Curry Expects Warriors To Emphasize Defense More Under Smart

I was telling people the Warriors were going to play more defense with Keith Smart as coach because he was the defensive coordinator. Stephen Curry seems to confirm that thinking, too.

On offense, GS was the #2 rated team in the NBA behind Phoenix. They scored 108.81 ppg, but they gave up 112.40 ppg. It was the league worst. The second worst was Minnesota at 107.78, but even David Kahn's team wasn't close to being the Warriors. That is one of the reasons why I was glad to see Don Nelson quit on the Warriors.

As comparison, the closest worst defensive teams were:
Min - 107.78 ppg
NYK - 105.93 ppg
Tor - 105.85 ppg
PHX - 105.33 ppg

To be fair, the Warriors differential was -3.59. That wasn't the worst as New Jersey's and Minnesota's was -9.12 and -9.60 respectively. Those would be harder to fix imho.

The two teams to compare to the Warriors would be PHX and NYK because of similar team philosophy. PHX made the playoffs by leading the league at 110.23 ppg while giving up 105.33 ppg, a points differential of +4.9. The Knicks, on the other hand, were like the Warriors with 102.11 ppg while giving up 105.93 ppg, a differential of -3.82. I think Smart is going to try to get the Warriors to improve their defense to around where PHX and the Knicks play while keeping the offense as one of the league best. I think getting the defensive players like DWright, Bell, Udoh and keeping and playing guys like AB point us in the right direction. It also means guys like Reggie Williams will have to buckle down and play some defense if he wants to be in Smart's rotation. It's nice to hear CJ Watson giving credit to Smart for his development. Smart should develop his younger players better, too.

Still, the bottom line is winning games, so Smart will have to work hard to get them. If he does, then he could be another Alvin Gentry of PHX.

 

It's nice to hear Monta Ellis, AB, and Brandan Wright have strong relationships with Smart besides Stephen Curry. Anthony Randolph, Ronny Turiaf and Kelenna Azubuike probably were others in Smart's camp. The D-Leaguers and guys like Corey Maggette probably favored Nelson.

 

The quote might as well read:

With [INSERT ANY NAME THAT IS NOT 'DON NELSON' HERE] replacing Don Nelson as head coach of the Warriors, defense is expected to play a more significant role in their team philosophy.

 

Just to play devil's advocate: if Keith Smart was in charge of the defense last year, can we expect it to get much better now that he is head coach?

I suppose the main difference could be the players he uses during the game. Can we expect him to bring out lots of new stuff for the defense?

Hopefully the bigs stay healthy this season. Last year it seemed like all the bigs were injured very early in the season and it seemed to stay that way for most of the season.

 

I think that's a very valid argument Clif. The main difference I see here is that the roster has a lot of players that should be able to crash the boards and play solid D. That being said, I'm not very sure that dumping Nellie would change that.

 

My standard would be to lower the points we give up to our opponents to around 105 ppg or better from about 112 ppg. I like to see that happen, but am realistic enough that the Warriors won't score as much as they did per game last year at around 108 ppg. I am assuming that the Warriors will be able to keep the same pace as last year with the new players we got. However, the key is to get a positive differential, so Smart may not think offense as much. Already he has said he doesn't think the team will shoot as many three's. I think that's a mistake for this team. Also, I agree with Run BJM that Smart is not a great X's and O's guy. He'll be stressed to come up with the right offensive play at the right time.

There is no question Smart will be under the gun to win because of new expectations. I don't think he has to get a playoff position, but has to improve upon last season and get people feeling that the Warriors are headed in the right direction and will be doing what he said they'll be doing.

 

I envision losing a few games because he'll be flat out, out-coached. That being said, I don't expect a playoff push with this team right away. If he learns on the job, I'll be happy with the move. I really wish we would've gone after Ty Corbin. Especially considering the pick-roll potential of this team.

 

I think Smart will hit the ground running. He already took over some games for Nellie, ala Avery Johnson. and he coached the summer league. Plus he's been a quality assistant for a long time.

In one game he took over, I remember him throwing out a 3rd quarter lineup including Turiaf, Randolph, Wright and Beans ALL AT ONCE, with like Morrow playing point or something. That was awesome. It wasn't terribly effective, but just the fact that he was willing to try something like that showed a nice change of pace from Nellie.

One of the reasons why GS has been a top Offensive team is because they were willing to be one of the bottom defensive teams. It was okay with Nellie. He'd put Mags at C and just try to out-gun. There would be a ton more possessions in the game. They would look explosive on offense, simply because they got SO many more shots off, but of course they would make the opponent look like PHX for a night. Shoot even teams like Detroit and Miami would drop 120 points on them.

