until they have an atheletic and long power forward. Good defensive coach doesn't always make a good defensive team. Larry Brown was never a good defensive coach with the 76ers. Once he took over the Pistons, he realized his team was very atheletic and long. And he capitalized that strength and let that be the strong focus of the team. Now ROX loses a lot of atheleticism after trading Cato and SF and Cat. They added TMac but one addition doesn't make up for the loss of 3. And worse yet, offensively ROX just isn't good enough to win games by outscoring the opponents. And I put all the blame on the coach. There's no reason why Yao has the least touches in an inside-out offense. In those 2 losses, not only JVG failed to utilize the positions we had advantages of but also the opponent teams attacked the ROX's weakest spot, PF. And what's worse in the league, all the good teams have much better PF than the ROX. The reality is MoT is absolutely nonexistent in defense. So JVG can blame his players not playing good team defense all year long because the situation will not get better until he has the right players. ROX is in some serious trouble.
I can agree to an extent I think we GREATLY UNDERESTIMATED the impact of Cat and Cato Deke is a good Defensive player. . but he lacks Cato's quickness [I know this is blasphemous but . . ] T-mac is NOT the defensive player that CAT was . . . he may become it. . but he isn't it now Mo is still Mo . .and Jwon . . well I cannot say he much better While SF was not a Bruce Bowen . . his speed allowed him to recover better than Ward .. . .and his size is better than Lue So Center - Yao and Deke - Tall but Slow PF - Jwon/MoT/spoon - soft/Soft/Short Sf - JJax/Nachbar - Same as last year/hustling more but inexperienced SG - T-mac/JJax/? - Not the Cat but good PG - ward/Lue - Slow/Undersized I think Sura will make a difference . . he has SOME speed and SOME size But overall . . . I don't think we will be where we were I am just notice how BIG a differene Team Speed makes in basketball Rocket River
that and the ability to play two shot blockers at the same time. yao and cato locked the middle up. the top teams in the league have 2shot blockers in the starting line-up: DET, SAS, MIN, IND, DEN, MEM... we are poor at defending the inside. also, slow on the perimeter. a trade will definitely be made to address one of those problems. this is not about losing our first two games. these two problems will be here all year, even when we are winning. they need to be fixed if we are gonna take the next step. if i had to make a trade now. i would actually keep mo and trade jh. he is more tradable, and is performing worse thus far.
Defense relies greatly on chemistry and a team acting as a unit, not just 5 guys that are good guarding people one-on-one. Bird was a crappy one-on-one guy on defense, but was one of the greatest team defenders in the league. This unit we have looks exactly like what they are: 5 guys on the court trying to figure it out as they go. They're virtual strangers. Your point is valid, but there is more to it. Evan
I don't think I really agree w/ ure reasoning there. I think it's more about motivation than anything. Last year we didn't have an all-defensive team out there on the court...Cato, Cat, Francis...these were all players whose defense was HIGHLY questionable before JVG arrived. And when he signed on, he drilled it home to his players and to the team that defense wins games, and me made damn sure his players brought that part of their game every night. So what happened. The team D was much better last year (among the best in the NBA) and Cat, in particular, showed definite improvement. So there's no reason to believe the same won't happen again.
Chris Bosh shoots the ball over Mo. Do you think he can defend that shot? C'mon, athleticism plays big part on the defensive game. Lack of size and speed in the 4 spot are killing the team. It's naive to suggest that can be overcome with better team defense.
SA - yeah DET - yeah MIN - maybe, maybe if you consider Olowakandi IND - nope (just Oneal) DEN - nope (just Camby) MEM - Gasol and Swift are ok but they lack size But that basically proves ure point... Denver and Memphis aren't top teams. And I do agree, I think we need to move Mo back to the bench (he's best there), then try and perhaps move Juwan to bring in a defense stopper, but who? That's almost why I felt we gave too much up for T-Mac, Cat and Stevie were fine cause they basically equal his offensive production. But then throwing in Cato... Dike is good, but won't have the intensity that Cato brought.
I'll agree that athleticism plays a part....I mean it doesn't matter how much intensity and dedication an Early Boykins brings on defense, he'll still get beat 9 out of 10 times by the bigger and better pg's in the league. However, the problem I see with some of our guys, like Mo, isn't a case of inferior athletic ability.... I'd say it's just an unwillingness to bring it.... Looking at last year, how the hell can our then 6-3 PG outrebound our 6-9 PF?! Sure, athletic ability has something to do w/ it, I mean Stevie can fly...but, he CHOSE to risk physical harm by trying to snag some of those balls with 7ft giants around him. That's intensity....and that is exactly what Mo-T and perhaps a few others DO NOT bring on that side of the floor.
Whoops, I forgot he was w/ Denver now...but still, he's a career 1.37 shot blocker...ok but not great.
