As long as there’s a proper point guard, I’m not super concerned. ‘Positionless’ basketball scares me when it comes to teams like Northwestern that are like ten guys 6’4"-6’9" that don’t shoot or run an offense well.
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Northwestern’s version is that none of them can pass or shoot
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agree it probably is not enough to glean anything significant from, but I think it is the same term that Jace may have used, so it seems like it might be part of the pitch so far to recruits.
I agree with you that it is likely being used in terms of offense, i.e., the concept that you dont just run your offense through a particular position (or set of positions), you can kind of adapt it to the best guy for a given situation, and that you want multi-skilled guys all over the floor (who doesn’t!?). In sum, it probably doesnt mean much, but its what we’ve got so far…
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I see that the uptempo, position-less basketball quote is from Eisley, so this gives me another chance to stump for the guy.
Eisley played under the Don Nelson, the godfather of position-less basketball. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nellie_Ball. So he was exposed to this concept long before it became trendy. Also, Eisley played under D’antonio in Phoenix shortly before D’antonio’s “7 seconds or less” philosophy took the league by storm. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_D’Antoni.
So when Eisley says UM is gonna run uptempo, positional-less basketball, I wouldn’t dismiss it as mindless coach speak. The guy knows what he’s talking about.
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It is comforting to hear, but probably doesn’t mean that much. Its more of a cliche, like drafting “the best player available.” It doesn’t really mean what it says. They aren’t going to have Teske bring the ball up the floor. Just like no team would draft 7 straight quarterbacks.
What it really means is that there will be flexibility in the 2-4, just like there was under JB and many other teams. The devil of course is in the details.
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Also played under George Karl for a bit too, and he loved to play insanely fast and was one of the best transition coaches ever. Personally I hope we play with a style similar to Fred Hoibergs Iowa state teams, those teams were insanely fun offensively imo.
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Thanks for the insight. To me this is something it would be silly to dismiss out of hand. You read what tea leaves you have.
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I think switchability from 2 thru 4 is no small thing, and I think putting skilled offensive players those three positions – rather than, say, a physical but unskilled 4 – is also no small thing. If there’s one thing I don’t want to hear from a coach it’s that they want to win the game in the paint and by being tougher than the other team. Those are the kinds of coaches that don’t do positionless.
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Certainly plenty of intrigue regarding Eisley’s background, but the question is how Juwan Howard wants to play.
Eisley, Martelli and Saddi all have different experiences but they are assistants. They just provide input.
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Good point, but keep in mind that Eisley is really the only assistant coach that Howard picked. Saddi was a hold over, and Martelli was recommended to Howard to fill the mentor role.
Eisley played with a bunch of different teams and saw multiple philosophies, but his longest stretch was at Utah under Jerry Sloan. He cites Sloan as the one who identified Eisley as having the potential to be a good coach himself. That tells me he knows how to run ball screen offense, which Sloan and Stockton mastered. That’s where I suspect Eisley will be most valuable.
His stops with Nelson and D’Antoni were pretty short so while he might have liked the style, it’s more likely that he’s simply thinking about what’s happening now.
Either way, Beilein at the end of last season was already talking about the need to run to try to get some easier points, so I’m not surprised to see that being mentioned with the new staff.
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Beilein discussed the need to run more effectively and efficiently. Not necessarily more often.
I would think if they were more effective at it, they would do it more often. Simpson was often hesitant or didn’t see the opportunities. Beilein always preached taking advantage of chances to run when it’s there and said he regretted not working in that more.That’s not to suggest he was adopting a new crazy uptempo style, but I don’t take Eisley’s quotes to suggest that either. Utah when Eisley was there is actually a prime example of a team that took care of the ball but made other teams pay when the opportunity was there. If Simpson and the test can get better at running, I do expect to see more of it.
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Yeah, don’t really have anything else to add regarding Michigan’s transition offense other than what I wrote in that story. Michigan was uncharacteristically bad in transition last year, will be fascinated to see if that changes.
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Re Eisley, I think Howard said something like ``finally we get the chance to work together’’. Suggests they share a vision and have a bond. But we’ll see…
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pins Cassius Winston* > > > >
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