On paper|15 shots to analyze the Lakers: the first attempt of the twin towers Spatialized lineup & James positioning
Let's talk briefly about the Lakers' first two preseason games.
In the second game against the Nets, accompanied by the Lakers' near-full configuration, as well as thick traces of tactical drills; This gives us enough material to talk about Hamm's thinking about how to transform the team in pre-season.
Then in this article, we will mainly analyze in depth from the perspectives of twin towers, space, James, and newcomers.
The Twin Towers Attempt: Which Lineup Is Feasable?
In the second game, Hamm changed the team's first rotation into a two-tower configuration -
As we can see from the picture, the team's starters are: James, Davis, Reeves, Russell, Prince (more on that later)
→ rotation was changed to Davis, Hayes, Russell, Hachimura and Vincent.
Then from the offensive end, the Lakers' tactical cooperation when using the two-tower lineup for the first time was relatively simple, due to the uncertainty of the current thick eyebrow projection and Hays's complete lack of projection attributes; So we can see from the picture that Hamm arranged the two interior lines separately on the left and right flanks, so as to form a tactical effect is-
One-sided wing blocking, 2-on-2 with ball side; If there is no chance to play (down to the inside or after a single block), turn to the other side and continue to use the same routine. and Vincent, who has the ability to project, ambushes at the top of the arc; One detail we can notice is that after two blocks, the ball carrier is on the line to comb the attack. The purpose of this is to potentially intensify the defender on Vincent's side to assist in the defense, so as to create possible shooting opportunities at the top of the arc.
At the same time, on the right side of this attack,
Because Hachimura has individual ball singles and back singles skills, it is weaker than the splitting technique after blocking. Therefore, strictly speaking, the so-called "two wings flying together" cooperation, after the ball moves to the Hachimura base, there is a high probability of a personal finish or attracting the Vincent vacancy under the upper line bag.
The later development of this lens also confirms this:
Davis pushed the defender away from the inside, but Hachimura didn't give the softball in time; At the same time, Thomas has a sense of co-defense, and if Hachimura chooses to break through to the left here, then Vincent's vacancy will appear.
So, how effective is such a tactic?
From the author's point of view, the current combination is actually based on the tactical combination of defender players, or players with projection ability. In other words, this is actually a very simple and common offensive handling pattern under the Twin Towers lineup.
So Hamm chose such a style of play here, first, the team is still in the state of the first experience of the twin towers; Another is also due to the lack of twin tower projection capabilities, which limits the imagination of more tactical space.
And with the twin towers that can project, the Lakers' tactical richness in this area of the free throw line will be higher-
For example, you can play a large number of horn starting styles, and connect a Russell from the weak side to the strong side of Iverson empty cut at the start; After setting up double cover on the ball carrier, one tower bounces to the outside line and one tower is inserted into the inner line;
Even more complicated, the Lakers can follow the continuous cover tactics of teams such as the Warriors on the line, and quickly demolish the projection of the weak side after the double cover to create more opportunities.
Therefore, for now, the offensive cooperation under the Lakers' two-tower lineup is still mainly serving projective candidates; And this brings us to a key point: the recovery of Davis' projection.
After the game, Hamm also spoke many times about the importance of team projection:
"I asked him to shoot at least six three-pointers per game, and I wanted him to do that, but not necessarily every game, maybe he would shock me. At least three shots at half-time, and if he wasn't capable, I wouldn't ask for that. ”
Not without reason.
From the author's analysis just now, we can see -
For today's league, in the playoff competition stage where more and more emphasis is placed on targeted matching, the two-tower combination without projection ability is tantamount to seeking its own death.
Cavaliers: Mobley + Allen, even their three-point position is inconsistent, resulting in difficulties in offensive development;
Bucks: Lopez transforms into a spatialized interior line, with the offensive end dormant in the bottom corners and arc tops of the arc all year round, giving way to the letters;
Nuggets: Jokic threw an incredible three-point shooting percentage in this year's playoffs, not to mention that they have a set of blocking and dismantling combinations that can ignore the nature of dragging space;
Even if the backcourt projection is as strong as the Warriors, Green's positioning is constantly criticized when the playoffs are targeted.
