I am tracking the defensive efficiency of this team - and we are slowly but steadily climb up the ranks. Per Hollinger's ranking we are now the 7th most efficient defense in the league (we were 10th last year). On BBR's ranking we are the 9th most efficient (we were 13th last year). Both systems show us imroving (so far) by 6-7 points per 100 possessions. This is very encouraging - and this is exactly why Greg Oden was the right choice for this ball-club.
But...But..Kevin Durant is such a good scorer! The thing I like about increased focus and effor ton the defensive end is, we KNOW we can score efficiently. Also, we go 10 deep, which is more than most teams can say. A lot of times, teams will relax on the defeniev end, because they need to score, but I think with our depth, we should be able to focus effort on the defensive end, because we should be able to find someone on our team capable of carrying us through a rough patch. Back to Oden being the right choice, I always find it humorous how his offensive short comings are pointed out as reasons he is a bust, even though his defense is very good. Wouldn't that same logic work to say Durant is a bust because he probably couldn't cover me?
The real test will be our game against the Suns in Phoenix. If we can manage to control the tempo in that game, I will believe we are definitely on the right track. So far, I am happy with how the Blazers are forcing other teams to change their "game plan" or "Comfort Zone" during games. This hasn't been the case since 2001. When you can see that type of dominance, it proves the quality of your team.
Neither one of them is a bust - they are both going to be very good players for many years - it was just that Portland drafted the right one. If you look at our offense - it would not have been much better (if at all) with Durant - sure, he is a good scorer - but he is a volume scorer and would take shots from Roy and Aldridge who have the same kind of shots (mid-range and perimeter) with the same efficiency (they are all around the .550 mark in TS%. Oden makes the Blazers more versatile (and thus better) on offense - adding low-post scoring they did not have before (and his TS% is significantly higher than these guys around the .650 mark) while being a much better upgrade on defense. It's really not hard to see why they took it and it's really not hard to see how much better he would be for this team.
I agree 100%. Durant is statistically a much better player, but I seriously believe Oden will be the difference maker in games. I don't know if anyone has paid much attention to last night's game, but when Oden was out, Memphis looked so much better against us. The minute he came back in the 3rd, the game completely turned around. This is why I think Oden is so important to our ball club. He's going to set such a defensive presence on the court. Once he gets used to picking his battles on the defensive end, we will arguably be one of the best defensive teams in the NBA. And like I've said in the past. In the last decade, all the champions had one thing in common. All of them were at least top 3 in most the defensive categories.
Good defense, yes. Top - 3, don't think so. Last year's LAL was 6th best defensively in the regular season. The 2006 Heat were 9th best.
Is this overall defense (rating all the defensive categories), Opponent's FG %, or opponent's points, rebound differential, or creating turn-overs. I seem to remember that L.A. were top three in a few of them. Also, that miami team was top three in rebound differential, creating turn-overs and opponent's points.
Whatever you want to say about Durant, the Thunder are playing pretty damn good defense so far (ranked 6th by hollingers calculation) whether Durant is or not is still up for debate, but he's got a great on-court/off-court rating so far http://www.82games.com/0910/0910OKC.HTM Take it for what it's worth this early in the season.
It's mostly a rating of points per possession ... which is a pretty good measure of all categories, since it's focusing on raw productivity and not weighting one category higher or lower than another.
It's not "the quality of teams" it's the scoring average of teams like Memphis 110 per game, and shutting them down. I would love to see us run on those half court teams, while we slow the pace down on the running teams. Regardless, I was extremely impressed with the Blazers holding Memphis to 80 points. That's 30 points less than their average. Even if they suck, record wise.
Ahhhhh cool thing. I was basing this mainly on being top 3 in most the defensive categories. Okay, well shit! Throw my theory out the window then.
Also for those that are curious about Oden's impact on a position versus position basis, his PER differential and what he's allowing opposing centers is pretty remarkable so far (granted I'm not sure if you can say much about the overall competition he's faced). http://www.82games.com/0910/09POR12.HTM 19 to 7 is a pretty good foundation.
Yeah, I think the +/- stuff really did get into his head. From the little I saw him this year - he is trying to play defense, which is good for him. He has the tools to be a nice defensive player. Believe it or not - but his defensive win-score this year is actually higher than his offensive win-score which is a good thing for the Thunder. Their real problem so far this year is that their offensive production is just not very good. Still, they are on the right track. They will probably have a year like Portland's 07/08 year. 35-40 wins, some really nice ones followed by some really bad ones. Not a bad place to be. It will be interesting to see if they can take the next step after that and become a playoffs team.
For all the hype he gets, I actually think Westbrook is probably not going to work out as well as they hope as a point guard. He's an elite rebounder and defender, but he mainly drives looking to score and has a pretty tough time passing in traffic (evidenced by his huge turnover rate), and has a really janky jumpshot. I'll be curious to see if he can co-exist with Harden who seems to like to handle the ball (and seems like a more natural setup man and is much less turnover prone, even though he's also a shooting guard).
I would love to battle out OKL in the playoffs for years to come. Oden vs. Durant playoffs. I like the sound of that. And I know, it's not really fair, since they both play completely different games. I could just see the media drooling all over the hype of the playoff series.
And the league and network executives sharpening their knives in preparation for seppuku because of the dismal ratings it would get.
I agree. I thought they had a perfect opportunity, to draft Rubio and move Westbrook to off-guard. If Rubio was willing to come to the NBA if the Thunder drafted him, which obviously I have no idea about. If he would, though, then a Rubio/Westbrook/Durant perimeter would be pretty remarkable, in terms of potential.
Going to push it further off track, but I just am not a fan of the makeup of their team at all. It started with Green. Looking back on the draft, i don't know who would have been a better choice at #5. Maybe Noah. Maybe they trade Green eventually, I dunno. I don't like the setup there with him. I think they should have took Lopez last year. I think Minnesota should have as well, though. How good would they look with him and Durant? How good would a Rubio-Sefolosha-Durant-Noah-Lopez team look, compared to Westbrook-Harden-Durant-Green-Whoever? Maybe they go out and sign someone big this offseason, but for all they hype about OKC, they just don't scare me as a future threat the way other teams potentially could after this offseason.
