28 Comments
Oct 17, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot

Suggestion for future videos: would be interesting to Explain One Play Gone Wrong. I've noticed that you do this from time to time -- point out what went wrong -- but it seems to be an observation made in passing. It would be interesting if the focus of a study was all the ways in which small errors lead to mistakes, or the way a trend of a particular play over the course of a game or games -- like a player not reacting, then over reacting, etc. -- leads to mistakes.

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I did remember it well!! It all started there. The rise of Jordan Poole started there: https://youtu.be/vuYpuUvh-VI look and enjoy, there’s everything in that gesture of Draymond, there’s mentorship, nurture, faith, energy, will. It all started there, Dray firing up JP3’s cardiac engine. From then on, it’s been Poole party.

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Also, Iguodala's interview talking about looking forward to playing with Wiseman: https://youtu.be/ORUbuX6iLyY?t=265

quietly amping me up for more Wiseman

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Do you think that Wiseman has made any improvements since last season? I don't think he has been doing anything as far as practices with others. If that is the case, other than theory, he will be practically a beginner again, missing both preseasons and team practices for his first two seasons. I don't imagine anyone that hasn't played in college and missing so much pro playing time, including the upcoming games where he will not play, coming on the floor and being ready to contribute in any meaningful way. He will need more time in the gleague than Jordan Poole who was already a player but couldn't find his timing and shot in his first season. We may barely seen him on the floor this season.

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For sure, I agree. Wiseman is definitely a longer term proposition and needs a lot of work. Just more hopeful now that he’ll come out on the positive rather than negative end of outcomes in 2 years.

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The father/son thing is really cool, and also Andre slyly implies that he had always planned on coming back.

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Awesome video as usual! Random question -- I know I learn about the names of sets and plays from E1P videos, but where does Eric learn all of this from? Like the name of the "delay" set from D'Antoni. Feels like magic, and I am in awe and feeling edified as usual after watching a E1P video.

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Oct 17, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot

he learns like the rest of us -- by watching old E1P videos

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Ha ha ha!! This had me cracking up!

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author

I have on occasion referred back to old E1Ps to refresh my memory of certain plays!!

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author

I read and learn like other people and follow a few coach Twitter accounts.

The Delay set I can't remember where I first read that name, but I first heard it once D'Antoni started at NYK. Here is a great example:

https://basketball.realgm.com/analysis/240226/Mike-DAntoni-And-The-Delay-Double-Quicks-Prominence-In-Todays-NBA

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you lost me at "I read and learn"

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and then I wonder, are coaches (or other assistants) revealing the names of sets, i.e. how does everyone end up agreeing what sets should be called

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I see a LOT of disagreement on what to call the same action! But I've only seen a very small number of people get snotty about terminology ("Are you an idiot, that's not Pistol!!")... it's like there's a cloud of terms that are in common usage and if you can learn those, then you can navigate most conversations.

I believe players face this issue when going from team to team. Similar concepts will have different names and also might be organized differently...

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super cool, it's like a (not-so)-secret club!

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Oct 16, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot

So just looking at the very first clip, the classic post-split, if that were Wiseman instead of Looney taking the ball in the post, is there a scenario where he starts to post-up, backing towards the basket the moment he gets the ball, and then depending on how the defense adjusts, pass it back to Poole, who took the screen, or if Wiseman has a good match-up, the defense will need to send help in the post, and there must be more openings on the perimeter.

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What usually happens is the post looks to see who gets open on the cuts, and then if no one is open, either resets the ball to the top, or occasionally starts a post move but only as a last resort if the shot clock is low.

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Oct 17, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot

What I'm saying is that with Wiseman being more of an offensive threat, can he start a post move in the 0.5-1 second it takes to finish the split, causing more chaos and adjustments from the defense, and either creating more space in the corner for when Poole recovers, or causing the defense to collapse on Wiseman, creating openings on the perimenter elsewhere. Wiseman would obviously have to have the court awareness to both start a post move, while watching both the split on that side and collapses on the otherside of the perimeter, so he might not be able to do it till year 3, but it seems like it would open up more possibilities.

In a similar way, at 12:15, you mention the read and react with Poole/Looney pick and roll, but Looney doesn't really roll, and does a fake DHO, then passes to Steph on a quick split. If it's a Poole/Wiseman pick and roll, the defense would have to respect the roll much more, either creating more space for Poole, or trigger help coming over from the weak side, giving Steph/Dray an advantage (Wiseman would have to read and pass to the weak side, of course).

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Feels like in theory you could start a post move and watch the split cuts, but in practice I don't think I have ever seen that happen on the Warriors.

If a shooter gets open on the split, (either spot up or cut to the basket) that is a high expected value shot that you want to cash for sure. And even the best post attacks are fairly low expected value.

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Yah, I'm just watching Looney in all these actions and wondering how different it will be with JW at the 5, instead, once James can learn all the positioning, passing, and has the awareness.

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Oct 16, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot

Nice work, Eric. Enjoying seeing Bjelica getting up to speed so quickly with the offense and Wiggins seeming even more comfortable getting to the right spots than last year. And I love seeing Looney always in the right place (even if he didn't sell the fake handoff that well). Even though it's just preseason, it's nice to not have to see Oubre getting in Steph's way or Wiseman going to the wrong spot and forcing Draymond to jump up and down.

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I have a whole video focusing on Bjelica which I planned to run last Thursday, but after GP2's surprise appearance, I decided to do a GP2 video before he was cut; and then I planned to run it today, but Steph going bonkers bumped it again, so now it's planned to run Monday...

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Oct 17, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot

I hope you get more opportunities to do GP2 vids.

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Oct 16, 2021Liked by Eric Apricot

Looking forward to it. Always thought he was under appreciated with the Kings.

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I wonder if we'll see some Steph - Klay - Poole - Green - Iggy/Beli setups. Circling/screening/passing until the opponents weep with frustration. If you put Wiseman in that last spot - and he learns how to move and screen reasonably - that could also be fun. Or same for JFK. Or JTA. Fun times ahead!

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SUBSTACK password doesn't work.

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if you're trying to watch the Vimeo video, you have to get the password for the vimeo video from the bottom of this post: https://dubnationhq.com/p/subs-central

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Email me at apricotan@gmail.com if you can’t figure it out. I wouldn’t want subs to miss a minute of my video rambling

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