Is it too soon to talk about defensive rating?

https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/nba-teams-defensive-rating-this-season-by-month-february-2023

 

Most of the better teams, some of their best players are good defenders. That has rarely been the case with Portland. We ask our worst players to cover up for our best players so it is flawed from the start. Yes, there are going to be exceptions and some people might be upset for pointing out the obvious, but we are stuck in the same rut we have been for years. Too small, with too many players that shoot a lot but don't play much defense. It is out of balance from the start. Even Grant is said to be better as a help defender than as an on-ball defender.

Thybulle is a nice addition and I already like him better than Payton, but again, he is a peripheral player. We need more players who are well balanced and not so one dimensional either offensively or defensively.

 

I actually liked Dunlevy because he would make Sheed post up.

 

I agree... Roster players by far the biggest role in a team being good at defense.

 

Sheed was so good. Could get his shot off whenever he wanted (sometimes getting him to want to shoot was an issue) and was an elite defender. When Portland would put out a lineup of Greg Anthony, Pippen, Augmon, Sheed, and Sabonis, there were no easy buckets!

Dunleavy was given a roster with so much size and shooting; he would just hunt mismatches and force teams to double. Simple, but genius.

 

I think some of the issue here is that the dual-track path that Cronin/Jody have chosen means there are raw development players at the back end of the roster being forced into rotation minutes. And the Blazers draft/trade target strategy has been ‘athleticism upside guy’ over ‘shooting/defense guy’ for the past few seasons, so when Chauncey goes to the bench it’s yackity sax defensively.

 

Not just.

The starting unit of Dame, Ant, Hart, Grant and Nurkic had a -0.5 net rating.

in the last year of Terry Stotts, not an amazing defensive coach by any measue, the starting unit of Dame, CJ, Powell, RoCo and Nurk had an amazing net rating of +13.4

This all on a system, not roster. Because on paper, even if Ant is not as good a defender as CJ is, Hart, Grant should be better than Powell, Roco to overcome whatever deficiency there is there.

 

Not letting Billups off the hook at all—he’s a 2nd year coach struggling with <whatever it is he’s trying to do, who knows>; I’m just saying that after the first 7ish guys on the team, it’s a bunch of developmental guys who are either not good defensively to begin with, or are so green that they’re constantly out of position or late in getting where they need to be. The second part of the equation after the starters is that Portland has the worst bench in the league.

 

This has to help where the Blazers rank in defensive rating.

 

Great song lyrics to describe the Blazers

same as it ever was

meet the new boss, same as the old boss

Round and round