How do we fix the defense?

[PetroNet]

With the trade deadline having come and gone, how do we go about fixing our defense?

It was encouraging to see P.J. go to a zone a bunch the last handful of games, but it will take alot more then just that. I don't think Lopez between now in the playoffs is going to make a huge stride defensively on top of what he already has an become a passable pick and rolld defender.

Williams is likely playing through pain the rest of the way. Wallace has been as healthy as I expected, hope that keeps up. Rotation wise, I don't see much changing, and not much changing that would help us on the defensive end otherwise.

I think we need to go 3 gaurds with CJ/JJ/Dwill for much longer stretches with either humphries or wallace at the 4 depending how we match up with whomever we are playing. We need to get dwill off the opposing point/primary pcik and roll ball handler of our opponent and hide him best we can. And we need hmup/wallace out there for rotating better at the 4. I think those are realistically our only options for slowing down the other team.

i know everyone wants more mirza, blatche at PF, etc... but defense and going 3 gaurd and going small is much more pressing.

I know there will be alot of guys wiaved the next few days, but with 5 bigs already in the rotation, im not sure we would sign one.

[bobbyc]

It's amazing considering last year we weren't that much better and we were starting Morrow. And Marshon played a lot more. And Gerald Wallace wasn't on this team for most of it. And Farmar played.

We have better defenders on this team than last year, but we have yet to improve it at all. It still sucks. Why?

[MrDollarBills]

It's amazing considering last year we weren't that much better and we were starting Morrow. And Marshon played a lot more. And Gerald Wallace wasn't on this team for most of it. And Farmar played.

We have better defenders on this team than last year, but we have yet to improve it at all. It still sucks. Why?

The stench of Avery's regime figures into this, nevermind that our PFs can't defend and Williams' ankles are carrying around 300 lbs of diva

Start Blatche with Lopez. Anything is better than Evans.

[DWILLoftheGODZ]

The defensive problems start with our inability to stop penetration. DWill can not guard PGs anymore because of his injuries.

The only answer is to play Tyshawn Taylor more. He is our best on the ball defender and he can stay in front of the likes of Brandon Jennings and Jeff Teague if we have to play them in the playoffs. Our best bet is to go small at PF and start Wallace at the 4

Lopez
Wallace
JJ
Taylor
D Will

This lineup works in the East vs everyone except the Bulls

[jeff1624]

It's amazing considering last year we weren't that much better and we were starting Morrow. And Marshon played a lot more. And Gerald Wallace wasn't on this team for most of it. And Farmar played.

We have better defenders on this team than last year, but we have yet to improve it at all. It still sucks. Why?

11-12

DRtg: 109.6 - 28th in the league

12-13

DRtg: 106.3 - 15th in the league

[therealbig3]

You can win games with a subpar defense. We're about average right now, and we just don't have the personnel to be a strong defensive team, so the constant bitching about our defense is super annoying...we're not going to shut people down on a consistent basis, period. That's why being a top notch offensive team is what people are rooting to see, which is why there are so many complaints about Hump and Evans...because in order for US to win games against most teams on a consistent basis...we have to try and just outscore them, because we DO have the personnel for that. That's why our PF rotation is our biggest issue right now, because it cripples the offense, especially when they're paired with Wallace, because it's holding us back from being a better offensive team, which should be our calling card. We're not really going to play better defense no matter what we change around...we're an average, maybe slightly below average defensive team. But almost intentionally limiting our offensive capabilities when that's our most reliable way to win games is braindead. That's why, for example, when we're outscored 61-51 in a first half...only scoring 51 points is a bigger issue than allowing 61 points, because we're not built to limit opposing team's offenses...we're built to outscore them.

Honestly, our defense is a lot better than most predicted, and better than even I predicted...most people predicted we'd be in the bottom 10 defensively in the league, maybe even closer to last, while I predicted a top 18 defense, optimistically...we're 15th right now, so pretty much average. Can't ask for more than that. We only have the 10th ranked offense though, which is a lot worse than I thought it would be coming into this season. The offense is clearly the bigger problem at this point, because we're actually capable of being SO much better on that side of the ball.

