Skip to main content

Hopson, Goulding and Melbourne United's Offense.

There is no denying that Melbourne United have put together a formidable offensive unit, adding Scotty Hopson looks like a theoretical master stroke from the United front office. 

Rumours are currently circulating that they may not be done this week in terms of big free agent signings, Well known local talent Jock Landale and Melbourne have been linked heavily as Landale has been training with the Melbourne squad.

McCarron, Goulding, Hopson and Landale. That's a scary lineup, assuming McCarron brings the ball up, you'd struggle to believe teams could consistently guard Hopson and Goulding rising up from either side off of Barlow/Landale pin downs, with the threat of McCarron also looming large. 

However, Landale hasn't signed anything despite there being a lot of smoke to this fire. 

The theory however remains the same, you can interchange the lead ball handler between Illi, McCarron, Hopson and Goulding all you like, but the concept of dynamic playmaking perimeter players receiving the ball in advantage situations has finals written all over it. 

I see one issue with this team. Do they have the high IQ passing and ball movement skills to compete when the offense gets bogged down and the opposing defence has got all of the momentum?

It's something that will happen, the theory of your offense isn't always going to run smoothly and things will get ugly. Are Melbourne assuming that Scotty Hopson will throw the team on his back and carry them in those moments? Can Chris Goulding realistically take control of a game when he wants to at his age?

When this Melbourne United squad comes up against New Zealand/Perth/Cairns and Scotty gets off to a bad start and a defender starts to get on top, Chris Goulding has one of those 1-8 from three nights, what happens to their offense? 

Scotty Hopson currently projects as their strongest passer with a passing percentage of 24% on 20% usage with an impressive 11% turnover percentage per SpatialJam

But the next best from last season is Shae Illi, who actually had a negative Pass/Turnover% and Mitch McCarron was slightly behind him but turned the ball over less. 

McCarron and Goulding are good passers don't get me wrong, but is a team full of off ball perimeter weapons that's built around Scotty Hopson going to be able to deal with the added attention, effort and scouting that is put into cutting passing lanes, taking away strengths and importance of having strong decision makers? 

For what it's worth, I believe this team will be fine, a definite threat to make the top 4. If everything falls right they could even be a true contender for the championship as well, but it's always fun to analyse these things and envoke discussion on our favourite teams and least favourite opposition.



Thank you for reading, I am thoroughly enjoying writing these short thought pieces and as always encourage all types of feedback or push back on any of my opinions or writing.

Please support my writing endeavour by following me on twitter, subscribing to my blog or sharing these articles amongst anyone that might be interested. 

Thank you. 
Links:
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Disappointing beginning for two of the league's most promising teams.

Three rounds in to NBL21 and there are already a few teams licking their wounds. The Cairns Taipans and the New Zealand Breakers are two of these teams. They will be both be undergoing a prompt and rapid root-cause analysis of their individual short comings.   This will be heavily focused on getting their squads back on track. The Cairns Taipans on again/off again defence will be front and centre, for New Zealand maybe a sneaky conditioning session for Lamar Patterson is in order? Why are these two teams in particular struggling?  New Zealand Breakers Record 0-2 Ranked 9th on Offense Ranked 5th on Defence per SpatialJam Favourites, Stacked, Unstoppable... Just a few words that were used to describe the Breakers as they were on a tangent of big player signings this last off season. Oh how a few games can change things... It's going to be a tough season for the Breakers as they have been presented with a less than beneficial schedule. Essentially they've be...
Post a Comment
Read more

What to expect from the new look Adelaide 36ers.

Young, exciting and challenging would be my best description of what I expect from this squad. A team "lead" by NBA draft hopeful Josh Giddey with a sprinkle of veteran guidance from Ex-NBA point guard Donald Sloan and EuroLeague journeyman Tony Crocker.  What an interesting team they've put together down in South Australia as we see a nice blend of talented distributers mixed in with some handy scorers and versatile offensive bigs.  Let's start by talking about this teams offensive playmaking which will be a strength this season no doubt.  Donald Sloan and Josh Giddey. If you indulge in any Adelaide 36ers content throughout this season there is a strong chance it'll be focused around these two.  Watching Giddey early on, then watching Sloan join in the other night has given me optimism that the 6ers aren't going to be the easy beats a lot of people thought they might be. These guys have NBA levels skills and IQs, hence why one had a "semi dec...
Post a Comment
Read more

Will The Wildcats Flex Their Size?

The "Diet Wildcats" will take on the "knock-off Wildcats" in the first semi-final. Brian Goorjian's defensive unit Illawara will be tasked with the daunting job of taking down the ever consistent playoff juggernaut that is the Perth Wildcats.  Except this series will not be a regular Wildcats sort of series, one key ingredient to Perth's success won't be available, Bryce Cotton .  Plenty has been said about Bryce Cotton's absence and the ramifications that will follow for Trevor Gleesons men.  The interesting story will be where does all that usage go? The defence will undoubtedly figure itself out, Norton will go to Harvey and surely do a respectable job, the presumption being they force Harvey right and keep him away from the deadly step back jumper and even deadlier free throw line floater.  With Cotton off the court this means they can insert someone else, whether that be an offensive changeup or a defensive one.  This also means more...
Post a Comment
Read more