Another strategy to counter set defenses

Yesterday's post showed how the Laker's Triangle had off-ball screens and swinging the ball to opposite sides in order to disrupt the defense. Then when someone is open, they take a shot. That's when it's successful, sometimes the shot clock winds down and Kobe has to put up a bad shot.

Compare this to the Knicks this year, they post up Carmelo against a set defense. Amare doesn't help here because he's a fast paced player, not a post up player. This brings me to the point of this post:

The other way to counter set defense is to shoot the ball before the defense can set up. This is what the Denver Nuggets are doing to the Lakers. But the best team to ever to do this is the Suns from 2006-2010.
 They were fast because they were playing out of position:

Center- Amare Stoudemire (a natural PF)
Power Forward- Shawn Marion (a natural SF)
Small Forward- Raja Bell (a natural SG)
Shooting Guard- Leandro Barbosa (a natural PG)
Point Guard - Steve Nash (a white guys shouldn't be this good)

All of these guys outside of Amare could shoot threes very well

Note: Fast paced offense is called full-court offense, whereas slow paced like the Lakers is called half-court offense.

As you know, a team has eight seconds to cross the half court line. Therefore teams were usually prepared to set up their defense within eight seconds. That's why Coach D'Antoni wanted the Suns to shoot in seven seconds or less (they are called the SSOL Suns).

This team will be the most fun team ever in the history of the NBA. Unfortunately that small size also meant that their defense sucked. But they were so good at scoring that they routinely went deep into the playoffs. Check out this crazy clip: