Author Topic: We are actually a better defensive team!!!  (Read 7980 times)

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We are actually a better defensive team!!!
« on: September 11, 2017, 12:12:43 PM »

Offline drogbagarnett

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I think we are actually a better defensive team!!

1) But first lets pull the breaks on the real impact of our defense last year!

It's funny to me that people keep harping on us losing our great defense!!
Didn't you guys watch last year's playoff..???

I guess we :

- Finally Escaped the Bulls series thanks to the ALL TIME GREAT DEFENDER Gerald Green inserted in the starting line up to change the complexity of the series??

- Barely overcomed the Wizard in a tight 7 game series thanks to kelly Olynyk DEFENSIVE PROWESS in the second half??

- Got absolutely DESTROYED by the Cavs in the ECF because our DEFENSIVE GURU Isiah Thomas was playing hurt and subsequently missed the rest of the series??

I know defense is important and represent almost half of the battle but frankly Lets all STOP with all these "our defense is worst this year" rethoric I'm seeing everywhere to doubt our team, in today's NBA great offense beats great defense!

Where was our SUPER DUPER defenders (Bradley, Crowder, Amir, etc...) when Kyrie was single-handedly killing us in the 3rd quarter of Game 4 of the ECF while Lebron was sitting with 4 or 5 fouls...? We were up almost double digits if i recall correctly and a Cavs team full of all time great defenders like Kyrie Irving, Jr Smith, Kevin Love, etc, amounted a come back to take the lead into the 4th quarter and avoided us tying the series 2-2 which would have made that whole ECF interesting...

You guys act like having Bradley defense, or Crowder defense mattered much during those crucial moments. That's when a series is decided. Those are championship moments. And I will take a Kyrie Irving 3 pointers in Curry's face over any Bradley or Crowder defense that couldn't take us across the finish line for the past 3 seasons.

Good Defenders are easier to find, some very good ones are in the Dleague waiting for opportunities. Great Offensive players that can close a game or series consistently are more difficult to find.

Defense is important, dont get me wrong, but I think we are putting too much emphasis on it and not realizing that we got 3 great offensive players in just a couple of months that can help us get over the hump (Tatum, Hayward and Irving).

Now, here is what I also think :

2) Our defense will be even better than last year!

I do think we can still put out there a very good defensive lineup when a stop is needed with players like Rozier, Smart, Brown, Hayward, Semi, Theis, Morris, Horford and Baynes!!

To me, depending on how Semi turns out, and with defensive improvement from our young studs, we might have even improved defensively with this team (with 1 additional roster open for guys like Tony Allen or Andrew Bogut)!!

Looking at the players past and present, Defensively :

Kyrie > IT
Rozier 2018 > Rozier 2017
Brown 2018 > Brown 2017
Smart 2018 > Smart 2017
Hayward < Bradley (but just Slightly, the longer but slower Hayward is an underrated defender)
Semi < Crowder (only slightly against the 2017 Crowder and only if Semi can confirm his great SL defense)
Morris > Kelly
Tatum > Green (younger, longer and more mobile than the stiff Green)
Baynes > Amir (less on switches but more on defending the post where we got killed often)
Horford 2018 = Horford 2017
Theis = Jerebko (Slight edge to Theis if he confirm his DE Defensive player of the year status)
Yabu > Zeller (not that it matters much but should be noted...)
Larkin = Jackson
Nader > Young (not that it matters much but should be noted...)

In addition to the above, we can also note that :
2018 team length > 2017 team length
2018 low post defense > 2017 low post defense
2018 athleticism > 2017 athleticism

So frankly, if Hayward and Semi confirm what I have seen from them defensively, and if we can add a Tony Allen or Andrew Bogut with the open roster spot, I really dont think we are much worst than last year at all!! I actually think we might even be better!!!

3) An improved offense is also a net plus defensively :

1- Less Fast-break opportunities for the opponent
2- Less Energy left offensively after they spent most of it trying to stop our great offensive players
3- last but not least, pushing opponent to make adjustment to their team by lining up more defenders to try to stop us, and thus reducing their offensive firepower...!!)

