- Joined
- Aug 26, 2011
- Messages
- 675
- Reaction Score
- 1,214
I haven't been active a ton recently, so I apologize if this defense has already been made, but if there's one thing I hear over and over about the team it's this: Why does Azura keep shooting threes?
For starters, we know that it is good for the team for her to shoot the three, because she obviously does have the green light, and the coaching staff know more than we do. But still, it's an interesting question: how do you justify having a player who's shooting 17% keep shooting?
Putting aside the fact that she shot a solid 36% from the line at Duke, and is probably a much better three point shooter than this years' statistics would show, I think there's an interesting analogy in Marcus Smart (Celtics).
Article 1
Article 2
You should read the articles above, they're both fun reads, but if you don't, the gist is this. Marcus Smart is a bad 3 point shooter, who shoots more three than just about any other bad shooter in the league. And yet, he's a critical component of the Celtics offense. This is because players tend to defend him like he's a good shooter, which opens up the floor, and forces players to sprint out at him, allowing him to drive to the bucket, or kick to a better shooter. And, just like Smart, for whatever reason, other teams tend to guard Azura at the three point line.
Azura doesn't have the passing or handle that Smart has, but she brings something just as important: she's usually being guarded by the other team's center. As four years of Stefanie Dolson taught us, have a center that forces the other team's center out to the three point line exposes the paint, and leads to efficient offense. But I would add that spreading the defense brings a particular synergy to other parts of UConn's offense.
All of our post players, but especially Gabby Williams, rely on mobility and low post-passing in the paint. This is much more common in the women's game, because players are smaller, and the post is relatively larger, leaving players with more room to operate. A post from one low post player to another, or driving around a player from a starting point of 7 feet away from the basket is much more common for the UConn women than it ever would be for a men's team, because the paint is functionally larger. This is what allows players like Nina Davis and Gabby Williams to have success in the post, where I think similarly skilled players on the Men's side, who were relatively the same size, would have a lot of trouble contributing at the same level.
By bringing the other team's biggest player out to the three point line, Azura is creating the space for Gabby and Napheesa to excel at what they do best, operating with lot's of space in the post. It's one of the reason's Azura is a critical component of our offense, and the reason that, as long as other teams are willing to keep guarding her out to the three, she should keep shooting.
For starters, we know that it is good for the team for her to shoot the three, because she obviously does have the green light, and the coaching staff know more than we do. But still, it's an interesting question: how do you justify having a player who's shooting 17% keep shooting?
Putting aside the fact that she shot a solid 36% from the line at Duke, and is probably a much better three point shooter than this years' statistics would show, I think there's an interesting analogy in Marcus Smart (Celtics).
Article 1
Article 2
You should read the articles above, they're both fun reads, but if you don't, the gist is this. Marcus Smart is a bad 3 point shooter, who shoots more three than just about any other bad shooter in the league. And yet, he's a critical component of the Celtics offense. This is because players tend to defend him like he's a good shooter, which opens up the floor, and forces players to sprint out at him, allowing him to drive to the bucket, or kick to a better shooter. And, just like Smart, for whatever reason, other teams tend to guard Azura at the three point line.
Azura doesn't have the passing or handle that Smart has, but she brings something just as important: she's usually being guarded by the other team's center. As four years of Stefanie Dolson taught us, have a center that forces the other team's center out to the three point line exposes the paint, and leads to efficient offense. But I would add that spreading the defense brings a particular synergy to other parts of UConn's offense.
All of our post players, but especially Gabby Williams, rely on mobility and low post-passing in the paint. This is much more common in the women's game, because players are smaller, and the post is relatively larger, leaving players with more room to operate. A post from one low post player to another, or driving around a player from a starting point of 7 feet away from the basket is much more common for the UConn women than it ever would be for a men's team, because the paint is functionally larger. This is what allows players like Nina Davis and Gabby Williams to have success in the post, where I think similarly skilled players on the Men's side, who were relatively the same size, would have a lot of trouble contributing at the same level.
By bringing the other team's biggest player out to the three point line, Azura is creating the space for Gabby and Napheesa to excel at what they do best, operating with lot's of space in the post. It's one of the reason's Azura is a critical component of our offense, and the reason that, as long as other teams are willing to keep guarding her out to the three, she should keep shooting.