Just for perspective, a +6 offense (fantastic offense) with a +1 defense (below average defense) means you have a +5 team. A +2 offense (decent offense) with a -3 defense (very good defense) means you have a +5 team. Just confirming the fact that you can win games and be a great team without a good defense as long as you compensate offensively, which again, we have the talent to do. We're not doing so for 2 reasons: Deron is a shell of himself, and we're playing atrocious offensive lineups. For the rest of this season, we can still change one of those things.

[PetroNet]

You can win games with a subpar defense. We're about average right now, and we just don't have the personnel to be a strong defensive team, so the constant bitching about our defense is super annoying...we're not going to shut people down on a consistent basis, period. That's why being a top notch offensive team is what people are rooting to see, which is why there are so many complaints about Hump and Evans...because in order for US to win games against most teams on a consistent basis...we have to try and just outscore them, because we DO have the personnel for that. That's why our PF rotation is our biggest issue right now, because it cripples the offense, especially when they're paired with Wallace, because it's holding us back from being a better offensive team, which should be our calling card. We're not really going to play better defense no matter what we change around...we're an average, maybe slightly below average defensive team. But almost intentionally limiting our offensive capabilities when that's our most reliable way to win games is braindead. That's why, for example, when we're outscored 61-51 in a first half...only scoring 51 points is a bigger issue than allowing 61 points, because we're not built to limit opposing team's offenses...we're built to outscore them.

Honestly, our defense is a lot better than most predicted, and better than even I predicted...most people predicted we'd be in the bottom 10 defensively in the league, maybe even closer to last, while I predicted a top 18 defense, optimistically...we're 15th right now, so pretty much average. Can't ask for more than that. We only have the 10th ranked offense though, which is a lot worse than I thought it would be coming into this season. The offense is clearly the bigger problem at this point, because we're actually capable of being SO much better on that side of the ball.

Just for perspective, a +6 offense (fantastic offense) with a +1 defense (below average defense) means you have a +5 team. A +2 offense (decent offense) with a -3 defense (very good defense) means you have a +5 team. Just confirming the fact that you can win games and be a great team without a good defense as long as you compensate offensively, which again, we have the talent to do. We're not doing so for 2 reasons: Deron is a shell of himself, and we're playing atrocious offensive lineups. For the rest of this season, we can still change one of those things.

you can beat sub .500 teams with poor defense

you arent beating .500+ teams with bad defense

our season makes that painfully obvious. we arent going anywhere with this team and this defense. likely dont get out of the first round. its a major major issue. even if our offense improved to top 5, we still arent going anywhere. teams are playing poorly some nights and still getting 45+ points in the paint and scoring at will.

offense is irrelvant and an incredibly minor issue. defense is a mamoth, horrible, we will continue to be a fraud team issue until something is done about it

[MGrand15]

Petro, you're wrong on this. Offense is irrelevant and incredibly minor issue? I'm just going to quote my post from the other thread you were saying the same thing.


Defense is an issue but it really depends on what type of team you think we could be. We have no elite defenders. We're not going to be a defensive team with this team. We need to be a top offensive team if we're going to be good.

Of course, you want to find a balance BUT playing Crash and Evans together puts a ton of pressure on our defense. I would say that against top teams, the real issue has been us getting completely shut down on offense. I'm going to be bad and ignore pace but look at how much we've scored against really good teams:

73 vs MIA, 90 vs LAL, 89 vs MIA, 82 vs CHI, 86 vs NYK, 90 vs UTA, 76 vs BOS, 73 vs SAS, 77 vs MEM, 85 vs MIA, 74 vs WAS, 86 vs SAS

Okay, I shouldn't have added Washington but my point still stands. 5 games under 80 points. In all of these losses, we scored less than 90. The majority of these are absolute blow outs too. We're an offensive team based on our players. Defense is an issue but putting up putrid offensive numbers like this is unacceptable. We're not going to win if we can't score over 90 against Miami. If we can barely crack 80 against the Spurs. Even with pace adjusted, these are terrible offensive performances. I'd MUCH rather fix our offense before giving an average defensive/terrible offensive player major minutes.

