RealGM

Through the first 6 games of the season, the Charlotte Bobcats are currently ranked the worst (#30th) defensive team in the NBA by a wide margin, allowing 107.5 points per game. I was just wondering you guys thoughts on this, because I believe this team should have a stronger emphasis on the defensive end of the floor considering the fact that they do not presently have a prolific scorer on the existing roster.

Four of our 6 games have comes against very prolific scoring teams in Miami, Miami, New York, and Orlando. Hopefully as we play worse teams, that stat will drop.

GQCoolest wrote:Four of our 6 games have comes against very prolific scoring teams in Miami, Miami, New York, and Orlando. Hopefully as we play worse teams, that stat will drop.

True. My instincts may have jumped the gun after watching the horrid display of defense against Cleveland the game before, because I expected much better performances from the team of a defensive-minded coach like Paul Silas. Maybe it's just all a part of 'THE TANK'.

Our starting center is the same height as an average nba small forward.

Small sample size and the Miami Heat score inflated it. I think we will be a 20+ defense team, but not as bad as NY.

DJQuick wrote:Our starting center is the same height as an average nba small forward.

However, they have been rebounding pretty well as a team (currently ranked #6 at 44.8 rpg, out-rebounding the opposition's 41.0 rpg). Quite impressive.

GQCoolest wrote:Four of our 6 games have comes against very prolific scoring teams in Miami, Miami, New York, and Orlando. Hopefully as we play worse teams, that stat will drop.

This, our schedule hasn't been kind to us.

We've played 5 teams assumed to be playoff teams including the best team twice.

People thought we'd be 0-6 but we're 2-4 right now, we are scoring much better than I thought we would.

Defensively aside from the Cleveland game we are putting in a lot of effort, unfortunately the teams we played have high octane offenses.

Regardless of who we've played so far our defense stinks to high hell. Diaw and White are a terrible frontcourt pairing, well in Diaw's defense he's not a starting caliber C at all, his ideal frontcourt mate would be a defensive shotblocker like Biz at C. I want to see more Diaw - Smack playing together.

Marvel wrote:Regardless of who we've played so far our defense stinks to high hell. Diaw and White are a terrible frontcourt pairing, well in Diaw's defense he's not a starting caliber C at all, his ideal frontcourt mate would be a defensive shotblocker like Biz at C. I want to see more Diaw - Smack playing together.

Daw & Smack would be a great pairing no doubt, I have no idea what Silas is thinking with our rotations.

He's probably thinking that it does no good for Biz to have to play on eggshells due to inevitable foul trouble. Silas is doing him a favor by letting him get up to the pace and skill of the league incrementally.

Marvel wrote:I want to see more Diaw - Smack playing together.

Hell to the ya. Might really bring Biz's offense along too.

Pairing should be as follows IMO:

Boris and Biz
DJW and Gana (yes, Gana)
Mully and Biz

and very occasionally

Boris and Gana.

We HAVE to have a rim/paint protector in there are all times - playing the Cavs made that very obvious.

PPG isn't a very good measure for defensive aptitude because it doesn't incorporate pace, which we currently have the 3rd highest in the league. Faster pace=more possessions=more scoring.

Having written that, our defensive efficiency, which DOES account for pace, is still last in the league. 109.2 points allowed per 100 possessions!

Still, outside of the blowout losses, it's much more fun to watch than when we had better DefEffs because we had a snails pace...

mrknowitall215 wrote:

DJQuick wrote:Our starting center is the same height as an average nba small forward.

However, they have been rebounding pretty well as a team (currently ranked #6 at 44.8 rpg, out-rebounding the opposition's 41.0 rpg). Quite impressive.

Protecting the rim and rebounding are two different things. ^Quick is right about our lack of Bigness.

In those pairings everyone is suggesting, I'd like to see a Tyrus PF/ Biz/C pairing. A foulathon at times but could be tough to score against? Would love to check it out anyway.

