Kind of like how you'd like Batman's money and connections, with Spidermans actual superhero abilities...... I get ya.
Perhaps you should have done some research before making that statement. People who make that statement come off as emotional people that judge coaches on reputation based on ignorance and not fact. RA has actually coached some of the better defenses in the league at multiple coaching stops... look it up next time. Unfortunately when your center is as tall as a shooting guard and your PF can only flop on defense you are going to give up a lot of points in the paint which is going to make your defense look really bad.
And when he did have a healthy Yao Ming in the middle we were a top 5 defense in the league. In Yao's last season healthy we were 4th in opponents FG% .444 6th in opponents PPG 94.4 4th in Defensive Rating 104.0 JVG is one of the best defensive minded coaches to ever coach in the NBA. But Rick is no slouch and does not sacrifice offense to do it. You can only expect so much from a team that has a 6'6" center and a Power Forward that flops on defense and not much else.
If your defense needs a 7'6" guy to be effective then something is wrong with your defensive scheme. -I know Adelman coaches defense dramatically, but when you see things he does not correct time after time, it makes you wonder.
Did he continue to keep on playing Scola, and never coach his mistakes he would make time after time?
I think Adelman is great, but he deserves the blame for the defense. Just look at this year. If he'd cared more about defense, he wouldn't have given so many minutes to Martin / Scola / Bud / Brooks. It would have occurred to him that we just couldn't afford to. We could have given big minutes to Martin and Scola, but left the other two on the bench, precisely because of the effect on the defense. After the trade, he could have played Lee ahead of Bud for this reason. He could have cut Scola's minutes, and played Hayes / PPatt more (for example. Were his reasons sound for giving out minutes as he did? Probably, but he did have choices. He didn't have to do things the way he did.
No matter how Adelman schemed around it, the defense wasn't up to snuff because of the personnel; you can't put all the blame of the bad defense on him. He was dealt a really bad hand on that side of the ball. What did guys expect?!
so in the world of basketball as you know it.... A)injuries, no matter who has them, should have no outcome on a teams success B)every single player, regardless of who his teammates might be, is capable of being a great two way player if they have the right coach
In the years of RA, we went from 2nd to 4th to 20? Hmmmm...I wonder how that happened. <insert images of that kid mutombo and Big Yao> I thought the thread was going to be about Jeanie Buss offering Morey one million dollars to sleep with her. I guess that would indecent proposal.=)
A.) Of course I believe that the Injury to Yao Ming hindered the success of this team this season. However, if your team needs a guy who is 7'6" to play effective defense, I would argue that there are other flaws in the defense that need attention to. B.) There is no doubt NBA players have strengths and weaknesses, but when Scola is allowed to keep on making mistake after mistake and never gets taken out of the game or gets a tongue lashing, I would say that some deficiencies are overlooked rather than fixed. (If Scola was still in the rotation tonight I would give you details to watch for that are never corrected. For example: when the opponent gets the rebound on defense, Scola almost always goes around the back of the defender to try and swipe the ball away. This almost never works and allows a 5 on 4 break IF the rebounder pays attention and makes the right pass. Even then, the defense is late setting up. Just one instance) However, I believe that with the current group of players on the roster, the efficient offensive style of play gives this team the best ability to win on a nightly basis and Rick Adelman is one of the top coaches in the league. There is no doubt that this team overachieved this year, however there is no doubt in my mind that the current group COULD play better defense, and the loss of Yao and a 6'6" starting center are way overblown.
well we definitely disagree on how much losing yao effects the team. When he is the ONLY guy above 7 ft on the roster who can play any defense it is HUGE when he is lost. He takes up so much space in the middle that the lay up line that was our interior defense the last two years would have been so much better. Not that Yao was an all world shot blocker but he did change a lot of shots, its so much more difficult to have to get a shot up in the lane over a 7'6" giant than it is the shortest center in the league. Same goes for rebounding, it was just unfair how often that opposing guys just plucked offensive rebounds over our guys. ANY team that loses a guy like that is going to suffer on defense. Some teams more than others just on the way they are built. Our team was heavily dependent on Yao just like Orlando is heavily dependent on Dwight to make up for when another teammates man beats them. Like I said before its one thing for a defender to see chuck hayes after he gets by his man its a whole different thing to see yao ming waiting there. As far as scola is concerned, I am on board for trying to trade him just because what Patterson has shown, but I don't blame adelman for playing scola as much as he did. As bad as he may be on defense, his post skills and ability to hit the midrange jumper were too important for our offense to run smoothly. Without Yao there is NO ONE other than luis who you can give the ball in the post and trust to score some what efficiently. This to me was the main reason he had to be played despite his defensive deficiencies, which once again would have been helped if yao would have been able to play. Yao gets no credit for his defensive impact by some people its unreal. Im not saying I am going to spend any more time believing that he can still be that guy, but the way the org. decided to go we HAD to bet on him being that guy at least until the end of this season. Their just isn't viable 2nd options for when you have one of the very few max contract centers who gets hurt. The money tied up and lack of affordable, available replacements makes it nearly impossible. Hopefully they are smart enough to realize that Rick deserves a shot with a complete roster for once.
I honestly don't know if I can take you seriously. Playing any form of basketball from the rec to collegiate to the professional level, the fundamental key of defense is to protect the paint. In order to do so, all defensive philosophies funnel activity towards the middle/core of the defense--it congests offenses and takes away the easiest shot in the game--the layup/dunk. Not every team has the benefit of a 7'6" man in the middle, but every great defensive team in the history of basketball and a dominant defensive presence inside. There is a reason why 6'6" centers are not the norm in the NBA. We're not reinventing the wheel here.
You are really slow. Nobody NEEDS anyone to do anything. The point is that this team is built around one Yao Ming and he's injured. Btw, there's nothing wrong with our starting lineup with our 6'6" starting center. They average a pretty solid 106 defensive rating and I don't have the numbers on hand but I would say this is the best starting lineup we've had since the Hakeem days. The problem is that when you have 3rd string and 4th string centers getting big minutes like we have and get absolutely nothing out of Brooks and Bud for most of the year, things go downhill pretty fast.
Would you have rather not played Scola? Really? The defense might have been better but the trade off of losing his offense would have hurt much worse. Would you really rather go back to the days Ryan Bowen and Keith Bowens in the starting line-up? Good defense! Defensive Rating was great that year, 6th in the whole league. But our offense was so damn bad we could only muster 35 wins and that was with Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady starting over half the season. Yeah your right lets just sacrifice offense for defense at all costs.... including wins. You’re such a Genius!
Thats pretty much imposibble to do ... remember "Motion offense" .. u can't play JVG defense w RA offense ... I mean that's a beating to take, theres no way in hell anybody can keep up for 48 min(injuries) .... I do think the having a True C will helps us. I want to see u play lock up defense and move the whole game non stop, I mean think about ur proposal!!
I don't know if we're talking about the same thing, but I don't think you funnel the ball to the middle - more toward the corners, away from the middle.
