Blazers last in the league in defense

[B-Roy]

http://www.espn.com/nba/hollinger/teamstats/_/sort/defensiveEff/order/false

We are last by a good amount as well. The difference between 30 and 28 is the same as the difference between 28 and 20.

We are also one of the worst in net rating, only in front of Golden State, Memphis, OKC. Minnesota and Washington have better net ratings than us. Those are some names you definitely do not want to be associated with.

Obviously small sample size, but I'll update this as the season goes along to see how our defense "develops".

 

[wizenheimer]

Blazers are also tied for 26th in rebound rate. A good team can't be in the bottom third of the league in both

 

[Mr. Robot]

love me some terry stotts basketball

 

[e_blazer]

Not to diminish the Blazers’ crappy start to the season defensively, but the Rockets, Lakers and Clippers are pretty potent offensively.

 

[B-Roy]

Not to diminish the Blazers’ crappy start to the season defensively, but the Rockets, Lakers and Clippers are pretty potent offensively.

Not to diminish this point either, but Blazers average def efficiency is significantly worse than the Rockets, Jazz, and Clippers average offensive efficiency. Only team they played a decent defensive game was against the Lakers. (Blazers def eff 115.3, Lakers off eff 115.4).

But again, it’s early.

 

[Darkwebs]

 

[e_blazer]

Not to diminish this point either, but Blazers average def efficiency is significantly worse than the Rockets, Jazz, and Clippers average offensive efficiency. Only team they played a decent defensive game was against the Lakers. (Blazers def eff 115.3, Lakers off eff 115.4).

But again, it’s early.

The Clippers have had a couple of games with Leonard out, including one where they got blasted. The Jazz can be hot or cold, which is why I didn’t mention them in my post. The Rockets are dependent on Harden having a great game. He had one against the Blazers.

But, yeah, early on the Blazers’ defense is a mess.

 

[Phatguysrule]

The Blazers defense has had good moments though. Far better than any time the last couple years.

I expect the defense to come around with these guys.

 

[Sheldon Shape]

"If only Neil Olshey would get some defensive-minded players for Stotts we would be a great defensive team."

:-( Guy can't coach his way out of a paper bag.

 

[bobf]

With Zach out we’ve had only 5 decent or better defenders in Nurk, RoCo, DJJ, Gary, and Giles. Giles doesn’t play. So that’s 4. Nurk for whatever reason is tentative and his defense is down. Top that off with the fact that our bad defenders are quite bad: Ant, Melo, Hood, Enes, CJ, and Dame. That doesn’t make for a good defense no matter what you do. However if we’d play Giles and Little we might be up to 6 good defenders and we could have a decent defense. My belief is that the Blazers already have enough offense in Dame, CJ, Gary, Nurk, and Enes. We need defenders on the court not more offense. We have that in the starting lineup but not in the second unit.

 

[Zach Collins Enthusiast]

It's not just the defense which is painful to ses, it's also the offense: No cutting, no going to the rim, not going inside to the post, just 4 players standing on the perimeter with the 5th (the Center) coming out on top for the pick so there absolutely no one inside the 3 point arc. What good does DJJ bring us shooting 3s which is the weakest part of his offense.
I think we need to put Melo in the starting lineup. Melo is a decent defender and we looked much better when he subbed in for one of our "defensive specialists".

Back to the topic, our defense is just painful to see. Damian Lillard might concede more points than he gives us. CJ is terrible (CJ Elleby on OTOH is our best defender), Hoodie (the worst nickname ever BTW), fat Nurkic, Kanter who can't raise his hands above his shoulders and above all, the worst coach in the L in my opinion, in Stotts.
Memo to the players: when you close out on the shooters I'm somehow never expecting you to actually block the shot. Instead you just show the player " I got to you, now you're free to shoot" and then have that sad look when it goes in time and again. That's pathetic effort. I would even rather if you went into the player sending him to 3 FTs, at least it would make him think a moment the next time.

To conclude, this could all be the start of the season, there's room for growth etc. A good coach would hold the players accountable, build their defense and mold them into a team. Is Stotts that coach? I think he has to go before we get to anything but it's more than possible that he stays and takes the team down with him to the lottery and than to rebuilding.

 

[TBpup]

Played 1/2 a Rockets team and played the Laker and Clippers on the 2nd of a back-to-back for both of them while we were rested.

Our _efense is yuck!

 

[brooklynballer]

"If only Neil Olshey would get some defensive-minded players for Stotts we would be a great defensive team."

:-( Guy can't coach his way out of a paper bag.

Lol I love the quotes, man! I think we all know which posters have made those comments consistently. Keep it up bro!

 

[KingSpeed]

Way too early. Both Utah and the Clippers shot obscenely well from 3 and it wasn’t all our D. They were hitting shots with hands in their faces. Also- all our games were against contenders from last year. Our D had great moments vs Lakers. When all is said and done we’ll be Top 15 defense. In my opinion.

 

[illmatic99]

I mean, it's been 4 games. Toronto is the worst offense. This will change

But it's a worrying trend, and our performance in preseason did not inspire any confidence.

 

[TBpup]

I mean, it's been 4 games.