I'm the OP and lack of defense is the purpose of the thread. Without saying, it's obvious that the Bobcats lack size with Boris Diaw starting at center. I was just giving kudos. With their height disadvantage, you would expect for them to struggle on the boards, but so far, so good. My qualm is that there doesn't seem to be a stark 'emphasis' on the defensive end of the floor yet.

StatsCube: Amid roster overhaul, Bobcats' defense slipped...

For the season, the Bobcats allowed 107 points per 100 possessions with Augustin on the floor and just 100 points per 100 possessions with him on the bench. That's the difference between the 10th-worst defense in the league and the fourth-best.

Walker is known for his offense, and the Bobcats could certainly use some scoring punch. But in addition to his 23.5 points, Walker averaged 1.9 steals for UConn last season, so he may be able to help Charlotte get back to forcing turnovers. He probably can't be worse than Augustin defensively.

Source - http://www.nba.com/news/features/john_schuhmann/statscube-preview-2011-CHA/index.html

Metta for Diop could help.

mrknowitall215 wrote:StatsCube: Amid roster overhaul, Bobcats' defense slipped...

For the season, the Bobcats allowed 107 points per 100 possessions with Augustin on the floor and just 100 points per 100 possessions with him on the bench. That's the difference between the 10th-worst defense in the league and the fourth-best.

Walker is known for his offense, and the Bobcats could certainly use some scoring punch. But in addition to his 23.5 points, Walker averaged 1.9 steals for UConn last season, so he may be able to help Charlotte get back to forcing turnovers. He probably can't be worse than Augustin defensively.

Source - http://www.nba.com/news/features/john_schuhmann/statscube-preview-2011-CHA/index.html

And that is why DJ is She-J. Everything he does good on offense gets cancelled out because he's a horror show on defense. Not only that, he tends to fade away on offense when things aren't going our way. Not all the time, but a lot.

Kemba was drafted for a reason, to send DJ packing.

Battery wrote:

mrknowitall215 wrote:StatsCube: Amid roster overhaul, Bobcats' defense slipped...

For the season, the Bobcats allowed 107 points per 100 possessions with Augustin on the floor and just 100 points per 100 possessions with him on the bench. That's the difference between the 10th-worst defense in the league and the fourth-best.

Walker is known for his offense, and the Bobcats could certainly use some scoring punch. But in addition to his 23.5 points, Walker averaged 1.9 steals for UConn last season, so he may be able to help Charlotte get back to forcing turnovers. He probably can't be worse than Augustin defensively.

Source - http://www.nba.com/news/features/john_schuhmann/statscube-preview-2011-CHA/index.html

And that is why DJ is She-J. Everything he does good on offense gets cancelled out because he's a horror show on defense. Not only that, he tends to fade away on offense when things aren't going our way. Not all the time, but a lot.

Kemba was drafted for a reason, to send DJ packing.

That's assault & 'battery'

bump/revisited

I've said it once, I've said it twice...

by giving mullens, white and diaw so many minutes, even in games where they are missing defensive assignments, not boxing out, being late on rotation, at the expense of playing guys like biz and even tyrus (at power forward where he belongs), silas has sent the message to the that defense is not a priority. and i would be ok with this if we were scoring 100 but giving up 110 and playing entertaining freeflowing hoops. however, we can barely crack 80 while favoring lineup that ignores bad defense.

biz needs more minutes at the expense of these 3 and tyrus (even though he has been awful) should be more minutes at power forward.

don't get me wrong, i am loving what mullens is showing this year, but silas is on the verge of letting him develop some really bad habits. same goes for white.

something is wrong when biz blocks 5 shots in 6 minutes and appears to be the only big on the roster who has a clue how to defend the pick and roll and yet he is still glued to the bench while mullens, diaw and white allow a layup drill in the paint.

to some degree, this also applies to dj in those games where he is getting torched defensively yet he plays big minutes.