Hmmm I'm not convinced. Obviously we will be better defensively this year but for me the issue is that it's the very good defensive teams that win the championship. What teams in the last 10 years won the title carrying several below average defenders?
This is going to be a very short thread then, because I don't think anyone is going to say anything that's going to change your mind.
There are going to be mismatches with bigger PG's and at the 4. The rest can be handled provided Harden commits himself to defense.
Excellent topic because it focuses on the elite teams. First, The spurs did enough to win the finals. So lets not act like their blueprint and execution wasn't enough. It was. Second, my view is that early in the series, the heat gambled on the shooters cooling down. When that didn't happen, they closed out and gambled on slowing Parker one on one. The heat did that, and still should have lost in game six. The growth on this team will be gradual, and triggered by the realization -- on the court -- that they can win big. Once that happens, you will see players buy into their roles, sacrifice offense, and give the extra effort on defense. It doesn't happen overnight, or just in practice. I think Beverly and parsons will actually be key in leading the way by setting the defensive tone. They will need to lead in effort, which is contagious. Its the mentality where I make a play, then you make a play... On offense, the keys are Howard's efficiency in the post, and Harden elevating his game. I think both will benefit from each other. This team is constructed to operate like Double Clutch - Dream, Horry, Elie, Clyde and Smith/cassell.
The whole reason I made the thread was to get others perspective on the defensive issues. There have been some great points made too. At the moment my perspective is that Howard isn't a quick fix. One thing that should be mentioned is that this team didn't exist this time last year for training camp, where a lot of time goes into the defensive structure. Perhaps we should take this into account when analyzing last year's performances?
Keep in mind that (A) Asik can play better defense when he doesn't have to worry about stamina nor foul trouble. His defensive rating in Chicago was a godly 92 and was finishing games over Noah. (B) Howard had by far his worst defensive season in his prime career. His career average for DRating is 98. If you knock off even 1 point from the above assumption, then we go up to 7th in the NBA, between the Bulls and the Celtics. But also keep in mind that the Rockets turned the ball over at a league high pace. Knock off a TO per game simply from Lin/Harden getting better, in turn saves another ~0.5ppg, and we're top 5 in defense. And the above doesn't even consider the fact that our players are one year older and have better chemistry. While I wouldn't guarantee top-5 defense, there's no reason we shouldn't be near there just from having Howard/Asik for 48mpg.
Harden can up his D when he wants to (see playoffs), but he won't need to "lead on both ends" now that Dwight's here; and will probably step it up now that he can lean back a little on offense. Beverley struggled with defensive duties, really? Him and Asik were the only ones that didn't struggle. And Parsons has shown in 11-12 he can play great to elite wing D when he isn't relied on for scoring. This year will be a different story thanks to DH.
A lot of positivity in this thread, I like it! Beverley gambled a lot on the steal & his positional sense suffered with it. He is one of the better defensive prospects though.
Our defense this year will likely be average to slightly above. As it stands now, we have two excellent defensive centers, but all the perimeter players except bev will be average. At the PF, we will be below average, until proven otherwise. In order to win a title, we need an upgrade at PF. Right now, that position will hurt us at both ends.
1. People who say Houston was a bad defensive team or "one of the worst defensice teams" are wrong. The Rockets were 16th in defensive efficiency (points allowed per possession) out of 30 teams. They are overall an average defensive and not among the worst. People who say they were bad defensively often only look at their points allowed per game, which is meaningless without adjusting for the number of possessions. 2. More specifically, the Rockets were actually a significantly well above average defensive team when Omer Asik was on the floor and a bad one when he sat. Their only weakness when Omer was on the floor was transition D. Omer is, of course, an excellent defender but a big part of their problems without him was that their backup C was mostly Greg Smith, not a center and constantly getting lost defensively (he is fine as an individual post defender but rather bad at help D and team scheme). They had no other real rim protecting center on the squad-- No Marcus Camby, Dikembe Mutombo or even Chuck Hayes to fill in the 18 minute a game when Omer was resting. N With Howard and Asik both on the roster, you now have 48 minutes of rim protection a night, which would likely make the Rockets at least a top 10 defensive team.
Actually, his defense was probably the 2nd best on this team last year after Asik. Opponents scored 101.9 points/100-possessions when he was on the court. They scored 107.3 points/100 possessions when he's off the court. That's a huge 5.4 point differential. FWIW, in the playoffs, that differential went up to 7.3. Beverley's defense was definitely great last year. And the great thing is, with training camp and extra year under his belt, he should be even better.
DRating is highly team dependent. I don't think your assumption is valid. Asik and Howard will have defensive rating that reflect the rest of the team's mediocre defense.
Toronto is going to buy out Camby. At this point I dont think he can help you a lot, but is a veteran I can see the Rockets interested in for the minimum.
Let's hope McHale will be harder on Harden this season. With Harden here, there's no reason for James not to put in more effort to play defense. Stop gambling and just D up!
I think our perimeter guys will all look like better defenders this year because they have Howard behind them. They can (1) spend more energy on defense because Howard takes some offensive load, (2) crowd the 3-pointers, knowing they always have a defender to pick up the drive. But, I think the key will be what we do at power forward. If we keep Asik, center is taken care of for 48 minutes, and you might get a few minutes at power forward too if they can play together. But beyond that, Howard by himself would have trouble holding up the defense by himself. Smith would have made us a scary good defense. As it is, we'll have to see what happens in trades and what we get out of the sophomores. So, I think it's entirely possible we could end up with a very good defensive team, depending on Asik and the PF spot.
This is such an interesting stat, and the biggest reason I wouldn't mind having Asik come off the bench for around 20 minutes a game. Yes it would be a lot of money tied up in one position, but it would give us 48 minutes straight of elite interior defense and rebounding.