But it's a worrying trend, and our performance in preseason did not inspire any confidence

It is early, but outside of RoCo and DJJ, it's basically the same group that we've had that hasn't been very good.

It starts at the point of attack. As long as we have a short backcourt who isn't good defensively, it hurts the next line of defense no matter how good they might potentially be.

 

[brooklynballer]

It is early, but outside of RoCo and DJJ, it's basically the same group that we've had that hasn't been very good.

It starts at the point of attack. As long as we have a short backcourt who isn't good defensively, it hurts the next line of defense no matter how good they might potentially be.

Spot on.
Worst of all, if the rumours are true that Olshey rejected a Harden trade because the Rockets would want McCollum included as a starting point, I really don’t know what to say other than this franchise will never win anything with this leadership. A coach who can’t coach and a GM who falls in love with and overvalues every player he drafts. Nothing will change until the head of the dragon is severed - Olshey and Stotts must go. I just hope Jodi has enough sense to see that she’s being manipulated by the car salesman.

 

[julius]

This poor defense isn't at the feet of Damian and CJ.

 

[bobf]

"If only Neil Olshey would get some defensive-minded players for Stotts we would be a great defensive team."

:-( Guy can't coach his way out of a paper bag.

We had an average defense two years ago with only 3-5 good defenders on the team. Nurk - very good. Aminu and Hark - good. Turner and Zach - meh. The rest of our players were below average defense for their position. So Stotts coaching defense was IMO as expected.

Last year our lineup was an absolute nightmare. I don’t count last year for anything other than it was a miracle we made the playoffs.

This year we are only 4 games in. The jury hasn’t even gone in for deliberation. Our defense should be above average so long as we don’t overplay Ant, Melo, Hood though it appears that’s what we will do for a while at least.

 

[TBpup]

This poor defense isn't at the feet of Damian and CJ.

Not all of it....but that is where it starts. At the point of attack, and with your team leaders.

 

[julius]

Not all of it....but that is where it starts. At the point of attack, and with your team leaders.

It starts at the head coach. To think otherwise is silly.

 

[blazerkor]

This poor defense isn't at the feet of Damian and CJ.

You're right, it's on Olshey for keeping them together.

 

[brooklynballer]

I loved during the Clipper game when the camera panned over to Stotts a few times - almost every time he was looking skyward as if looking for some sort of divine intervention to save him. Truly clueless.

 

[THE HCP]

It starts at the head coach. To think otherwise is silly.

But there has to be some sort of middle ground right? Blaming Stotts for us having the worst defense is like praising Luke Walton for the Warriors offense a few years back.

 

[THE HCP]

Or my guy Monty Williams, who I love, but has never been considered an offense genius, now has the Suns at the top of the offensive list. There are too many variables to blame a coach or give him all the credit.

 

[julius]

But there has to be some sort of middle ground right? Blaming Stotts for us having the worst defense is like praising Luke Walton for the Warriors offense a few years back.

So blaming the guy who subbed for Kerr is the same as blaming the guy who for what, 9 seasons in Portland, has had sub-part defense all but 1 of those years?

 

[TBpup]

So blaming the guy who subbed for Kerr is the same as blaming the guy who for what, 9 seasons in Portland, has had sub-part defense all but 1 of those years?

Stotts certainly is reponsible for part....but that doesn't mean Dame/CJ don't share in the blame. Olshey does as well for putting the two of them together. #GiannisWasAvailable

 

[julius]

Stotts certainly is reponsible for part....but that doesn't mean Dame/CJ don't share in the blame. Olshey does as well for putting the two of them together. #GiannisWasAvailable

"where it starts" is not the same as "share in the blame"

Defense is about effort, and schemes. If you don't enforce it, or make it punitive when they don't play it, that's on the coach.

 

[wizenheimer]

Spot on.
Worst of all, if the rumours are true that Olshey rejected a Harden trade because the Rockets would want McCollum included as a starting point, I really don’t know what to say other than this franchise will never win anything with this leadership. A coach who can’t coach and a GM who falls in love with and overvalues every player he drafts. Nothing will change until the head of the dragon is severed - Olshey and Stotts must go. I just hope Jodi has enough sense to see that she’s being manipulated by the car salesman.

yeah, Olshey's irrational attachment to CJ is fucking ridiculous. We have a pretty good idea that Olshey held CJ untouchable when he was supposedly going after Paul George 3 years ago. And it's probable, based upon the PG13 stuff, that Olshey had the same "CJ is untouchable" stance if he was asking about Kawhi and Jimmy Butler when they were available

now, it's being reported that Olshey won't consider including CJ in any Harden trade. I'm not even sure if a Dame/Harden back court would work out and make Portland a contender. But it could which is more than you can say about the Dame/CJ back court.

I think this will be another season of more of the same. Decent record, maybe HCA when the playoffs roll around...then wilting badly when matched against a real contender.

I've never been a big anti-Stotts guy; I have been much more inclined to blame the roster for failures, and that's on Olshey. But I think both of those guys need to go

 

[Tince]

While we're drawing conclusions from 4 games worth of stats:

CJ's win share is 6 times higher than Dame's.

Covington/DJJ are worse shooters than Aminu/Harkless were in Portland.

I could add many other "meaningful" stats through 4 games.