Arnovitz: The Clippers' D isn't as bad as you think

[mkwest]

That’s the crazy thing about the Clippers -- not only are the starters not terrible, they’re actually very good. The starting lineup of Chris Paul, Redick, Dudley, Griffin and Jordan has played together for almost 40 percent of the team’s total minutes this season. As a unit, the starters surrender only 99.3 points per possession, which would rank sixth in the NBA.

Take one Clippers starter off the floor and the Clippers still give up considerably less than the league average. For instance, the Clippers’ top four performers -- Paul, Redick, Griffin and Jordan -- maintain that 99.3 defensive rating, and they’ve been on the floor for almost exactly one-half the action this season. When those four guys aren’t on the floor, that rating drops to 111.3 -- beyond awful, like 2005-06 Sonics, worst-of-all-time awful.

When Byron Mullens is on the floor, the Clippers are 18.2 points worse defensively. His defensive rating of 120.7 is far and away the worse this season for any player who sees the court regularly, with Jordan Hamilton a very distant second at 116.4. In fact, even though Mullens plays only 20 percent of the Clippers’ minutes, if he’s on the bench at a given moment, the team goes from a 27th-ranked defense to one that would be ranked 17th, just behind the Rockets. It’s virtually unheard of for a fringe rotation player to have such an adverse effect on a team’s overall defensive numbers.

It’s early in the season, but among the 10 most commonly used lineups by the Clippers, five would qualify as the league’s worst defense. Four of those five units are led by a backcourt of Darren Collison and Jamal Crawford.

Kevin Arnovitz, ESPN

[kylem4711]

I'm glad there are numbers to quantify what I am seeing. basically, Mullens sucks.

[og15]

Oh Mullens. It's. O coincidence that the best defensive game of the season had him on the bench.

So...I guess it is Hollins going forward?

[Woodsanity]

Posted the exact same thing on clippers.topbuzz. Basically Mullens is worse than garbage. This isn't news to me. I was extremely against signing him even though it was a relatively low risk signing cause I knew he was turd at best.

He was a large reason why the Bobcats were the worst defensive team the last few seasons. In addition, he sucks at his alleged "strength". Last season he shot 31.5% from 16-24 ft. For reference BG who can "only dunk" is shooting about 40% from the same distance. He is terrible at every aspect of basketball.

Having a guy like Odom should somewhat negate the terrible defense of Crawford + Collison. At least Collison only plays 13-14 mpg so Crawford + Collison don't spend much time playing together. Its not bad just put Mullens in the doghouse forever and maybe use him as a human victory cigar if were up by 20+.

[ERClipsfan]

For what it's worth I think Odom is the exact thing this team needs. Defense, plays 3 forward/center positions,
Potential offensive threat, and the other players like & respect him. We're gonna improve once he's signed...& he'll
be cheap.

[LACtdom]

If Odom can bring the same level of defense he did last season then that is all we require from him. Our team has plenty of offensive talent without needing a no-defense scorer like Mullens. Our bench players just need to not give up the leads our starters create.

[azncorruptedo17]

lol... mullens sucks

[DraftSpecialist]

I still can't comprehend why not only we signed Mullens, but we play him. What does he do well? I mean he shoots a lot of 3s and I hear that he provides 'spacing' but he in reality is terrible at them and any time the D can force our offense to settle for Mullens jumper they win that possession.

[QRich3]

Yeah the funny thing is Mullens hurts our offense just as much as he hurts our defense. At this point I just think Doc lost a bet with someone and he has to play him all season for laughs.

Come playoff time, the starting 5 better be prepared to play 45 minutes a game each.

[TucsonClip]

The fact that Doc is playing Dudley at the 4 with the second unit is all you need to know about Mullens. Sure his shot looks good, but the dude is a career 30% 3pt shooter for a reason. He can shoot.

[QRich3]

Don't look now but in the last 10 games we have a defensive rating of 98.6 points allowed per 100 possesions, good enough for 6th in the league. And 94.7 DRtg (4th in the league in that period) in the last 6 games, since Mullens has been out of the rotation

Hope I'm not jinxing it :/

[og15]

You're not, don't worry, and yea, I said in the Memphis game thread, defense rank is at 13th now, and the next 4 teams are all 24th or worse in Ortg, and Washington is 19th, so it should keep on climbing.

