After the introduction of former MVP James Harden and former champion Blake Griffin, most people think that the Nets' All-Star reinforcement is over, and now, the Nets have signed Lamarcus Aldridge, and his addition has made head coach Steve Nash's lineup more flexible, but for Steve Nash, as a rookie coach, the pressure on him is more than one point.
After 49 regular season games, now that the Nets are finally in the top spot in the East, Ade has shown his worth with a near-perfect debut — 11 points, 9 boards, 6 assists, 2 blocks, and a boom, and questions about Nash followed.
"We all know they [the Nets] are winning, but it seems like it's up to james (Harden) to talk to with some management, it has to do with Carey's form, it has to do with Blake and LA, it has to do with Dan, not Steve." ——Stein
In March, the Coach of the Month awarded to the Hawks' new MacMillan — of course, the Atlantas performed greatly, but the Nets won 10-2 throughout March, the league's best result of the month, and at the same time, James Harden won the March Player of the Month, and the MVP list also returned to the top three, I don't know if it is a blessing or a curse, James Harden is suspended because of a hamstring injury, we turn around and see that Harden's playing time is already the first in the league, which has to make people more suspicious of Nash.
But in fact, for a novice coach with a full rank, Nash did a good job.
We can divide the Nets' season into three parts for the time being to discuss some of Nash's tweaks:
The first stage, the beginning of the new season: Nash's primary purpose is to find the most suitable lineup, he played with Dandoni for a while in the eight-man rotation, in the case of Jordan Jr.'s inefficiency, although Nash gave Jordan Jr. an average of about 27 minutes per game, but in the final moments of the game, unless it is against the team that moves slower on the inside, the Nets have always stood Garrett Allen, of course, Nash's impromptu scheduling at this stage is very poor, including the timing of the time to call a timeout is very debatable. Fortunately, the team's state is still relatively stable, giving him enough time to practice in the race;
The second stage, when getting Harden: the Nets lost two connecting ball carriers at the same time (traded away LeVert, injured Dinwiddie), in this case, Nash's first adjustment is to swap the positions of Harden and Irving, during Harden's time in the First position, although the playing time is forced to be helplessly high, but the team's offensive efficiency has gradually increased from entering March, after yesterday's game, the Nets' offensive level has been high in the league, and at the same time, Nash was fully aware of his team's weak interior mobility, so he called Clarkston in time, and Clarkston's appearance during this time could improve the nets' overall defensive efficiency by 3.4%, in addition, his appearance could also make the Nets score 14.2 points;
In the third stage, when the lineup was completed: the Nets did not make a big move around the trade deadline, they instead set their sights on the free market (well, basic championship teams do this), and the successive additions of Blake and Aard gave the Nets more opportunities for adjustment inside and Nash. For Nash, dealing with the playing time of Blake and Ade is a science, but Nash solved this problem very well, Griffin in the Nets off the bench in the 5 games, a total of 19 minutes, he and Harden in the same period, his shooting rate to 65.2%, three-point shooting rate also soared to more than 50%, in Harden's absence, Griffin can handle the position of the tactical axis, his blocking quality and air awareness is still top, he did a lot of opportunities for Irving, You can also distribute the ball to the empty Harris and the bottom corner of the jack- and jeff Green in the bottom corner; and in the first game of Ader's arrival, Nash did not give Jordan Jr. playing time, Ade's arrival obviously improved the team's space, before Nash arranged the fourth position for Bruce Brown/Jeff Green and other swing people, their role is to shoot the empty ball, with Ader's low position ability and a beautiful shot, Nash showed his progress in the position battle in the first game:
The empty side prepares for Ade's low position (first choice), the bottom angle/45 degrees ambush the shooter (second choice), the others do no ball on the weak side, and let the person with the ability to hold the ball run out to do the receiving (third choice),
Such a hierarchical adjustment reflects Nash's progress in coaching scheduling. You can even imagine that at some point in the future, you may see Nash line up a better layout: Griffin arc top serve Harden to do the blocking and bouncing out, Ader for Irving to do the no-ball barrier after rooting in the weak side of the penalty area, Irving weak side pop up and move towards the top of the arc, KD from the other side waiting for Harden to block the demolition and then do the short cut, Harden can even have five options to get the inevitable two points, and Dinwiddie's return, which allows Harden to have more rest time.
However, in addition to the nets' top offensive performance, their defensive efficiency and point loss ranking have not been very good, which is closely related to Nash's unusually favorite big four small lineup, the Nets' defensive strategy has gradually changed from positional joint defense to hierarchical local change defense, considering that the Nets' lineup has changed a lot in this half year, which has also led to Nash's progress in forming his own exclusive coaching style, and the change of the defensive end plan can not ask for too much, but we divide the time point and comprehensively look at it, "novice" Nash's coaching performance, whether it is the control of the star's playing time or the slowly improving coaching style, has a lot of flashpoints, and then it depends on whether he will reduce the frequency of playing the three-four-guard lineup and compete with the team for the highest goal.
(Edogawa Kabei)