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The 7-11 Plan

Posted by Scipio Tex on February 5th, 2010 under Basketball

This post will not be an exploration of microfinance for a Sikh convenience store franchise.

(Alternate thread title: It Goes To 11)

Rather, I want to talk hoops and how we need to structure our minutes and rotations such that we maximize down the stretch and set our aspirations higher than a 4 seed and a bow out in the Sweet 16. The Oklahoma State game told us a lot and it’s time to act.

Depth, like high school dating, is frustrating without clearly defined roles, a predictable rotation, and an overarching plan. Indiscriminate depth also thwarts the individual development of your youngest players as it robs them of repetitions and familiarity with their likely personnel groups. Look at how Calipari has shortened Kentucky’s bench – and they have better depth than we do.

And there’s a mental impact: a player without a clear role is a day laborer showing up to the Wal-Mart parking lot unsure if he’s going to lay concrete for the next six days or walk home again empty-handed, hungry, and frustrated. The salient point being: Mexicans are terrible at basketball.

When Chuck Daly coached the Pistons he was the master of getting production out of a deep bench and John Gotti’s Fall collection and he did it with specialization and a clear communication of very specific roles. He knew that defining your core 7 was the key – the other guys are situational satellites. They orbit around the real players and know their role.

We have 7 key players:

Dogus Balbay
J’Covan Brown
Avery Bradley
Jordan Hamilton
Damion James
Gary Johnson
Dexter Pittman

We have another four guys who can be of (limited) use to us. Getting us to an extended rotation of eleven. Seven core guys complemented by 4 role players whose job is to specialize, provide a blow, and keep their ambitions in check. None of numbers 8-11 merit major minutes in a game unless we see an injury, Tim Donaghy is calling fouls, or Barnes has bet the under. But they should see the floor in every game. That’s key. That’s how roles are established.

The satellites:

Justin Mason
Lexi Wangmene
Jai Lucas
Clint Chapman

I omitted Matt Hill because he drives me insane, we can’t reward non-finishers, and I value quickness and tempo in relief of Pittman.

There are 200 minutes to be doled out in a college basketball game – 80 big man, 120 small man. I’ll deconstruct them like Womynist literature and then talk rotations.

Big minutes – PF/C – 80 minutes:

Damion James – 30
Gary Johnson – 22
Dexter Pittman -20
Clint Chapman – 5
Lexi Wangmene – 3

There is a Dexter Pittman that we create in our minds and the real Dexter Pittman. The real Dexter Pittman was voted in an informal poll by his Big 12 peers as one of the nicest players in the league, was suckered and abused by his “friend” Bryan Davis against A&M with a classic Bill Russell on Wilt Chamberlain style mindfuck, and ran to the bench crying when Moses from OSU played tough guy with him in the lane. He might give us 18 and 9 and 4 blocks; he might give us 4 and 3 and several pained close-ups of nice-guy-who-is-frustrated martyrous body language. Bobby Knight said it best: Pittman is a guy that things happens to. Very victimy. He’s also a fabulously bad rebounder who is quite content to make Damion James do the dirty work. He has obvious value when he’s in the proper mental state, but it’s time to start exploring more use of the Hamilton/James/Johnson frontline instead of automatically subbing a flailing “big” for Pittman.

The 3 forward personnel grouping gets Gary J at least a guaranteed 12 minutes per game in addition to the guaranteed 10 he already gets in relief of Damion James at PF. Although exploitable inside with size, the three forward grouping will pressure passing lanes, can run, and will absolutely destroy traditonal bigs in half-court sets with three 6-7 guys who can sink jump shots or attack off of the dribble. I’ll bet that 9 times of 10 the other team has to adjust to us rather than we to them. Also good offensive rebounding – not to mention zone busting capabilities.

Damion is fantastic. Play him his 30 and let him be.

I just need eight minutes and four fouls combined from Lexi and Clint. Clint can have up to 10 minutes if he can finish at the rim and opposing bigs aren’t backing him down. Lexi is brought in to muscle, spare a dumb end-of-half foul from Pittman or Damion and punch Bryan Davis in the dick.

