[Chron] Rockets assistant Jeff Bzdelik preaches defense-first philosophy

I concur. I think this team surprises a lot of folks.

 

So much this.... We were steadily getting better in defense year to year with the exception of last years abortion.

 

So much this.... We were steadily getting better in defense year to year with the exception of last years abortion.

 

Injury card huh? Wouldn't go down that road after The Warriors 2015 road to a championship

 

Funny thing too, Dwight missed most of the 14–15 season.

 

Good luck with that Jeff......

 

anybody have a link for non-subscribers?

 

I'm a bit leery to admit it, but I have a good feeling about this team and season as well.

 

Just having a better offensive scheme improves our defense. Increased chemistry improves defense. I think we will have our defensive issues for sure but just don't see it as bad as last year.

Everyone hates brewer, me included. But this is the perfect system for him. I think he may turn in to a decent bench player again for us. Running in transition on offense and if he buys in on positioning instead of always gambling it could pay off to keep him. He could possibly lose his entirety of minutes because his absolute lack of shooting.

I'm intrigued for this season and optimistic, but not overly much so. Durant to gsw probably made a majority of all teams feel this way.

 

If the players buy into Dantoni and Dantoni buys into his staff and if everybody puts their egos to the side I could see the team going beyond '15s team

 

That sure sounds nice but I'm kinda hoping maybe we can just score a jazillion points a game.

 

What I'm hoping for is that we'll be harder to defend causing the opponent to expend more energy on the defensive end and thereby not having as easy a time on offense.

 

Also opponents taking it out of the net instead of live ball defensive rebounds.

Also with more of an actual system and everyone knowing what everyone is doing on the offensive side, that clears up who should be running back first on defense.

 

If we aren't at least top 15 in defensive efficiency, then this guy ain't doing his job.

 

How can anyone doubt the organizations commitment to defense?

I mean DM said we were going to hire a head coach to address our defensive shortcomings... bang! MDA in the house!

 

harden, gordon and anderson be like..naah, we dont play defense. we switch. SWITCH! SWITCH EVERYTHING!

 

All talk, they need to walk the walk before I am a believer.

 

Didn't we all feel this before last season began?

 

It's true we had Dunn and Bickerstaff, but Bzdelik is objectively a far better and more experienced defensive coach than any of those two guys. They don't have anywhere near his track record.

I think he could have been wonderful for us last season. MDA's offensive style is not conducive to Bzdelik's defensive style. You can see that in the way Memphis played offense and MDA's teams have played defense. Bickerstaff or Dunn would be totally ineffective if they were responsible for this. However, Bzdelik is a different caliber and MDA just served as an assistant in Philly after a brutal stint in NY. I think our defense will be decent, nothing special. With the right roster (which we don't have yet) and MDA's offense, it might be enough.

 

The big free agent acquisition was Ryan Anderson, and they hired D'Antoni as coach. No one on the team is saying anything critical of Harden's performance last season. It is nice that the coach they hired to run the defense says the team is going to play defense, but I will believe it when I see it.