Wow, its amazing we are 6-4. I knew we werent good but 30th? ouch! Hopefully oden fixes that but man we need a guy who can defend on the perimeter. maybe webster? thats wishful thinking. 30????? Seriously im shocked! If that doesnt change drastically we will not make the playoffs. Basically, the lakers, jazz, hornets, suns, nuggets, rockets, are locks. That leaves us, spurs and mavs. Somebody doesnt get in. Also GS isnt bad either.
No. Not surprised. That's also why I scoff at people calling for faster ball and not slow-down offense - our offensive efficiency was never an issue - we are consistently among the best in the NBA. The issue was always defense - and it is clear why KP went with Oden over Durant. He was the right guy for the job even if never becomes an offensive super-star. It is also why I am so high on Nic Batum - he addresses a real problem for this team, especially against taller small-forwards. Still need to upgrade the PG position or let Bayless loose...
Why so shocked? We've played one of the toughest schedules in the league so far and the blowout loss to L.A. is still very much skewing the data into the negative ... having said that, yes we have still been a very mediocre to poor defensive team at best, but if you are so worried then hopefully this story will lift your spirits: http://www.columbian.com/article/20081116/BLOGS05/811169997
says who? we're 28th in opponent FG%, 20th in point diff, 19th in rebound diff, 6th in steal diff, and up to 3rd in block diff. that's not great overall, but we're clearly not the worst. that would be the clippers.
Our defense sucks. Hopefully Oden will help that. Another thing that will help that a lot is if our players stop helping off their man to help contain penetration. We leave a lot of people wide open because of this
This is all wrong. We haven''t scored more than 106 pts all season and our defense has been great. We've held our last two opponents under 90 and our last 6 opponents under 100.
Efficiency is "per possession" = and the Blazers play slow because that way the reduce the number of turn-overs on offense (thus leading to Roy penetrating and finishing to dishing to a high-percentage jump shooter) and gets time to "get back on defense" where they are slightly more likely to make some kind of a defensive stand. This team had to play it's only efficient interior defender limited minutes because he is an offensive liability and our perimeter defense is pretty much bad. The bright spots - * With Oden coming back we will get more Oden and less Pryzbilla - and in the time Joel is in - he can be more aggressive on defense and accumulate fouls quickly. * Batum does a good job at some players that gave Portland nightmares last year (for example - T-Mac) * Roy seems to be a better perimeter defender this year - he is just playing against the oppositions best players at the end of the game to preserve his energy * Beyless could be a big upgrade against quick guards that are currently shredding our defense to pieces
Points allowed per possession (or, the way you will see it in the ranking - per 100 possessions - but it's really the same with a different constant multiplier). In every possession of an opposing team - they will score more points against us than against any other NBA team. It will probably get better once Oden gets more time and in the groove of things - but we are a pretty dismal defensive team...
Our PG's have been getting killed... Also, during pre-game of the Minnesota game M&M mentioned that Centers score more on us than any other team in the League. ..That is, of course, before Oden really arrived.
