Can Calipari implement the Dribble-Drive with the current Roster?

#1
LawVol13

LawVol13

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#1
I have thought about this some during this offseason. I think that with UK's current roster there are going to be some bumps in the road implementing that offense. Here's why:

1) Scoring--This team's scoring basically will come from PG's and posts. John Wall, Bledsoe are both PGs and are supposed to supply the scoring punch at guard. There is no reliable 3. Darius Miller reminds me of a slightly better version of Renaldo Woolridge in that he never dribbles. He's a spot shooter and not a great one at that. Patterson, Cousins, Bledsoe, Wall would have to carry the load.

2.) This team will probably start Wall, Bledsoe, Miller/Hood, Patterson, Cousins. If you look at when John Calipari began using the dribble drive, he always had a Tyler Smith type at the 4 like Robert Dozier. In other words, the 4 was very versatile and could attack off the dribble. With Cousins and Patterson, you have two good posts, but no versatility. They essentially can only play with their back to the basket.

3.) The first two points lead me to this: with two posts occupying the blocks, where will the driving lanes be? Let's say you pull Patterson out to the corner to create a driving lane. His man will simply stay in the middle and clog the driving lane because Patterson is no threat anywhere except the block. The same holds true with Cousins. I think this offense needs a shooter, at least a good mid range shooter, like a Douglas-Roberts, which they don't have. And I think it needs a versatile 4 to be able to be away from the block to create driving lanes.

So, in summation, with the bulk of scoring power coming from guards that attack the rack, there needs to be driving lanes. To have driving lanes, you to have a respectable shooter. Also, having two huge posts on the block takes away very seriously from your ability to attack the rack from the guard position. For these reasons, I think Calipari has his work cut out for him implementing this offense. I think he is an excellent coach and will do fine; I'm just not quite sure they will be as dominant this year as some presume. Feel free to disagree with my analysis. Go Vols!
 
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#2
#2
I've never liked the Dribble-Drive and I think your analysis is very good. Yes, the offense has its benefits, as all do, but I have no idea why a traditional post would ever want to play in one. The offense is designed to keep the post on the weak side in order to keep one side open for penetration, which renders a 5 and 4 less important. It just makes me wonder at how effective Cousins and Patterson will be. Wall will be fine, but I, like you, am not completely sold on Miller. However, Miller is just entering his sophomore year, so I imagine he will improve.

But, back to the Dribble Drive, it's just a crap offense. Yeah, they use it in the NBA, but that's a notoriously one-on-one league. One guy can pretty much dominate the play (ahem...Kobe, LeBron), which is what the NBA wants because superstars = $$. I just prefer something that incorporates good spacing, ball movement, etc.

We'll see how well Kentucky runs it. In the end, though, they still have Cal as coach, which means his bench coaching will cause 3-4 extra losses per year while playing a constantly challenging schedule for once. Remember, when ConferenceUSA was in its heyday, he wasn't nearly as successful.
 
#3
#3
Unimane said:
But, back to the Dribble Drive, it's just a crap offense. Yeah, they use it in the NBA, but that's a notoriously one-on-one league. One guy can pretty much dominate the play (ahem...Kobe, LeBron), which is what the NBA wants because superstars = $$.

Remember, when ConferenceUSA was in its heyday, he wasn't nearly as successful.
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Well, that is how he is going to help get the recruits. If he can promise them a path to the NBA using that system.

I think Cal was just getting the Memphis program rolling as the split happened. He would have lost conference games but I still think he would have had success, legal or not.
 
#4
#4
Gcrop said:
Well, that is how he is going to help get the recruits. If he can promise them a path to the NBA using that system.

I think Cal was just getting the Memphis program rolling as the split happened. He would have lost conference games but I still think he would have had success, legal or not.
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From what I gather watching the Dribble-drive, you can definitely see that there principles built into it. For example, when the wing dribbles baseline, the guy in the corner goes back-door. Again, that's why I wonder with two posts on the block how that will work. At Memphis, it was purely a one post offense will Dorsey in there. There, the post did no scoring at all. It really is a guard's offense, so it will be interesting to see how it works when probably at least 60% of the scoring comes from the post.
 
#5
#5
kiffinator13 said:
From what I gather watching the Dribble-drive, you can definitely see that there principles built into it. For example, when the wing dribbles baseline, the guy in the corner goes back-door. Again, that's why I wonder with two posts on the block how that will work. At Memphis, it was purely a one post offense will Dorsey in there. There, the post did no scoring at all. It really is a guard's offense, so it will be interesting to see how it works when probably at least 60% of the scoring comes from the post.
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While the guards do most of the scoring, I can't tell you how many times I would see a guard drive to the basket only to lob it to a wide open Dorsey crashing on the weakside. I have to assume this will be Cousins/Patterson. I am not sure how it will work with 2 big men though, like you said. "I think" Dozier had more handles than Patterson and Cousins (I don't know the UK skillset very well). The backdoor pass worked pretty frequently as well (AA to CDR for the dunk over KLove in FF). I think Cal might have to adapt it to this team so we will just have to wait and see. A lot of it will be up to Wall. Does UK have a 3 point threat? That is another key component of the DDM.
 
