Can We Survive Defensively?

Thread title is what's other teams will say when looking at our line-up.

Regarding defense, we won't be worse than last year in any way, even expect Beverley to regain his all-defense form if he returns to the bench this season.

And like I said, our team should be ridiculous on offense, doubt we'll be outscored a lot.

 

I have the same concerns about defense. I looked at it by position.

PG - Bev, better than average (but not as much as people say), Lawson, worse than average. Nett, our PG position about average at defense.

SG - Beard, worse than average. Thornton, worse than avg. SG, below average.

SF - Ariza, better than average. Brewer, about average. Nett position, better than average.

PF - both poor defensively, position worse than average.

C - Howard above average, Capela, above average. Position, above average.

So two positions above average, two below and one average. In very round numbers, I think Rockets will be about average on defense.

 

The crappy defensive (and significantly older and worse offensive) backcourt still took us to the WCF. Now we've replaced Terry and Prigioni with Lawson, Beverley, and maybe Terry being the 3rd guy instead of the starter.

 

Except we spent most of the season significantly above average on defense even with Dwight missing a huge chunk of the season. That's because Ariza is a hound on the perimeter and Motiejunas' defense really shined in Dwight's absence.

 

Get a PF that can shoot 3s and has a track record for doing it and just blow teams out.

Neither PF will contain WEST ones anyway, and don't give me that DMO is a 3 point shooter talk

 

How will Lawson matchup with Curry? I hope he will make him work defensively to the point where his offense struggles.

 

Lawson is average at defense and know that harden dosent have to give as much effort on offense he might start playing more d and this past season harden wasnt bad on d we just need our pf postion to step up on d

 

We have two elite guard defenders in Beverley and Ariza, so Lawson shouldn't have to match up on any CP3/Curry/Westbrook-type players.
Our frontcourt with Dwight protecting the rim and D-Mo holding it down in the low-post is also very competent in itself.

 

I still look at that warriors squad and say talented defensively... Sure... But tons in the league defensively??

Obviously scheme plays a role but I think part of that scheme is a whole-listic approach whereby their crazy offensive potency plays into their defensive capabilities.

It's easier to be good defensively imo when you are also so good offensively.

That is the hope with Lawson. Not just that he Improves your offense but by making other teams work and focus on him they slip a but defensively.

That said, onus still on Morey to fix any defensive holes.

 

Don't forget about our young guys. Obviously they won't play very much at the beginning of the season, but could develop a contributing role like Capela did.

At PF Montrezl Harrell is actually quite a competent defender. Although he's only 6'7", his height is compensated for with his 7'4" wingspan (that's right) and his 250lb frame. In addition, his athleticism and cardiovascular endurance are off the charts. He's a strong, explosive athlete and could really shut down some of the bigger swingmen or smaller PFs (e.g. Draymond Green).

At SG, KJ McDaniels could prove worthy of containing anyone that needs to be covered while our other defenders can't commit to it. For example, we could be playing Cleveland and need to keep Beverley on Kyrie Irving & Ariza on LeBron, so we would bring KJ to keep JR Smith scoreless. I think, as another young explosive athlete, he could be of equal use to us defensively as he is offensively. I'd like to see him getting reasonable minutes this season.

 

What?

The only good defender we lost was Josh Smith.

Lawson isn't a great defender but he's better than Terry and Prigs.

 

Rockets need to upgrade defense at 4/5. With Lawson on the team, maybe just go full r****d and sign Larry Sanders and Royce White to vet minimum. The 2 combined will make up for loss of play making and rim protection with Smith signing with Clips.

 

1. Lawson while not good defensively will put pressure on opposing PGs to defend instead of taking the night off on that end. Them not being able to focus all their energy on offense and making them work/tiring them out is a defense by itself.

2. Lawson will keep pressure off Harden offensively. Less double-teams to fight through and less minutes will give Harden more energy on defense. We all know Harden is capable when he's not being stretched too thin offensively.

3. Beverely gets pushed to the bench role where he can play less minutes but be more impactful defensively the time he is on the court. He played this role when Lin was the starter and his defense was at its peak.

 

Beverley can now go back to being Mr. 94 feet. I love it. Hated him as a starter but now he's back to where he belongs and he can focus on what he's good at and what made him earn his keep in the league.

 

Lawson's defense is among the worst in the league at the PG position. That he stands just 6'0" with a hilariously short 6'1" wingspan explains most of it. Rockets will need Bev to make up for Lawson's defensive shortcomings. I imagine there will be lots of offensive/defensive substitutions at the position.

 

And because defense is a team philosophy. The whole can be higher or lower than sum of its parts. If Harden can take plays off on offense, he'll automatically be a better defender. And while Lawson sucks on D, he'll at least make CP3 and Curry play some D instead of them resting on one side of the court.

 

Beverley being able to play only 20 minutes per game should be a huge boost to his defense and overall health. Love the guy, but he just can't keep up the energy we saw early in his career for 30 minutes per game.

Lawson is no worse than Terry/Prigioni/Lin/whatever else we threw out there. In fact he's probably an upgrade over all of those guys except maybe Nick Johnson (who was a black hole on offense).

Another year under their belts should allow DMo, Jones, and Capela to show improvement. That's typically how things go, young guys take time to learn the ropes defensively.

Harden is no longer a black hole on D, and hopefully he will continue to get better.

 

Well..... At least Lawson is better than Terry of Pablo on the defense side...And he can score more points...That's it.

 

Idk if Lawson is better than Terry or Pablo on the defensive end just due to effort.

 

Actually, I think Lawson may be our best perimeter defender-- perhaps edging out Beverley. If you check the stats, Lawson doesn't get beat off the dribble, and he closes out on shooters better than anyone on our team.

And because he can eat minutes, Beverley can be fresh and play his game as a physical defender and reliable 3-point threat off the bench.

Since we have Thornton and McDaniels I'm hoping we can stay away from crazy small ball lineups.

The lineup that has to tempt McHale (but is highly unnecessary) has Harden at the 3. I can see him and Thornton or Harden and Brewer out there together (again). But I don't like the physical pounding that Harden has to absorb defending the bigger guys. It would really be nice if McDaniels could take those minutes early in the season.

Also, our defensive rebounding won't be too much worse with Lawson out there, but DMo and Jones are still growing in experience.