weberwildcat
Active member
issue: oct 29, 2012. page 66.
cover:
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/281444_10151057275966367_1318147729_n.png" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Article:
Merrily They (Pick and) Roll Along
http://insidesportsillustrated.com/tag/pick-and-roll/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
by Lee Jenkins
Excerpts: (Article is 3 pages long, I just typed up the WSU parts)
Late one evening in the fall of 2008, as the Weber St Wildcats hoisted jump shots after practice at the Dee Events Center, a freshman point guard named Damian Lillard made a promise that sounded like a boast. "I'm going to the NBA," he said. If he had been at Kentucky, the coaches might have shrugged, but at Weber St they laughed.
"You're clueless," replied one of the assistants, Phil Beckner. "For one thing, you don't know the pick-and-roll."
Lillard was, in fact, familiar with the play, having run it occasionally in high school with his AAU team, the Oakland Rebels. "I know pick-and-roll," he shot back.
"Bulls---," Beckner said.
A week later the coach presented Lillard with an eight minute DVD of Steve Nash, Tony Parker and Deron Williams running 10 picks-and-rolls each. The freshman watched the video five times in his first sitting. "That was the beginning of everything," says Lillard, drafted sixth overall by the Trail Blazers in June. "I wanted to do what those guys were doing."
Before every practice Beckner and Lillard worked together almost exclusively on the pick-and-roll. Beckner acted as the defender, and a trash can or folding chair was the screener. When Lillard dribbled around the obstacle and Beckner hopped out on him, Lillard was confronted with the decision that faces every pick-and-roll point guard: drive, dish or let fly. In its 2008-0-9 Big Sky opener against UNC, Weber State trailed by 3 points in the final seconds and called a play for guard Kellen McCoy. But when UNC denied McCoy, Lillard waved a teammate over for a pick, turning him into an imaginary trash can. The defender ducked under the screen, and the fearless freshman sank a 23-footer at the buzzer to force overtime. "Pick-and-roll is such a big part of the NBA, and we knew Damian had a chance to get [to the league]," says Weber St coach Randy Rahe, "so it only made sense to add more of it to our offense."
Rahe came up with five different pick-and-roll actions for Lillard and called them as many as 15 times per game. Beckner and Lillard studied clips of all the pick-and-rolls alongside cutups of Paul's and Parker's. NBA scouts flocked to Weber St campus in Ogden, Utah. "All our analytics told us he was the most effective pick-and-roll player in college basketball," says Blazers general manager Neil Olshey. "Then you go to see him and he's running middle pick-and-rolls, side pick-and-rolls, and he's involving others. He had translatable skill."
Of course, a point guard can memorize every nuance of the pick-and-roll and get nowhere if he can't shoot. At 6'3 195 pounds, Lillard is a power guard who sank 39.0% of his 3-pointers as a Wildcat, comparable with Nash's 40.1% at Santa Clara. "Steve Nash is the best at pick-and-roll because of his shooting," says Mike D'Antoni who coached him in Phx. "That makes everything easier."
The pick-and-roll is a dance, one big partner and one small, moving in a mosh pit. At Weber St, Lillard relied on the play to create shots for himself. In Portland he will use it to benefit Aldridge. "He has to play off LaMarcus," says Blazers assistant David Vanterpool."He has to figure out how to let the pick-and-roll develop and when to pass the ball."
The first play of Lillard's pro career was promising. Against the Hornets in Las Vegas Summer League, Lillard dribbled around a pick by rookie Meyers Leonard and noticed that his defender was climbing over the screen. Word was already out on Lillard's jumper. The point guard saw Leonard slipping to the hoop and threaded a one-handed bounce pass that Leonard collected and laid in. "It was unbelievable to see somebody so young with that skill," Leonard says of Lillard. "He's one of a kind."
During training camp Olshey asked Lillard how he was holding up, and the rookie responded, "I can't believe how easy this is." Lillard played four years at a college that prepared him for something beyond the Sweet 16. He didn't become a lottery pick in spite of Weber State. He became a lottery pick because of it.
On opening night the Blazers will host the Lakers, and then they will travel to Oklahoma City. Lillard will quickly discover that he is not in Ogden anymore.
