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David West

David West Didn’t Want to Play Small Ball

by Jared Wade on January 20, 2012 at 2:30 pm · 2 comments

Purposely exempt from the last post on the Pacers zone offense was David West’s frustration with his coach’s decision to play small ball. The Kings had gone to a front line of Jason Thompson, Francisco Garcia and Travis Outlaw (along with Isaiah Thomas and Tyreke Evans), and the zone those five were played had nearly erased the Pacers lead. The result was Frank Vogel sending George Hill in for a struggling Roy Hibbert after the big fella picked up his fifth foul with 5:30 to go in the game. The Pacers once-16-point lead was down to four with Indiana up 84-80.

For the rest of the game, the Pacers played with Darren Collison, Hill, Paul George and Danny Granger on the floor together. Vogel would send Hibbert back in — with 2:19 left, his team’s lead down to just one point and the Kings shooting two free throws — but it wasn’t for a perimeter player. Roy relieved West, leaving the team with still just one big man on the floor.

In the previous post, I didn’t get into out West’s take on the matter, which Mike Wells of the Indy Star touched on, because (a) I’m not sure he is correct here since Hibbert was playing like garbage and I didn’t want the views of someone much smarter than me about basketball to supersede my point that Roy was playing poorly against the zone, and (b) this coming account by Sam Amick is seemingly out-of-character for West and deserves being fully highlighted on its own since he’s questioning his coach.

I’m sure you don’t care about my editorial choices, however, so let’s get to the point: here’s what West had to say about it to Sam Amick of Sports Illustrated after the game.

How bad was the Pacers’ mood both during and after they melted down in a 92-88 loss at Sacramento on Wednesday? One of the team’s consummate pros, David West, acted more like a pro wrestler.

When coach Frank Vogel opted to match the small-ball approach of new Kings coach/Don Nelson prodigy Keith Smart late in a fourth quarter in which the Pacers were outscored 26-8, a helpless and frustrated West unleashed a right cross on his folding chair while repeatedly yelling, “I knew it!” He was exasperated through each and every late possession while sitting the final four minutes, watching the Kings’ zone stifle the Pacers one minute and covering his eyes with his towel while shaking his head the next.

What he “knew,” he would later contend, is that things would have turned out differently if the big men were allowed to finish the game.

“It was kind of a last-ditch effort to junk the game up, and we [played] right into their hands,” West said.

And somewhere in retirement, Nelson — the godfather of small ball whose 2006-07 Warriors famously upset top-seeded Dallas in the first round with that style — was smiling. The Pacers were nothing short of shocked, with players trying to make sense of why and how it all happened among each other in the locker room afterward.

“We had some lineups we’re not used to playing with, and that cost us some buckets on the offensive end,” said West, who signed a two-year, $20 million deal before the season. “They were comfortable and knew what they were doing with their lineups and they were able to close the game. … Late in the game you always want to be on the floor and feel like you can help.”

West is wiser than most, and the level of his frustration was clearly based on the big picture. While the Pacers are still off to a great start at 9-4, seven of their next nine games are on the road and include matchups against the Lakers, Bulls, Magic (twice), Celtics and Mavericks.

Last year, the Pacer players post-game comments were always dripping with veiled disdain for Jim O’Brien’s personnel choices. This came as no shock. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to anything O’Brien was doing, and it appeared as though he was just mixing and matching player combinations at random. If anything, some of his playing-time decisions looked to be based on little more than “screw that guy.”

So far, there has been nothing (that I can recall) but the opposite expressed for Vogel. And that makes this is a particularly interesting public take from West, who is — unmaliciously but certainly — questioning the lineups that his coach chose to close this game out with.

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The Statistical Impact of David West and George Hill on the Pacers Lineup Data

by Tim Donahue on January 18, 2012 at 8:03 pm · 0 comments

Not so long ago, we looked at the fact that the Pacers starting lineup was the second most effective unit in the NBA. This was encouraging, especially since both David West and Danny Granger have been individually stinking up the gym when it comes to making shots. The other interesting aspect is how much better this unit is playing than last year’s starting group — which featured  four of the same five guys — did.

Last year, when the Pacers transitioned to the “starting lineup of the future” — Darren Collison, Paul George, Danny Granger, Tyler Hansbrough, Roy Hibbert — the team improved. But that group struggled. And it hasn’t been doing much better this year. Now, the only difference between the lineup above and the new starting lineup is the substitution of West for Hansbrough.

But the difference in results has been glaring.

