TeamSPACE: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
By Matt D'Anna
Here it is, finally. After this one, we will have covered the 2013-2014 NBA season for all 30 teams, from a TeamSPACE most-used lineup perspective. By now, you know the drill: unique, precise areas, overlap – these are the things we’re looking for from each lineup.
ICYMI:
For more on this methodology, click here.
For Part 1 (Southwest division), click here.
For Part 2 (Northwest division), click here.
For Part 3 (Pacific division), click here.
For Part 4 (Southeast division), click here.
For Part 5 (Central division), click here.
So let’s finish this season-in-review properly, with arguably the least entertaining division, or arguably the most – depending on your perspective/degree of homerism:
Toronto Raptors
Record: 48-34
2013-2014 Toronto Raptors
The class of the Atlantic looks very Moreyball-ish at first glance… and second and third glance, too. The overall spacing is impressive, and the activity at the rim is a rainbow of goodness. The clustering is more systematic than chaotic (see below for chaos). Most Hunting Grounds are precise. Second, the 3-point line spacing is a little more crowded, but never by more than 2 different players in any one area. The Law Firm of Lowry and Ross compliment each other well – Lowry handles above the break, Ross shoots from slightly above the break down to the corners. At the ends is where DeRozan makes a 3-point appearance, which is clearly a fairly uncommon event. From a spatial perspective, the biggest winner in the Rudy Gay trade may have been DeMar DeRozan – look at all that newfound room to operate in! With the incredibly minute exception of Valencunias in about 4 spots and one tiny Amir Johnson wing area, it’s DeMar’s world. It makes you wonder if his activity is a necessary counter-balance to the rim and 3-point activity, or a drag on an otherwise Houstonian level of spacing? The answer is somewhat irrelevant, since they won the division; however, this is likely the lineup we’ll see a lot of next season – will anything change?
Brooklyn Nets
Record: 44-38
2013-2014 Brooklyn Nets
So much Joe Johnson… so much Joe Johnson. Anecdotally, this is Dirk Nowitzki levels of activity space – largely unprecedented throughout most of the league. When coupled with the wrong teammates, this can be seemingly dangerous. In this case, the Nets have a bit of an oddly constructed lineup which plays to the strengths and weaknesses of Johnson’s space-hogging tendencies.
For starters, Shaun Livingston plays a very unconventional shooting guard. While you could argue it’s remotely similar to Dwyane Wade, it really isn’t. No one non-PG-guard had activity quite like this: everything is below the foul line. Livingston doesn’t even sniff the 3-point line. This is somewhat complimentary to Paul Pierce, who occupies plenty of 3-point space, and very little midrange area. However, the space Pierce does use in 2-point land is largely overlapping and/or neighboring the other scorers in this lineup. The better compliment to Livingston is Deron Williams, who shoots from locations mostly above the foul line. The problem here is his overlap with Pierce and, of course, Johnson. Mason Plumlee is the ideal big here, taking little to no space away from the rest of the scorers. When he is potentially usurped by a healthy Brooke Lopez, things will likely get a bit more cramped away from the rim. Realistically, this is pretty chaotic, but it was also short-term – at least two of these pieces (Pierce, Livingston, and a new role for Plumlee) have left Brooklyn.
New York Knicks
Record: 37-45
2013-2014 New York Knicks
And then, there’s the Knicks. Carmelo Anthony’s Hunting Grounds look like a poor-man’s Kevin Durant – a lot of the same areas, although not as much behind the arc and in the paint. In general, a lot of what you expect when you watch Melo play – plenty of midrange, especially along the baseline, and 3-pointers from the wings. No surprises, really. The baseline activity is his and only his, but the other areas are what seem to give New York trouble.
JR Smith does a good job minimizing his “worst shot in basketball” (the long-range 2-point) activity, but his 3-point activity is essentially in direct competition with Melo’s. With an exception at the top of the arc, JR is everywhere that Melo is, but in larger areas. Raymond Felton does a good JR Smith impersonation, except instead of following Melo’s activity, he mimics JR. Felton also has more midrange activity – but that’s seemingly OK, since no one is active on that right elbow. As for A’mare, he’s active at the rim and from the left elbow. This would be fine except everyone not named Tyson Chandler in this lineup is active from that elbow. This could be the output of a design, from a pick-and-roll, or just a mess. And of course, there’s Tyson Chandler doing Tyson Chandler things.
Bottom line: it appears there needs to be more definition in each player’s areas of operation.
Boston Celtics
Record: 25-57
2013-2014 Boston Celtics
A few notes, as this is a team (and lineup) in flux, dealing with re-builds and injuries:
- Avery Bradley (if you’re reading – not likely, but whatever), when you’re shooting from above the foul line, can you please take about two steps backward before shooting? If all those long range 2s were turned into 3s, Bradley would begin to look like Jose Calderon or Danny Green from deep. He’s got the potential to be dangerous.
- The Brandon Bass/Jared Sullinger pairing is awkward. Their Hunting Grounds are too similar. Both of them like the top of the key and the baseline. Sullinger delves into the 3-point, fitting that stretch-4 role, but the premise is the same with them. It’s hard to pair two jump shooting bigs in the same lineup and not expect overlap like this.
- Where is Jeff Green? His activity resembles a 3-and-D wing, not a load-bearing scorer. This seemingly puts more burden on Bradley and their pair of stretch-4s.
- Jordan Crawford is not Rajon Rondo, for better or worse. Having said that, based on the chart Crawford did a decent job finding his spots.
Philadelphia 76ers
Record: 19-63
2013-2014 Philadelphia 76ers
So this is what tanking looks like? Huh. There is a semblance of structure here. There are very precise Hunting Grounds – especially Michael Carter-Williams, which is a silver-lining of hope for things to come. Further, everyone – literally, everyone – has decent amounts of activity from beyond the arc. Naturally, the 3-point is crowded – overly crowded – in such a configuration. There is little room for any one player to establish a unique identity, although Spencer Hawes certainly tries. While Evan Turner appears to dominate the midrange, if you look closely there is a lot of redundancy with Thad Young, minus one elbow area.
All in all, it appears crowded, and relatively positionless.
Nuff said.
So…what’s next for TeamSPACE? Simply put, two things: #Ringz and next season.
Data and photo support provided courtesy of NBA.com, Basketball-Reference.com, and Austin Clemens.