Small minutes – PG/SG/SF – 120 minutes:

Dogus Balbay – 25
J’Covan Brown – 27
Avery Bradley – 28
Jordan Hamilton – 27
Justin Mason – 10
Jai Lucas – 3

Three key points here:

1. There aren’t three key points. We need only need two: Balbay & Brown. Bye bye Jai.
2. Jordan Hamilton needs to play heavy minutes and we need to deal with it – even when we want to choke the shit out of him.
3. Justin Mason can only be paired with J’Covan at point. No FreeMasonry. He can also play in a three guard set at SF to spell Hamilton when we go uptempo pressure, but only with three shooters on the court.

Dogus is our creator, our best on-ball defender, and a guy who thrives with tempo. Keep him paired with shooters and play at pace and he’s not a liability at all. He and Mason together should be viewed as crossing the beams in Ghostbusters.

Like GJ for our bigs, J’Covan is really the lynchpin of this entire scheme for our smalls. We need 13 minutes a game from him at PG and an equal number at SG (or third guard when the other team goes small). He’s a combo guard and that’s how we need to treat him. Like Hamilton, J’Covan will benefit from clarity in function.

Avery just needs to be himself and play his minutes at SG.

Jordan Hamilton needs to be handed the 3 position and a starting role, live or die. Unless you prefer to start games with J’Covan in a three guard set, which I’m cool with. The minutes are still the same. I’m also of the strong opinion that we should minimize overlap between Hamilton and Pittman on the floor at the same time (only 7-10 of his minutes) as he thrives with a clean lane and a faster pace.

I don’t like Lucas at all and I’ve been consistent in that since learning of his transfer from Florida. His problem is that he thinks he’s actually a good player and not Kris McColpin. He has been lied to his entire career and minutes only fuel his delusion. A bad player that knows he’s bad protects the ball by dribbling with his ass to the basket instead of facing up like he’s Tim Hardaway. He’s also a defensive liability far worse than Abrams ever was because he’s so physically weak and – I would contend – weak-minded. Some guys want to get screened. It’s an out. He has a role as a zone buster and should see the court as such or an offensive situation substitution at game end.

Mason has deteriorated as a player from his freshman and sophomore years and the myth that he is still a great defender is alive only on Longhorn BBS boards and some weird recess of Rick’s mind. Mason does offer you hard play and a big motor though and his 10 minutes are needed to keep Hamilton/Bradley fresh and to throw an enthusiastic body at the other team. Barnes should probably explain to him that he’s not supposed to take game winning shots.

The beauty of the 7-11 is that no player in our key 7 is going to play more than 30 minutes yet they will log 88% of our minutes in total, you essentially create seven starters, roles are very clearly defined for J’Covan and Jordan (who are the ones that most need it) and we can throw completely different looks at a team by simply changing out Balbay and/or Pittman while our core personnel remain whole.

Bottom line

Essentially we’re creating two 6th men: J’Covan and Gary. One frontcourt. One backcourt.

We get what we can out of Pittman on any given night, but shift mindsets such that we’re no longer building the team around him falsely.

Creates an easily manageable two-headed point with clear substitution rules.

Free throw shooting improves.

Defined roles for all.

***

Let’s hear your thoughts…

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46 Responses

  1. Sailor Ripley said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 2:14 am

    How did you get out of that box?

  2. aabb said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 4:10 am

    Perfect analysis, maybe you can get a spot n the bench to help Barnes. Up to now the player rotation remind me of watching a 5 year old soccer game when the Dad/Coach is trying to play everyone equaly and spends the whole game managing substation patters.

  3. Bob in Houston said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 6:38 am

    Congratulations on thinking this through. Hopefully Barnes will risk his 1.8 mil on something like this, but I think it’s been only a serendipitous occurrence so far, not a plan.

  4. Texoz said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 6:47 am

    Really like that rotation.

    I had high hopes for Dexter this season, but he hasn’t improved much, if any, over last year. If that had happen, your post wouldn’t be needed.

    If Dex had Bryan Davis moves, or had developed a signature shot coming into this season, then the Horns would be undefeated. His success would have opened up floor. Hell, he has opened up the floor, but he has had ZERO recognition of when to pass and when to shoot. He has 11 assists over 22 games. In all those double & triple teams, he’s seen less than 1 other option per game? Really??

  5. Texoz said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 6:52 am

    I’m going to blame Dexter’s problems on Barnes a little bit as well. There should have been a stretch where Barnes demanded Dex look for 2 or 3 assists per game. We rarely make teams pay for double teaming Dex.

