The Iavaroni Influence

[J Dilla]

Iavaroni was never a defensive coach. Not in Phoenix, not in Memphis, and I just don't see it happening in Toronto.

I don't know where the defensive tag came from.

[D-Wins-RingsIMO]

Opponent FG%>PPG when analyzing defense.

Those Suns team gave up so many points because they played an extremely face pace so the number of possession per game increased.

I'd like to see his opponent's FG%.

points per 100 possessions imo

[Junkball]

PP100 works well. It factors in free throws and three point shots.
I think that those statistics show Iavaroni to be average to good.

The Raptors aren't likely to have any starters who are well above
average defensively so Iavaroni will have his work cut out for him.
If he can get them playing average defense, then he'll have done
his job.

[SkywalkerAC]

one thing that we haven't really discussed is that Iavaroni is a former NBA big man (a scrappy one at that) and we've been hoping for a big man coach for a while. hopefully Bargnani continues to blossom under his tutelage.

[Spartan13]

Iavaroni is only a small part of the Colangelo influence. Bargnani, Gheradini, Bellineli, Triano, Kapono...coincidence? I think not!

[anj]

Iavaroni is only a small part of the Colangelo influence. Bargnani, Gheradini, Bellineli, Triano, Kapono...coincidence? I think not!

Kapono's roots are Hawaiian.

[TerryTate]

btw, smitch had us at 12th and 13th overall defensively in our two playoff seasons.

Good luck trying to get ppl here to believe your "facts." Anything positive Smitch did as a coach will get drowned out by ppl yelling cliche phrases such as: "he didn't have a playbook!" "he stunted Bargnani's growth!" "he triple teamed scrub post players!" "he didn't deserve coach of the year!" etc.

HE OVERWORKED BOSH!!!!!

And jerked around the rest of the team, consistently changing rotation

[Derekman]

^ lol.

[Razzputin]

I expect us to be in top 10 defensively this year for several reasons. The bench for one is greatly improved and that will make a huge difference in both allowing the starters to stay fresh with less minutes played and the mere fact that guys on the second unit like Rasho,Evans,Jack and maybe even Wright (if he plays there) are all known as good defensive players.

The starting unit is tall and long and with Turk they're significantly more mobile than the last time we went with the big three when Jermaine was here. Turk will improve our defence significantly because he spends a fair amount of time high near the three point circle and was usually the first man back for the Magic against fast breaks and his size was huge there in slowing the other team down. He is much quicker than he looks and he can cover territory in a hurry. The Magic were right at the top in team defence last season with Cleveland and Boston and Turk certainly played a big part in that. Bargs defence amazed me most of last season, he covered alot of territory quickly also and led the team by far in terms of forcing penetrators baseline and often out of bounds. He also ended up team leader and 19th in the league in blocks per game. Bosh played way to many minutes last season and his defence suffered, he should get alot more rest this season. Calderon when not injured is at least a capable defender. He had no trouble shutting down T.J when we played Indiana and Jack even mentioned it on the telecast that those who think he can't play defence should watch this game.

We should have better perimeter defence with guys like Turk, Wright, Derozen, Jack and even Bellineli and that really was the major achilles heal last year that broke down the whole defensve house of cards. Our poor bigs were punchdrunk from all the penetrating wings and guards allways coming at them. They would than end up playing in foul trouble and that never helps a defence's aggressiveness.

I am in love with this post.

I hope it isn't lying to me.