DJ's Importance to Defense

[og15]

Mainly against the penetrating PG's of the Spurs and Thunder

Jordan brings a different energy level than Odom and adds valuable rim protection to a team still struggling with some defensive deficiencies.

Although Jordan is only blocking 1.3 shots per game, he is a deterrent to guards trying to attack the paint.

Jordan’s rim protection is best illustrated by his impact against two of the best point guard’s in the West in the San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker and the Oklahoma City Thunder's Russell Westbrook.

In 68 minutes of action on the floor against Jordan this season, Parker’s points per 36 minutes have dipped from 22.9 to 18.0. With Jordan on the bench, Parker’s numbers jump up to 25.4, per NBA.com.

Although the brilliant guard is still scoring on nearly 63 percent of his field-goal attempts in the restricted area with Jordan on the floor, his field-goal percentage near the hoop rises to 75 percent with Jordan on the sidelines, per NBA.com.

Without Jordan on the floor, Westbrook gets to the line a startling 9.2 times per 36 minutes against Lob City. Fittingly, with Jordan on the floor, Westbrook only gets to the charity stripe an average of 4.4 times per 36 minutes, per NBA.com.

Again, the Paul-Crawford-Barnes-Griffin-Jordan defensive unit bests the one featuring Odom.

This unit’s stingy 38.6 effective shooting percentage allowed is nearly seven percentage points better than the lineup that utilizes Odom instead of Jordan, per 82games.com.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1558 ... more-often

Not huge sample sizes, and not definitive, but definitely important to take note of and consider.

What are you guys thoughts? Is DJ the key to this team being able to effectively defend teams like SA and OKC? While Odom is a good pick and roll defender, one of the teams best, he's slower on interior rotations than Jordan and is not a shot blocking threat. He also fouls more than Jordan does, and isn't actually shooting much better from the FT line. Would it be smart for Vinny to look to let Jordan play out games as the season comes to a conclusion?

Paul has gotten killed by quick guards lately, Parker, Westbrook and Lawson all took their turns getting whatever shots they wanted against the Clippers and getting to the paint at will.

[QRich3]

it's a very small sample size so it's hard to draw any conclusions from it, but he is absolutely the key of how high this team's ceiling is. He has improved a bit on defense and it seems like this year he is not gambling on blocks and overhelping as much as he did in previous years.

Actually I think Vinny should go back to him ending games with Blake, Odom's instincts are a lot better and he makes better decisions than Deandre on when to help, rotate, hedge on his man etc. but Odom doesn't have the physical attributes to be a rim protector and can't intimidate or prevent shots in the paint like DJ can. And it's not like Odom is shooting a lot better from the line or helping spread the floor at all, so I think Vinny should give DJ a break. Worst case scenario, at least he's gaining experience from late game situations.

It's also on the coaching staff to help put him in situation where he's valuable to the team
Zach Lowe from Grantland did a nice piece on us last week, explaining some of the holes in our defense, and although he talked mostly about how Barnes should start over Caron, he commented on a play that's a recurring nightmare for us that rival teams have been exploiting quite a bit: everytime there is a pick and pop and our big tries to trap the opposing PG, our other interior defender always rushes to help the screener, leaving the paint unguarded for the other big man or a cutter, or if our wings rotate to help that's an open corner 3. He explains it better than I do:

One action in particular gives them major trouble: when opponents station a big man at each elbow, and run a pick-and-pop with one big man while the other simultaneously cuts to the basket — almost mirroring what he’d do as a roller if he were involved in the pick-and-roll itself. Here’s Oklahoma City about to find a layup for Nick Collison out of this exact action — a Russell Westbrook/Serge Ibaka pick-and-pop, with Ibaka about to catch at the top of the circle:



Jordan has trapped Westbrook and is retreating to Ibaka — normal stuff. But Griffin has abandoned Collison on Collison’s off-ball “roll” in order to run out hard at Ibaka, creating a crisis: An opposing big man has gotten behind both L.A. bigs.