  6. Bob in Houston said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 6:57 am

    Texoz, I’ve seen him move the ball on occasion, but only when moving away from the basket. But when he gets it in the lane or close to it, everyone knows he’s going up with it.

    I think part of that is the failure to set up the two-man game with a man who can hurt other teams if they double (or triple, as the case may be), and I think the best prospects are the freshmen, who are still learning how the D-I game can be played.

  7. TShakCFP said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 7:07 am

    Someone send this to Barnes..

  8. nordberg said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 7:11 am

    I can’t believe Mason is a senior, and I haven’t thought to make any Masonry brick-laying jokes.

  9. anonymous said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 7:42 am

    Great post. It’s time to turn Hamilton and Brown loose and live with the results. No more pressure from the coach, just pressure to play well so the team wins.

    I would consider cutting even the 3 minutes for Jai.

  10. dick said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 7:47 am

    Is everyone happy now?

  11. Eskimohorn said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 7:58 am

    “Kris McColpin”

    I bought a Kris McColpin practice jersey. Dude could shoot.

  12. magnusbleuveigner said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 8:09 am

    “Is everyone happy now?”

    No, minute allocation is a Huckleberry post.

    I’ll take it though.

  13. Blueshorn said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 8:33 am

    Someone remind me. Did Lucas’ dad have to pay his way when J’Covan was cleared to play? Please tell me we didn’t use a scholarship on him.

    Excellent analysis, Scip.

  14. Trips Right said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 8:58 am

    Great analysis Scipio. The only thing I’ll quibble with is Pittman. I get that he’s played like a complete pussy for stretches, but I guarantee each of those stretches started with four or five minutes of frustration by playing in a phone booth being molested by Mason and Balbay’s man like a coke dealer at Sugars.

    Dex needs space in the paint and it’s more important to have it right off the bat so he can get some rhythm and confidence. If we roll out your 3 guard or your big frontcourt with Hamilton, I’m confident we’ll see that.

  15. magnusbleuveigner said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 9:05 am

    Blues, Lucas is not currently on scholarship.

  16. nordberg said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 9:07 am

    Do we have to put Lucas on scholarship next year?

  17. magnusbleuveigner said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 9:23 am

    Not sure about that. Maybe we can get Trips’ Sugars coke dealer to work out something with old man Lucas. Some sort of back room dealing. Oil for food, imo.

    We need a pg bad. Bad. BAd. BAD!

  18. Oread Boom Kings — Blog — Thoughts on the Huskers said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 9:24 am

    [...] from his hiatus with a couple nice posts, one of why Texas should feature a seven man rotation (7-11 Plan), that also relies on patch-work minutes from their next four. We’re not in that exact [...]

  19. Eduardo Nájera said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 10:01 am

    What do you mean Mexicans can’t play ball punk!

  20. Nickel Rover said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 10:26 am

    Oh, Scipio’s back. Someone better drag Dasmithjones out of his corner, or then again maybe not.
    I’m a fan of this plan and I like the way it allows for easy substitution patterns and getting guys playing together consistently for extended minutes. However, given the way Barnes has stuck to Mason it doesn’t seem likely to happen.

  21. Eduardo Nájera's Highlight Film said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 10:35 am

    I guess you’ve never seen me. That’s ok, no one else ever has either

  22. UT wildcatter said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 10:38 am

    I was at the Gerry Hamilton Rice Epicurean luncheon in the dog days of summer, and after all the blue hairs left and we could talk have some honest to goodness basketball talk, Gerry said something that stuck with me along the lines of bleed for the program nonsense.

    When the question for minutes and playing time came up for our current team and Justin Mason, Gerry coupled Mason with Deon Beasley’s future at cornerback for his senior year. He just said slyly, the coaches should just look at the aforementioned players and say, ” Well . . . .bye”

  23. Bob in Houston said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 10:48 am

    Trips, the thing about Hamilton now is, if he plays legitimate minutes, people are going to do more than just account for him — they are going to have to make a commitment to guard him.

    Your point about Pittman is well taken… I wish it weren’t true, but he is a guy who needs some confidence right away. I think he can deal with double teams. It’s when the third guy reaches in that really bothers him. That’s where Hamilton can make a difference.

  24. texoz said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 11:13 am

    It’s when the third guy reaches in that really bothers him.

    If I had a dollar for every time I heard that in West Hollywood.

