HEZI wrote:NoDopeOnSundays wrote:HEZI wrote:They are like 13th and couldn’t play any better defense against this same Pistons team than us despite their elite defenders. They can turn it up most likely but they have that luxury yet will still have to prove it this season. So far, they aren’t living up to it. You also can’t put the same expectations on us since our group is still new and their core has been together for years.
You still haven’t fixed the defense you just changed it. Putting lipstick on a pig. You don’t have a big that can drop but he also can’t switch and guard the perimeter. The same big that has struggled with foul trouble for years is going to be defending Cade Cunningham in isolation instead of Jalen Duren. Yeah real smart there, let’s get KAT in foul trouble and give up layups in the process.
Hart and Mikal aren’t elite or even good defenders. You can say Hart is solid but Mikal is terrible. They aren’t better than most teams wings, that’s just the homer in you talking.
Now name me one elite defender that we’ve had over the years before OG arrived? You expecting elite defense from a team that lacks elite defenders? What team has an elite defensive team with a small PG who can’t play defense? You want a switching defense but ignoring the fact that our PG has to be hidden on that end game in game out. Oh but you also don’t want a rim protector because well then that spoils the offense spacing and we can’t beat Boston that way. But you want an elite defensive team basically OG just covering for everybody
The Celtics are playing to get to the playoffs healthy, they have nothing to prove this regular season. We know they can turn it up against teams when they want, because they've done it, they're going to coast to the playoffs, and they are 10th defensively and 3rd in net rating. Their "meh" is still a top 10 defensive team.
No, KAT rates out better on switches than he does in rim protection, so do that. It makes no sense at all to lean into the worst aspect of a player's profile, which is exactly what Tom does. You can call it homer, the stats say Mikal isn't as bad as you're trying to make him seem and it's amazing that his worst defensive season would come with Tom, not his fault though. You're putting down players to prop up Tom for some reason, which makes no sense to me because he's effectively in charge of what they do on defense.
We had IHart, OG and Hart on the team last year, we were 13th in DRTG from the point Randle got hurt with the same exact defensive problems even though Ihart graded out as an elite rim protector. We were giving up threes, sinking down to protect the paint and couldn't stop teams that took a high volume of threes. Our defensive rating in the playoffs was 120.6 which was 2nd to last. How are we getting better perimeter defenders, with an elite rim protector and our defense is getting worse? So Reggie Bullock and Rj are better defenders than Hart and OG? Because that's when we had our best defensive team under Tom, back when teams took under 30 threes a game. Or is the league changing and the scheme hasn't changed to defend against a three point happy league. The playoffs saw an elite rim protector paired with an elite perimeter defender, and our defense sucked, that is the coach.
They have a 111 rating and we have a 114 rating. Yes it’s very meh. Most teams in that top 10 aren’t serious threats and when you look at last season, most of the top 10 rated defenses got bounced out in the 1st or 2nd round and some didn’t even make it to the playoffs. Mavs with a defensive rating of 114 made it to the finals. That’s the same defensive rating the Knicks currently have.
KAT is terrible on switches and to ask him to defend the ball handler up high on a switch play after play game after game is just crazy talk. He’s too vital offensively to put that responsibility on him defensively as a big. That’s certainly not a recipe for success.
Haven’t paid much attention to Bridges when he was in Brooklyn but apparently his defense fell off long before he got here. That’s not on Thibs. Not sure how you have watched him play defense this year and think he’s been good. He has been awful.
There is no IHart to anchor the defense and tell me why aren’t teams who apparently defend the 3 better than we do not having more playoff success than we are? Besides one and that’s the team that won’t the chip with multiple elite defenders on the roster. If what you are complaining about hold true for the Knicks, why is it not providing better results for the rest of the league? A bunch of 1st and 2nd round exits and no playoffs for the majority of them all. Because good offense beats good defense almost every time. Knicks haven’t been all that good offensively over the past few years.
The gap between a 111 DRTG and 114 is 8 spots, that is a big gap when differences are measured in single points, this is like saying a second in an F1 race isn't that big a deal when it's an eternity in that sport. And we all know the Celtics are coasting, so I'm not sure what the point is using them. The Thunder are the top defensive team in the NBA, they play at a faster pace than us and teams take less threes against them, they don't just concede three pointers to protect the paint, they prioritize stopping you from getting good looks from three and then making sure you don't get good looks in the paint. We prioritize protecting the paint over everything and the proof is in the pudding, we have been no higher than 10th defensively the last 4 seasons - 11, 19, 10, 18. If the roster keeps changing and the same problem persists, it's the coach.
KAT grades out as average to slightly above average on switches, saying he is terrible at it doesn't even make sense. You're tearing down every aspect of his defense to defend Tom, KAT literally played power forward and had to chase around wings last season, he even guarded KD in the playoffs, 78 possessions and KD was 7-17. This season when he's been caught on switches he's defended them well, he's better at guarding on switches than he is at defending the rim. You're basically throwing your hands up and saying there's nothing Thibs can do because he's tried nothing else, and nothing else works. 2 years ago with a different roster when had the 19th best defense with Mitch and IHart, because we kept giving up an insane amount of three point looks. Since the 3 point explosion Tom's defenses have not been great, period.
So Reggie Bullock and RJ are better defenders than OG and Hart? I see you didn't answer that, because they were on a team that was ranked 3rd defensively, the best defense Tom has ever had in NY was with those two wing defenders. I said last season we had IHart, OG and Hart on the team, our defense was still not great and by your own defintion it was "meh", and it was abysmal in the playoffs where we had a 120 DRTG. How did we have such a crappy defense with an elite rim protector and elite perimeter defender, could it have been the scheme? Why didn't you address this? I'm not even sure what you're arguing now, because the Celtics were 4th in the league last year at defending and limiting threes, believe it or not the year before that when the Nuggets won the title they were 3rd in the league in opponent 3 pointers made and 9th in opponents attempts and 3rd in opp 3pt percentage, they stopped you from taking them and making them
If your hope is that we're like the Nuggets with an overpowering offense and a mid defense, we're not, because they didn't want you getting three point looks.
RIP mags