The pterodactyls are coming, Ibaka and Garnett in Lillard's chest and under his chin, hedging and harassing 25 feet from the basket. The rookie can't wait. It's how he rolls.
cover:
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/281444_10151057275966367_1318147729_n.png" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Article:
Merrily They (Pick and) Roll Along
http://insidesportsillustrated.com/tag/pick-and-roll/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
by Lee Jenkins
Excerpts: (Article is 3 pages long, I just typed up the WSU parts)
Late one evening in the fall of 2008, as the Weber St Wildcats hoisted jump shots after practice at the Dee Events Center, a freshman point guard named Damian Lillard made a promise that sounded like a boast. "I'm going to the NBA," he said. If he had been at Kentucky, the coaches might have shrugged, but at Weber St they laughed.
"You're clueless," replied one of the assistants, Phil Beckner. "For one thing, you don't know the pick-and-roll."
Lillard was, in fact, familiar with the play, having run it occasionally in high school with his AAU team, the Oakland Rebels. "I know pick-and-roll," he shot back.
"Bulls---," Beckner said.
A week later the coach presented Lillard with an eight minute DVD of Steve Nash, Tony Parker and Deron Williams running 10 picks-and-rolls each. The freshman watched the video five times in his first sitting. "That was the beginning of everything," says Lillard, drafted sixth overall by the Trail Blazers in June. "I wanted to do what those guys were doing."
Before every practice Beckner and Lillard worked together almost exclusively on the pick-and-roll. Beckner acted as the defender, and a trash can or folding chair was the screener. When Lillard dribbled around the obstacle and Beckner hopped out on him, Lillard was confronted with the decision that faces every pick-and-roll point guard: drive, dish or let fly. In its 2008-0-9 Big Sky opener against UNC, Weber State trailed by 3 points in the final seconds and called a play for guard Kellen McCoy. But when UNC denied McCoy, Lillard waved a teammate over for a pick, turning him into an imaginary trash can. The defender ducked under the screen, and the fearless freshman sank a 23-footer at the buzzer to force overtime. "Pick-and-roll is such a big part of the NBA, and we knew Damian had a chance to get [to the league]," says Weber St coach Randy Rahe, "so it only made sense to add more of it to our offense."
Rahe came up with five different pick-and-roll actions for Lillard and called them as many as 15 times per game. Beckner and Lillard studied clips of all the pick-and-rolls alongside cutups of Paul's and Parker's. NBA scouts flocked to Weber St campus in Ogden, Utah. "All our analytics told us he was the most effective pick-and-roll player in college basketball," says Blazers general manager Neil Olshey. "Then you go to see him and he's running middle pick-and-rolls, side pick-and-rolls, and he's involving others. He had translatable skill."
Of course, a point guard can memorize every nuance of the pick-and-roll and get nowhere if he can't shoot. At 6'3 195 pounds, Lillard is a power guard who sank 39.0% of his 3-pointers as a Wildcat, comparable with Nash's 40.1% at Santa Clara. "Steve Nash is the best at pick-and-roll because of his shooting," says Mike D'Antoni who coached him in Phx. "That makes everything easier."
The pick-and-roll is a dance, one big partner and one small, moving in a mosh pit. At Weber St, Lillard relied on the play to create shots for himself. In Portland he will use it to benefit Aldridge. "He has to play off LaMarcus," says Blazers assistant David Vanterpool."He has to figure out how to let the pick-and-roll develop and when to pass the ball."
The first play of Lillard's pro career was promising. Against the Hornets in Las Vegas Summer League, Lillard dribbled around a pick by rookie Meyers Leonard and noticed that his defender was climbing over the screen. Word was already out on Lillard's jumper. The point guard saw Leonard slipping to the hoop and threaded a one-handed bounce pass that Leonard collected and laid in. "It was unbelievable to see somebody so young with that skill," Leonard says of Lillard. "He's one of a kind."
During training camp Olshey asked Lillard how he was holding up, and the rookie responded, "I can't believe how easy this is." Lillard played four years at a college that prepared him for something beyond the Sweet 16. He didn't become a lottery pick in spite of Weber State. He became a lottery pick because of it.
On opening night the Blazers will host the Lakers, and then they will travel to Oklahoma City. Lillard will quickly discover that he is not in Ogden anymore.
The pterodactyls are coming, Ibaka and Garnett in Lillard's chest and under his chin, hedging and harassing 25 feet from the basket. The rookie can't wait. It's how he rolls.
