[81alum]

I would say the worst was with 16 seconds left in regulation, up 4, not guarding her player on the 3pt line.   Unfortunately, that's typical of her and it looked to me like SoCar was taking advantage of it.

We have noticed this and commented on this about her in previous years.  It is hard for me to believe, however, that these are all mistakes on Jones's part, because it seems so obvious.  Someone gets the ball and Jones will make no effort to close or contest the shot, but just watches.  I've speculated before that this may be part of the scouting report.  Tara will sometimes tell her team not to contest shots by the opposing team's weakest jump shooter, but instead to hang back so you can double on anyone that shooter might pass to.  This is also probably what Staley meant when she said her team did better when it learned to "take what the defense gives you" rather than trying to force it. 

Could this be a plausible explanation for the many obvious times that Jones has allowed uncontested shots over the years?  I just find it hard to believe that she would consistently just watch someone shoot and then receive praise from Tara.  It makes more sense that she is acting on instructions of some sort that we don't know about, since MT is absolutely right that this is something of a pattern of what Jones does on defense.

If your hypothesis is correct, I wonder what the threshold is in terms of allowing players to be left open are? Shooting percentages under 30%? We've singled out Jones, but have other players left shooters opened as well? And to ask the underlying, most important question, how often have we been burned using this strategy?

In this case, we know for a fact that Jones was expected to double on Boston whenever she got the ball.  She may also have been attempting to deny her the ball.  So Prechtel or whoever was guarding Boston, but Jones would frequently double down on Boston.  It was pretty effective--much more effective than when anyone tried to guard Boston alone, anyway.

If Jones came out to contest a three point shot, then the shooter might have passed to Boston and Jones would have been out of position.  

So this game it may have been dictated by our efforts against Boston rather than playing the percentage on any particular three point shooter.  Comments by Tara and Dawn sort of hinted at this.  Tara did say we doubled Boston but that there was always a cost--pick your poison.  Maybe Jones just standing there was the cost.  

We can try asking about this at the next chalk talk.  We can also go back and look at the video to see if this is borne out.

Edit:  I just went back to watch that particular three point shot that MT referenced.  It is at 1:50:13 of the posted video.  Jones was playing way back, as if she were in a zone, but she did rush out, leaped, and contested the shot.  I thought it was a decent effort--not as good an effort as if she had been glued to her player from the start.  But if Jones had been guarding the line then she would have been unavailable to help if Boston, who was also playing out, drove on the basket.  In other words, Jones's unsuccessful effort was not terrible, and certainly seems to me to be a product of whatever defense assigned her to sag toward the paint.

This does not change our overall impressions, however.  I have seen Jones watch a shooter shoot numerous times over the years.  This was not one of those times.

[81alum]

I would say the worst was with 16 seconds left in regulation, up 4, not guarding her player on the 3pt line.   Unfortunately, that's typical of her and it looked to me like SoCar was taking advantage of it.

We have noticed this and commented on this about her in previous years.  It is hard for me to believe, however, that these are all mistakes on Jones's part, because it seems so obvious.  Someone gets the ball and Jones will make no effort to close or contest the shot, but just watches.  I've speculated before that this may be part of the scouting report.  Tara will sometimes tell her team not to contest shots by the opposing team's weakest jump shooter, but instead to hang back so you can double on anyone that shooter might pass to.  This is also probably what Staley meant when she said her team did better when it learned to "take what the defense gives you" rather than trying to force it. 

Could this be a plausible explanation for the many obvious times that Jones has allowed uncontested shots over the years?  I just find it hard to believe that she would consistently just watch someone shoot and then receive praise from Tara.  It makes more sense that she is acting on instructions of some sort that we don't know about, since MT is absolutely right that this is something of a pattern of what Jones does on defense.

If your hypothesis is correct, I wonder what the threshold is in terms of allowing players to be left open are? Shooting percentages under 30%? We've singled out Jones, but have other players left shooters opened as well? And to ask the underlying, most important question, how often have we been burned using this strategy?

In this case, we know for a fact that Jones was expected to double on Boston whenever she got the ball.  She may also have been attempting to deny her the ball.  So Prechtel or whoever was guarding Boston, but Jones would frequently double down on Boston.  It was pretty effective--much more effective than when anyone tried to guard Boston alone, anyway.

If Jones came out to contest a three point shot, then the shooter might have passed to Boston and Jones would have been out of position.  

So this game it may have been dictated by our efforts against Boston rather than playing the percentage on any particular three point shooter.  Comments by Tara and Dawn sort of hinted at this.  Tara did say we doubled Boston but that there was always a cost--pick your poison.  Maybe Jones just standing there was the cost.  

We can try asking about this at the next chalk talk.  We can also go back and look at the video to see if this is borne out.

Edit:  I just went back to watch that particular three point shot that MT referenced.  It is at 1:50:13 of the posted video.  Jones was playing way back, as if she were in a zone, but she did rush out, leaped, and contested the shot.  I thought it was a decent effort--not as good an effort as if she had been glued to her player from the start.  But if Jones had been guarding the line then she would have been unavailable to help if Boston, who was also playing out, drove on the basket.  In other words, Jones's unsuccessful effort was not terrible, and certainly seems to me to be a product of whatever defense assigned her to sag toward the paint.

This does not change our overall impressions, however.  I have seen Jones watch a shooter shoot numerous times over the years.  This was not one of those times.