Will Lionel Hollins Keep Brooklyn Nets' Schemes Outside the Box?
Lionel Hollins ran an offense that concentrated on big men when he coached the Memphis Grizzlies.
Now, as new coach of the Brooklyn Nets, he'll have to implement a different kind of attack. But will Hollins' scheme be conventional or outside the box?
Before we define what is "outside the box," we first need to answer the question Brad Pitt once asked Kevin Spacey: "What's in the box?!"
"In the box" is a typical NBA offense that relies on on-ball screens, dunks, layups and threes. Maybe not every team in the world depends on limiting scoring to exaggerated inside and outside shots as much as the Houston Rockets, but the league as a whole is straying away from mid-range attempts and is running loads of pick-and-roll.
(Unrelated note: The Rockets attempted the fewest mid-range shots in the NBA last year. Second-to-last in that category? The Philadelphia 76ers, who took nearly twice as many jumpers from mid-range. Daryl Morey is an animal.)
Your average squad runs most of its offense through the pick-and-roll. It spreads the floor with it. It finds open shots on the perimeter. It opens up lanes for cuts.
But the Nets run into one problem with that philosophy: On-ball screens aren't really Deron Williams' thing anymore.
With Williams, there has to be some outside-the-box-ness—yes, "outside-the-box-ness" is a thing—because he's become somewhat unconventional over the past few years, demurring from the pick-and-roll.
As I wrote back in August, Williams is growing less and less decisive in pick-and-roll sets by the season: "D-Will has become hesitant creating off the bounce. He'll commonly get to the nail and then pull back, starting a play over after shaving significant time off the shot clock."
Last year's Nets naturally followed their point guard's lead, employing other non-pick-and-roll guards like Sean Livingston and running the third-fewest pick-and-rolls in the league, according to Synergy Sports (subscription required).
But what if projecting the future purely based on player tendencies in the past is the wrong way to do it? What if Hollins is about to change the way Williams, who hasn't been a major pick-and-roll guard during his split time in New Jersey and Brooklyn, runs his team?
When ESPNNewYork's Mike Mazzeo asked a former NBA scout about the 2014-15 Nets' offense, he got an answer that implied change:
"From what I’ve gathered, I mean, everything [Lionel’s] gonna do will be based off pick-and-roll actions, which is very common, with motion off-the-ball sets and actions, a lot of things where basically you’re running a pick-and-roll on one side of the court and there’s some type of screen or action happening on the opposite side of the court. Then they’re going to switch sides of the floor likely for another pick-and-roll with motions off the ball on the other side too, hoping to create a switch on one or both of those actions to get a mismatch they can exploit in the secondary pick-and-roll.
"
On-ball screens trying to force switches? Side pick-and-rolls? This is all so conventional and not what we saw either from Hollins during his time in Memphis or from Williams during his stint in Brooklyn. And it's comments like this which may lead one to ask: Is it right to use the Grizzlies' offense to predict how Hollins will conduct the Nets?
In Memphis, Hollins often let his big men control the attack. But when you pair Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol with a group of guards who are troubled shooters at best, that decision almost makes itself for you.
So, Hollins let Gasol work out of the high post. He encouraged Z-Bo to bully guys down low, and even though there was criticism that the Grizzlies wouldn't put the ball in their center's hands enough, Ga-ZBo flourished into a premier big-man combination.
It wasn't that the Grizzlies didn't screen on the ball often—actually, much of point guard Mike Conley's distribution came while dribbling around picks—they just weren't all too effective during those sets. Mostly, that was on the personnel. Memphis never finished higher than bottom-seven in three-point percentage under Hollins.
Now it seems like we may be in for some new Hollins wrinkles, ones which would mimic some of the principles Williams executed back when he was one of the league's top point guards in Utah.
As Williams told reporters, "[Lionel has] definitely incorporated some of Utah’s offense into what he’s doing this year, but some other stuff as well. So it’s similar, but it’s different."
Unlike those Memphis teams, Hollins has shooters in Brooklyn. Williams, Joe Johnson, Alan Anderson, Jarrett Jack, Mirza Teletovic and Bojan Bogdanovic are all capable from outside. That's going to allow the Nets to spread more, which in turn opens up the floor for the motion and flex cuts that helped make the Jazz offense so successful for the first five-and-a-half years of Williams' career.
Assuming Brook Lopez, a big body who can screen (when he's healthy), can transition to a more pick-and-roll-happy mode, this year's Nets' attack could become more fluid than last season's my-turn, your-turn offense. And as Reed Wallach wrote at NetsDaily, "It is good for Williams to be in a system that he has thrived in once before. Maybe he can find his Utah self in a more Jazz-like scheme."
Hollins' old themes may have been somewhat outside the box. But it seems like while in Brooklyn, he's moving himself closer and closer to the inside. And because of that, it's possible we'll see the Nets improve last season's inconsistent offense.
Fred Katz averaged almost one point per game in fifth grade but maintains that his per-36-minute numbers were astonishing. Find more of his work at WashingtonPost.com or on ESPN's TrueHoop Network at ClipperBlog.com. Follow him on Twitter at @FredKatz.
Unless otherwise noted, all statistics are current as of Oct. 9 and are courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
