[Clutchfans] Dwight: Defensive woes "starts on the perimeter"

That has to be organized though, everyone has to do it.

 

Indeed Coach, Mchale needs to make defense a priority.

 

Yup and if he is not going to get fired or moved to the FO then an assistant coach needs to be hired, one thats better than whoever we currently have.

 

I never agree with players calling out teammates to the media, but Dwight definitely has a point. And it's not just Harden. Our team as a whole sucks at defense. It's like they think with Dwight here they can just half *** things and he'll cover for them. Harden's lack of d has been talked about enough. Lin, while I appreciate the increased effort and focus, still tends to ball watch and a good hard screen can stop him. I love AB but how the **** do you let Jimmer Fredette blow by you like that??? And Parsons, who many tout as our best perimeter defender, has been steadily regressing in defense in favor of his offense since his rookie year. I know this is never going to happen, but I really wish he would stop focusing on offense so much and give more effort on defense. But unfortunately, defense doesn't get you paid.

And someone please teach Garcia how to defend without fouling.

 

Guys who can play the 2 and 3 spots, hit an open jumper, and play a little defense? The league is full of them. I'm not talking about an all-star caliber swingman. I would hope Asik is enough of a price to pay.

 

I definitely noticed Lin got picked off one play with no heads up communication. Seems like the strategy was just to fight through it... and let Isaiah go straight to the hoop without any help defense.

 

I think Coach McHale will be out of here next season. Hopefully Morey will hire a defensive minded coach. Keep Sampson for the offense.

 

I'd already said this before signing Dwight:

The gap between Dwight and Asik's impact is minimum. Asik is way underrated in GARM and a better positional defender. He is superior in man-to-man and PnR defense. He also has the lateral quickness that you will rarely find in a 7-footer. The only thing I give strong edge to Dwight is his weak side shot blocking and offensive skills.

Here are the theory I have that causes the breakdown of our perimeter defense.

Asik hedged high on PnR defense and this helped our perimeter defenders to recover from picks. Last year we also 'funneled' quick PG's by over playing the center court and 'encourage' them to drive baseline. It worked well and whenever Asik was on the court, our defense was top 10!

Here's comes Dwight with his multiple DPOY awards and coaches are all awed. I'm sure they'd heard about the Dwight affect in defense but instead of fitting him into our defensive schemes from last year, we are changing our defense to fit Dwight. All it does is confuse our perimeter defenders.

Dwight likes to stay back on picks or ices on PnR's. Good picks will separate opposition ball handler and his defender. We then started switch defense on any signs of picks and ended up with too many mismatches on perimeter. That didn't work. Now our defenders started to fight through picks. But it will ONLY work if Dwight hedges high to slow down the ball handler, but he doesn't. He still stays back and quick PG's, like IT will just blow by him.

Dwight can call out on our perimeter defenders but he is also the culprit if he stays back. It takes team defense to become somewhat effective guarding against PnR's.

The way I see it, we will not improve much without any major changes. The person(s) Dwight needs to call out is our coaching staff. They are incompetence and all they are doing is riding on the talents of the team. It's most obvious by the rotational minutes of a few players; the coaching staff is driving Harden, Dwight, and Parsons to the ground.

The worst is yet to come if they keep playing them 38+ min/game.

 

Yup, Houston does that time and time again, your not going to catch a guy around the screen, the guy needs to be stopped by the guy who was defending the screener or communication is needed so that lin knows he is about to be screened when his back is turned, then he can quickly go between the screener before he gets pick off.

 

Good oberservation and great read. I never looked at it like that.

 

fixed * observation

 

Both McHale and Sampson need to go, they both run the same style of play....

 

So from "good wing defender" we are now talking about a guy who can "play a little defense"? Sure, those there are plenty.

 

Keep it up Dwight!! In my humble opinion, Dwight is showing a lot of maturity, not only as an individual, but as a true hoops professional. This statement, seems not to be directed to any individual, but as a statement holding everyone accountable for the team's defensive inefficiency. This latest demeanor that he is showing is going to translate to a lot of positives..

 

dwight needs to come out and help on the pick n roll, most times you see dwight sagging back. dwight needs to come out and set more picks and screen for the guards

 

In order for Ice to work on PnR defense, the onball defender has to anticipate the pick and force the ball handler to the side, on most plays the defender doesn't do that, so Ice breaks down as ball penetration happens to the middle.

 

how about Dwight don't get punked by cousins in the paint.

 

good post

I've been saying all this as posters know here ever had the thread ASIK value VS Dwight... If Howard is not going to shoot the ball much in the 2nd half then he's worse than having ASIK on the court.

Only reason I moved on is because ASIK has been unhealthy this year so the Dwight signing looks perfect for that reason.

Harden doesn't get those screens ASIK you to set for him last year to get in the paint, didn't matter if he had butter hands, ASIK did all the dirty work for harden to get in that lane like he did, but people didn't give him credit for that. All they saw was harden points. Now you. Prove he's not efficient as he was last year.

Motet didn't really address any team issues this year, you see Portland, suns didn't have to get a superstar to get better, their GM just addressed needs, we had a top 10 center so bringing in another C was a WANT not a NEED.

Millsap - NEED our pf we could go to when we needed to score
IGGY- NEED defense on perimeter, depth
HOWARD - WANT

 

Some are born elite defenders, but majority of players are not, that's why effort, heart, pride all play a huge part in solid defense.
I am a below average defender. Worst, most of the time , I cruise and go easy on defensive assignment. Afterall, it is just a fun game to me and not worth the injury risk. But when i am againt corky guys, or someone i dont like, i will step up effort and tenacity, make it a point to limit their scoring, or at least shooting chances. My point is, to defend or not to, is always a choice. And different results ensue.
I think the same goes to NBA games and professional players. Some make a living and name for themselves on defense, like Shane Battier, Tony Allen, so the effort is there night in night out. Others, because their interest/priority are on scoring, they tend to put up lazy or pseudo defense, and only exert energy at the other end. Yes, very much a one way player by choice.
But surely, such mentality and playing style hurt the team. The defense is as strong as the weakest link. It takes just one guy to go pseudo mode, and the whole robustness is gone.
I hope the coaching team can retool Harden. make him embrace team ball and lead by example at both ends of the floor. I am sure a '20 plus pts scoring Harden with a D' is more valuable than a '38 pts but no show on d ' Harden. For Rockets to go deep into the playoff, Harden has to be the former, not the latter.

 

It's good that you mentioned Asik per the posts above. I can't wait until he returns... if he does..