What's wrong with the defense?

[FAH1223]

We gave up 95 PPG last season which was top 10 if I recall. Our Def Rtg was 5th in the NBA and we were of course the only non-playoff team to be ranked in the top 10.

Obviously the offense now is playing well but we're giving up 106 PPG and there's just way too many lazy rotations. Harrington can't defend a damn thing, Seraphin is brain dead, and Booker's pick and roll coverage is disgusting.

I know it's still a small sample size but just cause this team now knows how to score doesn't mean they have to stop playing D.

[fishercob]

The Wizards are 23rd in defensive efficiency after finishing 5th in DRtg last season. Without the benefit of looking at game film, I'd guess the biggest difference is the absence of Okafor. I would guess that Gortat is not playing as well defensively as he will when he's fully integrated into our system and if Gortat had the benefit of a full offseason/training camp here he/the Wizards would be playing better.

[Ruzious]

I don't think it's as simple as blaming the interior defense. The backcourt defense - which was a strength - has allowed too many easy scoring chances. Poor defensive rebounding has been a huge problem - which seems to exacerbate when Harrington's on the floor and when Gortat is off the floor. Then again, when Harrington's on the floor, there aren't many defensive rebounding opportunities.

[dckingsfan]

I would say:

1) Easy inside buckets

2) defensive rebounding leading to second chance points

I would say that Nene isn't rebounding at a high level and neither is Harrington. Actually only Gortat and Ariza are rebounding at a high level for their positions. I think Beal and Wall need to step up their rebounding as well.

And Gortat's intended backup, Seraphin, has been just awful on the boards. He is rebounding like a wussy guard.

I would say that EG completely missed it this offseason on his depth at C and backup PG - hope I am wrong and someone steps up in the FC and Maynor improves quickly.

[Nivek]

The two stats that really matter defensively are opponent efg and defensive rebounding percentage. Wizards are 28th in opponent efg and tied for 20th in defensive rebounding percentage. In other words, they're terrible so far at making the other team miss shots, and they're below average in getting the ball back after the other team DOES miss.

Strategically, it looks like they're placing a bit more emphasis on forcing turnovers, which doesn't matter nearly as much as making the other team miss.

I agree with fish that the primary difference is losing Okafor. They're also giving significant minutes off the bench to Harrington, who doesn't rebound. Or play defense. Or do much of anything on offense except fire up some threes, miss twos and commit turnovers.

[dckingsfan]

The Wizards are 23rd in defensive efficiency after finishing 5th in DRtg last season. Without the benefit of looking at game film, I'd guess the biggest difference is the absence of Okafor. I would guess that Gortat is not playing as well defensively as he will when he's fully integrated into our system and if Gortat had the benefit of a full offseason/training camp here he/the Wizards would be playing better.

I would also say the D is improving - we have gone from 28th to 23rd in the last 3 games.

[dckingsfan]

The two stats that really matter defensively are opponent efg and defensive rebounding percentage. Wizards are 28th in opponent efg and tied for 20th in defensive rebounding percentage. In other words, they're terrible so far at making the other team miss shots, and they're below average in getting the ball back after the other team DOES miss.

It just doesn't seem like they are challenging shots as well this year at the rim. And then when the interior D fails they tend to partially collapse and give up open outside shots.

Strategically, it looks like they're placing a bit more emphasis on forcing turnovers, which doesn't matter nearly as much as making the other team miss.

My guess (and I have no factual proof) is that Ariza always gambles and that has become contagious. I don't think that the defense schemes have changed - I would love to be a fly on the wall to see if this is true.

I agree with fish that the primary difference is losing Okafor. They're also giving significant minutes off the bench to Harrington, who doesn't rebound. Or play defense. Or do much of anything on offense except fire up some threes, miss twos and commit turnovers.

It seems especially bad when Harrington and Nene are on the court together...

[Dat2U]

I would agree that Wall & Ariza in particular are gambling far too much on D. Wall especially has been bad, spending far too much time in the passing lanes and regularly getting beat off the dribble. But the perimeter D is also going to look really bad when you have Gortat replacing Okafor and you have complete dreck off the bench upfront.

We wanted offense apparently so we went all in for Gortat. If we wanted defense, Ernie should have made a stronger move for Asik.

[barelyawake]

IMO it all boils down to no leadership (because of Okafor), no Porter and lack of a back-up center. I could write a few paragraphs about why, but that's probably unnecessary.

[AWIZZINGBULLET]

What's happened to this defense? The offense has happened to this defense. I believe there's a direct correlation between lack of strong defensive play and an offense that's based largely on perimeter play. I believe it changes the mentality of the players, you become finesse or you half-ass it versus staying physical. This was the case throughout Eddie Jordan's stint with the team. You couldn't get his teams to stop its opponents from scoring; they were a perimeter oriented team in his Princeton offense who also relied heavy on the outside shot.

The Wizards are leading the league in three point attempts this season. They didn't come close to this last season, despite falling within the top ten in 3- point shooting %. Reduce the three point attempts on offense, the defense will improve.

[dandridge 10]

The two stats that really matter defensively are opponent efg and defensive rebounding percentage. Wizards are 28th in opponent efg and tied for 20th in defensive rebounding percentage. In other words, they're terrible so far at making the other team miss shots, and they're below average in getting the ball back after the other team DOES miss.

