Boban Marjanovic has stood out in camp and looks to be a lock for the starting job
As training camp wraps up and the regular season just around the corner, let’s take a peak and see how the NBA’s newest franchise is looking like as they get ready for their inaugural season in the league.
Three things you need to know about the Sharks:
1. Blatt is running triangle. Having never actually gotten a legitimate chance to coach with his system in Cleveland, Blatt is taking the opportunity here with a new expansion club to instill his offensive philosophies into the foundations of the team. Namely, an equal opportunity offense. Judging from the half court sets that the Sharks ran again and again during training camp, it appears to be a slightly altered version of Tex Winter’s triangle offense, a system that won Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson 11 NBA titles, 6 of which was won here in Chicago. It’s not what he ran in Europe, but the philosophy is the same, and we’ve all seen how effective the triangle and triangle concept variations have worked in the league in the past (if one ignores the Knicks, that is).
2. Position battles are still ongoing. As one might expect from an expansion team, there is no clear cut stars or even a clear cut lineup and rotation on paper. Despite all the competition in camp, head coach David Blatt says he’ll have to tinker as the season progresses, and might go with an 11 or even 12 man rotation to start the season. Right now, the preliminary starters appear to be Patty Mills, Tony Allen, Jeff Green, Taj Gibson, and Boban Marjanovic.
3. Boban impresses. Coming into camp, the anticipation was on first pick [of the expansion draft] Patrick (Patty) Mills to lead the way. Instead, it was another former Spur – 7 foot 3 Serbian center Boban Marjanovic – who really impressed the coaching staff, dominating defensively from start to finish, blocking shots and crashing the boards with impunity against his front court teammates.
Key Factor for Success: Generating turnovers on defense. Chicago is a team with marginal offensive talent, and it showed in camp. Scrimmages were often low scoring slugfests, more so due to the inability to make shots rather than good defensive pressure, which they can apply with their incredible length - four 7 footers in the front court and a bunch of players over 6-6 on the wings – but against other teams this will be a problem. The Sharks will have to get (lots of) points in transition in order to score enough to win games. Can they do it? That’s the million dollar question.
Player I saw and really liked: Briante Weber, second year guard from VCU. He may be third on the depth chart behind Patty Mills and Ty Lawson, but if he ever gets on the floor, watch out. Weber possesses tremendous energy and a nose for the ball on defense, and could spark a lot of those fast break opportunities that the Sharks really need. At VCU, Weber was only 12 steals away from becoming the NCAA’s all-time leader. The man is a ball hawk.
Gut feeling: Expectations are low for expansion clubs, and it will take a while for the team to grasp the offense. Blatt’s job is to keep the team competitive and instill a positive culture into the foundation of the franchise. The Sharks open up the season with 3 of their first 4 games against the defending champions, and the other one against the Spurs. It’ll be a struggle, but if they get through it, they have a much softer schedule later on that should make their record respectful, finishing around the 30-35 win range.