Can anyone tell me why JVG does not allow us to play Zone D?

It doesnt highlight his ingenuity, even a high school coach knows how to play zone.

 

Pride

 

I've been wondering that myself.. so many teams are using it successfully to mix up the offense kind of as a change of pace. Especially now with the lack of shooters in the league it might help Yao out in the middle.

I feel like JVG thinks the zone is a gimmick defense which sounds like he is looking down at that. However, his team consistently gets killed by the zone.

He needs to adapt to what teams are doing and hopefully keep an open mind to new things.

J

 

i dunno, we are made for a zone, solid post presence, pesky defenders that can switch well.

 

http://www.coachesclipboard.net/ZoneDefense.html

1. Not all teams have quick, good man-to-man defenders. Or the offense may have a couple of outstanding players too quick to defend individually. Playing a zone can help against mis-matches such as these. You may have a tall, strong, but not particularly quick team. A zone can look intimidating with all your big guys stacked up inside with their hands up.

2. In using a zone, you can protect the paint area and force the opponent to shoot from outside. An example would be using the 2-1-2 or 2-3 zone which places a lot of defense in the paint and invites the offense to shoot from outside. This is a good way to see if the other team can shoot from outside. Not all teams can shoot the outside shot consistently. Even good shooting teams have off nights, especially under tournament pressure.

3. Your team may be in foul trouble, especially your big man. You can help protect him with a zone.

4. You can slow the game and control the tempo somewhat with a zone.

5. Although players must hustle regardless of the type of defense that is being played, sometimes when your team is fatigued, playing zone for a few minutes may help them catch their breath.

6. By changing defenses from man-to-man to various zones, you can keep the offense off-balance and confused.

7. If you use the full-court or half-court press, after the press is broken, it is easy to slip back into a half-court zone defense

 

Can you imagine JVG getting defensive if a caller were to ask why he does not incorporate a zone defense?

 

That's mission impossible for JVG.

 

A zone defense might be a good change of pace but it's not gonna cure all ills.

You have to remember what beats the zone: outside shooting. The zone will work against us (and a few other teams, such as SA) but it might not work as well against other teams.

Most other teams have not much of an inside game so they depend on their jump shots a lot and most of them are better than us.

Jeff's switching man to man is actually a good defense. It does not leave shooters open and if (big IF) we rotate quick, we can stop penetration too. The trouble is we are slow to help and also slow to help the helper.

 

If most teams are more athletic and HAVE BETTER SHOOTERS than the Rockets, then the Rockets are screwed. Rockets can use zone against most teams in the league except for the primarily jumpshooting teams like Kings, Mavs, and Twolves.

 

I used the 2-3 zone in NBA live 2005 last night, and for the first time I beat Detroit in the superstar mode.

 

interestingly JVG sagging on the perimeter and funnelling to the bigs in the middle man to man is pretty close to a zone defense

 

bob knight never used zone

until he faced timmy

everyone has his breaking point

 

didn't we use zone d last year?

or was that rudy?

 

His defense of the pick and roll is killing the big men. Everyone uses screen and rolls against the Rockets to have Yao run around like a big dummy. You don't set picks against zone defenses. I remember a columnist was referring to this concerning the Olympics with Team USA setting picks when they were never guarded man to man. Man to man exposes the lack of speed and athleticism on this team. Zone defenses hide them.

 

This description of how zone defense works with a particular type of team fits the Rockets to a tee. This author is basically describing the Rockets.

 

Maybe he's not aware that it's legal now. D'OH!

 

JVG will never try anything he never used before. Knicks is the only model in his poor mind. Therefore, the coming of T-Mac won't stop this team from turning into Houston Knicks.

 

Could JVG share a little of his assertiveness with Yao ? It should be good for Rockets now.

 

Maybe it takes time to teach players (and JVG) about zone, and that is not practical in the middle of a season.