Strategically, it looks like they're placing a bit more emphasis on forcing turnovers, which doesn't matter nearly as much as making the other team miss.

I agree with fish that the primary difference is losing Okafor. They're also giving significant minutes off the bench to Harrington, who doesn't rebound. Or play defense. Or do much of anything on offense except fire up some threes, miss twos and commit turnovers.

I agree with this, plus I'll add that Maynor is a much worse defender than Price.

[Dark Faze]

I disagree with the perimeter defense being bad. The guards don't give up easy jumpshots and tend to funnel guards into our bigs.

Main issue is that our team defense has been trash. We don't rotate well at all off of pick n rolls. When the guards funnel drivers into a big, our big commits too much leaving a wide open dump off pass.

I think a lot of that is based off of Gortat being so new and our team having to build continuity. The bench is also god awful. Harrington gives up whatever he gets.

[deneem4]

We're small and slow...

[Nivek]

What's happened to this defense? The offense has happened to this defense. I believe there's a direct correlation between lack of strong defensive play and an offense that's based largely on perimeter play. I believe it changes the mentality of the players, you become finesse or you half-ass it versus staying physical. This was the case throughout Eddie Jordan's stint with the team. You couldn't get his teams to stop its opponents from scoring; they were a perimeter oriented team in his Princeton offense who also relied heavy on the outside shot.

The Wizards are leading the league in three point attempts this season. They didn't come close to this last season, despite falling within the top ten in 3- point shooting %. Reduce the three point attempts on offense, the defense will improve.

A quick look at the numbers suggest that it's probably not more 3pt attempts. The last two seasons, there's a very slightly positive correlation between 3pt attempts and defensive rating. In other words, good defensive teams the past couple seasons are slightly more likely to have more 3pt attempts. The correlation is so slight, however, that the real takeaway is that there's no relationship between 3pt attempts on offense and defensive efficiency.

[Nivek]

The two stats that really matter defensively are opponent efg and defensive rebounding percentage. Wizards are 28th in opponent efg and tied for 20th in defensive rebounding percentage. In other words, they're terrible so far at making the other team miss shots, and they're below average in getting the ball back after the other team DOES miss.

Strategically, it looks like they're placing a bit more emphasis on forcing turnovers, which doesn't matter nearly as much as making the other team miss.

I agree with fish that the primary difference is losing Okafor. They're also giving significant minutes off the bench to Harrington, who doesn't rebound. Or play defense. Or do much of anything on offense except fire up some threes, miss twos and commit turnovers.

I agree with this, plus I'll add that Maynor is a much worse defender than Price.

Maynor is a worse defender than Price, but he's played in only about 25% of the team's minutes so far, and the team is about the same defensively with and without Maynor.

[dobrojim]

Seems to me that guards failing to prevent penetration has been a significant factor
leading to opp eFG% being quite high.

It hasn't helped our defReb% either due to failure to block
out because you've been forced to give help.

[Illmatic21]

I don't know if the Gortat/Okafor switch is necessarily the problem. It just seems that as a team our rotations are painfully slow.

For whatever reason, players are always a half second too late when sliding over on penetration or interior passes. We're slow to box out and chase after defensive rebounds. It seems like guys are thinking too much and not being instinctual.

Wittman said he spent all of preseason emphasizing defense. Sometimes that can have the opposite of the intended effect, because if you give players too much information at once they may end up overthinking. I wonder if that's the case here. It is puzzling that a team that was very solid defensively last year all of a sudden looks slow and lost. And it isn't just at the center position.

[AWIZZINGBULLET]

What's happened to this defense? The offense has happened to this defense. I believe there's a direct correlation between lack of strong defensive play and an offense that's based largely on perimeter play. I believe it changes the mentality of the players, you become finesse or you half-ass it versus staying physical. This was the case throughout Eddie Jordan's stint with the team. You couldn't get his teams to stop its opponents from scoring; they were a perimeter oriented team in his Princeton offense who also relied heavy on the outside shot.

The Wizards are leading the league in three point attempts this season. They didn't come close to this last season, despite falling within the top ten in 3- point shooting %. Reduce the three point attempts on offense, the defense will improve.

A quick look at the numbers suggest that it's probably not more 3pt attempts. The last two seasons, there's a very slightly positive correlation between 3pt attempts and defensive rating. In other words, good defensive teams the past couple seasons are slightly more likely to have more 3pt attempts. The correlation is so slight, however, that the real takeaway is that there's no relationship between 3pt attempts on offense and defensive efficiency.

I will stick to what I hold to be relevant, as I remember as a fan during the Eddie Jordan era that feeling that the Wizards were way too finesse and not mentally tough enough defensively. I believe if John Wall weren't driven as a player defensively there would be a trickle down effect and things would be a lot worse. I still feel there's hope because Wall and some of the other players take pride in playing defense, but I do believe the style of play on offense has an effect on the other end of the floor.

[dobrojim]

damn the torpedos, full speed ahead

[Nivek]

I won't attempt to dissuade you from adhering to your beliefs. It's tough to argue with a sample size of Eddie Jordan's 5 seasons coaching the Wizards.

In a sample size of every team for the past 13 seasons (385 team seasons), what I described in my earlier post (looking at only two seasons) held up. That is to say, teams with more 3pt attempts are no worse defensively than teams with fewer 3pt attempts. Shooting more threes this season has nothing to do with the Wizards being worse defensively this season.