[QRich3]

Yeah, small sample size, and a bit skewed by the blowouts against Bulls & Grizzlies, but it does look better lately and borderline top 5 is what I expect for our best case scenario. And that's with Jamison and Hollins still fouling every possesion, imagine if we somehow were able to snatch a good defensive big man.

[Ranma]

Jovan Buha, ClipperBlog (12/7/13)

Despite the loss, the Clippers jumped from 17th to 14th in defensive rating at 101.9. They are just 0.4 away from having a top-10 defense.

Michael Shagrin, ClipperBlog (12/7/13)

The Sports VU tracking system, recently installed to track player movements in every NBA arena, computes the important metrics that ought correlate with a defender’s ability to protect the basket; an opponent’s field goal percentage when that defender is within five feet of the basket and within five feet of the offensive player attempting the shot.

Of players with at least one block per game in 10 or more games played, DeAndre Jordan gives up the second-highest field goal percentage at the rim at 57.6 percent. In rough terms, that means D.J. is arguably the worst rim protector who is charged as his team’s interior defensive anchor.

Last Call: Cleveland Cavaliers 88, Los Angeles Clippers 82

[mkwest]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/EricPatten/status/410454028045131776[/tweet]

Clippers are now 11th in Defensive Rating (103.5 points allowed per 100 possesions or 1.035 points allowed per possession).

[TheNewEra]

How much has the offense slipped?

[mkwest]

How much has the offense slipped?

4th overall (108.1 points per 100 possessions) behind Portland (112.8), Miami (110.4) and Houston (109.9).

We started out the season in the top 2 with Miami. We've been 4th in offense for a couple of weeks now.

[og15]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/EricPatten/status/410454028045131776[/tweet]

Clippers are now 11th in Defensive Rating (103.5 points allowed per 100 possesions or 1.035 points allowed per possession).

I like this. I know it has been against weaker opponents, but everyone gets to play weaker opponents. I'd like to solidify as a good defensive team than just being good on offense.

Even with the improvement, there are still some way too obvious defensive breakdowns, so we know there's still room for growth

[TheNewEra]

Really hope we get better on the defensive glass. If we can limit second chances would go a long way during the playoffs.

[kylem4711]

The clippers are not a good defensive team to me. Check out some of these stats. Click the link too.

http://www.sheridanhoops.com/2013/12/07/eisenberg-emeka-okafor-could-change-the-landscape-of-the-western-conference/

When the playoffs eventually come around, however, the Clippers recede back to looking like the fourth- or fifth best team in a loaded Western Conference. Sure, they pushed the Grizzlies to seven games last year. However, if you think DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin can effectively defend top-ranked opponents for an entire postseason, I’d like to invite you to play a quick game of “Name That Big Man.”
Player A has played 18 games and has defended 6.2 shots at the rim per 33.4 minutes a game, allowing 49.1% to go in.

Player B has played 19 games and has defended 8.2 shots at the rim per 35.4 minutes a game, allowing 59% to go in

Player C has played in 19 games and has defended 6.1 shots at the rim per 37.2 minutes a game, allowing 52.6% to go in.

I’ve got bad news for Clippers fans; two of three these guys are Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. The third is David Lee, who is considered by some to be the worst interior defender in the NBA. Here’s the kicker: Lee is actually Player A and Jordan and Griffin are Players B and C, respectively. Comparatively speaking, DeAndre Jordan is making David Lee look like Roy Hibbert.
Opponents have attempted 14.3 shots at the rim against Jordan and Griffin per game and have scored on well over half of those attempts. That equates to more than thirty points a game on easy shots in the paint against only those two players. Note: this total doesn’t even begin to consider the added points that come from fouls. By the way, Griffin and Jordan collectively commit 7.1 fouls per game. (Exactly 2.5 more per game than the Spurs’ big man trio of Tim Duncan, Tiago Splitter and Boris Diaw.)

Part of the problem for the Clippers is that neither Jordan nor Griffin plays particularly tough interior defense. As you may recall, Chauncey Billups called Griffin soft after two years of playing together.