RealGM

During a game thread I asked if we were the worst defensive team in the NBA
According to Hollinger, we're the 23rd worst

22 Toronto 93.6 15.8 22.6 22.4 73.4 48.2 49.5 54.3 103.9 107.4
23 Phoenix 97.9 15.4 25.7 26.1 72.2 50.3 54.3 58.4 109.8 107.8
24 L.A. Clippers 94.6 14.7 24.4 25.7 70.9 47.6 47.5 51.5 99.1 108.0
25 New York 99.5 14.6 22.9 24.1 72.9 47.7 50.6 54.8 105.8 108.2
26 New Jersey 92.6 14.4 22.5 25.5 73.5 49.0 49.5 54.2 105.5 108.3
27 Minnesota 94.9 14.2 23.5 28.5 75.0 50.8 47.8 52.4 102.5 108.9
28 Golden State 100.8 13.9 23.3 26.3 68.0 47.2 49.6 54.8 106.0 109.4
29 Washington 92.7 14.5 23.5 27.6 71.4 48.8 47.8 52.2 101.6 110.9
30 Sacramento 96.6 13.8 25.6 23.9 69.8 46.9 49.1 54.2 101.8 111.2

We're third offensively btw. LL, PTL, PHX

In 200-08 we were 16th:

Boston Celtics.......................98.54
Houston Rockets.....................101.02
San Antonio Spurs...................101.27
Detroit Pistons.....................102.26
New Orleans Hornets.................105.01
Los Angeles Lakers..................105.03
Orlando Magic.......................105.39
Dallas Mavericks....................105.46
Philadelphia 76ers..................105.57
Utah Jazz...........................105.74
Cleveland Cavaliers.................105.92
Denver Nuggets......................106.19
Toronto Raptors.....................106.43
Chicago Bulls.......................106.47
LEAGUE AVERAGE......................106.96
Indiana Pacers......................107.09
Phoenix Suns........................107.42

That lends some credence to the notion that trading away marion, Diaw and Bell was not conducive to upping the defensive efficiency.

Makes sense. Marion and Bell were far and away our best defenders for the era. Diaw, while not a great defender, did provide some value on defense with his versatility. Jrich is not terrible, but a lot worse than Marion and Bell (although Bell took a step back this year.) Shaq has been a very good defender in the past, and does play solid 1on1 defense most of the time, but can get exploited pretty badly in pick-n-roll situations.

^ very good observations by both JohnV and hitachi7. Sad to say our best defender this year is 36yr old GHill. I expected more from JRich defensively, I didn't think he was this bad. His offense does make up for it at times though.

what? I thought this was already an established fact that trading Marion, and then trading Bell and Diaw were boneheaded moves for a GM seeking "defense". The Bell, Diaw trade especially, what was Kerr looking to accomplish with that trade? 360 dunks? The trade basically forced the Suns to score 130 pts a game to win.

we were forced to score 130 even when we had marion and bell etc...

Honestly, I was surprised there were seven teams that are worse than we are, defensively

WTFsunsFTW wrote:we were forced to score 130 even when we had marion and bell etc...

Back then we could actually still win games while scoring below 100.

albasuna wrote:

WTFsunsFTW wrote:we were forced to score 130 even when we had marion and bell etc...

Back then we could actually still win games while scoring below 100.

not many though. scoring below 100 for the most time meant a Loss now and before.

albasuna wrote:

WTFsunsFTW wrote:we were forced to score 130 even when we had marion and bell etc...

Back then we could actually still win games while scoring below 100.

That's as thinly true as it is today man...