Why BIlly Kennedy’s offense sucks

Guys down low aren’t really getting into position much of the time. We settle for the outside shot way too often. I guess the best way to describe it is lazy like you said.

Where’s Pat on his white stallion?

Must be hard to be a sunshine pumper when it’s overcast and 25 degrees

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BIlly Kennedy’s offense sucks

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BEEN SAYING THIS FOR YEARS, GODDAMMIT.

Preach it, Masterag.

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Obviously I disagree.

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Yeah I don’t know how you’re gonna defend that atrocious performance, but the floor is all yours

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It's a poor aspect of the game to have to depend upon to win.

Unless you're the goddamn Warriors (and even their perpetually hot shooting forsook them in the 2016 Finals), you gotta be able to do more than just out-shoot/out-talent teams

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We’ve got three guys who are 6’8’’ out on the floor almost the whole game. How are we not owning the paint at all times, offense and defense? No excuses to get beat like we did.

Melvin Watkins could get more out of this team

Back home, I'll address each point individually:

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This offense is lazy and relies too much on outside shooting accuracy, which we don’t have on a consistent basis. We do have the height and athletic big men to beat anybody from the paint.

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We currently rank 280th in 3 point attempts, 10th in the conference. Saying we rely on outside shooting is just wrong. We shot an abnormally high number of 3s in the Alabama game as we got behind and guys started trying to be heroes. We shot 21 3s vs Bama, which is especially abnormal considering Hogg is usually taking almost half of our 3pt attempts and was out.

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no hi/lo big man play

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How many times do you see Williams or Davis at the top of the key every game? It's a lot. We use our bigs often to draw attention high and make both low entry passes and over the top passes to other big men in good position on the block. Both Williams and Davis have close to 2 APG. Trocha's at 1.4. We use Hogg as more of a 4 in some situations and he has 2.6 APG. Compare that to say Bamba at UT who has 0.3 APG. Our bigs are slightly better when compared to other "best in the league" bigs like Ayton at UA who has 1.7 APG and Bagley at Duke who has 1.6 APG.

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There are no switch cuts with screens on the high post, these can also turn into pick/roll play with wings and forwards. There are no corner screen/rolls to the basket when the ball is in the corner.

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We definitely play a more defensive style of offense. Running high post switch cuts and relying on excessive screening leaves you open to giving up fast breaks on turnovers or long missed shots. We're purposely leaving guys in position to get back on defense quicker. The offense is not "lazy," it's a strategy choice, which I'm sure you already knew.

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We do have the height and athletic big men to beat anybody from the paint.

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I agree with this. Davis but especially Williams need to be more selfish. They pass off down low way too much. They need to muscle their way in/back defenders down more often. I worry that Williams is so focused on proving to NBA scouts that he can shoot short jumpers (which, I can't remember seeing him make a single one so far) that he's abandoning what he's good at.



Overall, we had an extremely poor shooting night. 2-21 from 3, 30% overall FG, and even had a poor FT shooting night for once (65%) which we've turned the corner on the past couple years. Our shooting percentages and the score differential itself was exacerbated by us forcing the issue late to try in catch up (I'm looking at you 1-10, fade-away 3 shooting Starks).

We were missing our #1 (Hogg) and #3 (Gilder) leading scorers, and then our #4 scorer (Wilson) part of the game. A game that I picked us to lose pre-season, without those pieces missing! Hopefully we're back to full strength vs LSU where we should be able to pick up our momentum again.

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We shot an abnormally high number of 3s in the Alabama game as we got behind and guys started trying to be heroes.

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We were jacking ill-timed threes in the first half (0 for 10). This is part of why we fell behind. Several came early in the clock without even trying to work the ball inside.

No doubt we missed Hogg and Gilder in this game. No doubt this team is talented. No doubt this team should make a run in the tourney, but it won't be because of Kennedy's coaching prowess. Nice guy, but I've been underwhelmed by his coaching.

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Saying we rely on outside shooting is just wrong. We shot an abnormally high number of 3s in the Alabama game as we got behind and guys started trying to be heroes.

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Well that’s the only game I’ve seen this year, and it looks exactly the same as the offense from last year and the year before.

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How many times do you see Williams or Davis at the top of the key every game? It's a lot. We use our bigs often to draw attention high and make both low entry passes and over the top passes to other big men in good position on the block.

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Yea, but a true hi/lo game takes coordination from both bigs as well as outside guys recognizing and anticipating the bigs’ screen play, being patient, and making good passes. This offense just looks disjointed, unorganized and every man for himself.

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relying on excessive screening leaves you open to giving up fast breaks on turnovers or long missed shots

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Yeah but it also gets you open shots around the free throw line and layups.

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We're purposely leaving guys in position to get back on defense quicker. The offense is not "lazy," it's a strategy choice, which I'm sure you already knew.

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Yeah, and it’s a terrible strategy. It’s an offense that requires minimal movement, does that sound better? The lack of movement also makes playing defense easier on the opposing team. They can double up on our bigs without fear of being exposed on the backside. I’m honestly not sure what our offensive philosophy is, but with our talent there’s no way we should get beat by anybody, let alone by 20 points.