What should be done to improve our defense?

Totally disagree. We have all the pieces right now. We just need to let this thing organically grow for the next few years.

I am not in favor of making a trade just for the sake of making a trade. Or adding a free agent just for the sake of adding a free agent. This is my team and I love all the guys on the squad. Just let them grow and see what happens.

-Pop

 

I tried to defend you in the other thread, but this is getting lame.

 

Other than trading for Gerald Wallace, maximum effort, hustle, and intensity for every second of the game would improve our defense!

 

Yesterday I was upset but today I'm on board with the baking and the culture and things such as this.

The organization has made a conscious decision that we are going to improve internally and not look for an acquisition to help us. So the way I see it, I better get on board with that decision or set myself up for future disappointments this summer, next trade deadline, etc.

-Pop

 

Heh, HAAK i'm with ya my man. GW would have been awesome with us. Energy, hustle and good defense from team D, to man to man, to help side with blocking shots. He would have been great.

I actually hope that isn't what happens. I really want us to make a move this summer and continue to improve our team and not fall in love with it. I don't have a problem with Batum and Bayless being the backups to their respective positions while we bring in some vets to get the team some experience (I DO have a problem with them being 3rd string and/or getting less than 15-20mpg though).

 

It seems pretty obvious to me the team needs to do more in the game preparation department, because you see a lot of times where players put out a good effort defensivly, but they do not seem to have any idea of where the oppositions "comfort zone" is. Lamarcus, who is one of the teams best defenders, is even guilty of this. You will see player put out a great effort, only to let a player get to a spot they are comfortable shooting from.

If a guy only is comfortable going left, you have to know that. The same if he is only comfortable going right.

There is actually some great information out there now on how Shane Battier defends teams. For every player he might guard, they actually have a grid map of the court and have tracked every players shooting percentage from different spots on the floor, and which direction, etc. He memorizes those, and no matter who he defends, he tries to funnel them to spots where they are not comfortable, or directions where they have to use the more innacurate finishing hand. Its a completely insane amount of preparation.

I would be truly surprised if any members of the Blazers are even doing half that much in defensive preparation. It seems to me they try to conentrate on concepts only.

 

That is why I'd love to have Battier on our team.

 

Hey, Pop, this is crandc, not Mixum. I am also not in favor of making a trade for its own sake or signing a free agent for its own sake. But I agree with the poster who said that defense can require a defensive floor general (just as Roy is the floor general on offense). Right now the Blazers don't have that. I am all in favor of a deal that would bring such a person, with the caveat that the team not give up its core.

As for learning that without defense they can't advance in the playoffs, believe me, they will learn that and quickly. Remember how the Warriors took Dallas by surprise and out-ran them? But in the next round, against defensive Utah, they folded.

 

Sounds like a great idea in principle, but like you said, probably takes an insane amount of preparation, scouting and watching tape to get that info.
Then it takes a commitment to pushing players to those spots since I'm sure other coaches have designed their offenses to put their players in the best position to score.
That's probably why Battier is considered one of the top defensive players in the league. He's a good defender first of all and the guy is just smart and plays with a high IQ.

Growing up playing ball, I kept hearing that playing defense is simply just giving effort. Now I wonder if defense is a skill just like shooting, passing or dribbling a ball.

 

To be fair, though, when your team's average age is 24, it's pretty hard not to concentrate on concepts only.

Who is going to be studying those charts?

Oden? He's too busy trying not to foul.

Aldridge? Roy? They're still trying to adjust to life as superstars.

Outlaw? Can that guy even read?

Batum? Hell, he's still learning the language and the NBA game.

Przybilla? Whatever he's doing, he should keep doing it.

Bayless? Hard to blame him for not studying every opponent so he can be ready for the 5.6 minutes he's on defense.

Sergio? Hah!

When you think about what Battier does to get ready for an opponent, and then you try to apply that strategy to our players, it becomes pretty obvious why we have such a bad defensive team.

 

Defense takes energy, commitment and grit. Those are three qualities we lack. Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot that we had all the ingredients needed for a championship.

 

It also takes some experience. It takes being around opponents for several years so you no longer scout them so much as remember how you played them last time and the time before that.

How many times have you personally played hoops against somebody, thought they were pretty good, but you played them over and over and eventually figured out how to pretty much shut them down? I know I've experienced that several times.

Two of the five starters weren't in the NBA last year. Aren't pretty much all teams with so many young players bad defensively?

 

Effort, effort effort! That's what we need!

There's just no effort in guys like Outlaw, Sergio, and at times, Greg and Brandon. Yes Brandon.

 

It certainly takes the ability to be able to react, not think. Some do that more quickly than others, but usually it just takes lots of practice and experience.

 

That is the common claim. Do we have any proof it is true? What other teams had a low average age that Portland can be compared to historically?

This looks like a job for 82games!

 

i for one don't buy the old excuse that roy can't play tough D all game long because he has to save his energy for offense. that's just the homer glasses being warn by can do no wrong roy fans. I never noticed MJ, Pippen, Kobe, or any of those guys taking it easy on defense in order to save for their offense.

the truth is, even when broy was coming off the bench at UW, and playing second fiddle to Nate Robinson, he was still lazy on defense. he has all the ability to play good D, but he just doesn't have the passion for it yet.

Just ask Celtic fans, Pierce was good in the past, but it wasn't until this last year when he decided to focus on D that he took his game to the next level. Same with Lebron and DWade.

 

Mostly we need a healthy Greg Oden. We also need him to play 25-35 mins/game. He takes up a lot of space and keeps Joel fresh when Prizzy's in the game. Other than that, we need experience. Our guys don't always recognize who the shooters are to rotate to imo. Guys like Bayless and Batum should learn this with experience. Not sure about Travis...

 

Yes, but Jordan and Pippen had each other and Rodman/Cartwright/H. Grant/Purdue behind them. It was a team of solid defenders so they didn't need to work as hard individially.

Roy doesn't have that yet. Oden is not there yet. Bayless and Batum are getting there, but need the experience.

 

Oh comon man I don't know about that. It's not like defense is Physical Chemistry, Vector Calc, or some other crazy ass hard topic. How much skill does it take to watch film and try to remember where a guy likes to go?

I think the hardest thing is, that Battier up above, has the coaches buy in as they provide him those material grids for him to study. That would be the hardest part.

 

But Morey said that it wasn't productive to give that information to other players:

So, even for non-rookies, it doesn't seem like you can just throw information at them and get good results.