Howard Xs and Os?
We have all been used to be JB ball for many years. How might the style of play change under Howard, assuming he’s our guy? How might Teske and Z do with the new style?
I admittedly don’t know much about the Xs and Os so I'm looking for an education here from those more knowledgeable. We also haven’t seen him actually coach a game in the NBA or college, so we’d have to look to those he’s coached under. Thanks in advance.
He gives great hugs and kisses.
The Catholic priest offense?
Not the half Nelson, or full Nelson, but the father Nelson
lot of backdoor cuts
Its not all about Xs and Os, its about the Jimmys and Joes!
Juwan had a really good back to the basket game when he played. It’s possible this translates to getting Teske more comfortable in the post.
There's a lot of uncertainty on this aspect. Assuming Yaklich is staying which it seems like Warde is going to make sure that happens, the defense should be the same style. Offensively is where we will get more of the uncertainty.
The NBA lends itself to more isolation play, but that's also because of the 24-second shot clock. 6 more seconds of clock per possession will allow Juwan some more versatility in his coaching. The NBA is trending toward the 3 pointer and the Miami Heat have been around the middle of the league in terms of 3 point attempts per game.
Given Howard's background as a big man, I'm mostly expecting an offense that relies on going inside-out. Get the ball down in the post or get some sort of penetration before kicking it out for 3's. But there's no way of really knowing at this point and that's what makes this exciting.
WE GON' SHOCK THE WORLD
I think a lot of people will be surprised with the offense. I don't think they'll make the big man a priority of working inside out, because I just don't think that it works efficiently. Especially when you have a big like Teske that is adept at shooting from 3, just dumping it on the post is so easy to defend and creates little movement. Of the Heat's top 10 players in terms of shots per game, only 2 were big men, and neither were in the top 5 in shots.
Hassan Whiteside took 9 shots per game, but has almost no range, and got a significant amount of those shots on lobs and offensive rebounds.
Kelly Olynyk took 7 shots per game, but 4 of those were from 3. If I had to guess, I would say that Brandon Johns is going to be the biggest beneficiary of Howard, and that the offense will start to roll through him later in the year.
I definitely agree with you on the Brandon Johns front. This should also only make Castleton's development better. I don't think the offense will rely all on post-ups, but it should be featured more with Howard than it was under Beilein.
I keep seeing comments from people saying we will see "back to the basket" center play. But other than Howard playing that way 20 years ago, why do we think thats what he will want, and more importantly, why would anyone want to see more of that? That style of play has all but left the game in the past decade. Today's game is about spreading the floor and shooting, and I sure hope we just hired a coach that understands the changing nature of the game rather than insisting on a style played before most recruits were born.
Exactly. It's a fallacy to think that simply because Juwan was a post player, he will therefore run an 80's era post-up centric offense. That is simply inane thinking. He's been assistant coaching in the NBA under Eric Spoelstra for 6 years. Spoelstra is an underrated NBA coach who runs a modern, space and efficiency driven offense (in which the 5 man is more of a small ball/modern center - think Chris Bosh).
From what I read about him, he preaches fitting your offense to your personnel. Why wouldn't Howard have learned from him? And it wouldn't surprise me if he brings in an offensive assistant.
Right on. He also played under George Karl and Larry Brown and is reportedly a student of the game, so i'm hoping he's learned a lot of different ways to adapt from the multitude of coaches he's worked with.
I think you will be surprised. I think he will run a personnel driven offense when he first gets here out of necessity. Simpson is very limited, he does not stretch the defense to the extent that the pick and roll is really a highly effective approach. Good defenses can take it away and nuetralize wing looks in the process.
What he has to work with immediately when he gets here is two damn near seven footers or above who may be able to score over people if given just a few moves, that could likely force teams to crash opening up outside shots. I think you will see more of that than you think. Personnel wise, this kind of came at a good time because JB did not have the pieces to run his stuff next year.
If the reason we can't run pick and roll is because Simpson can't stretch the defense, why would feeding the post and passing out of doubles work any better?
Defenses will double Teske and live with Simpson taking uncontested threes. In a pick and roll at least he in in motion.
What would really help is Teske/Castleton being viable options to pop out and hit a three. With mmore spacing, Simpson/others can attack without having to deal with rim protectors.
Interesting a few mention Johns to be the main beneficiary... I was thinking it'd be Livers, who has an elite body type phsyically but doesnt seem to impose it. I'd imagine that Howard would get him to play more of the Izzo style of physicality and intimidation. And a side thought, I'd expect to see Livers often throw down many hard dunks...same with Teske.
I imagine we will see more post ups with Howard (hard to not increase from virtually none under JB), but I wouldn't expect to see big men with massive usage numbers. Whiteside's usage at Miami has only been above 23 once. It's usually in the low 20s - high teens. Teske was at 17 this year.
The NBA is all about layups and 3s and I expect Howard to operate the same way. I don't think he's going to want a big man like a Nick Ward that will be hard to tolerate on the defensive end. Alot of switching in the NBA as well.
I would make no assumptions that Juwan is going to run an offense based on his own play. Ewing certainly doesn't do that at Georgetown. They both know the game has changed a lot.
All we really know about Juwan's X and Os are those of the head coach he's been learning from. We don't for sure he'll run the same or even a similar system, but those are the schemes he's taught. I think looking at the Heat would give us the best clues.
