Is our defense better?

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by Bingo Bango, Oct 16, 2021.

  1. wizenheimer

    wizenheimer Well-Known Member

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    last season, Portland averaged 1.27 points/shot; Dame averaged 1.45 points/shot (Kanter 1.44; Zeller 1.39; Powell 1.31; Nurkic 1.27; Simons 1.25; CJ 1.22; Nance 1.20; RoCo 1.17)

    if the result of the offense is to get more touches for everybody else and fewer touches for Dame, the offense will invariably suffer. I know both Billups and Dame have talked about running more off-ball action for him. That's fine in theory. But the reality is a team needs good facilitators/passers to make that work. The Warriors run a lot of off-ball action for Curry, but they have had Draymond & Iggy & Linvingston & Durant as trigger-men. Portland has nobody with those kind of consistent passing skills
     
  2. Predator

    Predator The Godfather

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    Pretty sure none of these matter to Billups.

    He would argue the points per shot would improve in his system because those players would be getting better shots, easier shots, in better spots, with less pressure and possibly defensive leakouts. He would also say that if they know they’re getting shots they’re more likely to get in rhythm. He said this damn near word for word in one of his interviews.

    The Cavs used Nance “kinda” like Draymond for Garland, although not nearly as good or as effective.

    But using the Warriors is a weird example. Plenty of other teams, like the shitty ass Cavs, find ways to take players off the ball without having someone like Durant, Igoudala or Draymond.
     
  3. THE HCP

    THE HCP NorthEastPortland'sFinest

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    I was just going to agree with this, then I remembered we saw a TON more turnovers as well.
     
  4. THE HCP

    THE HCP NorthEastPortland'sFinest

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    How is that working out for the Cavs?
     
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  5. wizenheimer

    wizenheimer Well-Known Member

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    I'm not buying much of that. And I'm not sure what it is you think I said, but one thing I didn't say is that Portland couldn't take Dame off the ball. Of course they can.

    I'm just saying I have no confidence taking Dame off the ball is going to yield a better offense. And while Billups may believe his offense will yield better results, I'll point out he has less than a year of coaching experience at any level. And he'll be trying to improve an offense that averaged 1.18 points/possession last year, which was 2nd in the league and I believe was the 2nd best mark in NBA history. Portland's offense was not the problem
     
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  6. Predator

    Predator The Godfather

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    Look up Darius Garlands numbers with Nance and you can see for yourself. That’s why I specifically mentioned Garland by name in the post.
     
  7. THE HCP

    THE HCP NorthEastPortland'sFinest

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    I said the Cavs.
     
  8. Bingo Bango

    Bingo Bango Well-Known Member

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    If it takes 40 games for the Blazers to learn Billups’ defensive system, it’s way too complicated.
     
  9. Orion Bailey

    Orion Bailey Forum Troll

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    half of that is unlearning bad habits.
     
  10. Driew

    Driew Well-Known Member

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    Well the turnovers I'd attribute to the guys trying to force plays to see if that certain passing angles will work or not. I'm not terribly worried about the turnovers because it means they're taking chances and learning the offense.
     
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  11. THE HCP

    THE HCP NorthEastPortland'sFinest

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    Don’t tell that to the guys on here when it applies to Westbrook.
     
  12. e_blazer

    e_blazer Rip City Fan

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    It only takes 10 games to learn Billups’ defense, the other 30 are to unlearn Stotts’.
     
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  13. Mediocre Man

    Mediocre Man Mr. SportsTwo

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    The half court defense was much better. Our transition defense was horrible.

    We shot 12-35 from 3
    Fast break points were 20-2
     
  14. mook

    mook The 2018-19 season was the best I've seen

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    I think you're spot-on. Also, Curry has been playing off ball basically since entering the league, when he was paired with Monte Ellis.

    Dame has been a ball-dominant pick-and-roll point guard since high school. At no point in his career has he played off ball. Except at the Olympics, I guess, where he completely disappeared. It's just not something he's ever really done, unlike Curry.

    I'm pretty skeptical about asking a 30 year All NBA point guard to completely overhaul his playing style and expecting him to succeed and be happy about it. It can happen--Jason Kidd did it. But it's a tall order.

    Portland has small speedbump of over-relying on Dame on offense, and a monumental crater of a problem on defense.

    We had a historically bad defense and a historically good offense. Let's focus on fixing the historically bad thing.
     
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  15. wizenheimer

    wizenheimer Well-Known Member

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    way-too-early-premature-not-relevant-sample-size-results so far

    * last year's historically bad Blazer defense gave up 1.160 points/possession

    * this year's 1st game defense gave up 1.183 points/possession
     
  16. Orion Bailey

    Orion Bailey Forum Troll

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    are you able to do a first half vs second half for last nights game? We seemed to look much better in the second half.
    Me love you long time if you can/do. ;)
     
  17. illmatic99

    illmatic99 formerly yuyuza1

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  18. Orion Bailey

    Orion Bailey Forum Troll

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    Thanks! Thats awesome.
    The links and info i mean. Not the game stats. Lol.
    I think we can turn this into a quality defensive team. It only takes one small mistake to make a possession look awful on D even if most of it was great.
    I think there is a good chance we can be a top 15 defensive team aNd if we can stay in the top 5 offensively, we may just have a chance at a deep playoff run.
    Trade Ben for cj:
    Top 5 defensively, top 15 offensively. can be a contending team for a ring.
     
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  19. James lamphear

    James lamphear Well-Known Member

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    Dame going get his shots but last night he just didn't put it down. If would made some of his three he would be right there on his scoring average.
     
  20. illmatic99

    illmatic99 formerly yuyuza1

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    so many correctable mistakes. the rotations after the screen is set are absolutely miserable. Billups has to hammer this in. Just no connectivity whatsoever. We're lucky this was Sac. If it were any other better offensive team, we'd have been blown out of the water. I'm worried about PHX on Saturday. Chris Paul is going to tear this defense apart.

     

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