Less shots for Abrams, more shots for Johnson and James

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DJDJAJGJ

250+ Posts
This isn't supposed to be an A.J. hating post. I'm not going to say we're better without him, he sucks, blah blah blah

He's a good player, and we don't win some of our games without his shooting. However, he's no Durant. I'm fine with him being one of our best options, but I'm not sure about our #1 option. Everyone knows he's a streaky shooter, so relying on him to carry our offense doesn't make sense, especially when you consider the other options we have, namely James and Johnson.

We nearly pulled another Notre Dame game the way we ran countless plays for Abrams and let him shoot without control. He ended up with 21 points on 21 shots. A PPS of 1.00 is not very efficient at all.

As solid of a player Abrams is, he has no business taking 34% of our shots in the Wisconsin game and 36% of our shots in the Notre Dame game. That is atrocious shot distribution for a team with other offensive options.

It's no coincidence that we won the Wisconsin game with James and Johnson hitting our last two field goals. Look at the stats, they're more efficient than Abrams, so why aren't we giving them more shots?

Abrams: 43.2 FG%, 15.3 shots per game
James: 50.4 FG%, 10.9 shots per game
Johnson: 47.4% FG%, 8.1 shots per game

Please tell me you think something is wrong with this? For the record, I don't have a problem with AJ taking the most shots in a game, especially against bad defensive teams, but this is too much of a disparity. When we're going against a team with physical guards that can contain him easily, we have to learn to stop feeding him the ball and focus on our other options. Use him more as a decoy and a facilitator in those situations.

Johnson is already a stud and should be starting over Connor if you ask me. He's money from midrange and can post up. Same for James - last FG yesterday was a post up leading to an easy jumper from about 10 feet. James can make threes, but inside and midrange is where he belongs. I think we're forcing him to shoot threes because other than Abrams, what other 3pt options do we have with Connor completely losing his shot?

Anyway, Cliffnotes is more shots for Johnson and James, less shots for Abrams. The statistics and success from the Wisconsin game support this.

Oh, and were it not for Dexy getting in foul trouble, we should be feeding him the ball more in the Wisconsin too.
 
I somewhat disagree with you.

If Abrams has an open look on the catch and shoot, he should shoot it every time. I would be the first one to yell at him if he passes up that kind of shot. He is as money as anyone in the country.

On the other hand, he is not very good at creating his own shot off the dribble. He may have a damn quick release but it is often a hurried low percentage shot. His floaters are ugly even if he gets some of them to go in.
 
I have no problem with AJ getting shots when he has open looks - especially from beyond the arc. He's actually shooting a higher percentage (45%) from 3 pt range than he is inside the arc, which convert into a 67.5% 2 pt scoring equivalent.

Sure he's streaky at times, but who on this team isn't?
 
Couldn't agree more with OP. I'm sure if he had one open shot with his feet set the entire Wisconsin game. We will be better if we move the ball around and switch it up. Dex, Johnson and James can all score.
 
I agree with the original post. Abrams is an excellent shot and when he is getting good looks and feeling it, then I'm happy with him shooting. When the opposition D is pressuring him with more than one man (which seems to be most of the time now), the horns have other options (Damion, Gary, Dex) that will be more profitable.

Another problem with running so many plays for Abrams is that the offense gets so predictable (as Dick Vitale mentioned during the Wisconsin game). The horns need to run more plays that look like they are for Abrams but are actually for one of the other horns.

The screens that the horns run for Abrams are less effective now (than previously) because the opposition now uses these screens as an opportunity for the screener's defender to bother Abrams.

If the horns employ a more balanced offense, it will be expensive for the opposition to focus so much on Abrams so Abrams will tend to get better looks when he does shoot.
 
For the season, A.J. has 1.30 PPS, Damian has 1.32 PPS, Johnson has 1.20 PPS, Connor has 1.34 PPS.

Not a big difference among these guys. You can't take one game of 1.0 PPS to be the slam dunk case for your argument.

Well. You can. Cuz you did. But you shouldn't.
 
If Abrams gets 50 wide open looks in a game, then he should take 50 shots.

But lets get real, every team game plans against him so he's not getting wide open looks. Especially in the half court offense, did he get any open looks against Michigan State and Wisconsin? They were face guarding him. The only times where he's truly open is on the fast break when he pulls up for three.

It's not just PPS, it's FG%, especially in our toughest games. In our two losses, his PPS was under 1 both times. He shot 30% or under in those two games as well.
 
You have to keep in mind the type of players each are. AJ is a 3 point shooter, of course his percentage is going to be lower. Most of Johnson's points are mid range jumpers are inside the paints, higher percentage shots. Guards usually are going to shoot a lower percentage than forwards. Nene is leading the NBA in fg %. Are you trying to say Nene should get the ball more at the expense of Melo or Billups?
 
Hopefully gk314, you're not actually in favor of Abrams taking 30% of our shots when we have players that can score inside and score efficiently. Abrams is not Melo good and hopefully you don't think James and Johnson's roles should be relegated to Nene's role on the Nuggets.

And like I've already said, I fully support Abrams taking the most shots, but not at this big of a disparity.

In the Wisconsin game, Abrams shot the ball 21 times. James and Johnson COMBINED for 20 shots. Sorry, but that just shouldn't happen, ever.
 
"But really, we need better offensive fundamentals. Sometimes AJ has to throw up poor quality shots because he's got the ball and 4 other guys are either standing around" _____________________________________________________________ while the shot clock is down to 3. Our stagnant offense leaves the AJ factor as our best offense sometimes. Simply having AJ on the court means others are focusing so much on him it leaves James and Johnson with better opportunities. Still, when the clock grinds down below 10, we need a better option than giving it to AJ and watch him split a double team at the ft line and throw up an off balance runner over a 6'8" guardian of the rim.....I'd be happy happy with AJ taking 8-10 shots when he hasa clean look, and otherwise simply keep the defense chasing after him to prevent it. Either Mason or Balbay can take role of slashing in the lanes late in the shot clock...
 
I'm fine with the AJ - James & Johnson shot distribution ratio. The problem is that all three are almost exclusively jump shooters. What we need more is:

1) Dribble penetration by Mason and Balbay. Mason can be effective. Why is it not done more.
2) An inside game. Outside of Dex on a few occasions our offense is all jump shots.
 
I agree that it would be better for UT if AJ didn't have to take so many shots (especially against great defensive teams like Michigan St. and Wisconsin, who are determined to stop him), but up until this point in the season, no one else has stepped up on a CONSISTENT basis. Sure, Johnson's had a couple of good games in a row, and James has had flashes of last year, but not consistently.

As for the use of Johnson's last shot in the Wisconsin game as an example, though, do you really want him taking that shot on a regular basis? He banked in an 18-footer. Just because it went in doesn't make it a good shot. Mason's shot at the end of the MSU game was a much better shot, it just didn't drop.

If other guys step up more consistently, it will not only help the team, but also AJ, because he'll start seeing less double teams and all the attention off the screens.
 
DJDJAJGJ:

I am certainly in favor of GJ and James taking high percentage shots. But often times (especially with Gary Johnson) they seem content shooting 18 footers. If my choice is between AJ shooting a contested 20 footer or Gary Johnson shooting a 18 footer, I would rather AJ Abrams shoot the ball. However, I do agree that Gary Johnson, at least in the past couple of games, has been much more aggressive at taking the ball to the basket which I like to see from him.
 
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