The "Culture Change" and Defense

[pancakes3]

Selfishly, I think the greatest benefit of our improved defense is the rise of the fast break game to the Wizards. Beal is phenomenal with the reverse layups and we actually have the athletes at SF to finish breaks with a slam for a change. Also, JW is at his best in transition though I'm not a fan of how he picks up his dribble to go behind his back. I'm sure I'm not the only one to note that tendency and savvier defenders than I can/will exploit that.

[dobrojim]

IDK cakes,

I'd say the greatest benefit is a much greater feeling of comfort when the
team has a 4thQ lead and you're mentally evaluating the possibility of
yet another late game collapse. I keep looking at the scoreboard and
asking, can the opp score enough to catch up in the remaining time
against our D. I'm generally a whole lot more comfy in answering this
question lately than I have as a Wizards/Bullets fan in eons.

[tontoz]

Selfishly, I think the greatest benefit of our improved defense is the rise of the fast break game to the Wizards. Beal is phenomenal with the reverse layups and we actually have the athletes at SF to finish breaks with a slam for a change. Also, JW is at his best in transition though I'm not a fan of how he picks up his dribble to go behind his back. I'm sure I'm not the only one to note that tendency and savvier defenders than I can/will exploit that.

I don't remember him doing that as much the last two years. I am not a fan either. I think he needs to focus on making the basic plays given his turnover problems.

[fishercob]

Paging smart people. How did the Wizards end up 24th-25th in each of the offensive Four Factors but 30th in offensive rating?

They finished 5th in defensive rating. Yay.

[Nivek]

Paging smart people. How did the Wizards end up 24th-25th in each of the offensive Four Factors but 30th in offensive rating?

Most teams are better at one thing than another. A high turnover team might shoot a little better or get to the FT line more frequently. A bad shooting team might do a better job of offensive rebounding or avoiding turnovers.

Memphis, for example, is 28th in efg, but 8th in tov%, 2nd in offensive rebounding and 16th in getting to the FT line. The Heat are 1st in efg, but 26th in offensive rebounding.

Look at the teams just ahead of the Wizards in ortg rankings -- Phoenix is 14th in offensive rebounding while ranking 23rd or worse in the other categories. Charlotte is 30th in efg, but 7th in tov% and 3rd in getting to the FT line (must be all those superstar calls they get).

The Wizards -- uniformly bad at everything on the offensive end.

[fishercob]

Got it. I appreciate your response even though the page was directed at smart people.

While they're bad across the board, they appear to have improved -- and they;'re not horrible at anything. So there's that. Small victories.

[pancakes3]

So basically it's better to fail 3 exams and then get an A- on the fourth than to get straight D's.

[nate33]

For what it's worth, since Wall's return on January 12th, the team ranked 21st on offense with an ORtg of 104. Their defense was 5th with a DRtg of 102.7. Their 1.3 point differential would have ranked them as the 11th best team in the league, tied with Atlanta.

[fishercob]

Bump.

In re-watching the DX video on Porter, I am really looking forward to having him up to speed and integrating him into our D. Our length is already bother a lot of people. On the perimeter, and Otto's combo of length, quicks and smarts/feel/anticipations going to fit right in.

It's one of the reasons that I think Ariza, though slight, could work as a stretch-4. A Wall/Webster/Porter/Ariza quarters is insanely long and very quick defensively. The passing lanes will small and not open for very long.

[LyricalRico]

^ I agree with the potential to shut down passing lanes, I just don't want them to get "steal-happy" and end up worse defensively because they rely on their length and take too many chances. But if Witt can keep them focused on playing solid positional defense, I agree they can be pretty good.

[keynote]

Bump.

Nice article by MIchael Lee on Wall's defense -- and a glimpse into the tools Wittman uses to coach Wall on the defensive end and track the results.

The Wizards chart players each game and provide a defensive rating based on how they contest shots, force players into bad shots, create deflections and turnovers and other categories.

After a game in which Wall had a season-high six steals and held Crawford scoreless in the fourth quarter, Wittman said Wall’s defensive score was the highest of his career and on the level of a superstar player.

“I told him to laminate it, put it on his wall and take that home,” Wittman said with a laugh. “And I said, ‘You screwed up. Because now you showed me you can do it.’ ”

Wittman said he has to stay on Wall because he has a tendency to “float” on defense, especially if he is guarding a point guard that is not looking to score. During his individual film studies with Wittman, Wall is encouraged to still apply pressure on the ball to disrupt the offense and force turnovers that could lead to easy, fast-break opportunities.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/wi ... story.html

This is the stuff I like to read about.

[nate33]

Nice article by MIchael Lee on Wall's defense -- and a glimpse into the tools Wittman uses to coach Wall on the defensive end and track the results.

Also from that article:

“I think I’ve showed spurts of great defense at times, but don’t do it enough,” said Wall, adding that he had never scored above average on Wittman’s rating chart before the win in Boston. “For me to be the player that I want to be, to be a superstar, or all-star in this league, you do both ends on a nightly basis. That’s something I’m really focusing my mind on, watching film on that more and trying to be consistent and doing a better job on that side.”

