The Blazers are really putting together a good defensive team. In the very good to excellent category the Blazers have Oden, Batum, Camby, cunningham, Przybilla (when healthy), and hopefully Matthews. A step down but still decent to good defenders we have Aldridge, Bayless, Miller, Roy (when he wants to be). And a couple of our rookies, williams and johnson, seem like they could have some defensive abilities. running defensive juggernaut squads like Roy, Matthews, Batum, Camby and Oden seems like they should be able to slow down any team in the league. If healthy, I could see several of the Blazers being in the running for first or second team all defense including Oden, Batum and Camby. Most teams simple don't have nearly that deep of defensive talent. They might have their defensive specialist, but that player is often surrounded by defensive weak links. On the Blazers, there are very few weak links. Hearing about Oden being ~20lbs lighter and working out 5 hours a day (going into the season in shape) is starting to get me real excited for the season. Some people around these parts bitch and moan that they wish the Blazers had a high paced offense because all those break-aways and dunks are exciting, but great lock-down defense is what I really like to see in basketball.
And great lock down defense creates those fast break-away points. Nate is okay with the half court lob pass for a lay-up/dunk. So stronger defense will create more of this! I think we just need a few guys to have some decent catch and shoot abilities from Roy/Oden drawing a double team and we can be a much better team!
There is no reason why this team shouldn't be at least top 5 defensively if their relatively healthy If they defend with intensity every night, they could be number 1. I think the Matthews addition is going to help a lot in this regard. They were in need of an intense, physical defender on the perimeter and hopefully his mindset rubs off on his teammates, i.e. Roy.
I agree and have said as much in the recent past. The difference between the on-paper potential for defense between this year's team and last year is striking. 1) Due to so many injuries causing lack of depth, our primary offensive players likely were unable to spend as much energy and effort on the defensive end as the might be able to when sharing the scoring load more evenly. LaMarcus, Miller and Roy come to mind. Not that there is any guarantee they will play harder on the other end, but when the team is healthy the option is there. 2) Our two best defensive starters out or hurt for most of the year - Oden and Batum. 3) Our worst defensive player - Rudy - is out the door, and his minutes are being replaced by a young player who has made his mark by playing defense next to an All-Star guard. 4) We traded for Camby, further improving our defensive rotation for a complete season this year. 5) Our 2nd worst defensive player - Juwan Howard - is in Miami. 6) Without a Center to anchor the defense and without Batum on the wing, it was difficult to create an excellent team defense. And the more weak defenders "break" the defense, the more the other guys are scrambling or fouling, the more discouraging it becomes. With some quality defenders playing big minutes, the opposite will occur where even the poor defenders are inspired to step up. Of course our team will suffer injuries this season, but I find it hard to imagine that like last season, the most games lost would be to the better defenders. Look at the players who played more than 1,000 minutes for us last season: Roy - hurt part of the season, focus on offense Aldridge - focus on offense Miller - focus on offense, not a good defender regardless Webster - average defender Rduy - poor defender Bayless - below average, tries hard, but effectiveness not there Juwan Howard - poor defender Steve Blake - below average, tried hard Notice how small that lineup is. With Camby a mid-season trade, and Joel and Oden out for the year, we had to play defense without a legit center most of the time. If we can just keep one true Center healthy for most games, the heart of the defense can be maintained and will do wonders for the rest of the defensive gameplan. Look at the expected rotation for players to play more than 1,000 minutes: Roy - hopefully with health and situation can pick up his defense a bit Aldridge - hopefully can pick up his defense a bit Miller - hoepfully can pick up his defense a bit Batum - this could be his breakout year - a defensive standout Oden - this could be his breakout year - a defensive standout Camby - former DPOY. nuff said. Bayless - He has always tried hard. With more experience and shot blockers to back him up, he has a better chance to make an impact on the defensive end. Matthews - the new guy, replacing Rudy and Webster's minutes, guys who both would be unhappy with less than 30mpg and a guy who has a better reputation for defense than Webster. Should be an upgrade for us defensively. And then, look who we have as injury backups for our rotation: Pryzbilla - if he comes back strong (uncertain) would give us great insurance against an Oden or Camby injury. Cunningham - was a decent team defender and good defender against certain matchups. Johnson - likely to make his mark in NBA as a defender. We still have a weakness defending the point of attack. So, I don't see us as an elite defensive team as Boston was in the playoffs last season. Their defense was amazing. Pierce, like Roy focused on offense for much of his career, but always had the ability to go into lock-down mode. KG has always been an amazing defender. Hopefully Batum becomes that guy for us. Perkins is a very good defender at the Center position. If healthy I think Oden easily matches that, and likely exceeds. Question becomes, is Oden/LA = to KG (older)/Perkins? But, the real key to Boston last season was Rondo. Having the ability to put pressure on the ball like that is a great luxury we don't have, and probably never will. Still, getting our current version of Greg Anthony on the roster would help.
