Tim Duncan this year focuses almost exclusively on defence and is playing at DPOY level. It's not just Kawhi. But on the other hand they have a historical level elite defence. Let's look at average defences because that should be our goal not elite like the Spurs. As of 14 December our defence is at no.3 worst at 109.1 points allowed PACE ADJUSTED. How can teams like Phoenix, Portland and Brooklyn be massively better in defence? The answer is very simple. 15.8% of the defensive possesions are transition defence. That's second worst in the league behind Philly. And we are no.7 at allowing points on those transition with 113.6/100. Our Halfcourt defence is slightly bellow average. No.20 with 88.7 points /100 possesions allowed but we have the lowest % of defensive possesions in halfcourt with only 77%. It's not only the turnovers it's the Offensive Rebounds. We allow the 115/100 off offensive rebounds! With 6.4% allowed! That is worst in the league. So do you want to improve the defence? Improve the transition defence and the points off of offensive rebounds. Other than that our half court defence is respectable.
I am using nba.com rating because I believe they use actual possession based data. Last year the rockets Defensive Rating was 100.5 which put us in 6th. This year we are at 105.4 tied for 28th. We give up on average 5 points more per 100 possessions. Our offense is at 102 while last year it was at 104. I think we are playing much worse on the defensive end which is not allowing us to get transition opportunities. Also our shooters are pretty bad, causing more transition opportunities for the other team.
If I were JB I would focus practices entirely on defense. If you give up an easy lay-up due to horrible D, you must stay an hour after practice for each offense.
They are "pace adjusted" but it's not done properly. They dont' count true possesions. Use Nylon calculus for more detailed and accurate information. Here : http://nyloncalculus.com/team-ratings-and-statistics/ The problem is that with nyloncalculus you can't see with a precise time interval like with nba.com. LOL by the time I posted my previous post to now they updated their info to include the games played on 15/12. Still no. 3 worst.
Hypothetically if say a Greg Popovich or even a Tom Thibodeau were coaching this current Rockets defense with Howard, Ariza, Beverly ect., do you objectively think this teams defense would be as bad as it currently is?
I know it's unsustainable that was kinda my point. When he has the monster rebound games we look good on both sides because he covers up our glaring 3 year rebounding problem. D12 is not having a good year, yes his rebounds look good but he should never have back to back games were he has under double digit rebounding efforts. That's the one aspect of his game that should always be there no matter what. 4 rebounds last night in 28 min and 8 the night before in over 30 min? That's terrible he's was getting out worked by kostas Koufus and Damarcus Cousins.
so your point is? that dwight's rebounding is the #1 reason why our defense has fallen so far to the bottom?
People need to stop saying Dwight is a good defender, he's good at blocking shots from the weakside, slow at recovering for 2nd shot or rebound. Horrible in PnR's, gives shooters open looks all day long.
Point Allowed is an awful metric and I wish the NBA would do away with it. It doesn't take pace into account. Instead, they should use Points Per Possession, or Points Per 100 Possessions for defensive metrics. I'm not defending the Rocket's defense. But I am saying that Points Allowed will always make a fast paced team appear to be worse on defense than they really are.
