I agree with everything you posted here except for the last part. Howard has better options than this team tbh.
At one point we had Batman and Meta on D. How many teams could get consistent perimeter points against them? Not that they could do it anymore. If you have great defenders on your team you are going to have a great defense.
Great defenders - none unless Lowry gets beck into form Good defenders - Dally, Lowry, Parsons, PP (borderline), Lee Average defenders - Dragic, TWil Bad defenders - Martin Piss poor defenders - Scola, Bud and just about everyone else on the roster Hmmmmm ... does not look like any coach - even JVG - would be able to elevate this crowd to a good defensive team.
Perhaps our players just aren't as good as everyone on here thinks they are?? How dare I say that right?
Dalembert's too inconsistent with his helpside D, and though Lee's shown flashes of excellent on-ball defense (see 4th quarter of the OT loss to LAC), he seems to settle for above-average to good defensive effort too often, when he's capable of much more. Lee, like Scola, really feeds off energy and ups his game accordingly. Scola morphs into a different type of animal in a playoff-like atmosphere. He develops this razor-sharp focus, and becomes even grittier and more determined. Lee's the same way... he would be a force next to a really lethal swingman like KD or LeBron. No pressure offensively, allowing him to just terrorize guys on the other end.
I dunno, while watching the Rockets, I don't see Martin be as bad a defender as people on the board act like he is. Our bigs apart from Dalembert don't play any help defense. It's that simple.
Like I said in the OP, we now have a legit 7-footer in the middle, a great defensive starting SF, and both Lee and Patterson are playing more minutes. I do agree that Scola has gone from bad to worse. And we are missing Hayes and Battier's leadership. There was a thread questioning McHale's offensive strategies a few days ago. I said then that I worried more about our defense than our offense. That's why I started this thread. It's puzzling why our defense has not improved after these supposedly favorable changes.
Don't forget about no Brooks at all this year, and Dragic for the whole year, along with Lowry of course.
We've definitely sucked the last 7 games, and early in the season. But I thought we had a good string of defensive games between then. We started hustling more, sealing the gaps and forcing more jump shots. And the 82games data backs that up. Your two stats don't show much. Effective FG% is down and points per 100 possessions is down. Also notice jump shot FG%. Appears to me our problem right now is effort rather than tactical. http://www.82games.com/1112/1112HOU3.HTM http://www.82games.com/1011/1011HOU3.HTM But, maybe some of these drops in numbers are league wide.
Coaching staff, lack of effort, not the right players, bad mentality, no team spirit, lack of chemistry, no leadership..
Was about to say this..... seconded..... Josh Smith, Crash Wallace, Andre Iguodala, Rondo, maybe even Evan Turner
I used the league ranking, rather than the actual stats to eliminate league wide shifts. This season has not been the same because of the cramped schedule and lack of preseason preparation. It wouldn't be surprising if scoring is affected league wide. I am not implying that it's coaching problem. I just want to ask if anybody notice anything wrong. My personal diagnosis is that the lack of leadership among players is probably the most important factor. The intangibles provided by Battier and Hayes were real.
I was referring to my stats from 82games. Do you have league rankings for Effective FG%? or Points per 100 possessions? I didn't have time to look. Our PPS is roughly the same ranking as last year. When SmeggySmeg was in town, we discussed the defense in February. He said he wasn't sold on my view that the help defense was starting to get it and we were hustling more with purpose. So, maybe I'm in the minority. Certainly, everything you point out is true during this losing period. Maybe this is who we are...rather than the defense in Jan/Feb.
