Why is Our Defense Bad?

[pistontr]

you can choose multiple options.
what do you think?

[srt4b]

All of those issues are legit but not too much to overcome on their own. The issue is the combination of them along with a rookie SG starting, a PF laying SF and two Cs playing C/PF...and that's just the starting lineup. The bench is a total disaster as well with PFs playing SG and no shooters at all. Add that to a coaching staff with no real defensive philosophy or system to use the strengths of these players and you have a team that constantly plays below it's talent level.

[Joe Berry]

a little bit of all these options above

- Smith and Jennings are probably the worst perimeter defenders at their positions PG and SF playing mayor minutes in the NBA
- Monroe cant defend mobile PF
- Drummond is not yet a defensive anchor, while he obviously has the talent he has a long way to go to become elite defensively
- Cheeks is a mediocre coach who has no real defensive system, a decent coach could get more out of this team on offense and defense
- our best defensive player is probably KCP and he's a rookie, which is kinda sad

[ImHeisenberg]

I would look at Mo Cheeks before anything else.

[DetroitDon15]

I would look at Mo Cheeks before anything else.

I agree with you. My pick was Drummond/Monroe not working but I blame that on Cheeks for not making it work.

[DCintheD]

I think its cuz of our coaching.. Cheeks kinda sucks and the Conan O'Brien lookalike doesnt look like he knows much about bball... Sheed is the only bright spot

[ComboGuardCity]

I think it's communication. Kelser had a really good piece about over committing and not rotating effectively. smith has improved against opposing 3s. Our weak side help is what leaves much to be desired.


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[Notanoob]

I think it's pretty simple. Cheeks isn't Vogel or Thibs, and we only have a handful of guys who can defend their position. You can get away with poor defenders at some positions if your other defenders can compensate enough, like the Knicks last season. They basically had Chandler and that was it. But Drummond is not Chandler yet, and our best perimeter defender is a rookie, who is thus prone to some mistakes anyways. This defense can improve naturally as young guys get more experience, but I hope that we bring in someone to coordinate a better defensive system of some sort. Of course, a SF who could defend well would be greatly appreciated, and Moose could try harder.

[wire28]

we've just been playing offensive super teams

[dVs33]

The OP listed the exact reasons why we suck on D.

Not sure there's much to add really.

[Billl]

Both Dre and KCP will be excellent defenders in time, but they need experience. Right now, they give 100% effort but still have headscratching breakdowns almost every game.

Jennings needs to get over screens. He seems to just concede the play entirely.

Smith - great one second, clueless the next. He hasn't played a complete game in a month. We could get away with that if he was the only one having those type of breakdowns, but he's not.

Monroe - he's had some matchups that he's just never going to do well in, but that comes with the territory. If he would just quit complaining about no-calls and get back and match up, we would be in much better shape. As is, he's joining the play late too often for someone already at a quickness disadvantage.

The Bench - ugh. We don't have a backup pg. Rodney is solid usually. Singler plays decent team D, but he's no stopper. We're going with shooters in the frontcourt, so we're getting essentially no shotblocking and suspect rebounding.

And unfortunately, that means coach really doesn't have a whole lot of options if he isn't getting the defensive effort he wants from the starters. It's not like CV is going to come in and provide a defensive spark.

[menten]

if we move smith to PF and trade monroe for a SF who can defend (like jeff green or harrison barnes) our team defense will get ALOT better

[Q00]

I think all options are contributing. I'll add I don't think Drummond is a bad P&R roll defender. In fact I think he has the ability to be elite in that department. I think the way they are telling him to defend it is the problem.

Our coach's need to study how Miami defends the pick and roll, because with the athletes we have there is no reason we shouldn't be able to be just as effective with our P&R roll defense.