This is the Union today. Therefore, for the Lakers, or for Davis, if they want to be liberated to the No. 4 position, they must have the ability to project in the twin towers; Otherwise, it will be difficult to move an inch. Of course, to put it another way, if the team's goal is to put the thick eyebrows in the No. 4 position (even if the projection is not restored) in the regular season to reduce the probability of injury; If the playoffs return to the No. 5 position, that's fine.
Of course, the Twin Towers have another candidate: Wood; What is his problem?
That's right, Hamm tried multiple sets of twin towers in this game, including the Davis + Wood configuration.
Admittedly, when Wood came on, he naturally solved the prerequisite that we mentioned above that "there must be a projection ability in the twin towers". Let's look at the image above:
Again, as in the previous shot, the Lakers did not adopt a more complex tactical combination in the first attempt. In this round, the Lakers used a tactic of using Wood as a bottom corner apex shooter to open up space, using thick eyebrows as a midfield strategy for the center column and a vertex cover wall raised on the weak side, and placing the first landing point on the flank James and Reeves with a double blocking.
Of course, this is a new tactical drill that the Lakers haven't seen last season.
In terms of the possibility of attacking points, this tactic is not bad -
It includes James and Reeves' side 2-on-2, and is the anti-routine Reeves blocking and dismantling to create a defensive pattern; After the first layer of tactics fails, thick eyebrows can turn to the middle and respond again, or they can give Vincent cover. Finally, Wood's squat bottom corner also ensures that the defense resources do not dare to be overly derived.
In the next round, the Lakers took the exact same tactics, and here we can see its multifaceted.
James and Davis' horns kicked off; After the 2-on-2 between the first layer and Reeves was recognized, Vincent used cover to make a three-pointer. All of this is in line with what we just said.
So, after talking about this tactic in general, we are going back to the topic just now - how about thick eyebrows and wood matched?
The author gives the opinion directly:
Theoretically, the most feasible combination, but due to Wood's large number of shortcomings, it is extremely unoptimistic about this set of twin towers at present. In other words, until Wood solves the following shortcomings, this set will have a lot of drawbacks.
What are the disadvantages?
Extremely bad blocking habits on the offensive end
In fact, we said in many of the articles we wrote about the Lone Ranger last season, and a lot of Wood's blocking was a quick break under false cover or an outside three-point shot under the cover of a ghost.
But, as I've always said, basketball has two sides.
For cover, when you are the core offensive point, your fake cover is part of creating better shooting space for yourself; But when your tactical position is skewed towards tool man, the quality of cover is the deciding factor in whether you can be present for a long time.
Let's take the example of last season's Lone Ranger, who was the absolute second offensive point before Irving arrived. At the same time, along with Doncic's strong individual defensive attraction ability, this allows Wood to gain many quick releases such as large outside openings (opponents wrap Doncic), and smooth empty catches.
However, judging from these two games, Hamm's tactical weight to Wood is not high, and his tactical position is behind many people.
This means that Wood will often be used as a pure blocker and outside battery, and Wood's poor blocking habits will get the team into trouble at this time. As shown in the shot above, Wood's quality of cover drove Vincent into the Nets duo's defense on the sideline.
Of course, Vincent's own choice for this goal is also debatable.
This lens may be a better example.
What the Lakers want to play here is actually a James holding the ball first, and Vincent takes Wood's apex cover wall on the top side of the arc to cut the inside line to create potential open cutting opportunities or Wood here misalignment. This is a very common tactic in the Heat.
Then on the second level, Wood gave James cover to create opportunities for ball carriers. But two unsatisfactory covers kept the tactic off, and James also opted for a three-point shot from the top of the arc.
Therefore, let's make a small summary.
We can naturally make all kinds of excuses for Wood - such as "the body is slender and thin, and it cannot hang people in itself"; "It's been like this for a long time, and it hasn't changed for a while."
However, before Hamm improved Wood's tactical positioning; Although it has projection, it can theoretically be compatible with thick eyebrows, but its cover habits can often be counterproductive.
Of course, if it's just a vertex projection, then we're going to talk about defensive performance.
Let's take a look at the defensive end, Thick Eyebrows and Wood's role positioning.
Throughout the game, whether it was Thick Eyebrow paired with Hayes or with Wood, Hamm did not seem to specify who defended No. 5 and who defended No. 4. But from the perspective of some actual choices when retreating, and the proportion, thick eyebrows do appear more on the No. 4 position.
