Fact: Our big 3 scored more ppg than the big 3 of the champs Fiction: We don't have a big 3. 61.2 ppg > 60.9 ppg p.s. Please don't ask about percentages, rebounds and defense. It will make me look bad. Edit: We may actually shoot at a higher effective FG percentage.
It's obvious we don't have great defenders and I know it is cliche to say we are one piece away, but I truly believe that If we can keep flexibility to add one big gun in the midst of all these shooters, we can compete with anyone. Daryl has built a very D'Antoni friendly team, and we have the basic flexibility to free cap space, or to work a deal to steal a star. Dwight is not that star, hasn't been since he left Orlando. Meanwhile in a system built to run and gun we can inflate the value of our players, and strike when the iron gets hot again. I have to believe that we grabbed Anderson with a C in mind, be it Clint Capela, Noel, Okafor or Vucevic. We need a stud to step up. We already have our superstar neutralizer in James Harden. We just need that second guy that can contend with the Draymond Green and Kyrie Irvings of the world.
Yes, one single stat isn't all that reliable, but defensive metrics in aggregate do tend to show very high correlation with the actual defensive performance of a player. For players who are usually regarded as one of the worst defenders out there (Kanter, Lillard, Ryan Anderson, etc.), there is at least one corroborating evidence to support that claim. But for Harden such data simply doesn't exist, a real problem for those people who wants to peg Harden as this disaster on defense. The mismatch between the perception and the data only occurs when it comes to Harden, which is something to think about. Curry's defense wasn't that bad during the regular season, that's why his defensive numbers are somewhat respectable. He was definitely worse in the playoffs though, and especially awful during the Finals in many people's eyes, which the numbers bear out. Curry's Defensive Rating Regular season 103 Playoffs 106 Finals 110 For a point of comparison, Draymond Green's DRtg in the Finals was 102. That's a huge difference between two players who share a lot of playing time together, which implies Curry's defense was especially bad when Draymond wasn't there to cover for his defensive lapses.
Back peddlers gonna back pedal! Have you guys still not figured out this ass clown has no idea what he's talking about. Mr. Clownery >>>> everyone else in the draft Your boys Khalil Mack and Teddy Bridgewater say was sup from the Pro Bowl.
People can criticize Ryno's overall defense all they want and frankly there's reason to do so but defense becoming a top priority went out the window the minute MDA was hired. You weren't going to see any defensive FA pickups just based on that side of the ball alone. Defense moved down the list of priorities and people are going to need to get used to that as long as MDA is the head coach.
And that's fine to say, I just take exception to those who for whatever reason try to deny that Ryan Anderson is terrible defensively. Admitting he's terrible and saying that only offense matters to D'Antoni is fine and likely the case given that we also went out and got Gordon, another all offense no defense player.
Assuming we don't make any major trades, we have the potential to be an average defensive team. KJ, Harrell, and Capela are very athletic, versatile, and long players who (save for Capela) had wasted seasons due to the coaching staff not wanting to take risks. Bev/Gordan Harden/KJ Ariza/Beasley Anderson/Harrell Capela/DMo That's a good mix of pure offensive players with versatile defenders. I bet we keep some flexibility for a max contact for next season's FA.
DMo is GONE. I can some desperate teams will throw 10+M money per year on DMo. The PF position is actually quite overloaded now with the signing of Ryno and I just don't see Morey investing another 10M on it, especially if he wants to pursue a star next offseason.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">In 2017, Ryan Anderson's salary will comprise ~18% of the projected salary cap. In 2014 cap terms, that's an $11.3M salary. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Relativity?src=hash">#Relativity</a></p>— David Weiner (@BimaThug) <a href="https://twitter.com/BimaThug/status/749641375541440512">July 3, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Sorry but I'll believe it when I see it. I don't think there is any way in hell the Rockets just let DMo walk when the only other player on the team that can play center full time is Capela. And not even Capela has proven he can handle the starting job, DMo did it quite well in 14/15 during Dwights extended absence. If some other team throws some ridiculous amount of money at him then possibly but it would have to be a very large contract.
See here's the thing: Curry's defensive rating should have been 199, because all Cleveland did was attack Curry in different ways. Iggy had a defensive rating of 110 in the finals. Stupid metric, like nearly all other "advanced" defensive metric. His defense is a work of art out there. Iggy had 108, higher than Curry's 106? I rest my case. At the end of the day, there are too many fine details of defense to quantify it well. You have to watch the game: here, look how Harden does. Oh, well yea, he's never been known for defense. We will see first hand how bad (or "mediocre") he is. Nevertheless, your original statement is still extreme that the OP references.
It was like 10 comments into a conversation and it was exaggeration for effect. The OP was acting like he couldn't understand the concept of defense being so poor it negates any offensive benefit. With Ryan Anderson he's just about a wash. His defense is as bad as his offense is good, in fact his RPM last season was exactly 0.00 basically meaning he had no impact whatsoever as a whole. Since the OP was struggling to understand that concept, I used an example of a player scoring 20 and giving up 30 to show that in the example the player would have scored 20 and still been detrimental to his team. He didn't comprehend what I was saying when I used the exact numbers.
OP wasn't acting like anything. OP was simply providing the facts for all to see and letting you react. Thanks for playing.
Very true, I misspoke, you weren't acting. You really couldn't understand the concept that defense could be so poor it would negate anything a player provided on offense. Keeping me honest.
Not true at all. I was simply providing the statical facts. I'm not suggesting anything other than the fact that Ryan Anderson was 9.7 points better than his opponent counterpart when playing power forwards and that the Pelicans were 6.7 points per 100 possessions better with hm on the floor last season. Thats all I'm saying. If you want to continue to say or imply that he hurts his team more than he helps them when he is on the floor then please continue.
I may be in the minority here, but IMO this obsessive focus on defense is unhealthy and actually misguided. You don't always have to be a stud on defense to win games. What you want is the ability to put up a decent point differential, whether it be done through high powered offense or stifling defense. And considering the way the league has been moving this past few years - with the popularization of analytics and players scoring more efficiently than ever, as evidenced by rising TS% - I think the latter approach is becoming increasingly more difficult. We are witnessing a profound evolution in how the game is played offensively, while the defense is struggling to catch up, giving significant edge to teams with great offensive strategy and talent. Cleveland Cavaliers is the prime example of how an elite offensive team with just enough defense is actually better than an elite defensive team with just enough offense. Cavs were 1st in ORtg in the post season, but were only 7th in DRtg. Following the Cavs in offensive efficiency was OKC, another huge success story of 15-16 playoffs. In fact, teams with good defensive numbers (Celtics, Spurs, Pacers, Hawks, etc.) all couldn't make it to the Conference Finals this year. GSW was the only team with respectable defense, and they were 6th in DRtg during the regular season and 8th in the playoffs. San Antonio Spurs is the really interesting case, since their point differential was +9, which is about the same as the Cavs. The difference was that the Cavs were the better offensive team, and the Spurs just couldn't contain the explosiveness of OKC. If we can somehow crack top 3 on offense, then defensive mediocrity is really not a problem. But the key here is to be mediocre, not flat out bad.
