I don't think anyone is saying you can with all of one and none of the other. It's pretty obvious that at some point you have to score and at some point you have to stop someone. But clearly there are teams that are stronger in one area than the other.
Except you can have an up tempo team while still play defense. The thread makes no sense. The tempo has nothing to do with defense. JVG era of defense was overrated bc the Rockets were not capabe of making defensive stops when it mattered.
Sign me up. What posters don't understandis that you have to defen and score to win a championship. The team has to be able to get easy buckets in transition,points in half court, defend versitility, and close out clutch games. When Morey says clutchness or close ball games don't matter because good teams don't have close ball games is kind of misleading. Take away those clutch shots kobe made this year and they're probably a 5th seed which is huge. In the playoffs, there are alot of close games as the series drags on and the team best equiped in the categories list probably wins.
Actually he didn't say, a team with mostly offense and some defense. He said Defensive mid tempo or Uptempo offense. It makes no sense. The 2002-03 Kings(Pre-Weber surgery) had an uptempo offense(1st in pace) and were 2nd in defensive efficiency, but only 5th in offensive efficiency. It's a uptempo team that had a higher defensive efficiency than offensive efficiency. However, the option for defense is "defensive mid-tempo", is only half right.
Again...no one is saying you can't have both. I've seen teams that were much stronger defensively than they were offensively win rings. I've never seen the opposite.
I would like the Rockets to not live by the 3. Ariza is no Rashard Lewis or Ray Allen and the defense knows that and that is why he usually is open for the 3. Every time Brooks shoots a 3 he is almost always covered heavily. I like what Chase was doing coming off of picks for jump shots so I think that type of offense is better suited for the players we have. Lots of picks, and if Jordan Hill can develop a better all around offensive game he could be deadly with Brooks in the pick and roll. As for the Defense, Yao is the big wildcard but we should still have a defensive scheme that utilizes a shot blocker like Yao. So that means we need to pursue a true Center in the draft as a project for the future as well as a Veteran one year rental. the list for those is short but you could probably get someone like Dampier at a good price. Im not too worried about our perimeter defense because Shane and and Jefferies could be used as stoppers when another teams players get hot from outside and our starters will get better in defensive schemes they can work on in the off season.
I like the games where we score more points that the opposing team. So, whatever combination of offense and defense is needed in that particular game or on that particular team to get that result, is what we should be doing. Look, we've seen both a defensive-minded team that can't score a lot of points especially in crunch time and an offensive-minded team that gives up a lot of points - both were without much success (meaning going deep into the playoffs or getting there at all). I prefer the team that brings the intensity & smarts on both ends of the floor for 4 quarters.
01/02 Lakers 7th in D, 2nd in O 00/01 Lakers 21st in D, 2nd in O 92/93 Bulls 7th in D, 2nd in O 90/91 Bulls 7th in D, 1st in O 87/88 Lakers 9th in D, 2nd in O 86/87 Lakers 7th in D, 1st in O 84/85 Lakers 7th in D, 1st in O 81/82 Lakers 10th in D, 2nd in O 79/80 Lakers 9th in D, 1st in O And the Heat weren't really great at either: 05/06 Heat 9th in D, 7th in O
You can probably guess ... all the SA and Detroit teams, and recent Boston team were mostly defense; the others were great or really good at both (the rest of the Bull and Laker teams, the 80s Celtic teams, and the 80s 76er team). Almost forgot the Rockets: 94/95 Defense: 12th Offense: 7th 93/94 Defense: 2nd Offense: 15th
Last year, the Lakers, who were only 6th defensively, beat the #1 defensive team the Magic(Off: 11th, Def: 1st) in the Finals. Their PG defense is very bad with Derek Fisher recently named on a worst defender list. Under Kobe and PJax, they were only 1st defensively in one of their championships. Lakers 2008-09 Off: 3rd, Def:6th 2001-02 Off: 2nd, Def: 7th 2000-01 Off: 2nd, Def: 21st 1999-00 Off: 5th, Def: 1st The Heat were mediocre defensively. There were 8 better defensive teams. Considering, there are only 16 playoff teams and 30 teams in the league. They were a middle of the road team. Heat 2005-06 Off: 7th, Def: 9th. Spurs, Pistons and Celtics were defensive more defensive than offensive. What is common, is that they played both sides of the ball. In the last 20 years, most of the NBA champs had a top half of the league in offense and defense. Only the '94 Rockets(15th in Off), Pistons(18th offense) and '01 Lakers(21st defense) pop out as having offense or defense in the bottom half of the league and winning a ring. People like to bring up the Kings as an example of Adelman's offense only failure. The Kings had ranked higher in defensive efficiency, but were ranked lower in offensive efficiency compared to the Lakers. The better offensive team won, while the better defensive team lost. http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAL/2002.html Lakers Off: 2nd, Def: 7th http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/SAC/2002.html Kings Off: 3rd, Def: 6th
Of course it always comes down to championships. But if you could have a Championship with either selection then give me offense!
Yeah, look at what Larry Brown did with the Bobcats. #1 in defense! I don't see any coach turning a crappy offensive team into an offensive powerhouse.
The teams around 7-10 on D and 1-2 in O aren't teams that I'd say are weak on either side of the ball. If you're in the top 10 in the league in offense, you're a good offensive team. Interesting about the Heat in 2006....I think that's one of the weaker team to ever win a title. Memorable Finals, though. Your point is well made. Nice post with good research behind it.
Madmax, there were only 23 teams back then. There were only 23 teams in the 80s. The median team would be the 12th team. Being 7th-10th, meant you were in the median range(8-14th) or bordering it(7th). It would be like being the 11th-13th spot in defense today.
