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

He is a lot closer to consistently bad than consistently good.

The opposing 1-2-3 are on a CP3/Wade/Durant level against us more times than not.

What we gained in "D" by getting Dwight has been largely offset by our perimeter players feeling like funneling their man to Dwight is better than staying in front of them.

Often times it seems our guys sag so much into the middle for help defense that they are out of position when their man receives a timely pass.

Or its a case where they are in no mans land where they cant provide help or man-to-man defense.

There is probably half a dozen other observations that could be added to this narrative. But its plainly broke and in need of repair.

 

The bottom line is that Harden will have to commit to having more of a motor on both ends of the court for us to be elite.

As well.... Parsons, Lin, Garcia, Casspi and Brooks will have to up there game on the perimeter. Both Lin and Parsons have shown flashes. The rest have been trash in that regard IMO.

We baddddlllllyyy need a guy that can guard the 2/3 effectively and be a legit offensive upgrade in taking minutes from Casspi, Garcia, Brooks and then allowing Lin, Parsons and Harden to rest a bit more. I believe this person must be the 3rd or 4th best player on our team.

 

Re-watched the key stretch where we lost the lead / game, a lot of it is Terrence Jones being out of position.

 

I'm glad Howard is speaking out. He didn't come here for this BS. If the coaches won't or can't hold the players responsible, it's past time for the players to start holding one another accountable.

 

Howard, please get McHale fired. Get a coach that hold everyone accountability.

 

The opposing 1s have been having mostly less than stellar games against the Rockets with both Bev and Lin doing an above-average job guarding them. The 2s are the one's going crazy and sometimes the 3s but the 3s that do well are usually top players.

 

I agree. Would love Karl. Some have mentioned Hollins? What's he like? He seemed to be a take no BS kind of coach but is he defensive or offensive leaning?

 

Parker,Conely,Thomas,Holiday,all below their average PPG when Lin guarded them. Parker, Conely and Holiday were just about shut down.

 

Morey stated that Lin's defense is much better than people think at the end of last year. Lin's defense is better this year. Can you please show us the fact that you are talking about. Last night he was stopping Thomas on the PNR. Look at it on Synergy.

 

Absolutely true.

 

My god.

Starting at 3:00 minutes Sacramento ran every half court possession in the same Thomas/Cousins PNR set. They scored or got to the foul line 4 of the 5 times. The one time they it didn't end up in points/foul, Thomas blew by Lin and couldn't make the layup because Jones was in the right spot to cover.

The notion than Lin is a good, much less "elite" defender is a total joke.

You fanboys are so star struck by Jeremy you refuse to look at anything objectively.

 

Cool story bro... Except Parsons called out Harden in his interview being selfish on BOTH Offense and Defense. so you want Parsons to fine himself too?

 

"Starts on the perimeter" = don't blame me. Great leadership. The Rockets haven't improved defensively from last year at all. The only significant difference is the change at the 5.

I don't claim to understand all of the "advanced stats", but I see that Cousins had a DRtg for the last game of 90, while DH had a 120. It seems a lower number is better, according to the stats people. Should we blame that on McHale?

 

Give me a break. IT was 6-17 for 17 points, which has been his second worst scoring performance in his last 13 games.

He got 27 and 9 vs Parker
He got 22 and 11 vs Chalmers
He scored 29 vs Bledsoe...(who many consider an elite defender for the position.)
Scored 20 and 10 vs Teague
Scored 24 and 12 vs Calderon

People seem to have some unrealistic expectations when it comes to defense from the PG spot. As far as the PG position goes, Lin is above average defensively. Advanced statistics back this up.

Curry, Teague, Parker, Nash, Holiday, Lawson, Kemba...most point guards in the league aren't lauded for their defense. Lin is better than all those listed.

There are a select few who may be considered "Elite" and you can count them on one hand. CP3, Rondo, Bledsoe, maybe Rubio.

Almost all good PGs in the NBA get by each other. If Clippers play OKC, Westbrook might get 25 and 9 and Paul 30 and 10. Does that mean both CP3 and Westbrook are both garbage at defense?

The most you can hope for is to make them work and try to hold them below their averages, which for the most part Lin has done the last stretch of games.

 

I suggest you stop looking at stats and start watching the games.

Lin is NOT a good defender. The effort is there, the tools are not.

There is a reason Beverley is the starter and it is not some racist conspiracy against Jeremy Lin.

 

This. Lin is so underrated defensively. He has good man-to-man defense but needs to work on closing out on shooters. I've been impressed with his defense in the past few games.

 

You mean like the game where Lin completely shut down Parker including stuffing him at the basket?

Or where he stifled Conley into bad shooting and held Jrue to one of his worst games of the season?

 

I agree that the key to contend this year is to make Twin Tower work. There are no other "x-factors" in our roster nor via trades in the horizon that will improve our defense as much as TT.

I still can't believe that our incompetent coaching staff abandoned TT after only 8 games into the season, when our defensive efficiency was 0.995 ppp and our offense was still a top 10, despite Harden, Parsons, and Bev shooting at 26% from 3P.

The biggest mistake they made was to play Dwight at 4. Asik is the quicker and better defender all the way to the 3P line! Dwight is out of his element outside the paint; he doesn't play close up on 1-on-1 for fear of blow-by from lack of lateral quickness, doesn't hedge high on picks, falls easily for pump fakes at 3P shots (Hawes) and doesn't even contest mid-rangers (sometimes not even raising his hands at 17-footer shots). Dwight is best at shot blocking and contest layups in the restricted area. He is only feared in the paint!

I mean how difficult is it to understand the skills of your players? Just because Asik is a 7-footer and Dwight a couple of inches shorter, you don't naturally assume their positions by their size; you play their positions by their skills! There was no stronger evident by our win over Blazers--Asik shutting down Aldridge as a 4. There is no way we will beat Blazers in a playoff series without Asik guarding LMA. No way!

Can't make TT work = not contending this year. It's that simple!

 

I think our defense could improve with just the addition of Asik playing 20 minutes with the second unit. Right now there is just a layup drill anytime Dwight sits because opposing teams know that we have no backup C. We're currently 12th in defensive efficiency and that's with playing Casspi as a center when Dwight sits.

 

I'm sorry but that is a really, really weak response. And why bring up some race card.