Ok, we know that our interior defense will be bolstered by Ming's shotblocking/intimidation. But overall, our defense is a huge quesiton mark. Ming won't be able to help us too much IMO, with our defensive rotation, which was easily our biggest weakness. It was a bigger problem than the isolations on offense. Last year, we gave up WAY too many open 15 ft jumpers to 3 pt shots. This stemmed from getting burned on double teams, where our defense didn't close the gap from the open shooter nearly enough. If the Rockets are to succeed this year, we must learn how to play TEAM defense.
If there is one thing that I learned from the WBC is that the teams play Team Defence even when the are playing Offence, so that a player is open to take a good shot at the basket. The Rox need to learn from this technique!
Great point. Sometimes the best defense, is offense. The Rockets had to shoot way too many bad shots, because of the shot clock running down, which led to long rebounds, which leads to fast breaks.
I think the team should pass the ball around more and take open shot. The Rox's D will be tighten by Yao and griffin. On Offensive, just give yao more touches The chinese NT lost because they cant get the ball to yao ming...
What's your reasoning, for the defense improving signficantly? And I don't see anyone on the team becoming an enforcer. Usually, enforcers, are enforcers from when they step into the NBA. Being an enforcer isn't something that you just become over time.
1) Another year of experience for our young guys. 2) 7'6'' Center 3) Griffin & Ming duo 4) More calls 5) Better offense- Best defense is a good offense! 6) Zone Defense that features a thick Mo Taylor, speedy guards, and big men with wing spans comparable to none. 7)... I think KT can develop into an enforcer. I agree with you when you say you just don't become one over time. You are born with it! But, KT has shown some signs and we have not seen Ming or Boki play yet.
People like to blow this off as not being a valid excuse, but one of the main reasons this team stunk last year defensively was because of injuries. This team never had a chance to play together, thus your shuffling in new players all the time, and they have a hard time adjusting to each other. Defense isn't just "go out there and stay in front of your guy", players have to know where their teammates are on the floor and then they'll know when to rotate and drop off, and this team never had a consistent line-up on the floor. With two extra shot-blockers this gives the team a psychological advantage. They know that if they slip up defensively they'll have an eraser to help them. I think the "enforcer" mentality is WAY overrated. The Bulls never had a true enforcer. Rodman's role was no different then KTs. The Spurs didn't have an enforcer. Robinson did the dirty work but you never considered him an enforcer. The Lakers of the 80s or the Lakers now didn't have enforcers. Shaq is tough down low, but I wouldn't call him necessarily the enforcer. He's just a physical presence. The Kings definitely don't have an enforcer. As long as this team gets healthy and buys into the defensive scheme like they did during the 45 win season they'll be fine.
I think injuries were part of the problem, but that's not enough to explain how horrible our defense was last year. Regardless of who is in there, they should know what their role is on the defense. Their game plan for rotations, guarding pick and roll, double teaming, etc. should be reasonably consistent. Rudy said last season that he had designed a new offense, but it was scrapped because of all the injuries. Maybe the same is true for the defense. Certainly it appeared that most of the team didn't know what they were trying to accomplish on defense last year.
Very good points have been brought up regarding our poor defense.Injuries didn't have all that much to do with them.It will all come down to how much effort are the players willing to put in order to improve both individual and team defense. KT is the closest to an enforcer that we have but he is undersized as compared to the rest of PF's in the WC, and Cat is undersized as compared to the rest of the SG's that he has to face. It would be good to have another physical player in the front court and a veteran backup shooting guard who can defend well and score some points as well.
I was projecting our block shots in another thread with a very moderate improvement by EG and the arrival of Ming, and we could easily move to the top 3 in blocks. Last year we were in the middle of the pack for blocks, I think the year before we were bottom 3. Going from bottom 3 to top 3 in less than 3 years is impressive. Granted block shots aren't everything, but having a couple of shot blockers back there should allow the rest of the guys to extend more. There is no reason we can't be middle of the pack or better in most all team defense stats.
A zone defense is rendered useless in the NBA. It works in HS and in college, because you don't have as many guys who can dribble through a zone. In the NBA, it's too easy for guards to slice through a zone. Proof of this is with the T-Wolves. They got off to a hot start because they did employ a zone that worked... For 2 months... When teams caught on how to beat their zone, they essentially beat Min, who would go like .500 or so from January and on. The biggest help that the new defensive rules from last year is the fact that it's easier for defenders to run to whatever space on the floor, at any time. And obviously, they can now double team a guy without the ball. The key will be if the Rockets players can be on the same page defensively. When one guy goes to double team, do the teammates know how to rotate? Last year they didn't. Hopefully this year they will. The Sonics teams from the mid-90s are the textbook way to play team defense. Back then, people claimed that they got away with illegal d. Now, it would have been legal. Let's see the Rockets imitate Sea from the mid-90s.
Last year we were 14th of 29 team in blocks, but our defense was easily the worst in the league. A couple more blocks per game will make little difference if we don't solve our other problems. If blocks help you extend your defense, why didn't it help last year? We were in the top half in blocks last year, yet we didn't extend our defense at all. And still our perimeter players looked like they need to take their little red capes and move to Spain. Do blocked shots help you get around a screen? Do blocked shots tell you where to rotate when the offense swings the ball? Do blocked shots make up for a lack of effort and intensity? I don't care how many blocks we get this season. If we don't change our focus, it'll only make a minimal difference.
No question about our interior defense improving with Yao's arrival and Eddie's 2nd year. For us to make it to the next level our guards must loose their matador costumes.
lets not forget that yao is a great passer. once he gets a rebound he will be looking for the outlet pass. unlike cato who needs to hand the ball to steve 6 times a game, or after every rebound. however you want to count it.