  • Last season, Collison, George, Granger and Hibbert played with Hansbrough for 329 minutes. In total, they were outscored by 19 points, or about 2.8 points per 48 minutes. On offense, they scored 104.9 points 100 possession while allowing 108.1 per 100 — meaning they were outscored by 3.2 points per 100.
  • This season, Collison, George, Granger and Hibbert have played with David West for 165 minutes. They’ve outscored their opponents by 64 points — or a thoroughly ridiculous 19 points per 48 minutes. On offense, they have scored 111.9 per 100 possessions while allowing 92.7 per 100 — meaning they’ve outscored their opponents by 19.1 points per 100.
  • Some things have changed this year. Collison, George and Hibbert are all more experienced for one. And this disparity is probably partially affected by Indiana’s schedule so far. However, last year’s starting lineup (DC/PG/Danny/Tyler/Roy) has been used sparingly this year (only 24 minutes). And it’s been a train wreck. They’ve been outscored by 11 points (over 22 points per 48 minutes), and scored only 85.4 per 100 possessions while allowing 104 points per 100 — being outscored by 18.6 points per 100.
  • Over the two seasons combined, that means the the starting unit with West substituted for Tyler is 8.3 points better in offensive efficiency and 15.1 points better in defensive efficiency.
  • Tyler’s numbers are somewhat concerning. Of the eight Pacers players who have seen consistent minutes so far this season (the starters, Tyler, George Hill, and Dahntay Jones), only Tyler (-1.7) and Dahntay (-11.7) have overall negative ratings (offensive efficiency minus defensive efficiency) during their time on the court. Granger has posted the best number (+12.9) followed by Collison (+11.3) and West (+8.9). Some of this likely can be attributed to the fact that Hansbrough has played 159 of his 308 minutes alongside Dahntay. During his time playing with Jones, Tyler is -5.0. In his other 149 minutes, he’s been +1.7. Still, overall, the team’s offense efficiency is 9.9 points worse with Tyler on the floor, and the defensive efficiency is 3.8 points worse.

It’s very early so we can’t read too much into such stats at this point, but the numbers beat up Tyler pretty hard in a relatively small sample size. But if we glance a little further, it seems that Dahntay may be Typhoid Mary here.

Consider these numbers:

  • In the 122 minutes George Hill has played with Dahntay, the Pacers have scored 93.8 points per 100 possessions while allowing 111.3 points per 100 — good for a 17.5 rating per 100.
  • By contract, in 156 minutes Hill has played without Dahntay, Indy has scored 102.1 points per 100 while allowing 84.8 per 100 — good for a +17.3 rating per 100. And during those 156 minutes, 100 have been with Tyler on the floor. When Hill and Tyler play together with Dahntay on the bench, the Pacers offense sucks (scoring only 93 points per 100) but their defense is strong (allowing just 85 points 100). Their overall net rating is +8 per 100.

Lastly, let’s look at some George Hill splits.

  • He has played 101 minutes with West, and the overall numbers are positive (+4.8 per 100), but not great. But, 36 minutes also featured Dahntay on the floor, and those units posted a negative overall rating of 51.9 points per 100. In the other 65 minutes the offense (116.4 points per 100) and defense (83 points per 100) were both stellar.
  • The Pacers haven’t exactly hummed when Hill has played point guard. In his 117 minutes at the one spot, the offense drops to 84.1 per 100 and the defense heads north to 103.0 per 100. Dahntay, who has been on the court 76 of the minutes Hill has run the team, isn’t really the factor on the offensive production side, where there’s almost no difference. Defensively, however the team is much worse — 110.1 per 100 in 76 Dahntay-filled minutes vs. 90.2 in 41 Dahntay-less minutes. I should note that these 117 minutes do include the times when Hill has been paired with Lance Stephenson, times when it is kind of unclear as to who is actually running the point. Interestingly, in 54 minutes when Hill has been paired with Lance in the backcourt, the Pacers are positive (+1.8 per 100), but not impressive (with an offensive efficiency of 93.5 and a defensive efficiency of 91.7).
  • With Hill at the 2, the Pacers have been a juggernaut. In his 161 minutes playing shooting guard, they have scored 109.7 points per 100 and only allowed 91.2 per 100 — good for a +14.6 rating.

Based on this, it seems to me that not landing Jamal Crawford or OJ Mayo might work out reasonably well as long as Hill continues to get a lot of run at the 2. If you add the time with the Hill/Stephenson backcourt, that’s a 105.3 offensive efficiency and a 91.3 defensive efficiency in 214 minutes. It’s very hard to like this offense overall. But all this show major promise from Hill and West.

