Last year, we were very good in the post defense, but not quite good on the three point area. Plus we did not play good defense on the last two mins in the playoff games. Besides anytime you had Howard and Head on the floor, your defense was not going to be very good. This year, we have added a few new players, they are quick, smart, and are going to play hard. We should be better.
Adelman made it to the Finals 2 out of his first 3 seasons with Portland and the other season made it to the WC Finals. In 90/91 the Blazers had a 63-19 record. Not bad. You don't do that without knowing how to coach defense. I'm really not concerned about that aspect of Adelman's coaching. The guy has always coached to take advantage of the players he's got, with great success. JVG did do something good for Adelman, however, and that is drum defense into the heads of the Rockets. That will be a foundation in that area of the game that Adelman will take advantage of, but didn't need to be successful.
No. We downgraded defensively when we fired Jeff Van Gundy and hired Rick Adelman. I, for one, am pleased as punch about that. I'm sick of having to take pride in our defense. It's about time for some offensive punch.
SIMPLE Last Year: Based on all defensive team stats metrics amalgamation: Good Defenders: Rafer Alston Vassilis Spanoulis Very Good Defenders: Yao Ming Bonzi Wells Tracy McGrady Chuck Hayes Great Defenders: Dikembe Mutombo Shane Battier Defenders who couldn't guard jack you know what if their life depended on it: Luther Head John Lucas III Kirk Snyder Jake Tsakalidis Juwan Howard Steve Novak So basically Juwan Howard and Luther Head and John Lucas III all of whom played absolutely God awful HORRIBLE defense will this year thanks to the new roster changes basically not be playing much at all. Under Van Gundy Francis was an outstanding defender and Adelman also demands defense if the player is capable of playing it, which Francis is. The difference between Adelman and Van Gundy is Adelman won't throw a player away just because he doesn't like how he fits in his defensive schemes. Mike James was a very good defender under Van Gundy. Comparison, under Van Gundy Luther Head and John Lucas III could not guard their own shadow. So HUGE upgrades their on defense. Then Luis Scola will get Juwan Howard's minutes............ Luis Scola >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Juwan Howard on D. So yes I would say the team is undeniably going to be better defensively, although the stats may not look as good like points allowed because Adelman will want more like 100 possessions instead of 97 like Van Gundy used.
It's not whether or not we upgrade defensively, it's the spread of offensive efficiency - defensive effciency. I think this is a team where you can get more milage out of maximizing the offense first, and having sound defense instead of the other way around (the Gundy plan). We'll see what happens.
Which team were you watching last year? THe Rockets of 1997? B/c yes, Rudy did have Hakeem guarding Malone at times.
Yes, and it worked great, but he always saved that until the end of the game, and Hakeem was much QUICKER and equally as strong as Malone, so Malone's comfort zone was ruined at the end of games. Smart coaching. He is trying to trade him...got to drum up interest some how.... DD
Holy crap which stats have you been looking at? Wells was a very good defender last year? And btw Morey said Alston was the best defensive guard on the team last year.
The team had a positive plus minus net gain defensively per possession Spanoulis on the floor. Also when Alston was on the floor. When Lucas 3 or Head was on the floor the stats are absolutely appalling. HORRIBLE. So if this quote from you means what you imply it does, this makes Luther Head and John Lucas 3 the worst defenders in NBA history. Which thus proves my point about the team being upgraded defensively because those ridiculously putrid defenders will be losing minutes to Mike James and Steve Francis, both of whom performed way better in the same defensive system. Of course, some of us like analysis instead of just pulling nonsense out of the air.
I believe you are on record as saying VGina's floor time stats can not fairly be used due to his limited amount of minutes. So pulling a direct quote from the Gina's opening is pulling nonsense out of the air?
