Stotts defensive strategy has been maligned around here for awhile, but he always had the defense, that statistically, it was pretty decent. But this year, he has no such excuse. The Blazers are 8th worst in the league in points allowed per 100 possessions. Their offense on the other hand is 9th best in that catagory, which has kept them competitive. They are once again near the bottom of the league in steals (2nd to last), 5th worst in blocks, 3rd worst in forcing turnovers, 2nd worst at sending opponants to the FT line. And for all this, their 3pt defense is only middle of the pack, and this is one of the main things Stotts' defense is designed to affect. Last year, Aminu was averaging almost 1.8 steals per game and 1.6 blocks per 36. And now those numbers are down to 1 and .7. Mariuce Harkless steals also fell from 1.7 to 1. So I don't think it's our players, I think it's Stotts' pansy ass defense. And think of how those steals could lead to fast break points, which we are, once again, 2nd to last in.
The only stat I could find in Stotts' favor, is our 2pt fg% defense is ranked #9, and 51.8%. But is it really worth it? Let's say we got more aggressive and dropped all the way down to 20th in that catagory and gave up 53.8%, that would be an extra 2.5 points per game for the opponent on average. But if we could jump up to just be a middle of the pack in terms of getting turnovers, we'd get 3 more turnovers per game. That would take more than 3 points average off the opponent score, not to mention fast break opportunities it would create.
just from watching the games it seems like we are starting to get more steals....not sure what the stats are
The Blazers get steals out of sheer luck. Their scheme isn't designed to create steals or gamble on possessions. That is why on the season, they are a poor steals team.
Stotts first year here he had a bad roster..no bench and by the second year had the team a top 5 defensive squad...this is a new roster and I think given his season of developing young guys....we'll see better stats next season. It's not his system, it's the chemistry of the team and we have a raw squad of new pieces to get on the same page...I think we'll be fine
I am unsure as to your point? The Blazers have plenty of guys who can't keep their man in front of them but rarely do they gamble on steals. It's part of Stotts's defensive scheme.
Dame, CJ and Frazier gamble...mostly unsuccessfully on steals all the time...often ending with a foul or a guy blowing by them for a layup...that's gambling on steals. Crabbe does not, Davis does not, Plumlee does not....the 3 guys I mentioned do and Dame is getting better at not doing that
CJ gambles from time to time. Dame does not seem to gamble much and Frazier has not played enough to tell. If anything, the player that gambles the most on steals is Allen Crabbe, but the Blazers as a whole are good at not reaching for steals, which fits Stotts's philosophy.
The problem is we play the pick and roll the same way every single time. Watch the on the ball defender when the screen is coming. They take a small step away from the screen then fight over the top. No matter who the point guard is this is how we defend the pick and roll. We've simply got to change it up and keep giving the guard different looks.
I think changing it up would be good too, keep the offense thinking a bit. And other teams will trap Dame sometimes on the pick and roll and it really messed it up, but we never try that.
It kills me to see other teams doing that who are successful on defense and we absolutely NEVER try it...
