So, how is our defense now?

[W_HAMILTON]

I'm wondering what the statistical analyses say about our defense; I think earlier in the year, we weren't allowing many points, but it was because we played at such a slow pace or something.

I'm wondering how our defense stacks up now. While we still aren't exactly a run-and-gun team, it seems like our defense has actually improved, and the low scores we are holding opponents to stem from more than just our slow pace.

Is this being reflected in the statistics yet?

[e4Nf6]

You should ignore Points per game as a statistic, the paces of various teams are so different it makes comparison impossible. The real stat (for me) is points per possesion. Most times that is organized into a stat called defensive "effeciency," which is the amount of points scored per 100 possesions. The Bobcats current effiecency is 105.9. That is, for every 100 possesions our opponents have, they score 105.9 points.

Of course, as with any statistic it is imperfect. Defensive effiecency doesnt take into account steals. If team A gets a stop and a rebound, and Team B gets a steal at the top of the key, Team B did better because there is an opportunity for a fast break. And if you are Larry Brown you think forcing a missed jump shot is better than a missed shot in the paint because long rebounds give an opportunity to break as well.

105.9 is good for 9th in the NBA right now. It got as high as 15th or 16th before the trade, I don´t remember exactly. Of course that number isnt completely fair either because the Bobcats havent played the same exact schedule as the rest of the teams in the NBA. I could find out what the Bobcats defensive effiecency is as a percentage of the average offensive efficiency of their oppponents, but Im not getting paid for any of this.

For Comparison the best defensive efficiency in the league is Boston at 99.6, The Cavs are second with 99.9. Here is our last few games defensive effeciency with the teams normal offensive effeciency.

vs. Spurs 102.4, The Spurs Season average is 108.1
vs. Blazers 103.2, The Blazers season average is 112.8
vs. Pistons 92.9, The Pistons season average is 105.2

Pretty good and even better when you consider that the Cats have not been a good rebounding team. They are kind of an oddity in that regard as the rest of the top 10 defensive teams are uniformly good rebounding teams as well. (btw, An offensive rebound does not count as a "new" possesion for statistical purposes, it only extends the first one)

Im even more optimistic because these number could get even better with Diop who, in addition to being a better defender than Nazr is, is also (maybe more importantly) a better rebounder.

Hopefully, with this post, i can inspire a few more people to be stat junkies like myself. A great stat-centric Bobcat Blog that I read religiously is queencityhoops.com, for anyone who is interested.

[Paydro70]

If I'm not mistaken we did in fact reach 15th... we were perfectly average before the trade, to have climbed to 9th suggests we may actually be much better currently. The Celtics, Magic, and Cavaliers are really in their own league defensively now, but we could very well be up among the Rockets and Lakers by the end of the year.

As for forcing turnovers, we're currently 9th, so if anything that would also help us. I would be interested to see an opponent adjustment, but we've actually played a slightly above-average schedule so far, so I don't see that bringing us down.

I don't think the rebounding is as uniform as you suggest, e4. Of course rebounding is a factor in defense (because of the definition of a possession, as you say), but it's not that closely correllated (or no more than turnovers and less than eFG%). Of the top 10 defensive teams, only 4 are in the top 10 in defensive rebounding, and 4 are below average (us, the Jazz, the Sixers, and the Lakers).

One last comment... as good as we are on defense right now, we're that bad on offense. We've gotten worse since the trade, now we're all the way down to 27th (and thus may actually be worse than that, as bad as the Thunder).

[fatlever]

my feel-o-meter says were are playing some really good defense, at times, lately. i dont think we are putting it together for 48 mins, but we are now playing good defense for 12-24 mins at a time, which is more than we've ever done.

i love what LB is doing with mek and crash on defense. mek is no longer a liability on the perimeter. he's getting out on screen, covering away from the basket, holding his position down low. and crash, is playing some sticky man to man at times. howard has really helped our defense as well.

[Dexmor]

When you trade JRich for Bell you get etter defensively. Diaw is not the defender you guys seem to think he is but he's above average.

[Rich4114]

Defense has been pretty good from day one of the LB era, it's only gotten better with more time and better defensive players on the court. From 1-5 we are a solid defensive team now.

Offensively we've been lacking and that has been our biggest problem. Even when we do cause turnovers, we don't score as much off of them as we should or could. If we score 90 pts, we seem to always win. If we score under 90, then it's not very likely. I like the foundation though, it's much better to be a Bobcats fan right now then it was 12 months ago.

[Dexmor]

Yeah but we really need Diaw to play consistantly from now on and keep on averaging 15 points 7 boards and 5 assists. Mek will never be a 20 point scorer but he would need to get 17 a game.
Felton has to keep it up and DJ needs to come back healthy.
If all of that happens not only can the Bobcats make the playoffs but it's possible they can get a good player with the midlevel because it wouldn't be such a career suicide move to come here.
Any players like playing for LB? I would like Marbury but I think he is gonna stay A Knick but maybe next year if he doesn't hop on the Laker train or the Celtics maybe offer him the midlevel. He could be a good sg for us.

[Liver_Pooty]

Diaw is the perfect defender for this ballclub. We have Okafor has our "goalie" in the paint, and Diaw can go chase around people. Works out well both ways.

[Walt Cronkite]

Thought I would add counterpart PER:
(Player:
% of team's minutes at position: opponent counterpart per 48 minute production)

Wallace:
39% SF: 14.8
29% PF: 20.9

Okafor:
1% PF: 12.2
70% C: 16.6

Diaw:
30% PF: 12.4
1% C: 25.7

DJ:
50% PG: 14.0

Felton:
41% PG: 16
34% SG: 15.9

Brown:
8% SG: 16.8
3% SF: 23.3

Bell:
16% SG: 18.8
2% SF: 21.8

Morrison:
1% SG: 21.2
24% SF: 15.7
1% PF: 13.3

Howard:
2% SF: 19.2
6% PF: 18.2

Ajinça:
6% PF: 20.6
1% C: 16.8

Mohammed:
14% C: 15.8

Singletary:
1% PG: 26.8
2% SG: 19.3

May:
11% PF: 17.4

[Walt Cronkite]

Sorry for the tall post, formatting into columns would've been a bitch and I don't know how to code like Slam did when he posted the pg analysis a couple of weeks ago.

Worth mentioning:
-Excellent counterpart per from the starters

-I think Wallace's might be too low since the trade and Bells too high, because I think 82games thinks we put Bell on wing threat #1 and we've been doing that with Wallace more as far as I've noticed.

-About that trade: will be interesting to see how these shift after a-s break.

-Shocked Mohammed's was so low and Morrison's # at the 3... those have to be similar to the Bell/Wallace comment I made above.

[spectre_]

DE-FENSE! DE-FENSE! There is the key to last night's victory: The Bobcats held the Suns to an offensive efficiency of 81.7, a new season-best defensive effort. Yes, the very same Suns who are 4th in the NBA in offensive efficiency at 109.6. With the standout effort, the Cats are now 9th in the league in defensive efficiency for the year, 103.9 (and 5th since the trade for Diaw and Raja - 101.9).

Queen City Hoops

5th in defense since the trade, 9th overall.

[Paydro70]

Actually we're now effectively tied for 7th with the Sixers! Since the trade 5th sounds fine, I think 4th is a very nice goal (the gap between 3rd and 4th is big though... Magic at 101 pts/100 poss, Rockets at 104.1). Unfortunately as long as we're 27th on offense.....

[spectre_]

Paydro/Walt...can you tell us what our offensive efficiency is since the trade?

27th sucks, but I think we were last for a while there.

Baby steps!