Other teams have discovered this is a smart way to attack the Clips, and they’ve gotten a pile of open 3s out of it, as the Clips' perimeter defenders sink in to address the crisis. Here’s Denver sneaking Kosta Koufos behind both L.A. bigs via a Ty Lawson–Kenneth Faried pick-and-pop and simultaneous Koufos roll:



Here’s Sacramento working Chuck Hayes open in the middle — and creating a wide-open 3 in the right corner — via the same action:



And here’s LARRY SANDERS! cutting free into the lane, and drawing a ton of help, as Griffin traps Brandon Jennings on a pick-and-pop and Jordan rushes up to take the popper (Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, with the ball):

What I mean is, what use is to have an athletic big with good instincts to block shots if he is instructed to rush out of the paint at any possible threat. I get that this worked out well at the beggining of the season but teams have adjusted and so should we, and some of DJ's flaws could be better masked if the coaches did a better effort of fitting him into the system and trusted him a little bit more.

[og15]

Hmm...I've actually noticed those easy attempts at the rim or from the corner from what seems like a defensive breakdown, but had not take the time to try to figure out why it was happening.

Good to know, and definitely an adjustment that the team needs to make. The first thing is that you would rather give up the mid-range jumper than the shot at the rim or corner three, so if you want to keep hedging, you have to decide what you want to give up.

[mkwest]

JORDAN'S ENERGY & REBOUNDING EARLY KEY FOR CLIPPERS

“[Jordan’s] energy is contagious,” said Jamal Crawford, who had 12 points off the bench Sunday. “I always tell him that. On this team especially, we feed off of that. When he’s locked in and active, we tend to follow suit. So for us, it’s important to keep him in that mind frame.

“When he can get a couple buckets and control the paint like that, it makes it easy for everybody,” Chauncey Billups said. “We welcome great starts from him and we try to actually encourage it, throwing him the ball early in the game.”

On the court, Jordan’s role has diminished somewhat over the last few weeks. He’s 27-of-34 (79.4%) shooting in seven games this month and has averaged 21.6 minutes, including only one minute total in the fourth quarter. But according to Martin, Jordan may still factor into the stretch run because of the work he put in this summer.

“I saw him evolve over the summer,” said Martin, who was one of dozens of NBA players that worked out at the Clippers’ training facility this offseason. “He worked on the things he needed to work on down on the block. He’s working on his game and you could tell. He’s getting more comfortable on the block. Turns over with his left shoulder, right shoulder jump hook and you can tell he’s working. That’s most important; guys evolve and that’s what he’s doing.”

Eric Patten, Clippers.com

I'm usually a huge advocate of DJ playing more minutes. I wasn't too pleased with him on Wednesday, but I wasn't pleased with most of our guys either. When DJ is locked in (which typically means he's been fed some nice easy baskets on offense as well), he makes a huge difference. His length and ability to either block shots or intimidate goes a long way. The data above in og15 detailing his affect on penetrating guards certainly supports that.

Odom has been his most consistent on the defensive end for the season, but I feel that there are diminishing returns once he passes a certain threshold of minutes. Sure, his experience and defensive awareness are greater than those of DJ, but there are things that DJ can do physically that Odom just isn't as capable of doing. QRich3, mentioned foul shooting in the 4th. While Odom isn't that great of a foul shooter himself, nobody is participating in a Hack-A-Odom. On the flip side, he's had a hard time finishing or he settles for shots that he just isn't making. DJ is by far our best offensive rebounder. When the game is on the line, having a player in that can extend the possession is crucial.

All-in-all, I think it's absurd that DJ doesn't play much if at all in the 4th quarter. If Vinny is that worried about free-throw shooting, then let him get his minutes earlier in the quarter and then take it from there. He has something positive to offer on both sides of the floor and should be given more opportunities.

[og15]

Yea, the hack option is available with DJ, so I get why he doesn't want to play him in the closing minutes of the 4th, but why can't he play the first 6-8 minutes. He starts the third, comes out and doesn't get in the game again a lot of the time now.

I just don't understand the logic. If guys like Larry Sanders and young Dalembert who led the league in goaltends, (though Dally can shoot) are able to get 4th quarter minutes, DJ can too.

