Orlando's offense + Houston's defense (combining the best of both?)

NJ, I think playing 3 SGs together on offense is unjustifiable unless one of them is a great passer like BBarry.

You really don't want 2 of your 5 starters playing out of position. Well, we did last season playing 3 guards and 2 centers. But that's not a long term solution, and JVG knew that. If we had Don Nelson as our coach, your lineup might happen. Not a chance for JVG.

 

Lue is a very underated defender. He's quick and can stay with other quick guards. Many seem to have forgotten that he gave Iverson fits a couple years ago when the Lakers played the 6ers in the finals.

 

No he didn't. He TRIED his absolute best, I'll give you that, but he failed.

 

I remember at least one game where he pretty much locked him down. Iverson still scored close to 20, but when he's the entire offense, that's as good as a shutout. Maybe that was an anomaly, but it did happen.

 

Ok, so he scored 35, but at one point in the game, missed 15 of 21. Read this:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/basketball/nba/2001/playoffs/news/2001/06/13/sixers_side_ap/

I think JVG can bring out his full potential on defense.

 

Iverson is prone to bad shoot games simply because of the way he plays. So it's arguable whether it's Lue that stopped him, or that Iverson stopped himself. Besides, it's one game. Even Francis had games where the opposing PG looked terrible.

Even if Cato and Cat are our two best defenders, it doesn't mean we lost much on defense. JVG is much more instrumental to our defense than any player on the court. And Cat/Cato's replacements together could very well be better than them. T-Mac can be one of the very best defender in the league if he put in the effort. Cato was a great interior presence, but a mediocre on-the-ball defender and at providing weakside help. I haven't seen much of Howard, so I don't know how he is on defense. But he could provide more quickness. In addition, Yao should be better on defense with another year of experience. Overall, I'm not overly concerned about the TEAM defense.

 

The optimism that JVG is going to instill his defensive principles into this team is great, but you can't have it both ways, JVG is also going to instill his offensive game plan, which will probably bring some of these guys' production down. JVG is a defensive coach, that what he does, so that will be the M.O. of the team. It won't be both.

 

Some people just assume that players will automatically play good defense under JVG. There no denying that JVG is a good defensive coach. But the greatest coach in the world can't do anything without talented players.

Playing good defense takes talent. It's not just motivation, although motivation is an important part. Some players just don't have what it takes to be a good defensive player, no matter who the coach is. Team defense, which JVG is great at, can only hide bad defensive players for so much. The rest is still up to individual players.