other big man along the baseline: Would he fall for the decoy action and get : distracted, or would he monitor the pick-and-roll and be ready to offer help : near the basket? : Davis was ready, every time. “Most young guys just gravitate toward their : man,” Sampson says. “But he was ready. His biggest strength is going to be : that he has no weaknesses.” : The potential is there for Davis to be sort of a super–Chris Bosh — an : undersize center who can stretch the floor, but, unlike Bosh, also offer : elite rim protection. The Pellies have Anderson locked into a four-year : contract, and though they’ve experimented in tiny doses with playing : Anderson at small forward, he’s clearly a big man. He unlocks a lot of : Williams’s offense, and opens driving lanes for the team’s guards. : The Pelicans have struggled horribly on defense when Davis and Anderson play : together, but they’ve also scored at rates well above what the league’s : best offenses produce. As Davis and the team mature, it’s appealing to see : these guys as their own version of Miami — a smaller team that overwhelms : with speed and shooting, and does just enough on defense to survive. : That won’t work every night, of course. Davis just isn’t big enough to : check Marc Gasol, or even Robin Lopez. He weighs 225 pounds now, and Williams : expects him to max out around 240 or so. But everything is a matter of : resource allotment for a team close to the cap. The ideal center for Davis : would offer bulk and rim protection on defense, and be versatile enough : offensively to stay out of his way regardless of which element — the : pick-and-roll, posting up, driving — Davis happens to be emphasizing that : night. : Those guys are rare, and they’re generally taken. The Pelicans had a : reasonable facsimile of one in Lopez, but they dealt him to open up cap space : for Evans. The three-headed center they’ve deployed since Jason Smith’s : injury just hasn’t been good enough, though the team has hope that Alexis : Ajinca might work well around Davis. : Even if that ideal center were available, the Pelicans don’t have the : resources to get him. They’re slated to have about $5 million or so in cap : space in each of the next two summers, a small enough amount that they may : just choose to stay over the cap and use the full midlevel exception.7 They : owe Philly a first-round pick that will likely change hands this June, and : the Evans and Eric Gordon contracts will be very hard to trade; Evans, of : course, is on fire right now as a starter. : New Orleans won’t have real cap flexibility until the summer of 2016, when : Gordon’s contract expires. Davis will probably be a free-agent draw by then, : but he’ll also be starting his second contract in the 2016-17 season, which : means the Pelicans will be well into the “on the clock” phase in convincing : him to stay for a third deal. : If you can’t find that ideal center, at some point you have to decide : between force-feeding lineups with Davis at power forward or leaning more : toward smaller groups that will destroy teams offensively. Sometimes you just : have to play your five best guys. Williams will use both sorts of lineups : regardless, but right now, he says he leans toward Davis-Anderson as a rare : pairing. : “I don’t think [Davis] is ever going to be a center,” Williams says. “I : think he’s a power forward who will sometimes play center.” Davis says he : doesn’t care about the positional designation, and that Anderson is strong : enough to defend some low-post centers. : Some of the caution is about preserving Davis’s body. A lot of the bulkier : centers who might bully Davis can’t actually score in the post; Davis could : guard them fine, despite the size disadvantage. But that would take its toll. : Perhaps New Orleans, when it becomes a playoff team, can slot Davis at center : more often in the postseason. : The Pelicans will need a lot of wings to play that way; Miami can play small : only because it gets rim protection from LeBron and Dwyane Wade. Aminu is the : only New Orleans wing who can offer that, and he’s a free agent. So is : Darius Miller, and Morrow will probably decline his player option. We still : haven’t really seen if Holiday, Evans, and Gordon can work together, though : Evans’s killer play of late as the undisputed lead dog suggests he needs the : ball and good spacing to live up to his contract. Rivers has shown signs, : particularly on defense, but to describe his play as “uneven” would be : generous. : The Pelicans have time to sort out the roster, but only limited flexibility. : But they have the most important ingredient in building a championship : roster: a true blue superstar. The Brow has arrived. -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc), 來自: 114.44.244.51 ※ 文章網址: http://www.ptt.cc/bbs/Pelicans/M.1396584866.A.0CF.html