Posted this in the Wake game thread, but this seems like a better spot
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@AdventiveQuasar you probably saw this, but Sperber calls this the “continuity step up” now.
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Funny the actual name is “moving screen”
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But only if they call it!
Defender gotta be more crafty. Just slide into the moving screen and we go the other way…
Very easy to adjust to really
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From what I’ve been reading, the actual mechanics of the screen setting is an art that does take practice.
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It is also helpful if the guy using the screen uses it correctly. Takes practice but aint rocket science
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That was interesting. Though in the clips showed, it didn’t seem like the step-up screen created much of an advantage for the ballhandler, but the empty side ball-screen from the 5 did because they made contact more often with the ballhander’s man.
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Bumping this bad boy thread up to the top!
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That hypothesis doesn’t add up for me. We’ve desperately needed a post presence all season, and especially during the recent Dark Days. We see that Minor, as of now, is a great fit for what Tony likes to do, and we’re way better on both ends of the floor with him in the rotation. So I can’t buy that despite all that, Tony simply decided not to play Minor until he was “desperate” to do so. (It’s not just about adjustments, either. We had to make adjustments to suit our non-Minor lineups too.)
I’m not convinced by the primary competing hypothesis, either: that Minor was unplayable until three games ago and then “the switch flipped.” It’s true that earlier in the year he really did look lost out there, but surely there was a transitional ramp-up phase between then and now. I think this hypothesis is closer to the truth, but… 
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I am thrilled that Minor is playing now, regardless of why he didn’t play before. I spent the season wishing he could become simply “serviceable,” and these last 3 games, he’s been downright good. He’s not just a garbage man, he’s a credible offensive threat. And I love a big man who can muscle up a shot in traffic. Plus he doesn’t get pushed around, he never whines about calls, and he hasn’t fouled anyone with his face even once. Just some random observations there.
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Yeah, just so odd to go from DNP basically for the entire first half of the season to a starter, and be this effective. I’m not buying that it was just his garbage time minutes @ NC State and he suddenly started practicing better too.
At any rate, I am glad it’s working out and been a great change, and am happy for Minor as well.
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[elaborate analogy to a supply (Jordan getting comfy with the system) and demand (Tony wanting a true center) curve that never came together b/c (1) even I’m not that much of a dork, and (2) I couldn’t remember which was which, but pls don’t take take away my degree, Econ dept]
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The “serviceable” statement echoes my original thoughts. Now I find myself thinking about how necessary he is to our success and worry about him getting into foul trouble. It is a strange world.
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It would be interesting for someone who has copious time on their hands to look systematically at how often our bigs hedged pre and post Minors “emergence.”
Minor looked the most lost when hedging and trying to recover and adjust coverage as needed. It truly seems like we’ve done away with hedging and let our guys do more switching based on their reads.
Also, one big reason Minor got time is because Groves started crapping the bed. His defense was really exploited and he was no longer making up for it with offense. It made it impossible to play our small ball line up with him and Dunn at the 4/5. It was had less to do with Blake imo.
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Minor was definitely hurt before the exam break. No other way to explain to lack of basic coordination compared to what we are seeing now. What was going on between the exam break and Wake Forest is anyone’s guess
It appears to me like Groves is passing up some open looks. He has the Isaac disease from 4 games ago. Shooters gotta shoot. And if they won’t, they gotta sit.
We’ll obviously never know the definitive answer, but I suspect that the truth is somewhere in between. It is perfectly reasonable to think he was “lost” at the beginning of the season, given his background. But he was likely making progress through the season, whether steady or in a various series of plateaus, and it’s possible the “switch” that flipped came in game, and it was probably more Tony’s switch than Jordan’s, if that makes sense. Clearly the staff was searching for answers, trying different stuff each game, and maybe they didn’t just decide Minor was the answer but rather observed either against WFU or NCSU1 that it was working with him in the game and here we are.
Edit: I went back and read the Minor section of the WFU @Cuts_from_The_Corner writeup.
First, I was wrong about him only starting the last 3 games, as I’ve said over the last couple days. This is literally the first time I’ve ever been wrong about anything, and now I’m not sure what to do with myself.
Second, I think this is where Tony’s switch flipped. Minor “gave us a nice lift” late against NCSU as Tony called out in the presser. They decided to start him/big against Wake but JM got a really quick hook after a couple bad plays. But they went back to him, and he played pretty well, and the offense started looking less futile, and I think this is where they figured it out. They probably didn’t come into this game think “ok, we’ve got it now, this will work.” They probably were thinking “ok, let’s try this out” and then “oh ok this does seem better” and now here we are.
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With Groves playing poorly, Tony tried to play Blake at the 5 more and then eventually moved to Minor after the NC State game based on what he saw.
I get some hate for hating on Blake’s play but he simply wasn’t ready physically or mentally to be the guy. It was a sink or swim type situation and he was regressing. He’s been improved in his backup minutes and think it’s the right course for his development.
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One thing that stood out to me against NSCU on Wednesday that I think could be a subtle but big benefit of the Minor era is the impact it has on Blake. Blake didn’t have to start on Burns. Minor handled Burns. Now Blake can sub in when Burns subs out, gets the matchup with the B team, plays well, builds confidence…could pay some dividends going forward if we keep having success with Minor.
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