  25. kafka said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 11:27 am

    Playing Dex and Jordan at the same time helps Dex a bunch. Dex is much less likely to get doubled and if Dex is doubled, he has somebody to pass it to when Jordan is playing rather than Mason. Resurrecting Dex’s inside scoring would be a huge boost for the horns’ O and will be a good way to get some fouls on the opposition’s big men.

    Better to have Jordan at the SF rather than a 3 guard lineup, especially when playing an elite team with size. Bradley is too small at SF, he gets pushed around and can’t block out.

    You have to wonder about Barnes’ ability to coach a big man.

  26. texastough said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 11:27 am

    Right on. Zarathustra would praise the Ghostbusters connection. Brilliant.

  27. Scipio Tex said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 11:45 am

    Thanks everyone. Glad my rotation idea met with some positive response. I know I had to shift my mindset to embrace the idea as in the preseason I had some vision of us coming at people in waves. Then reality set in.

    kafka -

    The Hamilton/Pittman overlap seems ideal, but it just hasn’t looked good in reality. Hamilton really benefits from an open lane and cutters and the whole “feed Dexter when he’s in” imperative seems to mess with his game. Jordan is also a creature that feeds off of tempo. I do know that I want Hamilton on the floor when we go to the all 6-7 frontline with Gary J and Damion and that means limiting his minutes with Dexter.

    As for defensive matchups when we go 3 guards, Dogus is the guy that shut down the 6-6 SF Anderson from OSU. Let’s be real: Hamilton isn’t guarding anyone very effectively, even if his height is suggestive that he can.

    Trips – I’m curious on your thoughts here. Are Dex and Jordan a good overlap?

  28. Nickel Rover said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 12:01 pm

    When Dex is in the game Jordan isn’t much more than a spot-up shooter who doesn’t play great defense. At least so far.

  29. Trips Right said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 12:16 pm

    Compared with a Mason/Pittman overlap, absolutely. I take Hamilton all day as would anyone.

    When your question boils down to Brown or Hamilton with Pittman I think you’re spot on unless we get the comfortable, willing to defer Hamilton and not the, “fuck it ima shoot dis moe-fucka regartless” Jordan Hamilton, because then you’re just wasting limited minutes for Dexter and clogging shit up for Jordan as you alluded to in the original post.

    But I love the althletic frontcourt of James, Johnson, and Hamilton. Lot of frontcourt switching possibilities to cure what ails us off the ball. Mismatches galore on the other end.

  30. trkhorn said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 12:21 pm

    What I don’t understand is why we are married to the 3-guard lineup. Our best five players are: Balbay, Bradley, James, Pittman, Johnson. I would start this five each half, assuming no foul trouble let them go 8-10 min. and see what happens. I think we would crush most of our opponents. Then our deep bench piles on w/energy which further crushes an opponent.

    As it is we seem to toy around all game w/bizarro lineups and all of a sudden there’s 5 min. left and we are still in a tight game w/Arkansas or whatever mediocre team. I could be wrong but I would love to see this happen.

    I do agree 100% that Mason, Lexi, Chapman and Lucas should only receive spot duty(or in Lucas’ case, why bother).

  31. Scipio Tex said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 12:33 pm

    Trips -

    “fuck it ima shoot dis moe-fucka regartless”

    That deserves to be preserved and to live forever.

    trkhorn -

    I think the issue with your big line-up is a lack of spacing on the offensive end with only two shooting threats and bad defensive matchups against shooters on the other end. We’d be pretty easily broken down off of a switch. Unless you want to play zone but that screws our tempo.

  32. Coach Akina said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 12:42 pm

    Two years ago Pittman and Mason were the only ones not afraid of Joe Dorsey and Derrick Rose. Doesn’t that count for something? Huh? HUH?

  33. trkhorn said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 1:03 pm

    Scip,

    I hear you but the matchup problems would also occur in reverse for the opponent. That, and both GJ and DJ are pretty agile on the perimeter for their size. I would take a chance w/GJ on the opposition’s 3. On offense, DJ has been known to hit some 3-pointers, which might allow GJ to post up some 6″ 3″ dude. We would absolutely kill the offensive boards, hell you could even let Doge throw up a few shots knowing are best three crashers are underneath. From a sheer talent standpoint I think we would simply overwhelm most of the teams we play. At any rate I’d love to see it.

  34. trkhorn said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 1:04 pm

    Oops. Are/Our.

