DougThonus: Why can't the Bulls defend the pick and roll anymore?

[Rerisen]

I’ve often argued that I don’t want to trade Noah and Taj because they’re fundamentally key to running our defense.

The problem with the 'don't trade Taj (or Noah) because they are fundamental to our D' is the Bulls just signed 2 players, basically their whole 2014 offseason haul on 2 players that compete with them for minutes.

So to get Noah and Taj on the floor long enough to produce an elite defense, assuming they still could, you would want to start them and/or play them both at least 30 minutes a game.

I.e. last year vs WAS in the playoffs, Noah and Gibson combined for 73 minutes a game! If we did that now, it would leave 23 minutes between Pau and Mirotic.

Obviously, that's just not going to happen going forward.

Even if Pau played no more than Boozer next year, Mirotic is going to need 20 minutes at minimum.

I fear our top 3 defense is history for the next 2 years as well.

So yeah, I agree, its a cluster****

[lastmanstanding]

Rose has some bad habits fighting over screens. Needs to get his inside foot in front of the screener to keep contact with the ball handler and fight thru the screen. He tends to turn his shoulders and put his self in trail position to try and get around the screen instead of fighting thru.

Good posts man.

I think some part of him is thinking don't blow out my knee again fighting through a screen.

He was never great, but this year he is even more picky about when he actually goes all out on that end.

Yeah. I think that'd why he tries to get around the screen and not thru it

[kingkirk]

The problem with the 'don't trade Taj (or Noah) because they are fundamental to our D' is the Bulls just signed 2 players, basically their whole 2014 offseason haul on 2 players that compete with them for minutes.

So to get Noah and Taj on the floor long enough to produce an elite defense, assuming they still could, you would want to start them and/or play them both at least 30 minutes a game.

I.e. last year vs WAS in the playoffs, Noah and Gibson combined for 73 minutes a game! If we did that now, it would leave 23 minutes between Pau and Mirotic.

Obviously, that's just not going to happen going forward.

Even if Pau played no more than Boozer next year, Mirotic is going to need 20 minutes at minimum.

I fear our top 3 defense is history for the next 2 years as well.

So yeah, I agree, its a cluster****

In hindsight, yes, the signing in the off season have created a log jam up front, but there are also rotational issues that are further compounding this.

Whether it's starting Jo & Taj, starting Pau & Taj, reducing minutes, having Niko playing more with Rose etc, there are other things we could - and should - be doing to trying to make sense of it all.

At the moment, we're doing the same things over and expecting different results.

Playing Gasol 35 minutes exclusively at center is not going to fix the defense. It's not happening. He is who he is at age 34, and as he ages, he shouldn't be playing this much at all let alone at the anchor spot.

I accept that the FO have gone big man heavy (to some extent), but Thibodeau isn't correcting the issue from his end, either.

[illiance]

Good posts man.

I think some part of him is thinking don't blow out my knee again fighting through a screen.

He was never great, but this year he is even more picky about when he actually goes all out on that end.

If you watch Rose closely, you'll see that every move he makes on the floor is with the idea of preserving his knees. Watch when guys dive to the floor around him, his first instinct is to move his feet to avoid contact, not to get the ball. Watch him fight over screens, he tries his hardest to avoid any kind of leg contact. Every move he makes occurs after he'd already thought about his knees, which is why I'm not sure he'll ever be the same player due to the mental block.

Which is strange since both injuries were non-contact injuries (one on a jump pass and one after a lay-up attempt). People rarely suffer major/season ending knee injuries from contact. It seems like a mental block that he should eventually be able to get over.

[tomacorandom]

Another post to throw **** to Pau's defense. I'm getting accustomed to this.
As far as I remember, there are at least 2 more. The famous Potential Concern and one more about a blog who made a video showing that Pau defense was awful when the match they used to make the video was against Atlanta Hawks
It seems some people aren't watching the games. Just watch what happen in P&R when Pau is out. It is exactly the same. P&R starts with the PG, and our PGs are not defending it well. They always leave their match up go alone... and we never use a 3rd guy to help as many teams do. But the easiest thing is to puke that it's Gasol's fault!

[Nucky Thompson]

I really don't see how you can pin the Bulls defensive woes ALL on the PnR defense of Gasol. I would like to note:

* Opponent FG% is slightly up this year, but lower than in 2012-2013 when the defense was elite, so to me this is negligible.
* Opponent Rebounding is slightly up and the most ever in the Thibs era. This could be part of the problem.
* Turnover forced per game are down, lowest in the Thibs era. This is big part of it.
* And...... Opponents are getting the most field goal attempts ever in Thibs era.

The Bulls are not getting as many rebounds as they should and they have been incredibly tepid at forcing turnovers. I just don't know if you can pin that all on pick and roll defense. Maybe in years past, good PnR defense resulted in a turnover often and that explains the decrease in that but that would require a blend of tape study and numbers analysis.

I just think the guards on being as aggressive as they need to and they have been bullied to many times on the boards.

[mj234eva]

http://stats.nba.com/playtype/#!/?PT=team&OD=defensive

[mj234eva]

Fanshot over at BAB.

Pick and Roll Defense against the Ballhandler: 25th in the league, 0.85 PPP

The Bulls are a very poor team at defending the ballhandler in PnR, giving up 0.85 PPP. For context, the Hawks are the best team at the league, giving up 0.69 PPP and the Timberwolves are the worst, giving up 0.89 PPP.

As a team, what really stands out is the high frequency that the ballhandler attacks the team. Ballhandlers go at the Bulls about 18% of the time, which is the 4th-highest mark in the league. The Bulls have given up the 2nd most points in the league on these plays.

http://www.blogabull.com/2015/2/12/8025 ... esponsible