The team has one tall, true rim protector in DJ, Ryan Hollins is an option, but he fouls too much and doesn't rebound. Turiaf is a shot blocker, but he also doesn't rebound at a high level and he doesn't have the length to cover as much ground

I also just don't understand how this helps in building his confidence. Okay, in close games, don't do it, but if the team is up by double digits, not blowout, but comfortable, leave him with the starters to close out the game. Either way, DJ needs to work on his FT's with Thate the whole summer.

[Nutella]

Would like to have SVG as a coach for this team. His Magic teams were all about help defense, and when the help defense collapsed there was Howard to clean it up. I think he could do something similar with DJ here. Not saying DJ can have an impact like pre-injury Howard did, but SVG understands big men, hell he would even help Blake a bit.

[thanumba2clippersfan]

I've always wondered why Vinny doesn't give DJ more minutes. I guess he feels more comfortable with Odom. But with Odom we go smaller and I don't like that. DJ an be effective, I hope he will get more minutes down the stretch.

[og15]

Would like to have SVG as a coach for this team. His Magic teams were all about help defense, and when the help defense collapsed there was Howard to clean it up. I think he could do something similar with DJ here. Not saying DJ can have an impact like pre-injury Howard did, but SVG understands big men, hell he would even help Blake a bit.

If Vinny was to go, SVG is a coach that would make sense. I know he's gotten some heat, but I like him, he did well both in Miami and Orlando, and his exit from both places wasn't really due to him doing anything "wrong" per say. He was able to establish a nice defensive system with Dwight as the anchor and he didn't really have the best perimeter defenders, or any PF as mobile or athletic as Blake. So I don't doubt that he would be capable of doing something decent with DJ/Odom and Blake on the Clippers.

Still, the defense earlier in the season was working, and if the team adjusts and works hard, it can still be quite good. Lately, the defense has been average at best, which is back to last season's standards

[QRich3]

DJ and Blake would definitely benefit from a coach who's on their case 24/7, not sure how Paul, Billups and the vets would react to having a coach so adept to micro-managing and screaming at you all the time. X's & O's wise, he's absolutely among the best we could have out there.

I wanna believe that the defense at the start of the season is where we're at, but to be honest it looked like a bit of a fluke to me and I'm not sure that level was sustainable with this team.

Re: cruch time, it's true that Odom doesn't get hacked at the end of games, probably due to reputation cause he's shooting just as atrociously as DJ. Alright, he hasn't shot a lot them and the chances of him making the FT's are bigger, but I'd rather have lost a few close games in the regular season and having Deandre with a built confidence and experience for the playoffs than be where we are now, possibly missing home court anyway and Deandre being always afraid of messing up and thinking he's gonna miss every free throw he ever takes. What happened to his post game anyway? we used to go to him at the block every 1st quarter at the start of the season and now we rarely do that anymore.

[mkwest]

Would like to have SVG as a coach for this team. His Magic teams were all about help defense, and when the help defense collapsed there was Howard to clean it up. I think he could do something similar with DJ here. Not saying DJ can have an impact like pre-injury Howard did, but SVG understands big men, hell he would even help Blake a bit.

Whether certain players want him or not, I don't know, but he could do wonders for us on defense. If the primary players sign off on him, anybody that can't handle him can go afaic.

[Quake Griffin]

watching some guy on ESPN say DeAndre n Blake don't block shots.

they're more concerned with dunking than defense.

going to stop watching espn in the mornings

[QRich3]

Actually I just remembered how exciting was his Miami team before they even got Shaq, when he also had tuff juice and Odom. He had them as the 9th best defense in the league even though the only center on that team was Brian Grant and they had atrocious defenders like Eddie Jones and Rasual Butler logging major minutes. Plus, Wade & Haslem were rookies. I loved that team.

Yeah bring on Stan if at all possible!

[QRich3]

watching some guy on ESPN say DeAndre n Blake don't block shots.

they're more concerned with dunking than defense.

going to stop watching espn in the mornings

Yeah, just like most mainstream "analysts" talking about how we are gonna suffer in the post season cause we wont be able to rely on the fast break like we supposedly do now. And our pace has been below league average all this season and the previous. Yeah people are clueless, specially in sports media. Dont ever let reality get in the middle of your story and all that.