I doubt that they're going to run a post centric offense. If any, he's likely going to utilize NBA system and that does pace and spacing with shooting. Will there be post up? Maybe but NBA went away with it for years unless there's a size mismatch.
Look at Patrick Ewing, he doesn't do post centric offense despite the fact that he's a former NBA center with post up game. He relies on guards to create for his offense. I'd imagine the Juwan will do the same.
I would expect PnR with Z and Teske to stay as a staple just like last season but wings will do a lot more with the ball in their hands. If Juwan learned anything from Spolestra, he will adjust to the personnel. As of now, they'll do pace and space especially with the 3 pt line moving back to FIBA standards which means more spacing in the middle. Only thing that he needs to learn is how to draw up offense against zone defense.
I imagine that we'll get better at feeding big men on the block if a smaller player switches on to them off pick and roll, but I think that will be the extent of the low post offense. Not to undersell that as a possible improvement; it was maddening watching us fail to take advantage of a 6-1 guy trying to guard Teske and not even trying to pass it to him.
Hopefully he can coach up Teske who basically has no post game and is mainly a pick and roll guy.
Not Jon's fault --- Beilein was basically a no post-game, pick and roll coach.
True. But I'm interested to see what he can learn under Juwan. WHile he's not a traditional post center, Teske is not totally inept at it- that was just JB's offense. Butt under Juwan he could learn high percentage post manuevers that he could use against guards/smaller players on switches.
Also - Teske is a very good passer out of the post. This is something we saw a lot of early in the season but it disappeared when the rest of the offense started to struggle (I remember him having a lot of nice dishes to a streaking/cutting Matthews in the UNC/Purdue games).
As a player, Juwan always seemed like a student of the game. I think that translates well to coaching.
I doubt there is a way to know what it will look like until a couple recruiting cycles have happened.
Im hoping Juwan is smarter than RichRod and won’t implement an offense his personnel can’t run on day one.
I believe it's referred to as X and Z our bipolar point guard
Teske
Teske
Teske
Glad you asked! Because while I wouldn't expect a complete translation to the college game because of the differences, the Miami Heat offensive playbook from a few years ago is actually online!
http://www.deposoft.com.ar/repo/driles%20y%20jugadas/Miami%20Heat%20Pla…
Now, this one is important to look at with context: I would ignore half the plays in there, because some are clearly designed to get shots for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. Obviously Michigan does not have one of the 3 best basketball players ever, and one of the 5 best 2 guards ever, so ignore those.
But what's even more impressive to me is how the Miami Heat offense was able to change when LBJ left, and Wade left and came back too old to really contribute. The Miami Heat, even with less talented players, have been incredibly precise, disciplined, and smart offensively the last couple years. Erik Spoelstra is one of the best coaches in the NBA, bar none, and someone that deserves a lot of credit. Now, obviously the college game is different, but the traits of a good offense: Adjustments, discipline, smart shots, motion, and putting players in position to succeed is what made Miami a playoff team Post-LeBron, and personally if Juwan Howard was smart, he would use a lot of what he learned from Spoelstra and implement it.
No doubt it'll be more simple than the Beilein approach, but I think offensively we'll look similar to Michigan State this year, and a few years ago without the clogged offensive grossness that was catering to Bridges on the perimeter and forgetting JJJ existed.
JH is going to utilize more TE and FB play. Oh....wait. I'm thinking of the wrong JH. Sorry. The other JH will just give the players baggier shorts and black socks and the rest will take care of itself.
I think Castleton and maybe Johns will benefit the most from Howard. Especially Castleton.
I would expect our offense to be the same this year, with our 3 leaders engrained in it for past 3 years. Especially if we retain a couple assistants. Maybe minor adjustments.
Just win games and recruit. That's the most important X's and O's.
He coached summer league FWIW
It's fair to think that Howard was learned a lot from Eric Spoelstra in 6 years as an assistant coach. Spoelstra is an underrated coach who runs a modern NBA space centric offense. This article from 2017 highlights what he does.
"... the Heat won two titles with Chris Bosh at center, sucking all the life out of traditional bigs like Kendrick Perkins for the Oklahoma City Thunder, Roy Hibbert for the Indiana Pacers and Tiago Splitter for the San Antonio Spurs. Public perception started to shift. “Monsters” became known as “trees.” Shooting was infinitely more important than back-to-the-basket scoring. Positional versatility became en vogue."
Likely will emulate some of the Miami Heat approach given his coaching tree is limited, of course adapted to existing player skills. Keeping Yak is key for his "go-to" college assistant - nuances of recruiting, how to manage academics, how to operate within the NCAA, how each existing player takes coaching and how those skills mesh for the current team, the recruiting needs, etc.
But if Juwan was smart, he would go out and find the "Josh Gattis" of college basketball assistants to help implement a college-based offense. The shot clock is longer and the officiating is very different in college (especially in the B1G). Having a young, up-and-coming offensive assistant with excellent college X's and O's would be a great addition to his NBA knowledge.
Juwan is a solid and trusted coach by the Heat front office, HC and players. And you don't get a shout-out from LeBron James, who you coached, unless you have a high level basketball IQ.
This is one of the major concerns that a lot of people I know have expressed - what exactly would Howard run? If he does end up here, and it is looking more like this might be the case with each passing hour now, then we might not know for some time anyway. I will admit, it is one of the uncertainties that makes me hesitate to be more than mildly amused at best with the prospect of Howard coaching here. It may very well work out, but I have a ton of questions I would like to ask all the same