Larry Hughes
Just because Hughes led the NBA in steals (2.89 per game) last season doesn't necessarily make him an outstanding defender. Excessive gambling on defense, no matter how many times it may succeed, is no substitute for playing solid position defense. Indeed, his being voted to the All-NBA Defensive Team (by the league's coaches!) was an instance of style being valued more than substance. Given that the Spurs are arguably the most fundamentally sound team in the league, Hughes was nevertheless repeatedly embarrassed when the champs ran their offense.
On several occasions, Hughes over-rotated and was sucked so far into the lane that he couldn't recover when the ball was kicked out (or reversed) to the player he was supposed to be guarding.
He was so frozen by Manu Ginobili's simple ball fakes that Ginobili had little trouble creating wide open shots.
Hughes was lost in space when Brent Barry ran a circle route. Lucky for Hughes, Barry never got the ball — even though he was also wide open.
Hughes had so much trouble getting through screens that he began going under them, thereby granting Ginobili several opportunities to shoot all by his lonesome.
A head-fake by Barry 25 feet from the basket succeeded in lifting Hughes off his feet.
Even without the immediate menace of a screen, Hughes couldn't stay in front of his man.
On offense, Hughes was very aggressive in the opening minutes: driving left for a score, going left for a pair of pull-up jumpers, one of which plunged through the net — the other clanging off the front rim. For the rest of the game, Hughes settled into a much more passive mode.
Most often, Hughes was stationed on the weak side opposite LeBron — and virtually all of his subsequent shots were generated by swing passes after either LeBron or Zydrunas Ilgauskas were double-teamed. After a second-quarter time out, coach Mike Brown tried to get Hughes more involved in the offense by having him take Ginobili into the low post — but Hughes committed an offensive foul.
Besides hitting a few outside shots, what else did Hughes do on offense?
Dribbled the ball for a full 10 seconds, looking for a shot, a pass — but going nowhere — and then getting tooted for traveling.
He took at least three hurried shots, including a missed jumper in a one-on-three transition situation.
He penetrated into the lane, then tossed a pass back out to no one.
Hughes is defenseless on one end, out of control on the other and has a long way to go before he can become a competent side-kick for King James.
from foxsportsnet
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