#7
#7
ukvols said:
Memphis seemed to do ok despite being a bad shooting team from 3.
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You need a shooting threat, not necessarily a three point shooting threat. CDR provided a great midrange game for Memphis. Last year, without it, you saw that offense struggle until Robert Sallie started hitting about 10 3s a game in the tournament. For it to work efficiently, there needs to be someone that is a threat at shooting the ball.
 
#8
#8
Someone please explain to me exactly what the dribble drive is......

I mean if every team had a guy as good as Derrick Rose was at Memphis then they'd all just let the guy DRIBBLE the ball past a defender and DRIVE it to the rack where they can either score or dish it off.

People....this isn't a real offense. Don't let ESPN "experts" tell you it is.
 
#9
#9
MTSUDaff said:
Someone please explain to me exactly what the dribble drive is......

I mean if every team had a guy as good as Derrick Rose was at Memphis then they'd all just let the guy DRIBBLE the ball past a defender and DRIVE it to the rack where they can either score or dish it off.

People....this isn't a real offense. Don't let ESPN "experts" tell you it is.
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This actually is a real offense. It is built on floor spacing and has a few rules that you can see when you watch. Dribble toward your teammate baseline, and he goes back door. And since I have been watching it, it has been a 4 out 1 post offense. That is why I'm not sure how it will work with 2 back to the basket posts. But, it is definitely a real offense. What is funny, is that there are those that criticize Pearl for stressing the importance of spacing over having a motion offense while the same people love Cal when he has an offense that is also mainly built on spacing rather than movement.
 
#11
#11
Hey everyone, let's act like Florida fans and head over to the nearest Kentucky board to get our trash talking in while we can...
 
#12
#12
ukvols said:
Memphis seemed to do ok despite being a bad shooting team from 3.
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In the 2007-08 (FF run) season, Doneal Mack and Willie Kemp were pretty good from 3, especially in the tournament. It really helps the DDM flourish with a deadly 3point shooter (like a Lee Humphrey), which you are correct, Memphis never really had.
 
#13
#13
kiffinator13 said:
This actually is a real offense. It is built on floor spacing and has a few rules that you can see when you watch. Dribble toward your teammate baseline, and he goes back door. And since I have been watching it, it has been a 4 out 1 post offense. That is why I'm not sure how it will work with 2 back to the basket posts. But, it is definitely a real offense. What is funny, is that there are those that criticize Pearl for stressing the importance of spacing over having a motion offense while the same people love Cal when he has an offense that is also mainly built on spacing rather than movement.
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All this is is letting a player on your team break down the defense and then having him hit an open man due to a second defender having to help. That's all the diagrams show, too. This isn't a revolutionary concept. It isn't really an offense, either. All it is is basically letting a guy break down a defense with penetration.

Sorry, but by this definition, and the diagrams from the link, every single team that played Tennessee last year used the "dribble-drive" offense when they blew by Maze or J.P. Princess, which was almost every play last year.

Guys, a PG or SG blowing by his defense and then kicking it out to a wide open man due to help defense or lobbing it to a trailer, or laying it up.... is NOT an offense. It's one-on-one ball with everyone getting out of the way and then letting that player decide what he wants to do with the ball. To do this you simply need a bad defensive PG on you, or you need one of the best PG's or SG's in the country.
 
#14
#14
MTSUDaff said:
All this is is letting a player on your team break down the defense and then having him hit an open man due to a second defender having to help. That's all the diagrams show, too. This isn't a revolutionary concept. It isn't really an offense, either. All it is is basically letting a guy break down a defense with penetration.

Sorry, but by this definition, and the diagrams from the link, every single team that played Tennessee last year used the "dribble-drive" offense when they blew by Maze or J.P. Princess, which was almost every play last year.

Guys, a PG or SG blowing by his defense and then kicking it out to a wide open man due to help defense or lobbing it to a trailer, or laying it up.... is NOT an offense. It's one-on-one ball with everyone getting out of the way and then letting that player decide what he wants to do with the ball. To do this you simply need a bad defensive PG on you, or you need one of the best PG's or SG's in the country.
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Maybe this is why Bruce has had some success against Cal. That's what keeps me optimistic - Bruce knows how to play defense against this offense. He is 2-2.
 
#15
#15
getyopopcornready said:
Hey everyone, let's act like Florida fans and head over to the nearest Kentucky board to get our trash talking in while we can...
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lol. Good luck! :) You will be banned faster than you can say Pintino porks at porcini's. UK basketball fans are to thin skinned, and even more irrational than the biggest vol fans I have met. Mods are always hovering over that suspend button.
 
#16
#16
MTSUDaff said:
All this is is letting a player on your team break down the defense and then having him hit an open man due to a second defender having to help. That's all the diagrams show, too. This isn't a revolutionary concept. It isn't really an offense, either. All it is is basically letting a guy break down a defense with penetration.

Sorry, but by this definition, and the diagrams from the link, every single team that played Tennessee last year used the "dribble-drive" offense when they blew by Maze or J.P. Princess, which was almost every play last year.

Guys, a PG or SG blowing by his defense and then kicking it out to a wide open man due to help defense or lobbing it to a trailer, or laying it up.... is NOT an offense. It's one-on-one ball with everyone getting out of the way and then letting that player decide what he wants to do with the ball. To do this you simply need a bad defensive PG on you, or you need one of the best PG's or SG's in the country.
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Then you would think that Memphis wouldn't have had the success they did.
 
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