What can we do about this? Going through my tape of the game in Detroit, I see lots of improvement in our defensive communication, especially multiple guys doing the talking. And when we locked down our D around halfway through the third quarter, we took the Pistons out of their shooting game and caused lots of empty possessions. But we've been pretty consistently abused by agile, aggressive big men on switches, and I don't see us trying anything more creative than "Good luck, James." Also, I see nobody on our roster with the strength, agility, and will to compete with a Drummond. Clint has agility and is great for guarding the perimeter on switches, but he pays for that in lack of heft on box-outs and rebounds. Shouldn't we do something to mix it up, at least to stop a run of jams by a guy like Griffin? Maybe try to switch big and small defenders off the ball if we can block the ball handler's view or his passing lanes for a second? Can't believe I'm saying this, but if we have timeouts, should we take Harden out of the game on late defensive possessions? And do we think Nene or Hartenstein can hold their own in these interior matchups, or do we need to think about adding somebody else to the roster?
Well, now that Bzdelik is back on the bench, maybe he can bring in some adjustments. But yeah, every game we encounter a BIG that has post up ability, it is worrisome.
Tbf Dummond is probably the strongest player in the league, i'm not a fan of the player but he's a beast, Clint was getting easily pushed out of position on basically every ft, other guys just have no chance to somehow limit him when he reaches the ball in the paint...he still misses shots cause he's just not that good but, yeah... With that said, i do think sometimes we shouldn't switch instead of switching like every single time, i think yesterday a couple of times we could've avoid to switch with a little bit of effort but eh...
The pistons are just an extremely tough team to defend with their front court of Drummond and Griffin. Drummond is 300 pounds, has freak athleticism, Clint did a good enough job on him despite his physical disadvantages. The problem was our switching that landed CP3, Harden and Gordon on him ever play. Griffin is a different beast, very strong yet quick on offense with good ball handling, and absolutel freak athleticism as well. He was too quick for Clint, too athletic and strong for PJ. And of course, they toyed with the switches as well on the smaller guards on him as well. Those guys physically are just extremely hard to match up with, luckily we won’t have those problems with the Warriors front court. Cousins isn’t nearly as strong or athletic as Drummond
We simply don't have the personnel to face them. Cutting off quick and long guards/small forwards is very important. A swingman and a physical rebounder is needed badly. Will Orlando trade Ross? Simmons is not a swingman, but he can be an adequate SF. I hope Robin Lopez can be acquired too, if he gets waived.
I'm not sure if honestly we should do a whole lot here. It's an issue, but not being able to guard post-players who take twos isn't a huge deal since they're not 3s. Griffin is an obvious exception because now he has significantly improved his range. Thankfully most teams don't have Blake Griffin and we will not be dealing with him the rest of the year. Tucker and Harden's THICC butt will work in most cases, and yes I hope Nene and Hartenstein can contribute eventually. We have bigger issues that Morey needs to address than interior big defense (need a good 3rd PG if Knight doesn't pan out, may need to replace Gordon if he's washed up, more switchable 3&D wings, more shooters/vets).
do we need to think about adding somebody else to the roster? Yes. Everything will be fine if you dump Knight contract first) Myles Turner (Chris/pick for Turner, dumping Knight first) Knight for Jonas V (via 3rd team) Enes Kanter (via 3rd team)
Blake Griffin isnt an issue it's fine, I know I may be defending Gordon alot, but he has shot poorly and we do beat them handily if he plays average. And if they wanna bank on Griffin becoming an efficient 3 point shooter in a series be my guest, it aint happening.
(Yes, we need a man-sized PF/C on the roster. It's been a huge glaring hole since off-season, and game 1 when we were absolutely torched by Anthony Davis).
We play Trap the Box Defense. And that is a very good, key component of switching defense. This isn’t “Good Luck Harden” Look up Trap the Box defense
It's a problem but one we shouldn't have to worry too much about in the playoffs. How many teams have the type of front court to give us fits like the Pistons?
Give us fits??? Yall are acting like they blew us out. I'd gladly take a playoff series against them.
