QUOTE (Bullies4Life @ Jul 18 2006, 07:07 PM)
The Pistons and Spurs play conservative offense... And i guess i do agree with that. But then again... What is "Conservative offense?" Is it when a team doesnt run that much fast-breaks and instead they tend to slow it down to a half-court game? If thats the case, why arent the Bulls known as playing conservative offense too then? Is it because we are short, and people tend to think that we run a lot?
Conservative offense is often referred to as trying to use up as much of the 24 second shot clock as possible.
But if that were accurate, then the flipside would be a liberal offense, which basically means that you're throwing up stupid shots left and right, so conservative would mean that you're getting the highest percentage shots possible. You could theoretically get the highest percentage shot available as soon as you enter into your half-court offense, though, so it has a lot less to do with tempo than it has to do with the proper personnel.
The Miami Heat just won a championship almost entirely on the strength of conservative offense:
1. Feed the ball to your primary scoring option in the paint (Shaq) for the highest percentage shots available, and get the other team in foul trouble.
2. Penetrate and get to the free throw line with your primary scoring option from the perimiter (Wade), and get the other team in foul trouble while getting free points more than 70% of the time.
Conservative = smart. You can let the shot clock wind down every single time and still get stupid shots, so while the masses may view that as conservative, that definition has major flaws.
And also, if the flipside of conservative is aggressive, then penetrating and getting to the line as often as possible would seemingly be the complete opposite of conservatism, when in reality, you are trying to get the highest percentage shot possible and/or get to the line, which is basically the definition of conservativism.
If a team is trying to use up as much of the shot clock as possible, just call it a slow-tempo offense. Conservatism is about getting the highest percentage shot available, and that does not necessarily go hand-in-hand with a slow-tempo offense.