Space
Space is more than just the distant between the players of the Philadelphia 76ers. Its the choreography of placing the right players at the right point to make a clean shot.
It involves the shooter, the movement setting up the shot, the ball handler, and the precision pass. It is the motion of the shooter, and not just three guys perched beyond the three-point line assailing the basket as though they were mortar rockets anchored to the ground.
You see, Brett Brown does not believe basketball offense will be ruled by the three point shot. He merely agrees that it has it’s place. In a telling interview with Grantland’s Zach Lowe, Brown shared his thoughts about the three point shot in offense, and his belief in defending it:
"Everybody in analytics tells me (that the three point shot) is (the future of the NBA), but I don’t like it. There is no stat that talks about the disappointment and frustration of an interior player not getting touches while running rim to rim to rim to rim. Look at the extreme of last [Thursday’s] game, with Houston and Oklahoma City. (where Houston scored 70+ points in the first half to just 19 points in the second half). I’m just so curious to see what happened. In my opinion, it just ends up a carnival. I don’t see it [as the future]. And I could be entirely wrong. You have to embrace the three. We embrace the three. We’ve embraced it as much as anybody, I hope. We’ve encouraged Spencer [Hawes] and Thaddeus [Young] — dragged them out and spaced the floor. I think the future of the game is the Ryan Anderson type. One of your bigs has to be able to do that. But to just scream up and down the floor, and jack 3s — I don’t like that."
And so, it’s not just jacking 3’s.
So what is it?
It’s the choreography. It’s similar to taking the Ish Smith to Nerlens Noel alley-oop pass and dunk and using that same precision and wow with a number of players, shots, and moves. It’s the pick and roll, its the corner three, it’s the drive and lay up to the basket, it’s the alley-oop.
It’s placing folks into motion and when they break to the shot, the ball arrives just where it needs to. It’s something we have not yet seen in Philadelphia for some time.
Next: The Future of Philadelphia Space