It's honestly a combination of a lot of things: First season with a new star player Different defensive coach (Turner instead of Jeff B) Season just started so communication and effort are not there yet People can argue length all day, but D is far more about effort and communication than length and athleticism due to being primarily a team thing. The latter helps with individual defense and can help cover mistakes, but there is a reason that prime Chuck Hayes would be the 2nd best defender on this roster despite his physical attributes.
Defensive effort is not really a problem, I know that's what gets said all the time (I say it too) but just watching this game and you see a lot of effort, often times frantic effort because they blew the scheme. I really think understanding what they are supposed to be doing is the biggest problem right now. Particularly on drive and dish, we have too often got both defenders going with the drive and then one of them trying to crash back out to disrupt an open 3. That's not bad effort it's just running the scheme wrong (I hope it's wrong lol) Edit: Editing to say that effort can be better I shouldn't have said not a problem, I meant it's not glaring like it feels in real time. We're conditioned to think of effort as the problem and a lot of what I see is just wrong effort not bad effort.
There is no doubt their lack of mastery of the system is their biggest cause for the issues on defense. That should improve over time and I would think Westbrook would buy in more as the season goes on. Right now he is having to make a lot of adjustments. Also, Harden (based on history) will clean up some of his issues as the Rockets execute better. I do believe that personnel will keep them from being a great defensive team as they are currently constructed. We really miss having long players like Ariza and Moute.
This. It's all about coaching. Hire a defense first head coach that Harden will respect. Get rid of MDA. If you have a defensive coach but still have MDA it won't matter because the emphasis and player subs will still be based on offense, not defense.
Yes, it can be fixed and it will be. It's a matter of four things: effort, accountability, focus and defensive chemistry. We won't see these things ramp up until they have to, but I don't worry about it long term. Time is our friend right now. This whole year is going to be a process. Don't forget that you're a fan and to enjoy the process of improvement/adjustment/orientation. It's part of what we go through every year. Just enjoy being 3-1! It's like a 62-win pace!
Drtg went from 114 to 107 when Chris Paul came on the floor last year. I think that's the main factor, he's a very good perimeter defender still
Very good observation. You can add Thabo in the list of players who get caught on switch-or-not-to-switch. I think Turner came in to emphasize less switching. Last season players still switch exclusively. New players want to switch when it's necessary. So there's a clear confusion at the moment.
cp3 and ariza were great at communicating on defense - talking on pick and rolls or backdoor screens, telling people where to be, where the help is, positioning, etc. right now, other than pj and maybe rivers, the only other player on the roster who has the defensive iq and knack for really talking on defense is tyson (too bad this isn't tyson from even 5 years ago though). our main guys (looking at clint, harden, russ) need to step up on communication, especially clint. cp3 was always harping on him to talk more on def... clint needs to take more of a leadership position on def. call people out, make others be more accountable. he's in the back of the def so he has the eyes to call out where things are happening. maybe they're all not as confident in knowing the scheme yet... so hopefully as the season progresses they all get more loud and vocal. it might not fix everything, but i would imagine we would see less blown coverages.
The fix was bringing back Bzdelik. That option not available this season but Elston Turner is clearly not the solution.
Good defensive specialist/players = mostly bad on offense role players. You can not win with a good defensive team in this era of the NBA.
My issue with the effort is mainly in transition. It's one thing for guys to get lost or to lose your man due to confusion. But i'm just not seeing trying to get back, or casually jogging back. That lead to more lay ups and wide open 3's(in transition) then missing assignments in my opinion. The missed assignments in the half court were concerning but that is fixable(i hope). Wrong effort can be adjusted. I guess taking a casual approach to getting back on defense is fixable as well, but guys have to want to get back. All you have to do is get a rebound and run, and you will at least get a wide open look on the other end. That is recipe for getting blown out on nights where our shots are not falling at a decent percentage.
It's amazing how bad our defense has looked. I can't even harp on Harden alone anymore. Just about everyone is just straight up "losing" their guy to ball-watching or just not sprinting back. On another note, what's everyone's thoughts about House's defense thus far? I'm liking his 3pt accuracy (feels like a legit shooter shooter which we needed at the 3), but not sold on his defense quite yet and wanted to know y'alls thoughts
The stated reason was because he recently coached with Bzdelik at Memphis for 2 yrs. So, he's familiar. And another year prior, to make it 3 of Memphis' "grit and grind" years, known for getting up into the opponent. are we seeing that ... no, not yet. But his pedigree for that is there. Also, no one coached with Adelman more than Turner 2000-2011. So he has proven ability to coach a Top 10 defense on a high-octane offense.
What are the numbers when you disregard all games he didn't play? I'm not a big fan of making statistical analysis of games when the team is handicapped, down a star. Those games meant we had to give more minutes to Ennis, Green and Brandon Knight ... prior to Rivers. And then, with Rivers, play 8-men with Ennis and Green getting too many minutes. Further, about 15 of those games Capela was out, too, using a dead Nene or a offense-only Faried. Run the numbers in games Paul actually played, please.
I don't know why Gary Clark isn't getting a chance to help the defense and why we are playing Ryan Anderson and Tyson Chandler.
That's a good question, but for the playoffs the numbers are similar. 112.8 drating with Paul off, 106.2 with Paul on. Also in 17-18 the drtg was 106 with him on or off reflecting more defensive depth. Although in the 17-18 playoffs the defense fell apart without him. So yeah it's not just about Paul himself but also the guys who are getting minutes in place of him
