It can be a risky pass from the 3 to the 4 or 5 if your 3 is close to the baseline. The angle on the post defender shrinks because they can hedge better on the incoming pass. Also, 3s often get pinched by the defense when positioned near the corners. It's definitely a tougher pass into the post from the corners.
Most of our post feeds should generate from the 1 and 2... and it does (when looking at Jesse's graphs).
I don't know that now is the right time to question Self on whether or not he really wants to feed the post. The stats are from all our games this year, most of which involved a disjointed offense.
I think we can ask this question as we move forward, because after the long Christmas break involving all that practice, we will see what this team emphasizes after being tuned.
The last couple of games definitely involved feeding the post more. Part of that is related to the increased effectiveness of Embiid and Black. Are they more effective now or is it just the product of receiving more and better timed passes in the post?
From the type of offense we run... there are not so many ways to get Wiggins more involved. One of those ways is to feed the post early in the possession, and by doing so it disrupts the defense and creates shifting that can expose gaps, holes and open perimeter spaces... Wiggins needs to see the defensive shifts and react to the opportunities they present. Then our post players have to maintain one eye on the basket (and other post player) and one eye on our perimeter players. Once the ball arrives in the post, someone, somewhere, is open (or the post player is).
What we need to avoid is a stagnant offense where our 3 perimeter players spread across the 3-pt line and just throw the ball back and forth until the shot clock burns down to nothing. We have to attack. It is crucial that our big men put out enough energy to create opportunities for themselves to receive the ball. That is absolutely crucial. Our perimeter players are trained to not let the ball stick. So if a wing receives the ball and we don't have an open post player, the ball feeds back to the PG immediately to prevent the ball from sticking.
Our bigs have to have their mindset shift to the concept that they will (for sure) receive the pass into the post quickly in the shot clock. They have to learn timing.. so their motions are choreographed with the movement of the ball on the perimeter. When everything is in sync our hi/lo is a thing of beauty! ...and it must be one of the most-effective offenses in D1.
We witnessed how good it can be when we faced Georgetown, and we exploited the slow feet of Josh Smith. Problem is.. we won't face many post defenders this year as slow as him. But there is no reason why we can't dominate quicker defenders if our bigs just work a little harder.
I think Perry needs to spend a little less time working on what he does after he gets the ball (something he is extremely polished in now) and get to work on developing his position quicker in the post to help allow the ball to come in. His game is finesse, but he is capable of playing stronger ball if he sets his mind to it. It's more the size of the fight in the dog, then the size of the dog in the fight. I'm starting to think Perry wants to be a 3 more than a 4, but that requires a completely different skill set. I thought with the addition of muscle he added over summer he would be less of a tweener and more of a 4.