So let's all relax, drop those "we are worst defensively" comments and enjoy what is going to be an EPIC playoff run, that will take us I think all the way to the NBA Finals!!

"It's about to be CRAZY, G!!!"

Re: We are actually a better defensive team!!!
« Reply #1 on: September 11, 2017, 01:00:50 PM »

Offline ImShakHeIsShaq

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I'm not worried about our defense either but don't pretend/forget that if it were not for the defense of AB we still lose in the first round, he shut Butler down when he defended him, without question, Butler got his points on other players. He also put the clamps on Wall, don't let the counting stats fool you. When AB went down in the first game Wall started to destroy us (IT4), if we lost that game, we lose that series, AB came back and put the clamps on him again and we won. Furthermore, great offense will beat great defense, these are some of the best offenders in the world, even the undisputed best defenders have no chance against the best. People always bring up what Kyrie did to us but fail to mention that he completely destroyed the best defense left in the playoffs (probably best period), who had Klay, a guy people routinely called a better defender than AB. He beat on GSW like he was out there alone most of the time.

Now we hope Kyrie destroys the league for us, let's get it! It's about to go down!!!!
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Re: We are actually a better defensive team!!!
« Reply #2 on: September 11, 2017, 01:44:00 PM »

Offline playdream

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Wow you just said all the same things for me, my first given TP

Re: We are actually a better defensive team!!!
« Reply #3 on: September 11, 2017, 02:42:45 PM »

Offline drogbagarnett

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Wow you just said all the same things for me, my first given TP
Thanks! And one right back to you for sharing the same views.

Re: We are actually a better defensive team!!!
« Reply #4 on: September 11, 2017, 02:50:09 PM »

Offline drogbagarnett

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I'm not worried about our defense either but don't pretend/forget that if it were not for the defense of AB we still lose in the first round, he shut Butler down when he defended him, without question, Butler got his points on other players. He also put the clamps on Wall, don't let the counting stats fool you. When AB went down in the first game Wall started to destroy us (IT4), if we lost that game, we lose that series, AB came back and put the clamps on him again and we won. Furthermore, great offense will beat great defense, these are some of the best offenders in the world, even the undisputed best defenders have no chance against the best. People always bring up what Kyrie did to us but fail to mention that he completely destroyed the best defense left in the playoffs (probably best period), who had Klay, a guy people routinely called a better defender than AB. He beat on GSW like he was out there alone most of the time.

Now we hope Kyrie destroys the league for us, let's get it! It's about to go down!!!!

I hear you!

My point is with Bradley shutting down Butler we were still 0-2 about to lose the series until we made a CLEARLY offensive-minded adjustment to bring one of our WORST defenders into the line up to create a threat that actually got us back into the series!!! Offensive threat is more powerful than defensive threat!! And that Bulls series was a proof of that!

As for Washington, I agree Bradley defended Wall well but he still got his to the point of scoring the winning clutch shot on Bradley's face to extend the series. If not for yet again some offensive OUTBURST from Kelly Olynyk, we could have lost that series as well!

For all the great defense we are supposed to be losing in those trades, we were extremely close to having a playoff run cut short a third time in a row with those great defenders in our team if it wasn't for some offensive adjustments and outbursts....

We are a better defensive team!! Haters will soon realize that!

Re: We are actually a better defensive team!!!
« Reply #5 on: September 11, 2017, 02:56:29 PM »

Offline bigal534

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this is accurate.

Also, you should do an offensive breakdown to where we are now vs last year.

Re: We are actually a better defensive team!!!
« Reply #6 on: September 11, 2017, 02:59:46 PM »

Online Roy H.

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Our big weaknesses were defensive rebounding, forcing turnovers, and fouling too much.

I'm not sure if we got better in those areas.


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Re: We are actually a better defensive team!!!
« Reply #7 on: September 11, 2017, 03:13:20 PM »

Online johnnygreen

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I agree that we have a better starting defensive unit, in the grand scheme of things. However, with so many rookies on the team that will need to play minutes, I would imagine the defensive shortfalls will come from the second unit. Defense is extremely difficult for a rookie to grasp.

