For better or worse KP has mostly drafted guys for their offensive skills with the hope that they'll one day develop into adequate defenders, we have almost no-one on this team (aside from Joel and Nic) whose primary focus is defense, without enough of those guys on the team with that built-in mindset it's going to be very tough to make them a great defensive team. It's not just as easy as saying "they need to buy into it," some of these guys lack the physical tools and most lack the know-how to perform at a high level on the defensive end of the court.
Take a gander at what Steve Nash did last night against Miller. Did everything but stop and tie little pink ribbons in Andre's hair on his way to 23 pts and 15 assists. http://www.nba.com/games/20091014/PHXPOR/boxscore.html It was like if I played against our Jack Russell Terrier, only she's more sociable.
Oden? And not to be too out of line, but I really think Roy is one of the better defenders at SG, IMO.
Yeah. This to me is crucial for Nate. Will he ever get these guys to play the d at the level he wants them to play it at? To me, the level he is requesting out of them is championship level. If they don't ever get there, will the ever contend for one with him as coach? This is just one reason why I don't think he is the long term answer here as coach.
Yeah I kind of forgot Oden, but he's still a work in progress at that end of the court. As for Roy, he's "adequate", but he coasts way too much at that end to be considered "good" ... he definitely has the potential to be good, but I've yet to see it except for in fits and flashes.
Andre and Steve are both very slow-footed and cannot play their opponents close-up without fouling. Roy could but seems to have little interest, and Rudy and Jerryd clearly will not play enough minutes to improve their defense as long as Miller is here.
That's on Nate for stubbornly refusing to tailor his game style around his players' talents. Coaching 101.
Yeah you may be right about Roy. But my point earlier about "buying in" was more about the guards having trust in the Centers and PFs to help out if they get beat off the dribble. Also, we do play a ton more "zone" than most around the league. I just don't know why we would, having Oden and Aldridge down low. I would love to see more focus on forcing them to score inside than out. For some strange reason, teams just "shoot well" against us. I mean look at the Houston series. They just couldn't miss a shot from the perimeter.
Knowing that help is behind you, you play position D on the perimeter. Focus on forcing your man to drive to the strength of your D. You don't have to be quick on your feet to do that. Some of the better guard defenders weren't very fast, they were just smart.
He's already proven that. The team was 8-5 with him starting and no Blake to back him up last year. Bayless brought his game only once in that stretch, so it was obvious to objective observers that Sergio was carrying this team through Steve's abscence. They are 0-2 under Miller with Blake backing him up.
PRESEASON! Dude you do know this is pre-season right?!?!??! Did you know the Spurs, Lakers, Bulls and Houston all were terrible during "pre-season" during their dynasties? And for the record, the Blazers were pre-season champs during their 20 win seasons.
I agree with that, but most on the board disagree with that tactic, and blame the guard for any fouls picked up by the bigs. Heard it constantly about both Sergio and Steve last year. Until these posters understand the simple concepts of team defense (never?) that arguement carries no weight here.
Seriously what was barbosas stat line from beyond the arch? 7-9?? He was killing us and whoever was gaurding him kept slacking on him and as quick as that they swing the ball and he drained the 3 it was kinda sad