Let's hope he really means it. If Wall can lock in defensively like that, he becomes the next Gary Payton. It sure would help if he didn't have to play 38-40 minutes a night.

[doclinkin]

Yeah I think he's serious. He's rarely not serious when it comes to analysis. Check the video at :33

http://www.monumentalnetwork.com/videos ... e-12-21-13

The main thing with us, we got to play defense the same way we do when we're down and trying to fight back and get back into the game. We got to learn how ot start games off that way so we don't dig ourselves a big hole.

First you win then you get good. I love it when a player who is a serious worker hits a high water mark so they can see the effort it took to make it work. Holding JCraw is not the same as choking off a Kyrie Irving or --OMG no-- Chris Paul. But I love hearing him recognize where his shortcomings are on that end. John Wall interviews like he plays: talks so damn fast, his mind racing ahead of his words, smart analysis talking a mile a minute and then sometimes gets a little ahead of himself and doesn't finish the end of the.

But on point always:

Defense I know I got to be the guy to put that pressure on guys and I did a better job with Deron Williams and haven't done it in the past... I know I'm a catalyst on this team being a leader on both ends of the court. I know I gotta do a better job of getting in to the point guards, I think sometimes I let point guards off the hook and let them do whatever they want, and dictate what they want. [smiling:] but they don't let ME do that, they're going to be aggressive with me, and that's what I want to do and I think I did a better job these last three games.

[dckingsfan]

Yeah I think he's serious. He's rarely not serious when it comes to analysis. Check the video at :33

http://www.monumentalnetwork.com/videos ... e-12-21-13

The main thing with us, we got to play defense the same way we do when we're down and trying to fight back and get back into the game. We got to learn how ot start games off that way so we don't dig ourselves a big hole.

First you win then you get good. I love it when a player who is a serious worker hits a high water mark so they can see the effort it took to make it work. Holding JCraw is not the same as choking off a Kyrie Irving or --OMG no-- Chris Paul. But I love hearing him recognize where his shortcomings are on that end. John Wall interviews like he plays: talks so damn fast, his mind racing ahead of himself, smart analysis talking a mile a minute and then sometimes gets a little ahead of himself and doesn't finish the end of the.

Ha! That's it... that is it!

[doclinkin]

I also like the reminder how he reveals his lack of experience in the game in that interview, talking about situations he'd never been in before and then watching game film to learn from them figure what he could do differently.

Drive and seriousness of purpose will never be what holds this kid back from success. All the talent in the world, channelled by desire to improve. This is what you want from a MAX contract player, he's got a chance to earn it to where we all agree it was a bargain signing. A chance. Pray for mercy.

[Zonkerbl]

Outside of Ariza this team doesn't have any individual stoppers so if one guy gets hot there's not much you can do (see Anthony, Carmelo). But that does tend to lull the other team into one-on-one offense which eventually works in our favor.

I really hate those "chase down from behind" blocks from Wall. They're pretty but he needs to not let the opposing PG get by him in the first place.

[Upper Decker]

Outside of Ariza this team doesn't have any individual stoppers so if one guy gets hot there's not much you can do (see Anthony, Carmelo). But that does tend to lull the other team into one-on-one offense which eventually works in our favor.

I really hate those "chase down from behind" blocks from Wall. They're pretty but he needs to not let the opposing PG get by him in the first place.

Same thing could be said about the Bulls in that Luol Deng is their only individual stopper. Joakim Noah's a good defender, but he's far from a shut down big and I consider Nene to be in that category. Boozer has always been atrocious on defense, yet some how they are exceptional as a team defensively.

[fishercob]

On the defense: Wizards now sit 8th in defensive efficiency. They held Portland to an ORtg of 96.4. On the season their Ortg is tops in league at 112.7. They held OKC to an ORtg of 86.7; on the season OKC's is 109.8 (5th in the NBA). LAC posted a 107.6, but still 3 pts/100 possessions below their average. They are third in the league in offense. We smothered Golden State (Ortg of 83.6), played poor D at Utah on the second night of a B2B, and also held PHX, the league's 8th best offense, 3 pts below their season efficiency.

On the culture change: I have noticed John Wall's suffocating on-ball pressure of late. He has always reminded he of Gary Payton, and now even more so with this defensive intensity. It's a real tone-setter. I love John's in-your-face "F you"-ness and think that as his confidence grows (and his game is catching up with his confidence too), it's starting to filter down through the roster.

I'll always remember this about John. He won't back down to anyone:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wou_X6cBMqY[/youtube]

[go'stags]

It has been a lot of fun to watch Wall play defense recently. Every game there are a couple plays where does things that no other point in the league does. And he is cutting down on his mistakes.

[tontoz]

The defense has definitely been picking up recently. In the past Wall has had lapses when he lets his guy go right past him for a layup. That hasn't been happening much lately. He has been putting a lot more effort into his defense and it is making a big difference on the scoreboard.