Okay, fine. I am not 100% convinced myself to be honest. But here is the line of reasoning. 1. The other half of the games Brooks didn't play in, Ish Smith did. He was also a defensive liability. 2. I don't know how much you know about Goran Dragic, but defense is actually one of his strong suits. As you can clearly see by watching him in the past few games. 3. We traded Shane Batter's minutes for more Budinger and a lot more Lee. I am not sure Lee is much of a downgrade or any at all defensively. Both of them are clear upgrades offensively as they make the entire offense more dynamic with more cutting/driving along with a similar level of shooting. A more dynamic offense means less rushed shots, more made shots = less opponent fast breaks = we can set our half court defense. A better offense contributing to a better defense.
In no specific order: 1. Lee 2. Patterson 3. Defense redistributed (lost shane at the 3, but gain Dragic at 1, Lee at 3) It's also misleading so far because of the blowout wins...but it does seem like they've been able to step up their d significantly during key moments of the game, with their offense clicking, that's enabled them to create enough separation to win.
Fair point on Lee, who has been solid on defense and getting more minutes. Not yet sold on Dragic, and certanly not on Budinger. I'm skeptical on the theory that a more dynamic offense is cutting down on opponent fast breaks. We should be able to prove a reduction in fast breaks from the numbers. And, in any case, we're only going on a handful of games against less-than-stellar (even less-than-average) teams. Something that passes for good defense on Marcus Thornton may look less impressive against Steve Nash.
The ten games before the trade deadline they averaged giving up 103.5 points per game (in regulation - there were two OT games). This includes two games against Denver and one each against Dallas and the Lakers. I think the D was improving before the deadline, but it's no coincidence it's improved even more with AB moved (even though the Clippers and Pacers are the most "potent" teams we've played offensively since the deadline). I also think it's due to the increase in instensity due to the playoff push as well as those getting more minutes being "hyped" and playing with more energy and urgency. We definitely still need a big man who can protect the rim before we can be considered a good defensive team. The next three will be a good test.
Stevie Wonder can see that this kid plays defense well. His intensity is through the roof. Effort will never be questioned unlike someone we traded away recently. And if it wasn't effort, it was pure lack of size. 6'3" > 6' the last time I checked.
Of course. Once we get enough games/sample size it will be fact, one way or another. Right now all we can do is conjecture.
Rockets D is par, but their O is killer wit K Mart n C Bud at the wings n K Low at the point... hard to stop in transition... I puttin my money on Rockets this sat Vs Spurs!
i think dragic has more to do with the improved D than people are giving credit for. lee is just replacing shane. the difference is having a big PG who can actually play defense. dragic is also a more efficient player on offense than brooks. plus bud is an upgrade there over battier without losing any defense thanks to lee. overall the trades look to be paying off, but its a small sample size.
Its pretty obvious why the team D is up: 1) Less minutes for Hill (inconsistent) and Miller, more minutes for Patpat 2) No Brooks in the bench 3) Courtney Lee is playing 30 mins So basically before the opponent could count on Brooks, Miller and sometimes Hill to be defensive sponges, now those three guys are replaced by PP and Lee, two solid two way players. Battier was a net positive for the rox. Oh yeah, let's not forget Dragic who has shown some good defensive showings during his minutes on the court.
Goran and Brooks' defense is night and day. Brooks is the shaded line and Goran is the unshaded line. The stats are based on the player that they are guarding at the time, and not the opposing player's position. If Goran is guarding the opposing SG, but the opposing pg scores, then it is not counted as defensive possession. These are the stats, before they got traded. I didn't want to use the post-trade stats, because of the small sample size. Brooks was ranked 384th in defense. He allowed his opponent to score 44.7% of the time. While Dragic kept the opponent to less than 40%. With the Rockets, Brooks gets killed in isolation, where he allowed 1.25 PPP and 56.5% FG. This is good for 301st best defense. With the Suns, Dragic did fantastic on isolation, where he allowed 0.65 PPP and only 34.1% FG. Brooks gave up TWICE as many points for each isolation play, compared to Dragic. TWICE! Maybe Brooks did better in Pick-N-Roll defense. nope. Brooks allows a 47.7% FG(41 FGM of 86 FGA) and Dragic allows 39.4% FG( 26 FGM of 66 FGA). Brooks was getting destroyed on defense, nightly. Dragic is way ahead of him in defense.
In the 5 games since I started this thread, the Rockets have held their opponents to an average of 95.2 points per game including tonight's game where our Rockets held the Celtics to 77.
I wonder post-All Star break where our defense now ranks in the NBA in FG percentage allowed, TOs forced, and points allowed
Lol, this must suck for all the Battier worshipers who thought the Rockets defense would collapse without that overrated scrub.
Just out of curiosity (this doesn't include the Boston game): The red bars are how many minutes Brooks played in a game, the blue line shows our DRTG game-to-game. To be fair, there is also a (small) correlation between Brooks's minutes and the quality of the opponent's offense. So even though the chart suggests that variability in defense is attributable to Brooks's minutes (r^2 is 8.4%), it could just be a fluke that Brooks's minutes coincides with us playing tougher opponents.
I am shocked with the defense without battier, it seems like battier was actually hurting the defense. AB was an easy one, most people could figure out that he was hurting the team. Battier on the other hand was essentially traded for a addition by subtraction type move...and Morey was proven right. Pretty amazing.
I thought everyone said we needed a seven footer in the middle to play good defense? All of a sudden Hayes and Patterson are tall enough to get it done?
People pointed out that Lee's increased minutes offsets Battier's absence. Brooks' absence also helps. I think Patterson's increased minutes is probably the most overlooked factor. BTW, I was wrong worrying that Budinger as a starter would ruin our already shaky defense.
Budinger is significantly improved as a defender this year, even when he was getting lit up at the start of the year, I could see that he improved, it was just that guys were making shots on him.
