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sorting out the defense?

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neaorin

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Now that the offense seems to be slowly getting back on track, I think it's a good time to have a thread on the other half of basketball.

Going in we all knew it would be by far the more difficult puzzle to solve, and I'd argue that solving it is even more critical than solving the offense.

Right now we are near the bottom in points allowed at a not-so-cool 103 ppg. Everybody knows that's not gonna get it done in late spring, no matter the how the offense looks like by then. Not to mention that defense will also help the O by generating easy transition buckets, something our roster is perfectly suited for.

Some people have made extremely valid points in various threads, so I thought it would be a good idea to have everything in one place.

There's also a poll so if you want more options or different ones please say so.
 
QuadrupleDouble said:
It'd help if Kevin love raised an arm here or there.
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Came in here to say the same thing...my god does that annoy me. Offense swings the ball and a guard penetrates...Kevin Love half-heartedly rotates to the other side of the rim, doesn't even put his arms up, and gives up a layup. Are you kidding me....
 
Might as well talk about it. I see several issues:
  • Interior defense. We all knew this was an issue coming into the season, and unfortunately we were right. Andy remains good in the P&R and at least stands in front of the rim at times. He looked worn out against NO. If it is because he needs to get into game shape, that's fine. If it is because he went up against a big front line, that is very concerning. Love is as advertised, a guy whose offense outweighs his deficiencies on defense. Teams are quick to go right after him, so covering his backside has to be a priority for coaching. Tristan... well at least he is still making an effort on individual defense. I like how he uses his strength to not get backed down, but that is about all you can say about him. He is still routinely getting roasted on the P&R and still doesn't understand rotations. The number of open layups we give up because he does not understand team defense is infuriating. Outside of offensive rebounding, he has been a total liability this year.
  • Inconsistent guard play. Kyrie and Dion both show glimpses of good defense and then revert back to lazy habits. For Kyrie, it is playing hard in the 1st and 4th quarters, and for Dion, it is playing hard on seemingly random possessions. Both still seem to not grasp that you need to play hard the entire 24 seconds. Many times they have played hard to deny initial lane penetration or ball entry only to slack off and leave their man open for a jumper later in the shot clock. These two really need to consistently play harder to make up for our weak interior defense.
  • Lebron. For whatever reason, he is giving no effort. He is flat footed, standing around, and way overplaying the big steal, which leaves a huge hole in the middle. He has been visibly tired in several games, even checking himself out, so my guess is he is weeks away from being in game shape and is taking plays off on the defensive end. I don't think we need to worry too much about this.
  • Scheming. Why the hell are they always leaving their man to double team the guy with the ball? This makes no sense because we are constantly doubling guys who are not a threat. This leaves a man open, and coupling that with our inability to consistently rotate, leaves wide open 3 point shooters when a team swings it around. I don't know if it is Lue or Blatt doing this, but it has to stop yesterday. Not sure if this should go in this section or interior defense, but our bigs stepping up to penetrating guards in the lane is also killing us. If you are going to block the shot, fine, but that isn't happening. Instead, we are just collapsing two guys on the guard while he simply drops it off to their big for a wide open layup. We are third worst in the league at 62.2% opponent FG within 5 ft because of this.
Marion has been a big positive on the defensive end. Andy less so but positive nonetheless. The rest of the team? Yikes. A lot can be addressed with simple effort and scheme adjustment, but I fear the interior is a structural problem and might reveal itself as a fatal flaw. What do you think?
 
Double Teaming too often, not counting on individual defense..
Lebron off the HGH, no effort and conserving his energy on defense.
No coordination in PnR defense yet
and more
 
I am guessing the doubling is more effective in a league where guys cannot as easily beat you individually. I think this will change as the 3 line is too open.

I think Tristan had been the best big defensively so far. He shows too hard and over helps, but I think he's been solid. Overall I think the bench was executing the defense better than the starters. The starters only play d the second half of the game.

I think they need to lose some more to some good teams before they play d all game.
 
The defense against NO was OK, Anderson was simply on FIRE the first half. If he simply played normal they would have scored about 100 and won by double digits.

They need to defend the perimeter better, but the rotations are improving and, Blatt is still screwing around with his player rotations.

It takes time. This should be revisited in February.
 
chuck0609 said:
The defense against NO was OK, Anderson was simply on FIRE the first half. If he simply played normal they would have scored about 100 and won by double digits.

They need to defend the perimeter better, but the rotations are improving and, Blatt is still screwing around with his player rotations.

It takes time. This should be revisited in February.
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He was open most of the time for no reason
 
We need bigger wingspans, better effort, and higher awareness.

And more cow bell.
 
Arison said:
Double Teaming too often, not counting on individual defense..
Lebron off the HGH, no effort and conserving his energy on defense.
No coordination in PnR defense yet
and more
Click to expand...
Post like this need to be banned. HGH ? Really ? Prove it or shut up.
 
CSF said:
Post like this need to be banned. HGH ? Really ? Prove it or shut up.
Click to expand...

!!!
There are rumours and I wouldn't be surprised, Also Wade is not innocent aswell.
 
How often have rookie head coaches come in and actually implemented top-10 defenses in their first season? I don't know the answer, I'm actually curious. Not even taking into account how revamped our roster is, what is the success rate of rookie coaches in terms defense?

Rep for whoever can pull out some nice stats on rookie head coaches and their defenses the year before their arrival vs their 1st season. The thought popped into my head in particular after reading a recent Lowe article. In a section about the Blazers it talks about how Terry Stotts is sticking with the same scheme as last year because even though the Blazers weren't a great defensive team overall last year, they improved greatly after the all-star break. Lowe goes on to point out how much more comfortable the entire team appears in the scheme now that they've had a full season to learn it.
 
Yeah obawan makes a great point. I guess the question is "does the team have the potential to be a top defensive team?" If they can figure it out enough by the time the playoffs come around I will be cool.

The effort is looking better and it had already made a big difference.
 
Maybe I'm wrong, but I thought Tyronn Lue was in charge of the defense.
 
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