Re: We are actually a better defensive team!!!
« Reply #8 on: September 11, 2017, 03:17:21 PM »

Offline Moranis

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I'm not worried about our defense either but don't pretend/forget that if it were not for the defense of AB we still lose in the first round, he shut Butler down when he defended him, without question, Butler got his points on other players. He also put the clamps on Wall, don't let the counting stats fool you. When AB went down in the first game Wall started to destroy us (IT4), if we lost that game, we lose that series, AB came back and put the clamps on him again and we won. Furthermore, great offense will beat great defense, these are some of the best offenders in the world, even the undisputed best defenders have no chance against the best. People always bring up what Kyrie did to us but fail to mention that he completely destroyed the best defense left in the playoffs (probably best period), who had Klay, a guy people routinely called a better defender than AB. He beat on GSW like he was out there alone most of the time.

Now we hope Kyrie destroys the league for us, let's get it! It's about to go down!!!!

I hear you!

My point is with Bradley shutting down Butler we were still 0-2 about to lose the series until we made a CLEARLY offensive-minded adjustment to bring one of our WORST defenders into the line up to create a threat that actually got us back into the series!!! Offensive threat is more powerful than defensive threat!! And that Bulls series was a proof of that!

As for Washington, I agree Bradley defended Wall well but he still got his to the point of scoring the winning clutch shot on Bradley's face to extend the series. If not for yet again some offensive OUTBURST from Kelly Olynyk, we could have lost that series as well!

For all the great defense we are supposed to be losing in those trades, we were extremely close to having a playoff run cut short a third time in a row with those great defenders in our team if it wasn't for some offensive adjustments and outbursts....

We are a better defensive team!! Haters will soon realize that!
or maybe it was when the Bulls best defender got hurt that Boston got back into the series.  Acting like Gerald Green being inserted into the starting lineup is why Boston won is just silly nonsense.  Of course that has nothing to do with Boston being a better defensive team.  In fact, very little of what you posted has anything to do with defense. 

It seems to me you are focusing on the offense being better which will make Boston a better team overall, but that certainly doesn't make Boston a better defensive team. 
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Re: We are actually a better defensive team!!!
« Reply #9 on: September 11, 2017, 04:09:07 PM »

Offline playdream

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I'm not worried about our defense either but don't pretend/forget that if it were not for the defense of AB we still lose in the first round, he shut Butler down when he defended him, without question, Butler got his points on other players. He also put the clamps on Wall, don't let the counting stats fool you. When AB went down in the first game Wall started to destroy us (IT4), if we lost that game, we lose that series, AB came back and put the clamps on him again and we won. Furthermore, great offense will beat great defense, these are some of the best offenders in the world, even the undisputed best defenders have no chance against the best. People always bring up what Kyrie did to us but fail to mention that he completely destroyed the best defense left in the playoffs (probably best period), who had Klay, a guy people routinely called a better defender than AB. He beat on GSW like he was out there alone most of the time.

Now we hope Kyrie destroys the league for us, let's get it! It's about to go down!!!!

I hear you!

My point is with Bradley shutting down Butler we were still 0-2 about to lose the series until we made a CLEARLY offensive-minded adjustment to bring one of our WORST defenders into the line up to create a threat that actually got us back into the series!!! Offensive threat is more powerful than defensive threat!! And that Bulls series was a proof of that!

As for Washington, I agree Bradley defended Wall well but he still got his to the point of scoring the winning clutch shot on Bradley's face to extend the series. If not for yet again some offensive OUTBURST from Kelly Olynyk, we could have lost that series as well!

For all the great defense we are supposed to be losing in those trades, we were extremely close to having a playoff run cut short a third time in a row with those great defenders in our team if it wasn't for some offensive adjustments and outbursts....

We are a better defensive team!! Haters will soon realize that!
or maybe it was when the Bulls best defender got hurt that Boston got back into the series.  Acting like Gerald Green being inserted into the starting lineup is why Boston won is just silly nonsense.  Of course that has nothing to do with Boston being a better defensive team.  In fact, very little of what you posted has anything to do with defense. 