Then the cascade effect of this is that the thick eyebrows will be more outward in the initial defensive position in many cases, and he is also rich in more sweeping defenses below the free throw line; and chasing and protecting the basket when the weak side moves across to the strong side. We all know that this is his preferred pattern for thick eyebrows; It also reduces the frequency of more hand-to-hand combat between him and the center in the low post; and broadened the flexibility of its multi-position defense.
However, the foundation of all this is that the real insider can complete his basket protection task with quality and quantity.
We all know that for NBA games, absolute co-protection is far less powerful than absolute frontal defense. In other words, if the frontal defense is easily defeated, no matter how much the cattle's protective basket can make up.
However, for Wood, what has been criticized is the selection of some 1-on-2 defensive positions when defensively blocking, and the defensive anticipation when dealing with frontal offense. If you talk about the last layer of capping, Wood can do it well with his physical talent. However, if the defensive mode is changed to thick eyebrows front + wood sweep, although it can promote the strengths and avoid the weaknesses, the meaning of the twin towers will disappear.
Therefore, for the Lakers, the twin towers may not be so simple -
Thick eyebrows' outside line, Wood's blocking, Wood's defensive positioning; One of the three must be addressed.
Spatialized lineup & James' positioning
The Lakers chose James + Davis + Prince + Russell + Reeves in Game 2, adopting a more 3D Prince on the key 5th man selection. (37.2% career three-point shooting, 38.1% from three-point range last season)
Let's look at the above shot, the Lakers chose a very spatial cooperation in the first two tactics of the opening game -
Russell first took cover with Reeves, which was a feint, and Russell went up, turning to Davis' apex cover wall to the top of the arc. As the opponent sinks inside, a three-point opportunity is created with a wide margin on the outside. If we look at the overall offensive position,
Apparently the Lakers used a five-way start here, with Prince, James and Reeves lined up on the outside, Russell holding the ball, and Davis doing a potential continuous cover wall on the outside. This is also in line with Hamm's emphasis after the game, with more emphasis on space and three points.
So let's talk a little bit about the Lakers' rotation here:
When watching the first game, the author had an intuitive feeling: the Lakers are a team with a heavy forward line.
The "heavy" here has two meanings, the first is that there are many people, and the Lakers have a reserve of eight bases, James, Prince, Vanderbilt, Reddish, and Wood or Davis, who are not yet sure whether to swing to the No. 4 position.
The second layer of "heavy" is that each has its own flaws, or is not perfect. For the Lakers' set of forward reserves, only James has the real offensive development ability, and the one with personal offensive ability is James and Hachimura; The really qualified 3D are Hachimura and Prince (but both have deficiencies in defense).
Therefore, considering the selection and degree of spatialization of the starting rotation, the author believes that Vanderbilt's three-point ability may further decline under the premise that his three-point ability is still unknown; Or Prince may replace Vanderbilt as a regular starter.
But there's another problem, which is that Prince is a flawed defensive player who doesn't defend as well as he thinks when he actually faces the outside core. And the Lakers will most likely not put Hachimura and James in the starting lineup at the same time.
Therefore, if I want to ask the author how to choose the starting position of the Lakers, plus the possible deployment of the two towers, the author cannot give an answer for a while. But at the same time, this also makes the Lakers' subsequent games full of highlights -
What exactly is the extent of Vanderbilt's three-pointer?
How did he choose his starter with Prince?
Will the trial of the twin towers be successful?
If successful, the fifth man in the starting lineup changes again, how will Vanderbilt and Prince's positions be decided?
Of course, for now, the sixth person of Hachimura is stable; Reddish is cold...
Of course, one thing is certain, James' positioning.
Let's go back to the shot above, yes, there is a tactic that is exactly the same as the first two shots in the opening. And in these three combinations, James is all in the flank position without the ball, which is our most common space point + the empty cut point after the strong side of the upper line attracts the defense.
Pretty familiar, right?
That's right, if you watched last season, when I talked about James' positioning in the playoffs, you can know that due to the long-term battlefield of the playoffs and more emphasis on defensive investment, James tends to be in the mode of decentralization + off-ball in the first three quarters.
Obviously, with the arrival of the new season, the growth of Reeves and the addition of new ball carrier Vincent, James will continue this pattern.