With a roster full of super jumpers, it’s a no-brainer that Brian Shaw would want to run some lob passes to get the bigs some easy buckets. With Andre Miller on the roster, most would think it would be ‘Dre tosses up the creative lobs, and while he has a few this season, it has been Randy Foye shining in the lob department.
Sensemaking broke down a tremendous play that the Nuggets were running early in the season that needed two screens to be set by a guard to get a big man open for a lob, thrown by Foye. Check that breakdown out here: it’s awesome.
Well, we haven’t seen that play for a bit … but a new one has found its way into Shaw’s playbook. This one involves a simple pick-and-roll, but it happens without the guard yet having the ball. Watch the play above: Lawson comes across halfcourt, J.J. Hickson (the man who inbounded the ball to Lawson) runs all the way down court to set a screen to “apparently” free up Foye to get the ball, as Foye goes to receive the pass, Hickson begins his roll, and Foye finds him for an easy – and pretty – alley oop. I have seen this play twice now in the past two or three games. We’ll see how long the Nuggets run it before getting creative with another lob, but enjoy this one while it lasts.
When I talked to Foye a couple weeks ago about the “backdoor lob” that Sensemaking broke down, he told me that he is used to throwing lob passes and that he was a big part of “Lob City” with the Los Angeles Clippers. Take a look at a few lob passes Foye used to throw for Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan.
This one should remind you of Andre Miller, for sure.
Lob City? That title should belong to the Nuggets with Randy Foye and Andre Miller tosses passes to Kenneth Faried, Hickson, JaVale McGee, Wilson Chandler, and even Nate Robinson.
