Following the Longhorns' stunning free fall late last season -- during which the previously 170 squad dropped 10 of its last 17 games, including a first-round Tourney loss to Wake Forest -- their top returner and longtime coach worked through disappointment in different ways: One asked for forgiveness, the other asked for help.
Jordan Hamilton, the 6-foot-7, 220-pound wing, apologized to his teammates for a my-shot-first style that had NBA scouts wondering if his lottery talent would be shorted by D-League smarts. Meanwhile, Rick Barnes, who has led Texas to the NCAAs in each of his first 12 years, heeded an old foe. "You guys don't screen; you don't move the ball," Bob Knight told him. "You need an offense that will help your players get better."
Barnes scanned his roster and saw a versatile scorer in Hamilton and a pair of eager senior screeners, forward Gary Johnson and guard Dogus Balbay, not to mention two savvy incoming freshmen, forward Tristan Thompson and guard Cory Joseph, and decided it was time to scrap his one-dimensional, pick-and-roll game plan. He polled his NBA contacts about the toughest pro offenses, and when the Jazz emerged as the unanimous response, he flew to Salt Lake. Jazz GM Kevin O'Connor says he saw his team's imprint on the Longhorns as soon as the new season started. Flex cuts, screening the screener and weak-side curls had taken over the Erwin Center floor.
And no one is happier about the transformation than Hamilton. He is averaging team highs in points (18.7) and rebounds (7.6), but more important, he is scoring in more varied ways than ever before. According to Synergy Sports Technology, 20.5 percent of his shots come off of screens or post-up moves (that number was 5.1 percent last year), and he has improved his points per possession on nearly every type of play. "You could put him in a phone booth, and he'd figure out how to score," says Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel.
If you had put him in that phone booth a year ago, he'd have just tried to shoot his way out. Because Hamilton wasn't on campus for UT's early summer pickup runs before his freshman season -- while he waited for the NCAA to clear him -- he was lost on the floor. From the start, he squeezed off as many shots as he could, even if that meant playing outside the team's inside-out plan. His 17.8 shots per 40 minutes was the most on a team that dressed at least three other future pros. "I wasn't going to let that happen again," Hamilton says.
So he smoothed things over with his teammates, and his coach went about finding ways to get him better shots. Barnes' offensive switch wasn't only for Hamilton's sake, though. He also needed to keep D's honest. In years past, teams sagged so far off Balbay, it was like playing five-on-four. (The point guard took 17 jumpers last season and has attempted just eight this year.) In the new scheme, Balbay makes the first cut, sets a screen in the low post, then hangs out near the basket. Teams can't ignore him anymore.
Meanwhile, Hamilton sets up on the baseline, where he can come off of a number of screens to face up and shoot. One of his favorite plays involves running up from the baseline to meet Johnson, who has the ball, at the top of the key. With his back to the basket, Johnson hands off to Hamilton and sets a walkaway screen, giving him just enough time to catch, square and fire. Hamilton's range extends to 25 feet, but he can maneuver into the lane. He's big enough to take a bump or two inside, and Lakers Ron Artest and Lamar Odom -- who worked out with him last summer in SoCal -- have encouraged Hamilton to exploit his size in the post.
It hasn't hurt that UT is one of the nation's top defensive teamsholding foes to 36.4% on two-pointers and 27.9% on threes. But it sure helps that Hamilton has broken out on the other end. These days, Balbay says, his teammate apologizes if he starts to go down the one-on-five rabbit hole. More important, he has learned about patience. "Playing hard doesn't mean going fast," Hamilton says. And being a scorer doesn't mean shooting every possession.
