Our Defense Has Fallen Off a Cliff

[Wannabe MEP]

Perhaps (part of) the solution is the same, even if there are varying theories about the cause: return to combos that worked early in the season.

Starters: FVV-Trent-OG-Siakam-Achiuwa
Bench: Banton-____-Barnes-Boucher-Birch

Regardless of why these were working early season...they were working. Restore continuity and do stuff that works. The significant change is Siakam: he has to start, because max contract. It seems like this starting unit should do pretty well. And Barnes would get more touches and add value to the already successful Banton-Boucher-Birch combo. (Depending on match-ups, perhaps small-ball to close games/halves.)

I actually really like this idea. Birch and Siakam combo is atrocious on defence while the Birch/Boucher/Banton has been really good on D due to their length. I also like Barnes off the bench so he can play a more uptempo game and find his own shots with the bench while still being the glue in any minutes played with the starters.

I do like this idea indeed.

These have been really effective:

FVV-____-____-Siakam-Achiuwa . . . OffRtg: 117.7, DefRtg: 103.4, NetRtg: +14.3 (57 minutes)
DRex-____-____-Boucher-Birch . . . . OffRtg: 113.3, DefRtg: 97.8, NetRtg: +15.5 (67 minutes)

^ seems like a viable base structure for 48 minutes of good basketball when we're healthy

[HiJiNX]

Perhaps (part of) the solution is the same, even if there are varying theories about the cause: return to combos that worked early in the season.

Starters: FVV-Trent-OG-Siakam-Achiuwa
Bench: Banton-____-Barnes-Boucher-Birch

Regardless of why these were working early season...they were working. Restore continuity and do stuff that works. The significant change is Siakam: he has to start, because max contract. It seems like this starting unit should do pretty well. And Barnes would get more touches and add value to the already successful Banton-Boucher-Birch combo. (Depending on match-ups, perhaps small-ball to close games/halves.)

I actually really like this idea. Birch and Siakam combo is atrocious on defence while the Birch/Boucher/Banton has been really good on D due to their length. I also like Barnes off the bench so he can play a more uptempo game and find his own shots with the bench while still being the glue in any minutes played with the starters.

I do like this idea indeed.

These have been really effective:

FVV-____-____-Siakam-Achiuwa . . . OffRtg: 117.7, DefRtg: 103.4, NetRtg: +14.3 (57 minutes)
DRex-____-____-Boucher-Birch . . . . OffRtg: 113.3, DefRtg: 97.8, NetRtg: +15.5 (67 minutes)

^ seems like a viable base structure for 48 minutes of good basketball when we're healthy

Dope!! Thanks for providing the stats. Nice to see that the stats back up the eye test. Knowing the team has access to the analytics I hope we see this.

[CANsportsguru]

OG is super underrated around here. Pascal and Scottie don't hold a candle to him defensively.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using RealGM mobile app

If anything he's overrated on the board. He's definitely our best defender but to try to compare someone that's been in the league for 5 years now to a rookie it's a bit extreme.

[sbsat]

We need both centres in the lineup. That's Step 0 into trying to fix this defense

[MikeM]

I still don't quite get what Nurse is trying to do. We have guys pressing up on non-shooters, late clock, 35 feet away. Just getting blown by for no reason.

Going over Morant screens from 30 feet out. Just maximum pressure at all times with absolutely no nuance. Our close-outs are ridiculous. Just flying at guys, ending up 5 feet past them.

It really seems like we're trying to reinvent the wheel and go for historical levels of deflections and turnover creation, like it's an experiment or something. I don't know.

[Badonkadonk]

I was wondering if anybody in the media was going to mention Nurse's adjustment vs. the Grizz, especially after Brooks called it out post-game:

Read on Twitter

?s=20

Looks like Will Lou did in his recap:

Part of that is a credit to Nick Nurse, who had the Raptors pinch in from the wing on every drive against Ja Morant, which gave the Raptors a 3-on-2 advantage in guarding the pick-and-roll action. But it's an even bigger credit to the players themselves for executing without mistakes.

I love having a coach who can adapt, and is specifically effective at slowing down other team's stars.

[Johnny Bball]

We need both centres in the lineup. That's Step 0 into trying to fix this defense

Pretty much. I didn't think that would be the case to the degree that it is though. I still think without OG, that's a bit of an unknown.

[Wannabe MEP]

We need both centres in the lineup. That's Step 0 into trying to fix this defense

Pretty much. I didn't think that would be the case to the degree that it is though. I still think without OG, that's a bit of an unknown.

Ideally, we have all three of these ready to go:

____-____-____-Siakam-Achiuwa . . . OffRtg: 116.7, DefRtg: 103.1, NetRtg: +13.6 (63 minutes)
____-____-____-Boucher-Birch . . . . OffRtg: 108.8, DefRtg: 94.8, NetRtg: +14.1 (114 minutes)
____-____-OG-Barnes-Siakam . . . . . OffRtg: 112.9, DefRtg: 106.1, NetRtg: +6.8 (75 minutes)

I think we can weather it if we have just two of these available. But if, e.g., both Birch and OG are out, we have a problem. (Although that was the case last night, and it worked out fine.)

[Indeed]

Blake Murphy pretty much sums it up:

Watch on YouTube