Author Topic: Ray - A defensive liability for the Heat  (Read 1022 times)

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Ray - A defensive liability for the Heat
« on: November 16, 2012, 12:13:56 PM »

Offline WBrownTrophy

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http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/miamiheat/post/_/id/15814/what-happened-to-miamis-defense

Interesting article talking about how the Heat are one of the lower ranked defensive teams so far in this early year. The article points out that one of the reasons for this is Ray Allen.

Quote
How come Erik Spoelstra's defense has been so bad? Ray Allen might have a lot to do with it
......
The Heat have fallen apart defensively with Ray Allen on the court.When Allen has been on the floor this season, the Heat have surrendered 109.0 points per 100 possessions. When Allen's on the bench? 97.7 points per 100 possessions, or right about where they were last season.

From watching the playoff games last season, it was very easy to tell that Ray just could not physically keep up defensively and often had trouble within the defensive rotations. I know Terry and C Lee have not been the best defenders thus far, but I think once they get the hang of the defense, they will be better than Ray would have been.
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Re: Ray - A defensive liability for the Heat
« Reply #1 on: November 16, 2012, 12:16:27 PM »

Offline pearljammer10

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Ray would be a defensive liability for anybody at this point in his career. But to be honest, has the JET been much better for us. I know Monta Ellis is a tough guard but JET looks like he wasnt even trying because Ellis made him look so silly.

I wonder if there are any numbers such as this for JET's time on and off the floor. At least Lee makes up on defense for what JET has lacked in a few games thus far this season.

Re: Ray - A defensive liability for the Heat
« Reply #2 on: November 16, 2012, 12:23:08 PM »

Offline Fafnir

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This shouldn't be a surprise with the Heat's defensive schemes. They have relied an awful lot on their wings ability to be disruptive to make their defense work well. Ray isn't that sort of defender clearly.

Of course his numbers will improve because right now the Heat's overall defense is dragging so badly, Ray goes with the tide defensively like most guards.

Re: Ray - A defensive liability for the Heat
« Reply #3 on: November 16, 2012, 01:27:12 PM »

Offline mctyson

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Ray would be a defensive liability for anybody at this point in his career. But to be honest, has the JET been much better for us.

That's why JET is racking up the minutes, and CLee is getting plenty.  When ABZero comes back, he'll get even less.

Re: Ray - A defensive liability for the Heat
« Reply #4 on: November 16, 2012, 01:33:58 PM »

Offline mgent

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This shouldn't be a surprise with the Heat's defensive schemes. They have relied an awful lot on their wings ability to be disruptive to make their defense work well. Ray isn't that sort of defender clearly.

Of course his numbers will improve because right now the Heat's overall defense is dragging so badly, Ray goes with the tide defensively like most guards.
Just about to say the same thing.  Their sets rely almost solely on athleticsm.  They trap extra hard and switch on pretty much everything so it's tough to make them pay for it.  As if that wasn't enough, they heavily load that side of the court using Wade or LeBron as a free safety able to wreak havoc and help at will.  They can do this because both guys are quick and long enough to recover in time.  And it pretty much begs the offense to attack the weak side by making that crosscourt pass, which leaves whichever one is on the other side to leap into the passing lane and grab it.  They never reteat to the line and conservatively get back on the guy, they're expecting that pass.

These schemes can make quick guys like Chalmers, James Jones, even quick bigs like Haslem and Bosh look much better than they are, but leaves somebody like Ray always a step behind because he's constantly being asked to switch guys or recover too much ground, and isn't explosive enough to steal a lot of those passes he's in position to get.  That's why they couldn't ever play Stackhouse and released him.
Philly:

Anderson Varejao    Tiago Splitter    Matt Bonner
David West    Kenyon Martin    Brad Miller
Andre Iguodala    Josh Childress    Marquis Daniels
Dwyane Wade    Leandro Barbosa
Kirk Hinrich    Toney Douglas   + the legendary Kevin McHale

Re: Ray - A defensive liability for the Heat
« Reply #5 on: November 16, 2012, 01:55:09 PM »

Offline alley oop

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Quote
But the eye test shows plenty of turnstile action by the team’s perimeter players defensively, especially Wade and Allen, whom opposite players have started to openly target.

http://espn.go.com/nba/truehoop/miamiheat/