It seems to me you are focusing on the offense being better which will make Boston a better team overall, but that certainly doesn't make Boston a better defensive team.
Who is this bulls best defender? you mean the "I don't play defense because they don't expect me to" Rajon? or the "Every i joined just blows up" Rondo?

Re: We are actually a better defensive team!!!
« Reply #10 on: September 11, 2017, 04:41:04 PM »

Offline nickagneta

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I am in agreement with Moranis and Roy. Your article has little to do with why our defense will be better but is more about how our offense will be better. And as Roy stated, we probably aren't better in the areas we struggled in last year. Also, my guess is the areas we were good at last year, like perimeter defense, could be worse. I just don't see us being better defensively. As good as last year with a better offense...yeah, that I could see. But not better defensively.

Re: We are actually a better defensive team!!!
« Reply #11 on: September 11, 2017, 04:45:16 PM »

Offline drogbagarnett

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Our big weaknesses were defensive rebounding, forcing turnovers, and fouling too much.

I'm not sure if we got better in those areas.

Frankly, I'm not sure either but at least i can say :
- we are longer and more athletic (which can help with rebounding and forcing turnovers)
- we now have a low post defender (no more getting bullied and having to foul those centers)

Might not mean much but at least I feel slightly more confident.

Again, my biggest bet is on Semi performing at a high level defensively. I still believe he will be playing more min than most would think... If he does that and knock down his 3s at a 40% rate as he did in College and SL, than we will all forget about Crowder very fast....
« Last Edit: September 11, 2017, 05:06:42 PM by drogbagarnett »

Re: We are actually a better defensive team!!!
« Reply #12 on: September 11, 2017, 04:51:33 PM »

Offline mmmmm

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Hmm.... regardless of what you might think of individual defenders, the fact is, in the Bull's series, we won the three games in which we held them to under 100 points.

Of course, sometimes, the best way to help your defense is to simply make your baskets on your offensive possessions.   That's something I think we'll be better at this year, with the addition of Hayward, giving us more than just one elite scoring weapon.
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Re: We are actually a better defensive team!!!
« Reply #13 on: September 11, 2017, 04:52:22 PM »

Offline drogbagarnett

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I agree that we have a better starting defensive unit, in the grand scheme of things. However, with so many rookies on the team that will need to play minutes, I would imagine the defensive shortfalls will come from the second unit. Defense is extremely difficult for a rookie to grasp.

At least we went from :
Kyrie is the worst defender and we lost our defending Gods in Bradley and Crowder
to
agreeing we have a better starting defensive unit.
That already is a win!!

As for the second unit, we are replacing Defensive STARS like Gerald Green, Kelly Olynyk, slumping Jerebko, Zeller, James Young, rookie Brown, second year Rozier
with players like second year Brown, "veteran" Rozier, Euro Defensive player of the year Theis, rock solid Baynes, long and mobile rookie Tatum, defensive ace rookie Semi...

I sincerely do not think our second unit is that worst compared to last year, honestly...

Re: We are actually a better defensive team!!!
« Reply #14 on: September 11, 2017, 04:56:15 PM »

Offline mmmmm

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Our big weaknesses were defensive rebounding, forcing turnovers, and fouling too much.

I'm not sure if we got better in those areas.

Frankly, I'm not sure either but at least i can say :
- we are longer and more athletic (which can help with rebounding and forcing turnovers)
- we now have a low post defender (no more getting bullied and having to foul those centers)

Might not mean much but at least I feel slightly more confident.

Again, my biggest bet is on Semi performing at a high level defensively. I still believe he will be playing more min than most would think... If does that and knock down his 3s at a 40% rate we will all forget about Crowder very fast....

More important than having more length & athleticism on the roster will be whether Brad makes use of that length and athleticism.

Last year Brad played a lot of lineups featuring three 'smalls' and the defensive ratings of those lineups dragged down the overall team defensive rating pretty significantly.

Given our current roster, I see no reason for him to repeat that emphasis.  We have a lot of depth at wing this year and I hope to see more '3-wing' lineups than 3-small lineups.   If we do that, then I agree, that we should improve on defense.
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