Stotts changing defense. Finally

Discussion in 'Portland Trail Blazers' started by illmatic99, Dec 15, 2020.

  1. illmatic99

    illmatic99 formerly yuyuza1

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    Lotta good info here. I'll post excerpts later tonight
     
  2. twobullz

    twobullz Well-Known Member

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    So are they changing there defense in the stores at the moda center? They going to start using the little security tags?? haha. Will be interesting to see what they say, I don't subscribe to the athletic.
     
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  3. Charcoal Filtered

    Charcoal Filtered Writing Team

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    Which stores?
     
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  4. PtldPlatypus

    PtldPlatypus Let's go Baby Blazers! Staff Member Global Moderator Moderator

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    Be nice. He meant Stotts. I fixed it.
     
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  5. Natebishop3

    Natebishop3 Don't tread on me!

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    NO! WE MUST MAKE FUN OF HIM BECAUSE OF HIS ERROR!
     
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  6. blazerkor

    blazerkor Well-Known Member

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    If Terry turns this defense around into a top 3 defense in the league this season with this roster... which I actually think could be done if the right personnel plays the right amount of time at the right times in games... then we have to start calling him "Coach Stopps".
     
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  7. BonesJones

    BonesJones https://www.youtube.com/c/blazersuprise

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    I'm so happy!!!!
     
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  8. AmirIcon

    AmirIcon Well-Known Member

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    Wait, but I thought Stotts' defensive schemes were great and we just didn't have the right personnel?

    This should tell you that Stotts apologists have been full of hot air for almost a decade.

    But, they'll find a way to spin it and claim Stotts is still great.
     
  9. BonesJones

    BonesJones https://www.youtube.com/c/blazersuprise

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    He listened! ;)
    20201215_171641.jpg
     
  10. blazerkor

    blazerkor Well-Known Member

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  11. James lamphear

    James lamphear Well-Known Member

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    It's see different looks on defense this preseason but the key you have to be active for any defense to be successful. In the 2nd half in there 1st game when we got active we through the king's out of there want they wanted to do on offense it was nice to see.
     
  12. illmatic99

    illmatic99 formerly yuyuza1

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    lmao thanks. New phone. Autocorrect has been killin me lately.
     
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  13. illmatic99

    illmatic99 formerly yuyuza1

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    “You know, me being an offensive player, I know what is comfortable to play against, what is easy to play against, and what’s like a little bit tougher,” Lillard said. “So I like that the style we are going to play is a tougher style to go against as an offensive player.”

    Stotts called it “a difficult decision” to shift his defensive philosophy, but he felt he needed to adapt to the NBA’s evolving emphasis on the perimeter game and to his roster, which now features agile and mobile bigs in Jusuf Nurkic, Enes Kanter, Zach Collins and Harry Giles.

    “I think the league has changed and our personnel has changed,” Stotts said.

    In Stotts’ eight seasons in Portland, the Blazers have been a top 10 defense twice — finishing ninth in 2014-15 with Robin Lopez as the dropping big, and finishing sixth in 2017-18 with Nurkic sagging off the pick. He said he was reluctant to change because his conservative approach worked in the past, but as the league trends toward more 3-pointers and big men who can pass and shoot, he felt the need to adapt.

    Lillard said the new system eliminates much of the guesswork or interpretation.

    “The main thing I like about it is we have certain things that are just law,” Lillard said. “In the past, it was like … there was a lot of ifs and changes based on what the personnel is. (Now) it’s the same regardless of who we are guarding.”

    The new system also helps ease the pressure on the guards, who used to have to fight over screens and chase the ball handler after he drove. Now, the big will be there to help slow the drive until the guard recovers. To make this system work, the defenders away from the pick — or the weak side — will have to be cognizant of penetration and be ready to help. As a result, Lillard said the focus of training camp has been on weak side defense.


    ------

    This was all triggered by the worst defensive season in the eight-year Olshey/Stotts era, which prompted each leader to reflect. And when the offseason ended, Olshey changed the roster and Stotts his philosophy.

    “Clearly (defense) was a need,” Olshey said last month. “Some of that will have to be addressed strategically in terms of how we are planning to play, but the majority of that needed to be solved from a personnel standpoint, which is my responsibility.”

    Now, with long and versatile wings in Jones Jr. and Covington, and mobile bigs in Nurkic, Collins, Kanter and Giles, the Blazers are hoping that the changes in personnel and philosophy merge and form at worst a serviceable defense and at best another top 10 unit.

    “I was reluctant to make the change because we had some good defensive teams with that coverage,” Stotts said. “But I just think the game has changed, and we kind of have to adjust how we attack things.”
     
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  14. tlongII

    tlongII Legendary Poster

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    This is good. Stotts is finally adjusting.
     
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  15. PtldPlatypus

    PtldPlatypus Let's go Baby Blazers! Staff Member Global Moderator Moderator

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    Kanter is a "mobile big"?
     
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  16. HailBlazers

    HailBlazers RipCity

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    "Difficult Decision" Smh
     
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  17. AmirIcon

    AmirIcon Well-Known Member

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    It's alarming to read how reluctant Stotts is and was to changing our defense. Seems like Olshey pushed the issue.
     
  18. HailBlazers

    HailBlazers RipCity

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    He reads the board. Stotts quote is verbatim what @BonesJones has been advocating.
     
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  19. BonesJones

    BonesJones https://www.youtube.com/c/blazersuprise

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    Yeah I wouldn't say that. He's the only big on this roster that I can comfortably say is best in drop coverage. I would expect more drop coverage with him in the game.

    Which scheme we should run at any given time comes down to (in no particular order):
    - The personnel we have in the game
    - The personnel the other team has in the game
    - How well they've done against specific schemes ran earlier in the game.
    - If the opposing offense is building momentum and we need to get them off-balance
    - Time and score (more aggressive defense if we're down in the 4th to get us some fast-break buckets)
    - Our halfcourt offense (if that's struggling, we could ratchet up our defensive aggressiveness to get more fast-break buckets)
     
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  20. BonesJones

    BonesJones https://www.youtube.com/c/blazersuprise

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    It was kinda surreal to read
     
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