If they want to be a better defensive team, they're going to have to accept the fact that they won't be able to score the same way. They'll have to get bigger lineups in there, which means less run-n-gun.

The key is to find a good balance where they can still run. This will help improve their differential as opposed to PPG scored or allowed. Afterall, who cares if you score 200 PPG if you give up 250 PPG, right?

 

Funny that some (read: a lot of) Nelson supporters don't agree on Smart. Nelson said that he wanted to see Smart end up as the head coach. In other words, Nelson GROOMED Smart to be his replacement and he was glad to see Smart get the job. It's another one of Nelson's developing of a person under him; This time a coach instead of a player.

Another fan told me that Nelson and Smart played the "good cop, bad cop" routine. Nelson was the bad cop who did the yelling and meted out punishment if players did not follow his instructions. Smart was the good cop who coddled the players and gained their trust. He didn't like Smart too much either. I guess Nelson supporters question whether Smart can play the bad cop.

The bottom line is still winning and that was why Nelson is not coaching this year. If he improved the team (like what Smart is given the task to do now), even after Baron left in a debacle, then he would've have been coaching this year and could have written his own ticket until retirement. He was 42 - 40 in the We Believe year and 48 - 34 in a year where he could've gotten the team to the playoffs. Unfortunately, expectations went up the following year, and while 48 - 34 was a very good record, it wasn't enough. The next two years went downhill at 29 - 53 and 26 - 56 last season sealed his doom.

I would say Smart has to get his team into the low 30s for the number of wins. 32 wins would be a six game improvement. Also, he has to put his stamp on in terms of what the team is all about. In other words, he has to deliver on what he has said. Not just get the six game improvement, but get his team to play the type of ball he outlined. If fans believe the Warriors are improving, even with close game losses, then the team would be headed in the right direction. It's no small task for Smart. Finally, no more team upheaval unless it's caused by the player and not the front office.

 

I'm not one of those Nelson supporters. I'm happy for Smart and I think he'll do well.

 

There is a problem with defense, but I am not sure which is worse: Their defense or rebounding. Based on their per game averages the Warriors grabbed 38.4 rebounds and their opponents got 48.1 rebounds. That is a big difference. On the other side of the token, the Warriors shot the ball at 46.9% but their opponents shot it at 48.5%. These problems are self inflicting. For example, perhaps the opponents shot a better percentage because they get the easy put-backs from the offensive glass. However maybe the opponents grab more rebounds because the Warriors shoot a worse percentage. I guess both may be valid and significant.

I think the rebounding is the big issue. The Warriors gave their opponents 4 more offensive rebounds on average per game. That is about 5 to 8 points there per game, I'd guess. Closing that gap will go far in dropping the point differential 112.4 to 108.8 points per game deficit. Surprisingly the Warriors shot 61 more FG attempts than the opponent despite the large number of offensive rebounds given up. I think that goes on the team's ability to cause turnovers. They were able to get 116 more steals than their opponents.

Anyway, after all the ramble. I think/hope David Lee with a healthy and rejuvenated Biedrins and Dorell Wright will fix the rebounding woes, which I think will help the team and Keith Smart with the rest of the defense. We know they are able to get steals. Maybe a campaign with a more healthy and steady roster will help the rest of the defense catch up. And, I don't know if this is even worth hoping for, but maybe Brandan Wright and Udoh can make some impact on the season. Those two should be pretty decent on the defensive side of the ball. Actually reviewing all the players here, maybe not only is the coach more defensive focused, but perhaps so is the new roster.

There is a lot of change this offseason. It is hard to see playoff expectations for this team, as noted. But it will be very intriguing to see how the trio of Curry/Ellis/Lee does along with the young players. I think they'd need to get at least 50 points per game between the three of them if not more.

 

Those don't have to be 1 and the same. I liked Nellie a lot, but I think his time was done. I'm happy for Coach Smart, and I think he will be a decent coach one day. But I think we could have done better than him (I'm a big Ty Corbin fan, and this team is setup to be a pick-roll team). That being said, I hope Coach Smart steps up.

Don't forget Amundson diving all over the place. This team should most definitely be improved on the glass.

Agreed 100%. Don't forget that the rookie coach will get out-coached frequently in his first season. I think 30-35 wins is about right. It should be entertaining to watch the team grow though.

 

this is pretty much what I was coming to this thread to write...lol...so true

 

Beautiful photos at the website in your sig.