  35. Rick Barnes said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 2:01 pm

    Thank you for the suggestion. The new starting line up which I call the “Spite Scipio” is as follows:

    Hill
    Chapman
    Lucas
    Mason
    Ward on crutches

  36. shanrifdk said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 2:20 pm

    If you want to call Pittman a pussy, go ahead and call Pittman a pussy

  37. drborange said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 2:39 pm

    I know very little about the x’s and o’s of bb, but your 7-11 Plan makes perfect sense to me, for what that’s worth :).

  38. Swaner said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 3:33 pm

    When I 1st saw 7-11 plan I thought you were going to suggest that Barnes rewards good play with Slurpees after the game. When I was a 5-year old my dad did that with me and it always motivated me to hustle. Might work with Dex and cheeseburgers.

    I like where your going with this plan but wanted to add a couple points.

    First, Dex needs touches when Dogus and Mason are on the bench. It’s no secret that he can’t operate with the ball in a crowded lane. And it’s too easy for teams to crowd him when 1 or 2 defenders can slouch off the perimeter. When defenses have to stay home he has more room to work and is more effective.

    Second, J’CB and JHam need to understand how to keep the momentum going. It seems like every time we get a run going J’CB comes off the bench to turn it over, or JHam misses a long contested 3 with 30 seconds on the clock. This makes it too easy for other teams to slow us down. If they didn’t always kill our runs Barnes would probably give them the kind of minutes your suggesting. Heaven know we could use both thier scoring ability out there.

    Thoughts?

  39. bduran said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 3:51 pm

    Good post, I hope this happens.

    “He and Mason together should be viewed as crossing the beams in Ghostbusters. ”

    So only use it as a last resort in the championship game and then end up covered in confetti?

  40. kafka said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 4:18 pm

    There is no reason that Dex should camp out on the low post all the time. Barnes could move him around, setting picks and then rolling to the bucket (repeat). This would open up the lane for drivers (including Jordan), free up the guy for whom Dex sets the screen, and probably make it easier to get the ball into Dex.

  41. kafka said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 5:18 pm

    Yeah, Balbay is a better defender than Jordan but the tradeoff is actually between Brown and Jordan when deciding whether to go with 3 guards (i.e. Bradley at sf, Brown at sg) or 2 guards and Jordan at sf. With the latter approach, Bradley gets to play at his natural position. Bradley is a better defender of shooting guards than small forwards. Neither Brown nor Jordan are great defenders. You will get better rebounding and outside shooting with Jordan on the court. Balbay plays either way.

    Given that you are playing Jordan 27 minutes and Mason 10 minutes, that does not leave much time (3 minutes, right?) for the 3 guard lineup (featuring Balbay/Bradley/Brown) anyway. You’ve assigned a total of 80 minutes for Bradley, Brown, and Balbay. That works perfectly for filling all the minutes for pg and sg. Any minutes Mason plays should be at sf.

  42. Scipio Tex said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 5:43 pm

    Mason’s minutes aren’t all at SF. They’re also at SG when J’Covan is at point and we need to give Avery a rest.

  43. parlin said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 6:14 pm

    More of this 80/20 business and you’re fired.

  44. kafka said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 9:08 pm

    OK. Mason is a better defender at sf than guard (he has gotten stronger and a bit less explosive over his UT years). He isn’t a playmaker at guard because he is afraid of a turnover. His main talent is the ability to guard a fast small forward.

    Better to split the 80 guard minutes between Balbay, Brown and Bradley. That works out to about 27 min/guard/game so there is no need for Mason to play any guard minutes. Brown relieves both Bradley and Balbay.

    On the front line, the 120 minutes can be split between Dex, Damion, Gary, Jordan, and Mason (maybe 20, 30, 30, 30, 10). Wangmene and Chapman can also play a little depending on matchups and fouls. Best match up Jordan on D against the least offensive front line foe.

  45. dasmithjones said:

    February 5th, 2010 at 10:04 pm

    The squeaky is hereby oiled!

    Good to hear from you Scip!

  46. Barking Carnival — Blog — Three Disappearing Acts in Texas Basketball said:

    February 6th, 2010 at 10:43 am

    [...] get some confidence early. I’m hoping Brown gets the starting nod for these very reasons as Scipio points out (speaking of search parties). Hell I’d settle for Hamilton if it means Mason isn’t on the [...]

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