Also, I don't think everything about Jennings is the problem, so I couldn't vote for that. Its mainly his on ball defense and inability to fight through picks on the pick and roll. But he's also made a lot of great defensive plays with his ability to get steals that have won us games. I don't think he's gambling too much for steals either that is causing his poor defense. He just has an ability to get himself in the right place at the right time to get steals a lot, without really having to gamble too much. He pretty much tries to stay with his man and play sound defense, he's just not good at it.

Basically, I think we are bad on defense because Jennings can't guard on the ball consistently, our best shot-blocker (Smith) is roaming around the perimeter like a space cadet all game (by instruction), everything about Monroe, and then Cheeks' whole defensive gameplan and no accountability when players don't give effort (ie Monroe has never been benched once, despite his consistent horribad defensive efforts).

[Q00]

if we move smith to PF and trade monroe for a SF who can play defense (like jeff green or harrison barnes) our defense will ger ALOT better

Agreed. We can't have our best shot-blocker on the perimeter all game, when Monroe is so bad inside.

[DetroitDon15]

if we move smith to PF and trade monroe for a SF who can play defense (like jeff green or harrison barnes) our defense will ger ALOT better

Agreed. We can't have our best shot-blocker on the perimeter all game, when Monroe is so bad inside.

Good point. I think that if the Pistons want to win. They need to look to bring Moose off the bench. Slide Singler to starting SF. Roll the big line-up out mid games. Allow Monroe to spark the second unit. I think the line-up of:

G Jenning
G Caldwell-Pope
F Kyle Singler
F Josh Smith
C Andre Drummond:
Rotation:
Greg Monroe (C/PF)
Jonas Jerebko (PF/SF)
Rodney Stuckey (SG/PG/SF)
Chauncey Billups (PG/SG)

This nine man unit will make the team better instantly.

[Phenomenonsense]

Jennings starts and ends our problems on defense. Every time the opposing pg penetrates our entire defense collapses, smith thinks he's PF again and doesn't remember to rotate back out, or moose (who isn't athletic enough to help and recover) has to help and then can't recover, or Drummond helps and we have no shot blocking anymore.

[ImHeisenberg]

I would look at Mo Cheeks before anything else.

I agree with you. My pick was Drummond/Monroe not working but I blame that on Cheeks for not making it work.

You have to have a defensive system and get your players to buy into it. That's how teams like Chicago can play amazing defense even when Boozer is on the floor. Or, the Grizzlies hiding Z-Bo. Good defensive systems can compensate for a bad defender, because at least the bad defender can know where to be and how to at least minimally effective.

Detroit doesn't have anything like this going on. It's like Cheeks things everything is a one-on-one situation. Do not expect this to change while he still holds the HC chair. But, Cheeks was never commissioned to take this team to the NBA finals anyways. But, hiring him was a general disservice to the team and fans.

[pistontr]

last season when we played with knigt-singler-tayshaun we were one of the best on perimeter defense.

[Phenomenonsense]

Knight is at least tenacious on defense. Jennings being at the point ruins any semblance of good defense because penetration is that easy while he's on the court. I'm tempted to let anyone shoot over Jennings on D and make him guard a 2 instead of a point so that KCP can actually put pressure on the ball handler.

[ChipButty]

I would look at Mo Cheeks before anything else.

I agree with you. My pick was Drummond/Monroe not working but I blame that on Cheeks for not making it work.

You have to have a defensive system and get your players to buy into it. That's how teams like Chicago can play amazing defense even when Boozer is on the floor. Or, the Grizzlies hiding Z-Bo. Good defensive systems can compensate for a bad defender, because at least the bad defender can know where to be and how to at least minimally effective.

Detroit doesn't have anything like this going on. It's like Cheeks things everything is a one-on-one situation. Do not expect this to change while he still holds the HC chair. But, Cheeks was never commissioned to take this team to the NBA finals anyways. But, hiring him was a general disservice to the team and fans.

If Cheeks can't get us to play better D, Joe needs to do something. He should bring in a defensive minded, lead assistant coach and put them in charge of the defense. Not sure who we could get. Maybe ask Hollins again or look at Skiles.