Wow I'm surprised to hear that too. Our defense has been stellar and I love it. I'm especially surprised about Mchale, he's a poorly rated defensive coach in 2k! How can this be?!
Well, it is not like McHale was not one hell of a defensive player in his time. But I feel sure he relies on Dunn a lot.
People believe it's the players the cause this major shift in defense. But T.R. Dunn has done amazing things here.
Yes... this man is flat out awesome. Him with some very amazing defensive minded players have made this team competent and complete. Now if we can only add to the bench and avoid the rediculous injuries.
One very noticeable change is the discipline guys have to stay in front of their man, use their body to belly up, and keep those hands up, away from the guy they're defending. Something that Harden showed vs Monta and Dirk in the DAL endgame. In that way, refs could not call fouls, but for sure the opponent felt the defense. In previous years, we were always reaching and using our hands. This year, we move our feet and stay solid, no jumping on jumpshots.
McHale is in charge of defense. After the Portland loss last year he took over. The Rockets, led by McHale, have made defense an enormous issue. I know you don't like McHale but be objective.
McHale is in charge of defense. It is ultimately up to the players, either they but in or they don't.
Here's the audio: http://downloads.iheartradio.com/me.../11/mp3/default/pgs_11-25-14_0_1417004083.mp3 Start from around 1:26:10
Coincidence? Not saying Dunn is the sole reason for the defensive improvement but having a defensive "coordinator" was something we really needed. Hollins would have been a godsend but Dunn has been equivalent to the typical Morey "undervalued find". Dunn has put in a very good scheme that helps hide some of our weaknesses and highlight the strength of our players.
Dunn was also part of the coaching staff when the Rockets defense fell off the cliff after losing Yao. Morey wanted to fix the defense by hiring a coach of his choice to run it which led to all that drama with Adelman's exit.
Actually I attribute any decent defense in the Adelman years as a holdover from JVG. Adelman just dribbled that great JVG defense away year after year.
completely different under adelman. from going after offensive rebounds instead of running back at all costs to funnelling the ball carrier into yao. jvg's defense sucked against 3s and slashers. i still have a bad taste in my mouth from that game against the suns where the rockets were literally blown out within the first 2 minutes. mchale's rockets would be kryptonite against jvg's rockets.
yao, deke and one year of battier was all the was left (not including a non existent mcgrady) of the jvg teams of any major minutes
Rockets under Adelman has been good for 2 great defensive years. 2 years of having Yao, Deke, Hayes, Battier, and then later Artest. Then Yao left and Adelman ran some of the worst defenses I've seen in team history. Heck, McHale's first year here our defense improved significantly from Adelman's last 2 years. I do think Dunn was hired because our current defensive lineup is similar to the old one we had (Yao/Battier vs. Howard/Ariza). And it's possible the system we now run is reminiscent of the old Yao and T-Mac days. But Dunn is definitely not some miracle worker.
McHale is in charge of the defense. He's a good coach, regardless of what you think. Things we know: The Rockets focused primarily on defense during preseason practices because several of them said that this is what they did. T.R. Dunn was hired the same day as the Rockets' first practice: Sept. 30th. We know that implementing a new plan that is successful requires planning. The type of planning that is not done in just one day. Troy Daniels is a great offensive player and a weak defensive player. He has not played much this year, even when our threes aren't falling. Conclusion: This is McHale's baby and he planned it, he's getting credit, the team is winning with his baby and McHale won't let Troy ruin his baby with his lack of baby skillz. T.R. Dunn is probably helping, but it's not his baby. He's just the babysitter.
T.R. Dunn is the one doing the day to day planning/scouting. That is why losing Kelvin Sampson right before the playoffs hurt so bad. McHale puts together the team playing style and philosophy but the assistant coaches comes up with the daily plan. People don't give McHale enough credit. He adjusts the teams playing style to fit his personal. His first season during the lockout, we didn't have a rim protector, so we tried to run teams out of the building and almost made the playoffs with Kmart as our best player. His second season, we had one creator in Harden and a offensive liability in the post in Asik. He put the ball in Harden's hands and ran when we could and played decent defense when Asik was in. Last season, we slowed it down a little bit to incorporate Howard. This season, we have a lot of good defensive players, so we are focusing on that. McHale may not be good at in game adjustments, but he does put a system in that his current players can succeed in.
If any of you ever saw TR Dunn play basketball for the Denver Nuggets way back when then you recognize Dunn's impact on Harden and others. All that chasing tight with hands up is TR Dunn.
