Men's Basketball: Film Room, Non-Conference Thoughts, and Q&A with Jaylon Tyson

Breaking down drive-and-splash plays, a few thoughts as conference play begins, and catching up with Jaylon Tyson after last night's Golden State-Cavaliers game.

Photo Credit: Rob Hwang (Bobbys.Films)

Against Stanford in early December, Cal had zero assists in the first half en route to an 89-81 defeat. That’s a remarkable statistic. In his postgame comments, Coach Madsen said he can’t recall ever playing in a game with no assists in a half. When I asked about the first half strategy, Coach Madsen indicated that Stanford was playing zone defense to take away three-pointers and layups;

“And so the paint was open. And so our strategy was getting to the paint and spray out…….We got into the paint and we got collectively a little bit too excited.”

Here’s an example when it works out well;

Jovan Blacksher Jr. drives into the lane and draws the attention of Rytis Petraitis’ defender. Blacksher quickly kicks it back out to Petraitis, who has a step and an angle on his defender. He attacks the lane immediately. The crucial moment is at 5 seconds, when Stanford’s Maxime Raynaud is forced into double duty on defense.

Rytis has a choice to make. He can continue to the basket or he can attempt a short pass to Lee Dort while Raynaud is looking towards Rytis. Raynaud is unique with his exceptional wingspan in that he can positively defend both options. Notice how Raynaud takes a short step to his right, anticipating the pass. Rytis continues to the basket and finishes the difficult shot. This was not scored as an assist to Blacksher, but Rytis does not have the opening he had without Blacksher’s initial drive.

And here’s an example that does not end as well, but it does demonstrate how complex the decision can be for the offensive player.

Mady Sissoko sets a high screen, and Andrej Stojakovic wastes no time in going towards the basket. Stanford’s Tallis Toure, all 6’ 11”, is anchoring the interior zone defense and keeps his feet moving to never give Andrej a great angle. The key moment is here;

Andrej has the attention of three defenders. He can choose to;

1. Attempt to finish the drive and score, potentially drawing a foul

2. Pass to Joshua Ola-Joseph who is cutting along the endline

3. Find Jovan Blacksher who has an opening on the weak side towards the basket

4. High pass back out to Sissoko to reset

‘Scorer’s gonna score’, so Stojakovic continues towards the basket but is cleanly blocked by Toure.

I am not criticizing the individual decision by Andrej or others in similar situations to attempt to score when there are options available. None of this is easy in realtime, especially for players like Andrej and Jeremiah Wilkinson who are score-first players. I am worried about the trend for everyone to attempt to finish and not looking at the options available over the course of the game. This is what Madsen means when he says the team “…a little bit too excited.”

Madsen continues his quote above with, “We tried to take some bad shots.” As of December 29th, Cal is 343rd in the nation is assist-to-turnover ratio, and 344th in assists per game. The inability to convert on these drive-and-spray options is a large contributor to those abysmal statistics.

At the Cornell game three days later, I noticed more of an effort to look for secondary options for the initiating player. Here’s a good drive and dish by Jeremiah Wilkinson.

My favorite part of this is Wilkinson goes up for the shot, but while in midair he realizes he’s not getting over the defender’s extended arms. He instinctively looks for an outlet towards the corner and finds the cutting Petraitis, who finishes with a simpler layup (with an assist from Wilkinson).

The drive-and-spray is a critical component of this team’s offensive repertoire. Last year, it was used heavily by Jaylon Tyson in a more strategic manner. Tyson would probe the defense then find the right angle to finish near the rim. This year, the drive is much more aggressive, and oriented to include secondary action as pointed out in the above plays. Coach Madsen and staff need to improve the efficiency of these plays in order to fully unlock this team’s potential and have an impact in the ACC Conference.

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I’m not into the business of rating players or indicating who is underperforming or overperforming. The team and individuals are trying their best; I will be critical of the coaching staff if I don’t think they are putting the team in the best position to be competitive every game.

That said, my favorite group so far has been Blacksher, Wilkinson, Stojakovic, Ola-Joseph, and Dort. This five is super-athletic at all spots, Dort and others play with an intensity that you can feel in the stands, and Joshua Ola-Joseph plays much larger than his size indicates. This is not a slight to any of the other players, as the other rotational players have critical roles when they are in the game. This lineup is simply the one I get geeked up about when they are on the floor together.

Last year’s team was 4-7 in non-conference play. This year’s team went 7-4. Last year had 3 inexplicable losses, while this year Cal’s only unexplainable loss was to Cornell. While the team is currently on a 1-4 stretch heading into conference play, last year’s team of newcomers did not fully click until the middle of January, where they went a solid 9-9 the rest of the season. With a team of this many new (to each other) players, I also expect this team to improve and gel as they gain more playing time together. That starts this week, when Cal takes on Pitt on Wednesday and Clemson on Saturday to kick off the new year.

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Rob Hwang

and I had the opportunity to attend Monday night’s Golden State Warriors vs Cleveland Cavaliers game, and ask Jaylon Tyson a few questions afterwards. He had attended Cal’s practice earlier in the day. Tyson played the last 4 minutes of the Cavaliers’ dominating win, collecting 3 rebounds in closeout time. Here’s a transcript of our short interview.

BP: “What did you say to the team today [at practice]? Anything that stuck out to you?“

JT: “I told them about the NBA life. What I’m experiencing, what to expect, I told them about my journey to the NBA. Trying to give them a little bit of knowledge. Tell them a little bit about my journey.”

BP: “What about your journey, specifically with Cal?”

JT: “How my life changed in one year.“

BP: “So, it was a year ago tomorrow that the Arizona State game happened. You referenced that a couple times last year as a turning point. Can you talk about that a little bit.”

JT: “We talked about it today, actually. We talked about how the team, is like, forever. I joke about it now, but that was a ‘Come to Jesus’ moment I’ve never seen in my life. I’m just glad it happened, I felt very safe with MadDog and Cal.”

BP: “[Madsen] talked alot during ACC preseason media days about his pro sets, and how he uses that as a recruiting tool and his preparation. What about his pro sets specifically prepared you for where you are now?”

JT: “Now, everything we do is NBA based. Alot of the sets that we ran, re ran in the NBA. Obviously he coached the Lakers. He knows what the NBA looks like. Alot of the development was the same way, being efficient with your time and all that. So I learned alot and I really appeciated it.”

BP: “Do you still keep in touch with Daws (Fardaws Aimaq) or Jalen or anybody?”

JT: “All of them. Especially Daws, Daws is like one of my closest friends.”

As Rob and I wrapped up and exited, Tyson called out to us;

“See you next year.”