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David West and the Pacers’ Pick and Roll

by Jared Wade on January 15, 2012 at 3:49 pm · 2 comments

David West has added a lot to the Pacers franchise. Off the court, he has become a team leader. On the court, he has provided good spacing, been a willing passer and rarely taken a bad shot (even if he has missed a lot of, for him, easy ones). But the most dynamic way he has helped the team is through one simple aspect of basketball 101: the pick-and-roll.

The numbers certainly don’t suggest that the “West-as-screener in pick-and-roll” has benefitted the team. According to mySynergySports, if you look at plays that West finishes (those that end in a shot, free throws or a turnover), he only converts to the tune of 0.67 points per possession. When it comes to efficient production, that’s not only not good — it’s rather gross. On a team-wide basis, Indiana has finished plays out of the PnR 203 times. When the ball-handlers have shot, they have hit just 30.1% of their attempts. When the roll-men finish, it’s hardly better at 35.7%.

But the action, with West involved, was the go-to play play Indiana ran down the stretch in both Toronto wins. And in looking at West’s numbers from Synergy, we need to factor in David’s early-season struggles to actually convert when he gets a good look: through 11 games, he’s shooting a deplorable 48% at the rim and an ugly 37.5% between 3-9 feet. After direct post-ups, the PnR has been the second-most frequent action West has been involved in. So when it comes to both plays I remember watching and simply logic, we can surmise that West has missed some good screen-roll-created shots.

Moreover, the pick-and-roll has freed up so many good looks for Pacers not involved in the action directly. Swing passes and kickouts to the weakside have created so many good looks. And it seems as if this “pick-and-roll as a weapon” mentality is permeating the rest of the team’s collective conscious. I mean, in the second quarter last night, Lance Stephenson and Jeff Foster ran a picture-perfect screen/roll that got a three-point play for Jeff.

For the ball-handlers last season, Tyler Hansbrough was the team’s best pick-and-roll (or, more usually, pick-and-pop) partner. He was OK and could often get an open 17-footer out of the action. But it was never a true threat. This year, with West as the screener — and an improving Hansbrough and often-effective Roy Hibbert — the team has a go-to play that NBA history has proven to be unstoppable when run with precision.

As Indiana runs it, there is still a ton of room for improvement. Again, just look at the numbers above. This isn’t Stockton and Malone by any stretch of the imagination, and almost every team in the NBA has been more effective with their PnRs than the Pacers have so far.

But all the signs are there that this will continue to improve. Under Jim O’Brien, the Pacers were never adept at this most-basic of offensive weapons. So between better familiarity, the ball-handlers learning to make better decisions, and West and Danny Granger not missing so many shots near the hoop, we can presume that better things are ahead.

And even if not, at least Indiana’s pick-and-roll, this one being initiated by a crafty dribble-handoff, produced this David West dunk. I may be forgetting something, but I think this is the best highlight we have seen from West as a Pacer.

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The Best Play of the Pacers Season So Far

by Jared Wade on January 12, 2012 at 4:21 pm · 1 comment

As mentioned on his report card, Roy Hibbert often looked like a man among boys last night against the Hawks lineup. As Bret LaGree of the Hawks blog Hoopinion noted, this was in part due to the fact that Al Horford left the game early with an injury. He wrote that, in the third quarter, with Jason Collins starting at center in the play of Horford, “the Pacers ran the Hawks out of the gym, partially on the basis of Hibbert not having to worry about Collins and being free to protect the rim.”

Of course, there was a reason Horford left the game. And it was due to his shoulder getting banged up when Hibbert and Paul George sent a tag-team swat team after two of his shot attempts.

The result was the easily the best Pacers sequence so far this young season. Horford gets swatted, regathers and gets swatted again. Vlad Rad picks up the loose ball and gets his attempt block nearly before it even leaves his hands.

Then it’s off to the races the other way as Paul George adeptly leads a break, but slows it down rather than forcing a drive (perhaps due to the fact that he, not so surprisingly, almost lost his dribble). He finds a posting Hibbert, who had hustled down the court and looks poised to a make a move. But instead sees a wide-open David West cutting through the lane for to turn the Indiana power-play (Horford was lying on the floor at the other end) into a dunk.

Ball movement city.

* UPDATE: Didn’t know about the severity of Al’s injury when originally posting. In the grand scheme of things, this play really sucks. Al Horford tore his left pec during the exchange and will now be out up to 4 months. Crappy, crappy stuff. No insensitivity intended. Was unaware.

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