Verse.....I am not saying that any one defender can consistently shut down kobe, vince, tmac, etc. by any means......just that a great defender will give you a chance of either denying those players the ball or forcing them into difficult shots away from their comfort zones......even if it is part of a rotating defense w/ a soft weakside zone as you mention, having a great defender as part of that equation would make all the difference in the world. Re: Carter......ya I would rather have the ball in Williams' hands, just not at the cost of leaving him wide open if helpside D moves over to cover Vince... I basically agree w/ your view that help D is necessary, I'm just not sure if we have the players to make it work effectively. There are just certain nuances of playing D that average defenders don't get (ie. when to commit, when to switch, when to gamble, when to force to the middle or baseline, etc.) - and I think this will cost us some big games in a run for a playoff spot.
As long as the refs let him get away with it, Rick Fox's grabbing and bodying are extremely effective. He occasionaly gets called, but gets away with it most of the time. In that context, I think he is a top 5 defender at his position. Offensively, he plays within his team's philosophy. He knocks down the open shot regularly and at clutch times. He handles the ball well... you rarely see him get it stolen. He can post up and use his big body effectively. He is a good passer and runs the floor well. He has good fundamentals. I hate him when the Rockets play the Lakers. I don't smoke crack, and I agree that he is better than Glen Rice.
JayZ, SF3: did either one of you guys watch the Rockets play during the 2nd half of 99/00? Walt spent most of his time at the 4, when we were playing alot of three-guard lineups. Both he and the team were successful with that philosophy. Last year he played more 3 than 4, but IMO he was still more successful in the latter role. SF3, at the risk of offending crispee by talking stats, compare Shandon's and Walt's offensive rebounding numbers, 2 point percentage (a layup still counts 2 points), and assists. Other than shooting the trey and points per minute, Walt had no advantages on Shandon. IMO that a big reason for this was that neither fit last year's offensive system, at all.
Man532's 1-on-1 comparisons are not really applicable. GRice rarely will be the 1st option. The 1 and 2 spots will be. Which means who ever is guarding 3 will have to rotate. A wide open GRice is a scary thing. GRice has such a quick release that he doesn't even need to be wide open. This is a team sport and rarely do 1-on-1 matchups fully determine the outcome of a game. It's who gets hot and how the other team rotates and substitues to compensate. Can you say Team Chemistry? GRice has the potential to be extremely complimentary on this team. We'll see if that materializes. Just like stats don't tell a whole story, neither do 1-on-1 comparisons. It is team play that makes the difference. -krosfyah
Sorry for the harsh crack comment In my opinion, Glen RIce is now and has always been a much better player than Rick Fox. Fox, at best, is a role player. As you've mentioned, he plays his role extremely well. Still, I think that even Rice's possible worst season last year was better than nearly all of Fox's seasons. Glen Rice does all th ethings Rick Fox does and he is much better playoff performer. Just my opinion though.
THe Rockets were 34-48 in the 99/00 season. Nothing about it was successful. I do remember Walt playing the 4 a few times this past year that worked, though, such as at NYC. THis works occasionally because it pulls the other teams 4 out of the paint on the defensive end. However, IMO, this only works against a select few teams, most located in the East (because of the defensive liability it creates) and Walt still remains more suited to the 3. To say he wont play the 4 ever is dumb, but to enter a season with him plugged into even a backup role is stretching it.
pippendagimp (gawd that's a gr8 name), i think we do have the personnel to pull it off - talent wise. my lingering question has been the mental ability to do so. i mena, i've never seen a team (speaking of last year) that made so many boneheaded defensive errors. i've talking david robinson sh*t. sh*t like reaching in weakly as a player skies for a dunk. sh*t like brushing a player in the small of his back as he goes in for a still uncontested layup. sh*t like rotating off of the hot shooter. sh*t like boxing out and not going for the ball. if we could just limit those errors, we're 6-8 games better easily. even worse last year was our rotations. too many times i saw double teams - or ridiculous fouls - on post players that had YET to prove they could beat them one on one. problem is that those 2 feed each other. once you start with the ridiculous fouls, rudy's forced to double team just to keep you from being annihilated. hopefully a year of seasoning will give them an ounce of common sense on "d". re: the mythological "great defensive" guard. while i agree that a great defensive guard would help, i stopped believing in them around the same time i stopped believing in the easter bunny. i saw shandn get crispified by too many players. i've seen scottie pippen (even in his overhyped heyday) get brutalized by guards. i've seen mj get his guts stomped on defense by freakin vernon "i like to play street ball the day before an nba finals game @ quail green west and break my finger" maxwell. what makes a great defensive player @ the guard position??? a couple of steals? hell no. raping you man and not getting called for it??? that's sodomy, not defense. forcing him to his "weak hand"??? that's a man with limited offense. even that doesn't always work. case in point: allen iverson. dude is a slot machine guard. aka: one armed bandit. still, if he wants to go right, try stopping him. and if he does go left, you've left it so open that he's shooting 10 footers or layups or - even worse - getting fouls on your post players. also see: dominique wilkins. my point? great individual guard defenders are as existent as Persius and Pegasus. and great team defense isn't predicated on having 1 great individual defender, 2 great individual defenders, or even 5. it's predicated on 5 men who can try to force a man to do something that isn't his "pet move" (see horry's clampjob on duncan this past playoffs) and yell, shout, plead for help on the rotation.
Re: the Horry/Duncan example - I totally agree that to stop a great offensive player team D is a must. But the guy who is directly on the offensive player must have good defensive instincts in order for this to work. IMHO Horry is a very smart defensive player and would be even more effective if he was stronger. Now of course it is more difficult to shut down guards out on the perimeter b/c of the quickness and ability to just back up and shoot, but I think the same rules apply. I'm not saying a Derek Harper is going to stop a Steve Francis by any measure, but he would do a far better job than a Mark Jackson or a Howard Eisley(even w/ the handchecking rules in place!!). And as part of a well-executed team defense Steve would surely by somewhat contained. That's where my problem comes w/ our current roster. We don't have players capable of locking up guys out on the perimeter or at least slowing them down. And, as you cited, our rotations are crap. As far as being able to gain common sense on D, I hope they can, but I have just seen in too many instances that defensive instincts can't be learned. Much like the ability to get to the basket, inhale boards, move w/o the ball, or rain jumpers like glen rice, defensive instincts are just something you have or don't have. The fact that our players have disappointed and boneheaded us like crazy the past couple seasons doesn't give me much hope that there is hope for them. I am not too worried about KT. Cato and Eddie Griffin are obviously gifted defenders. But out on the perimeter we is in trouble and no defensive system is going to hide our weakness!
I TOTALLY DISAGREE. Good team defense is 100% learned and is partially based on team chemistry. You can't guard Iverson 1-on-1. You have to know where your teammates are and trust that they'll come to help when you get in trouble. Offense is a gift/skill and can be only delveloped. Team defense is outright taught. Anybody that knows anything about NBA basketball would agree sucessful defensive schemes utilize effective rotations. That is the coaches job to identify, structure, and communicate to the team. Then if you have an athletic team, like the Rocks, then rotating is much easier. But rotating requires the trust of your teammates to know when help is coming. I'm not buying the argument that the Rocks can't improve defensively. Rudy knows D as the 94 Rocks were as tough a defensive team as any. Granted they had Dream whose was a defensive beast, but other memebers of that team weren't necessarily so. They played good team defense. Besides, isn't the object to score more points? -krosfyah