Personnel aside, I think the biggest addition is going to be Bob Ociepka replacing Dean Demopoplous. We should see fewer zone defenses and more man-to-man responsibility in addition to blitzing the pick and roll and generally being more aggressive on the perimeter which are all elements that Ociepka introduced to Chicago and turned a middling unit into one of the better in the NBA at effective field goal and field goal percentage allowed (7th and 4th in the league respectively)
Great post! I do have a couple things to mention. First off, I Webster was actually becoming a good defender and that loss backing Batum could hurt, although Cunningham will still be available and Wes is really only a couple inches shorter and against most SF's will match up fine. A far as the Celts and Rondo comparison, I think that you were on the right track talking about how Bayless will be able to hike up on his man more and pressure the ball with our full defensive unit intact. Bayless is not a good team defender but his man D is freaking intense at times. The problem is, if the rest of the team is open and all passing lanes are open, Bayless on D can easily be beat by passing. But if Batum, Wes, Oden and Camby (or whoever the other 4 are) are tight on their man and closing off the passing lanes, I think Bayless on D will be very very good. Perhaps a crunch time defender when all the other players are stepping up their D-intensity.
The debate over how good of a defender Webster was or how he compares to Matthews is moot in my mind as I am convinced that just like Rudy, Webster wanted to be in a situation where he would get consistent and extensive minutes. There is no way he beats out a healthy Batum, thus he had to go regardless. Webster is a volume, streak shooter. We know it. He knows it. He can't get going in short spurts. So, short of putting together a deal for Chris Paul, which throws off the roster, an off-season priority for the team was to deal with moving Webster and Rudy. I think one of the factors of KP's dismissal is exemplified by this situation. The team wasn't out in-front of what to a fair number of fans on this and other boards was long-time simmering - CONSOLIDATION - soon please! The lack of consolidation was masked last season by the historic injury bug. So team looks at roster and what they want to do with various players assuming they can't pull off a big trade. Here is what I think they were looking at with guys who can play 2,3 & 4 positions: Roy gets big minutes. Aldridge gets big minutes. No changes there. Batum looks to come back fully healed, and the team is committed to increasing his role and minute load. The team does better when he is on the court. Bayless is still being developed and the team thinks he can be good, even if he never becomes a point guard. His defense should be better with a shotblocker to back him up, and the team wants to increase his minute load. Travis was already traded. Webster needs to go. Rudy needs to go. Because Roy and Miller are not defenders, team needs another quality defender besides Batum. Team took a bit of a gamble in trading Webster before they had Matthews, but in the end it worked out. So, assuming that Rudy is traded for a future pick, the team will have replaced: Travis, Webster, Rudy, Blake, with: Matthews and (increased minutes for) Batum, Bayless and Cunningham. I really don't see a problem with what they did. Webster and Rudy need(ed) to go. Travis and Blake were traded for a very good cause, and neither were pluses on the defensive end regardless.
I think Camby is going to thrive as a help defender when he's on the court with Oden. I'm excited about a healthy Blazers squad. The size we can potentially have up front is about is big a front court as there is in the league.
if this club stays healthy it will be their D that has them among the league leaders in point differential. I absolutely love the front court they've assembled and look forward to them dominating the paint/boards. STOMP
It will be the best defensive team in the history of the NBA, and if they don't win it will be Paul Allen and Larry Miller's fault.
So do you suppose Oden will be playing more like a PF when he and Camby are both on the court? Camby seems like he might be quicker at guarding the other PF though.
I agree that Webster had to go, and that Batum is the better defender and offensive player. My point in bringing up Webster was simply that you were showing all the positives on paper about how the Blazers would be better on D this coming season. Losing Webster is a negative on the defensive end just so far as he was a good defender. Hopefully, Batum will play 30+ minutes this season and Wes and Cunningham will be as good or better at the SF spot on D as Webs, but I am not sure yet that is the case. I fully agree that the Blazers D should be much improved this season. But when listing the pluses, listing the minuses is also prudent. There are really on two negatives that I can think of, the loss of Webster and the situation with Joel. Both of those are negatives. If Camby and Oden are both healthy, then losing Joel becomes easy to overcome, just as a good showing of Batum, Wes and Cunningham negate the loss of Webster.
If we stay healthy... it could be a very special season. Even without a trade I think we have a shot to be as good as anyone in the West except the Lakers... and we match up well with the Lakers so if we face them in WCF... who knows. We have a young Oden and Batum... Roy is just near hitting his prime... Miller just slid over it but he is still there and Aldridge may be close too. It really could be amazing... a lot of the players ont he team are going to peak at near the same time.
Oden at the 5, Camby at the 4. It his help defense that makes him a great defender. Coming over to help Oden is going to be great to watch and I think Camby will be much more effective.
Some people seriously over rate this team's defensive abilities. I'd rank them average at best compared to past Blazers teams, and they really have no single player who is an exceptional defender. No one to compare to Kersey, Williams, Lucas, Patterson, Pack... Coupled with their yearly struggles at understanding team defense and I'd rather hope they finally find an offense that clicks.
We won't win it with McMillan, so I don't need to worry about that. Unless he changes, and if he does, I will be the first to say he is then doing a good job, he is not a championship level coach
