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Last year the Jazz ranked 6th in the NBA in offensive efficiency at 106.8 points per 100 possessions and 19th in defensive efficiency at 106.1 per 100 possessions.

This year?

They're 6th in offensive efficiency at 109.2 and 21st in defensive efficiency at 107.0.

I'm of the school that defense is dependent largely upon the coaching staff, not just in terms of defensive schemes, but in choosing which 5-man units to put on the floor, so I've been disappointed -- but not surprised -- by Corbin's inability to improve the Jazz's defense.

Anyone else disappointed not to see more focus given to the defensive side of the ball? I mean, when your head coach is bringing in Randy Foye for defensive purposes, something's wrong, right?

I really thought we'd be A LOT better defensively this year, especially since I thought Hayward and Marvin in the starting lineup would give us a huge length advantage on most teams... but ya, I'm blaming the coaching staff too.

Thats because there is a misconception that today team defensive schemes mean more than individual defense which is completely false. The right defensive minded players mean almost everything today no matter if even thibbs id your coac. We don't have the right players and its not Jeffersons fault alone. And as I stated many times while they may be amongst our better defenders, I don't consider marvin and hayward good defensive players. So its kinda all on Favors right now defensively and thats not enough, you need more defensive talent.

Take Chicago for example. Without rose they don't take a very noticable defensive hit depending on who you replace him with but without noah they are alot worse and alot more worse than that if gibson and/or deng is out too. You also see that their defensive took a big hit this year since brewer and Asik are no longer on the team and they didn't replace there defense for real. Thibbs is a great defensive mind but he's not a miracle worker.

reapaman wrote:Thats because there is a misconception that today team defensive schemes mean more than individual defense which is completely false.

I'm not sure it's completely false. The effect of a scheme/coach may be exaggerated, but I do think there's a stronger correlation between defensive-minded coaches and good defense than between personnel and good defense.

reapaman wrote:Take Chicago for example. Without rose they don't take a very noticable defensive hit depending on who you replace him with but without noah they are alot worse and alot more worse than that if gibson and/or deng is out too. You also see that their defensive took a big hit this year since brewer and Asik are no longer on the team and they didn't replace there defense for real. Thibbs is a great defensive mind but he's not a miracle worker.

Maybe the key then is some sort of defensive anchor (Garnett, Tyson Chandler, Noah etc.) combined with a defensive coach? It certainly does seem like a good scheme and a few defensive studs can dramatically elevate a team's defense without requiring every player to be a great defender.

Maybe playing good defense is, as the old cliché goes, contagious?

StocktonShorts wrote:

reapaman wrote:Thats because there is a misconception that today team defensive schemes mean more than individual defense which is completely false.

I'm not sure it's completely false. The effect of a scheme/coach may be exaggerated, but I do think there's a stronger correlation between defensive-minded coaches and good defense than between personnel and good defense.

reapaman wrote:Take Chicago for example. Without rose they don't take a very noticable defensive hit depending on who you replace him with but without noah they are alot worse and alot more worse than that if gibson and/or deng is out too. You also see that their defensive took a big hit this year since brewer and Asik are no longer on the team and they didn't replace there defense for real. Thibbs is a great defensive mind but he's not a miracle worker.

Maybe the key then is some sort of defensive anchor (Garnett, Tyson Chandler, Noah etc.) combined with a defensive coach? It certainly does seem like a good scheme and a few defensive studs can dramatically elevate a team's defense without requiring every player to be a great defender.

Maybe playing good defense is, as the old cliché goes, contagious?

If only there was some type of defensive anchor out there that we could get! Hell, I'd even be willing to trade our all-star PG Deron Williams if we could nab one. If only there was some team out there like... the Nets, willing to trade a defensive anchor like... Favors. Ugh, if only.

As long as players like Big AL are getting their minutes while completely not giving two ****s on D, then this team will suck N**s at D. Sends a poor message to the rest of the guys.

^^^ and that's why I blame the coaching staff.

I really doubt that a defensive-minded coach, given this Jazz roster, would start the guys Corbin is starting.

Well .. Like I said its all on Favors. I think everyone on the team besides Favors is a bad defender individual. Hayward and Marvin for example have good team defensive skills, good help defense, plus they can guard guys well when their jump shooting like hayward did kobe due to their overall length + height. The problem is that the majority of the time guys are driving to the basket or coming off of screens and neither one of them can keep up most of the time so their often left in the dust. So even tho they have some good defensive traits, they don't have the traits that are most important. We need a personnell overhaul if you ask me.

A coaching change will help but it won't make a big difference with a team full of bad individual defenders. I mean look at the lakers, despite mike brown proving in the past that he can coach a great defense he could do much about the Lakers defense although it did get worse with pringles but that maybey no gasol. Also with that said I wouldn't say Favors is a "defensive anchor" yet because for one he fouls too much and you can't make other guys trust you to lead the team defensively if their scared your gonna get into early foul trouble or go on a random fouling spree where you nearly foul out the game. Plus he's gotta develop his intagibles as a leader. But all of that will come with time, no hurry.

Millsap and Mo Williams are no better than Jefferson at defense. The three take the blame together.

sid lowe is our def specialist that says all plus cobin is making silly mistakes in rotation, you cant put in one lineup guys like Foye, Mo, Al

Our starting lineup includes mo williams, al jefferson, randy foye at the 2, and a 6 '6 guard masquerading as a big man (Paul). Only Paul and Marvin can be considering "plus" defenders, its no wonder we suck at defense.

Whenever you have a chance to bench all 4 members of the future "core" in favor of no defense, chucking vets (not you Paul, you're great), you gotta do it right?

Well, I think in the last games we have seen a better deffense, and some of the worst deffenders are trying hard.
Jefferson is trying, Foye is trying and hell, we are 4 in a row and refs stole us the clippers one.

We are not the same team. We have right now realiables 3pt shooters and this make us pretty different.
Right now Jefferson and Paul aren't our only offensive threats.
Kanter, Favors and Hayward are better than last year, Jefferson looks better too (his numbers are growing too) and Millsap is in the last 5 games, 20.6ppg 8.6 rpg, 3.6 apg 1.8 spg and 1.0 bpg in 54% FG.
Mo and Foye are improvements over Harris and Bell and Marvin is over Miles/Howard.

You only have to watch Player of the game votes.... there's 8 winners in 22 games. We're a better team and I expect us to grow more.

We are scoring 1.5 ppg more than last year and we opp teams score on us 0.2 points more than last year.

Update: Jazz are now 11th in offensive rating at 106.8 and 24th in defensive rating at 107.4.

They're now 10th in the West and last in the Northwest Division, trailing even the Portland Trailblazers. While they're only one game out of the 6th spot, they're nearly two points behind the nearest other playoff team (Minnesota) in terms of average point differential. They're also over three points behind the Lakers in point differential, which suggests it's only a matter of time before the Lakers overtake them in the standings.

The Jazz aren't a terrible team, but they certainly don't seem to be going in the right direction. Weren't they supposed to be better than last year?