I look at the SAME stats Morey uses. Bonzi was outstanding on D according to all the advanced metrics stats. Yes Alston was the #1 point guard defensively. Spanoulis was #2. BOTH were in the range of definitely being good defenders. Luther Head and John Lucas III were absolutely abysmal no matter what stat you look at. Steve Novak's defensive numbers were an achievement in futility to put it mildly. Kirk Snyder may be the most overrated player in Rockets history as he is credited with being a "good defender" by vast majority of Rockets fans. Yet looking at any of the advanced defensive stats will show you that he can't guard anyone if his life depended on it. Yes Daryl Morey is very aware of these stats. He has already made it where Lucas, and Head 2 of the worst defenders you could imagine are out of key roles. And Juwan Howard was garbage on D. The numbers are so far in Hayes' favor it's sad. Anyone would see Lucas, Head, and Howard had to be replaced by players that could play better defense and Morey has done that by bringing in Francis, James, and Scola.
Are you really comparing the plus/minus of rotation players vs. scrubs? Ohhh wow, some scrub got some PT in garbage minutes and looked good! I guess that validates his plus/minus numbers, right?! That's an intelligent argument to make.....
Totally confused you are indeed. TEAM stats have nothing to do with league stats. For team stats 100 minutes is okay. It's for translated metrics stats that it has to be 500 minutes. The quote doesn't mean anything from Spanoulis. All it means is if he can't play defense, since his numbers were LIGHT YEARS ahead of Head and Lucas that Head and Lucas were the worst defenders around and really the stats can probably support that being made as an argument. Again therefore the team IS now better defensively.
You have no idea how advanced these stats are. You can roll your eyes all you want but they are exactly the stats Morey uses. Lucas was a SCRUB Spanoulis was a SCRUB This based on your definition of Spanoulis being a scrub then so is Lucas. Lucas has HORRIBLE stats on D Spanoulis had good ones, but Alston's were better. The stats actually have numerous built in equations to actually compute the very things you mention. So roll your eyes all you want. Let me tell you, if anyone thinks Kirk Snyder is a good defender they are living in a dream world. But hey THANK GOD Daryl Morey uses facts rather than "rolls his eyes"
So you agree with this then right? Just because Lucas and Head, in your opinion, or horrible defenders, doesn't make VGina a good one. By his own worlds, VSpan could not play NBA defense. That's good enough for me.
You're the kind of guy that could take a player that doesn't even play but shot something like 3/5 on three point attempts all season long and then argue that he needs to play more. According to the stats, the plus/minuses and your METRICS he's the BEST shooter on the team. Right? SO PLAY HIM THEN!!! [right....] Furthermore, i'm not making an argument for guys like Snyder, JLIII, Luther or anybody else. I'm just absolutely befuddled that you could take a player like V-Span, who played almost exclusively in garbage time, and then try to argue that his strong defensive performance in a meaningless game scenario warrants him more minutes or makes him fitting of the label of a "good defender". That kind of argument is completely ridiculous to me. As is claiming Bonzi was some kind of adequete defender last year. He was fat, slow and a step behind everybody. No, that won't show up on a stat sheet but the point still stand if you've actually watched the games like I have. Stats aren't everything. Sure, they are important and they tell you a lot but you have to look at the whole picture too.
Whoa... how did that happen? You found a way to quote something that I hadn't even posted yet! Your post was right before mine, even though I didn't type it till that post! You're freaking me out.
I have a better idea. Watch the damn games. Anyone who watched Bonzi play basketball last year would not come to the conclusion that he's "very good" defensively.
NEVER EVER did I say that did not count for TEAM stats. I said over and over that for NBA Euroleague or Eurobasket translation metrics stats data it has to 500 minutes for comparison. Something that Sam Fisher for whatever reason cannot get through his head. He uses one argument that has nothing to do with another argument. I was talking about comparing the data from the translation stats as the formulas are written NOT about comparing individual team stats for the current NBA year. It's not even remotely the same conversation but Sam Fisher seems incapable of grasping two different subjects. This is one of the reasons why people get so ticked off at him because he just uses arguments that are not even the same subject you are on. NO I do not disagree with it, I was saying it cannot be used when comparing a translated stat which is true. When comparing a team stat for an actual NBA year you can use it. And the stats do show Spanoulis was a good defender. They showed Alston was better and Lucas and head should have never set floor on an NBA court if Jeff Van Gundy really meant it when he said he played people based on defense.