Except for maybe the Houston game, the one constant in our blowouts is that we can't score. It happens far too often. WE CANT SCORE AGAINST ELITE TEAMS.

[PetroNet]

Petro, you're wrong on this. Offense is irrelevant and incredibly minor issue? I'm just going to quote my post from the other thread you were saying the same thing.


Defense is an issue but it really depends on what type of team you think we could be. We have no elite defenders. We're not going to be a defensive team with this team. We need to be a top offensive team if we're going to be good.

Of course, you want to find a balance BUT playing Crash and Evans together puts a ton of pressure on our defense. I would say that against top teams, the real issue has been us getting completely shut down on offense. I'm going to be bad and ignore pace but look at how much we've scored against really good teams:

73 vs MIA, 90 vs LAL, 89 vs MIA, 82 vs CHI, 86 vs NYK, 90 vs UTA, 76 vs BOS, 73 vs SAS, 77 vs MEM, 85 vs MIA, 74 vs WAS, 86 vs SAS

Okay, I shouldn't have added Washington but my point still stands. 5 games under 80 points. In all of these losses, we scored less than 90. The majority of these are absolute blow outs too. We're an offensive team based on our players. Defense is an issue but putting up putrid offensive numbers like this is unacceptable. We're not going to win if we can't score over 90 against Miami. If we can barely crack 80 against the Spurs. Even with pace adjusted, these are terrible offensive performances. I'd MUCH rather fix our offense before giving an average defensive/terrible offensive player major minutes.

Except for maybe the Houston game, the one constant in our blowouts is that we can't score. It happens far too often. WE CANT SCORE AGAINST ELITE TEAMS.

the point is, even if we are scoring a ton and efficently it wont matter if our defense plays like it has this season, because the other team is going to score a ton of points... just in the games you posted, sure we didint score much, which is an issue, but the bigger issue is those teams all scored a TON of points against us!

how about what teams have scored against US?

Spurs had 111, Miami had 105, Rockets had 119, Memphis had 101, hawks had 109 thats just the last few weeks.

our offense is much better when we arent taking the ball out of our own hoop every time, and it doesnt matter how efficient we are if we are letting our opponents score 40+ points in the paint and shoot it at 47-50%

Also, its extremely difficult to say you are going to outscore teams, but play a halfcourt game at a slower pace. that is REALLY tough to do because you are asking your team to execute at a high level in the half court for 48 minutes over 82 games. thats just a really tough thing to do. you look at the teams that outscore people to win and they play at a much faster pace. we have a team of half court offensive scorers. you cant play the defense we have and expect to consistently beat good teams.

[Ronito]

our offense is much better when we arent taking the ball out of our own hoop every time, and it doesnt matter how efficient we are if we are letting our opponents score 40+ points in the paint and shoot it at 47-50%

This is generally true, but can you prove that with this team? Scoring less than 9 points in fastbreak per game.

And the defense is much better when we score because we can set our defense and don't get killed in transition by almost every team.

Also, its extremely difficult to say you are going to outscore teams, but play a halfcourt game at a slower pace. that is REALLY tough to do because you are asking your team to execute at a high level in the half court for 48 minutes over 82 games. thats just a really tough thing to do. you look at the teams that outscore people to win and they play at a much faster pace. we have a team of half court offensive scorers. you cant play the defense we have and expect to consistently beat good teams.

The team is built for the postseason. Teams that rely on fastbreak points will get exposed in the playoffs because they'll have to what you just said. Nets are already working out of the halfcourt for the entire game every game.