[og15]

Actually I just remembered how exciting was his Miami team before they even got Shaq, when he also had tuff juice and Odom. He had them as the 9th best defense in the league even though the only center on that team was Brian Grant and they had atrocious defenders like Eddie Jones and Rasual Butler logging major minutes. Plus, Wade & Haslem were rookies. I loved that team.

Yeah bring on Stan if at all possible!

Eddie Jones was a very good defender in his time, and was still good in Miami. He was even still decent on Memphis, sort of like Grant Hill the past few seasons in Phoenix.

[QRich3]

Well not that I have any special interest in discussing circa 2004 Eddie Jones' defense lol but I remember him being really passive and quite a disastrous man to man defender, definitely nothing like Hill on Phoenix. Plus, just checked a couple stats quickly and he had a worse defensive rating than his team average every year except 05-06 (Battier's last season there), when they were one of the best defensive teams in the league.

[og15]

Well not that I have any special interest in discussing circa 2004 Eddie Jones' defense lol but I remember him being really passive and quite a disastrous man to man defender, definitely nothing like Hill on Phoenix. Plus, just checked a couple stats quickly and he had a worse defensive rating than his team average every year except 05-06 (Battier's last season there), when they were one of the best defensive teams in the league.

That is true, but In 05-06, Memphis had a 101.6 Drtg, and Eddie Jones had a 100 Drtg. He was tied for 2nd on the team, but out of players with significant minutes, he was tied for first with Gasol and Lorenzen Wright.

Now in 06-07, he was injured and didn't do much, and the team as a whole was bad on defense, last in the league.

I think part of his higher Drtg sometimes could have been that he was put on the floor when the oppositions best offensive wing player is on the floor, so he would be around average overall, though his +/- defensively might be better. It might be that he was a mediocre team defender but a good man to man defender, I actually can't remember to specifically as I never paid close attention to what things he wasn't good at on defense.

He had a good amount of seasons where he was at of below the team defensive rating though. I think he was below for like 10 seasons of his career (total 14 seasons), plus his time back in Miami during the 06-07 season

[QRich3]

Yeh my memory is a bit blurry from those days, but even if he really was a prime defender my point still stands, Stan VG got a team led by a couple rookies and Brian effing Grant (plus our very own Lamar & Caron of course) to be a great defensive team. He'd probably work wonders with this team.

[og15]

Yeh my memory is a bit blurry from those days, but even if he really was a prime defender my point still stands, Stan VG got a team led by a couple rookies and Brian effing Grant (plus our very own Lamar & Caron of course) to be a great defensive team. He'd probably work wonders with this team.

Agreed, he had some good defensive players as I remember that was Caron's terrible offensive year after being okay as a rookie, and he focused on defense, but overall, they weren't anything amazing, and they didn't have an anchor in the middle. They had 9/7 Briant Grant who averaged 0.5 blocks/36 minutes in the middle, and they were 9th in defensive rating.

This team has better defensive talent outside of that go to wing defender, and are actually 7th in DRTG at this point in the season, but I think SVG could have them in the top 3 range, that is 101 and under range, and also more capable in defending against the higher echelon teams, especially the 3 ball.

Orlando was a little up and down with 3PT defense, but never consistently bad:
13th, 2nd, 23rd, 10th, 13th, so for the majority of the time, they were above average, and in 08-09 when they went to the finals, they were great.

[og15]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... sy0KUR8B8#!

Blake responding to VDN saying the bigs need to be more active on defense and some other questions, That's cool, but what intrigued me more was DJ in the background shooting FT's at like 33%. So it isn't that he's bad in games, he's just bad all the time, lol

[Ranma]

Arash Markazi, ESPNLosAngeles.com (3/22/13)

"Our bigs are getting stretched out a little bit," Del Negro said. "They have to have a little sense of urgency in closing out. Some guys can make that adjustment, and some guys are struggling with that but drilled it again today. That's obviously an area of concern."

Clippers forward Blake Griffin disagreed with Del Negro.

"It depends on our defensive strategy and our defensive principles for that game," Griffin said. "We switch them every single game. I don't see that, no, but I'm biased."
...

"We want our identity to be a defensive team," Griffin said. "We don't want to have to make adjustments for every single team and switch things up but to make teams adjust to us and the way we play."

Coach, Blake Griffin differ on defense