The raps are terrible at defense, what else is new. The thing is though, they're so good on offense that they don't even need to be excellent on defense, just mediocre and they win way more games.
Actually, you don't even need to be mediocre on defense, just not historically bad. Seriously, if the Raps could just improve their defense from worst in the entire 62 year history of the NBA to 2nd or 3rd worse in the league this season, they would have a winning record and would be a lock to make the play-offs. Right now the Raptors score 113.1 points per 100 possessions, but they give up 116.4. So, they have a point differential of -3.3 points per 100 possessions. You give up more points that you score, you lose games. It's that simple. Until they have a positive scoring differential, they will continue to play below 0.500 and most likely miss the play-offs. They have the second highest scoring offense in the league, trailing only Phoenix. In fact, before that debacle against Charlotte, the Raps had the highest ORtg in the league. Phoenix is not a great, or even mediocre defensive team. They are tied for 27th in the league with a DRTg of 110.4, but with an ORtg of 116.1 they have a scoring differential of +5.7 points per 100 possessions - and a 12-3 record. With their offense, if the Raptors could just get their DRtg down to 111 - 112 (Memphis Grizzly territory), they would have a positive point differential and could win enough games to be above 0.500 and make the play-offs. Sadly, I'm not sure if that is possible. And this is where the roster comes in. Your starters are mostly a bunch of high scoring, terrible defenders. The few players you have on the bench (or the inactive list) who can actually play defense, aren't very good offensively. So, in order to improve your defense, you need to sacrifice offense - and that might not help you point differential. The problem is finding the right combination of players that improves your team defense, without hurting your offense, and I'm not sure if such a combination exists given your current roster. BNM
The Saints are still 13th in points allowed, although they haven't really played that many good teams. There competition is 37-65 this year. Yeah so, right now that's not the best comparison, try again later. You don't need that many stops to defeat a bad team.
