Today, TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott and David Thorpe discuss: Facundo Campazzo’s play on Wayne Ellington that caused Ellington to tweet he’ll “put hands” on Campazzo next time he sees him. The play-in games are set and injuries will decide who will advance.
Going off your conversation about maintaining health, I’ll add that one big component of the Bucks “picking the Bulls” is avoiding any air travel for the duration of the series. Quick little 90 minute luxury bus ride down to Chicago. If Giannis forgets his favorite toothbrush someone can easily run it down. A favorable matchup that keeps them away from airplanes and KD while banking extra coins from visiting Bulls fans made it a no brainer for Milwaukee.
"Cleveland’s broader player development complex relies on that sort of collaboration. A team with so many recent draft picks on its roster—including top-five selections in each of the past three drafts—could easily pull in too many directions at once. Just imagine the unfettered, real-hooper chaos of a roster full of young players trying to show off their mid-post package. To make sure a full roster’s development fits together, the Cavs prioritize the ways individual players interact with one another on the floor.
“I think for a long time, we spent so much time just working on the individual—and we assumed that because that individual was getting better, that would impact winning,” Bickerstaff says. “Over the past few years, we’ve come to the realization that if you don’t teach people how to win, when winning comes into play, they don’t know what to do.”
The Cavs watch a lot of film as a team on a TV mounted to the wall of their practice court. With the swivel of a chair, they can seamlessly translate the concepts on-screen to the actual hardwood. Together, the Cavs make some of the most rote elements of training more dynamic. More reactive. Rather than let an assistant coach run Cedi Osman through his pregame shooting routine, Rajon Rondo—the oldest player on the roster at 36—weaves around ball boys to feed Osman with all kinds of passes. Much of the Cavaliers’ individual work at their facility has been replaced by exercises in groups of two or three, or working in a few more bodies to create a five-man shell. Full practices in the NBA are rare. But you don’t need a full practice to get a few bigs on the floor together to work through reads in tandem, to better understand what their rotations mean to each other.
“Because player development,” Bickerstaff says, “is about developing within your system.”'
From a recent story I read on the Cavs. Thought Coach might appreciate their approach.
Going off your conversation about maintaining health, I’ll add that one big component of the Bucks “picking the Bulls” is avoiding any air travel for the duration of the series. Quick little 90 minute luxury bus ride down to Chicago. If Giannis forgets his favorite toothbrush someone can easily run it down. A favorable matchup that keeps them away from airplanes and KD while banking extra coins from visiting Bulls fans made it a no brainer for Milwaukee.
"Cleveland’s broader player development complex relies on that sort of collaboration. A team with so many recent draft picks on its roster—including top-five selections in each of the past three drafts—could easily pull in too many directions at once. Just imagine the unfettered, real-hooper chaos of a roster full of young players trying to show off their mid-post package. To make sure a full roster’s development fits together, the Cavs prioritize the ways individual players interact with one another on the floor.
“I think for a long time, we spent so much time just working on the individual—and we assumed that because that individual was getting better, that would impact winning,” Bickerstaff says. “Over the past few years, we’ve come to the realization that if you don’t teach people how to win, when winning comes into play, they don’t know what to do.”
The Cavs watch a lot of film as a team on a TV mounted to the wall of their practice court. With the swivel of a chair, they can seamlessly translate the concepts on-screen to the actual hardwood. Together, the Cavs make some of the most rote elements of training more dynamic. More reactive. Rather than let an assistant coach run Cedi Osman through his pregame shooting routine, Rajon Rondo—the oldest player on the roster at 36—weaves around ball boys to feed Osman with all kinds of passes. Much of the Cavaliers’ individual work at their facility has been replaced by exercises in groups of two or three, or working in a few more bodies to create a five-man shell. Full practices in the NBA are rare. But you don’t need a full practice to get a few bigs on the floor together to work through reads in tandem, to better understand what their rotations mean to each other.
“Because player development,” Bickerstaff says, “is about developing within your system.”'
From a recent story I read on the Cavs. Thought Coach might appreciate their approach.