James Ennis sucks on defense.

bmelo · Nov 4, 2018

aelliott said: ↑

There's some invalid , misleading assumptions in your statements.

- "
Ariza is always either: 1) Guarding the most potent scorer; - Ariza didn't "always" guard the team's best scorer. Sometimes he was assigned to a different player (New Orleans) and other times it's simply due to switching.

Against the Pelican's, Tucker and Capela typically match up with Anthony Davis. Ariza usually only gets him on switches.

In today's NBA, teams run pick and roll to force switches. Ariza could be the greatest lock down defender in the history of the game and he still wouldn't be guarding the other teams best player all the time. All teams have to do is to run pick and roll and they can force a switch.

Force-switched on to someone who is unlikely to take a shot. - You do realize that in the cases where Ariza switches on to someone who is unlikely to shoot then that HELPS his PPP ?

When LMM was in the game, he typically took the best offensive player in more cases than Ariza. Despite guarding the same guys, LMM's PPP numbers were better than Ariza's in most every category. You can go look at the numbers on who LMM guarded while he was on the floor and it was generally the same guys that Ariza guarded. If he's getting the same assignments, then why did LMM do so much better at it than Ariza?

1) Durant's EFG% against Houston in the regular season and playoffs was worse than about 3/4ths of the teams he played against.
2) 3 out of 4 of Durant's worst EFG%, TS% and FG% in the playoffs came against Houston.
3) Durant's +/- was obviously worst against Houston.

The 3 games that you are refering to are games 3, 4 and 5 in the WCF. Another poster made the same claim in another thread saying that Durant shot under 40% in those 3 games and that was due to Ariza's defense. Same thing as you are implying. That simply isn't true.

I posted the actual results of the defensive matchups in those 3 games and they paint a different picture.

- In those 3 games where Durant shot less than 40%, he was only guarded by Ariza on 48.3% of his possessions (114 of 236). So, Ariza guarded Durant less than 50% of the total possessions.

- Game 3: Durant played 75 offensive possessions
Ariza guarded him on 29 of those possessions. Durant shot 60% on the possessions where he was guarded by Ariza. Obviously, our other defenders were much more effective against Durant in his other 46 possessions.

So, Ariza guarded Durant on only 38.7% of his possessions and Durant shot really well in those possessions where he was guarded by Ariza. In this game, Durant shot under 40% but it wasn't because of Ariza as you are assuming.

Game 4: Durant played 82 offensive possessions.

Ariza guarded him on 44 of those possessions (54% of his possessions). Durant shot 44% on the possessions where he was guarded by Ariza. Again, our other defenders were more effective against Durant in the other 38 possessions.

- Game 5 : Durant played 79 offensive possessions.

Ariza guarded him on 41 of those possessions. Durant shot 57.7% when he was guarded by Ariza. Another case where our other defenders were much more effective against Durant than Ariza was. Again, Durant shot very well when guarded by Ariza but he still shot under 40% for the game. His overall poor shooting wasn't due to him being guarded by Ariza.

I certainly can't show you numbers of Ennis guarding Durant in our defense since it obviously hasn't happened yet. I can show you the actuals that we have so far and it shows that Ennis isn't giving up may baskets while he's on the floor.

The Rockets defensive success last year was due to the overall scheme but many posters seem to be attributing it to Ariza. That simply isn't true.

I completely understand why you'd make the assumption that Durant's poor shooting in those 3 games was due to Ariza, but when you look at the actual results you'll see that wasn't true.

I'm not even saying that Ennis is going to be really good long term, nobody knows that yet. What I'm saying is that only judging him by what he's actually done in our system, you can't reasonably come to the conclusion that he's been bad defensively or that he can't shoot. Two opinions that posters have frequently expressed this season.

Last night is a great example. Ennis was on the floor for 31 defensive possessions ( 9 vs La Vine) and didn't allow a point.and the Bulls scored a total of 19 points while he was on the floor. Ennis hasn't allowed many points while he's been on the floor but people have decided that he can't defend.

Likewise, from behind the arc, Ennis shot just under 53% in preseason and he's at 45% in the regular season. He only shot below 40% in a game 1 time in the preseason and 1 time in the regular season. He's shot the 3 well and he's been consistent. Based on that, how can anyone decide that he can't shoot?

Ennis will have that same role that Ariza filled. He'll get the assignment of the stud wing scorers. Like Ariza, our success or failure will be due primarily to the team defense. So far, everyone seems to have decided Ennis can't defend yet nobody is really scoring on him.
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Hello Daryl, is Butler coming ?

rockets1995 · Nov 7, 2018

rockets1995 · Nov 7, 2018

James Ennis Hamstring injury in the beginning of the season really made him vulnerable on defense, laterally he was slow, now he looks so active defensively and looks healthy and comfortable on defense and offense.

Francis3422 · Nov 7, 2018

If he shoots 39% on threes then we are set IMO.

roslolian · Nov 8, 2018

Francis3422 said: ↑

If he shoots 39% on threes then we are set IMO.
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Well my opinion is if he shot 38.36769% on 3s then we are set.

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James Ennis sucks on defense.

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