Blazers last in the league in defense

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We gave up 22 points on second chance points last night and as said before if we were better on our own boards our defense rating wouldn't be so high for the team. Yes we still not very good as defense team but if you cut that in half on 2nd chance our defense rating would increase whole hell a lot. When had really good teams especially in Drexler era we was always toward the top in rebounding in the league. I don't we are now but I going bet we toward the bottom.
 
I think this "clutch defense" narrative is kind of a sham. To start with, it appears they are trying to draw a correlation between clutch-defense and the 21-7 record. Now, I can't read the article so I don't know if they actually link the defense with the .668 winning percentage or if they just drop the two stats into the mix implying there is a correlation. I also don't know how much context is added to the implication

another thing is that Portland has played 28 "clutch" games in a 46 game schedule. That's 61% of their games fitting into the clutch category. That seems really high, so I'd want to know what the average rate of clutch games have been in the league

I also want to know what the breakdown is: how many of the 21 wins came against teams with worse records. I'd also like to know about that 5 point margin entering the last 5 minutes. How many times was Portland leading by 5 or less, and how many times were they trailing by 5 or less, and that would need to be gauged against wins and losses

another thing: Blazers are 9th in clutch defense, but 1st in clutch offense....is that correct? If so, then how is it the assumption that clutch defense was responsible rather than clutch offense?

and of course, clutch the last couple of seasons has mostly been about Dame
 
e_blazer said:
Looking at defensive ratings to date doesn’t mean much because of the injuries. There are reasons to believe that better defense is coming. First, we’re seeing in the last few games that the Blazers are capable of playing solid defense for at least short stretches of games. They have had some impressive 4th quarter showings lately. Second, two of the Blazers’ better defenders, Nurk and Powell, have only played two games. Both have made positive impacts but, in Nurk’s case, he’s far from game shape yet, and, in Powell’s case, he’s new and still learning the system. I think the next couple of weeks will tell us far more about the team’s defensive capabilities than will looking back at what a broken roster did.
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this would be a more persuasive argument if in the last 10 games, Portland's defense hadn't got worse against a relatively easy 10 game schedule

I'd imagine Nurkic and Powell will help, but wwe were all imagining RoCo and Jones to help and Portland's defense got worse compared to that debacle of last season
 
wizenheimer said:
this would be a more persuasive argument if in the last 10 games, Portland's defense hadn't got worse against a relatively easy 10 game schedule

I'd imagine Nurkic and Powell will help, but wwe were all imagining RoCo and Jones to help and Portland's defense got worse compared to that debacle of last season
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You were seriously expecting the defense to get better starting Kanter at center and with Trent playing a starting role most of the season to date? Not to mention Melo being on the court way more than he should have been?
 
THE HCP said:
Millions of Knicks fans everywhere would love to have our defense and be 10 games over .500 this point in the season while playing in the west while having 2 of your 3 best players out for MONTHS........at least I know I would.
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Honest question - which teams in the current playoff hunt do you think we can realistically beat in the first round?
 
Natebishop3 said:
Honest question - which teams in the current playoff hunt do you think we can realistically beat in the first round?
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My thoughts: As always that's way more dependent on relative health of the teams than it is on relative rosters immediately after the trade deadline. If the Blazers don't have other significant injuries the rest of the way, I think that there's every reason to believe that they have the potential to beat any of the top teams in the first round in this crazy season.
 
e_blazer said:
My thoughts: As always that's way more dependent on relative health of the teams than it is on relative rosters immediately after the trade deadline. If the Blazers don't have other significant injuries the rest of the way, I think that there's every reason to believe that they have the potential to beat any of the top teams in the first round in this crazy season.
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Ok, I think I phrased that wrong. Which of those teams do you think we SHOULD beat, because I think an argument could be made that any team could beat any team if the cards fell right.
 
Looking at basketball reference's "defensive four factors" (opponent eFG%, TOV%, DRB%, and FT/FGA), Portland is the only team in the league that is bottom 10 in all 4 factors (bottom 7, in fact)--even the Kings are at least middle-of-the-pack in terms of allowing free throws. If we know that the Stottsian system isn't going to improve in terms of opponent FG%, can we at least force a few more turnovers, rebound better, or foul less?
 
calvin natt said:
Really? But people in here said he doesnt make a difference. Our defense sucked earlier this year with him and CJ, they got hurt, our defense sucked, and now it sucks.
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I think RoCo and DJJ are playing much much better at this point, so the difference between Nurk and Kanter is much more obvious.
 
Nurk is much better than Kanter, no shit. But something people don't mention with Nurk coming back is that even though the defense is much better with Nurk on the floor, having Nurk start actually increases the minutes for the Melo/Kanter vortex. I suspect that actually negates some of the overall defensive improvement. Stotts actually (properly) went away from it last game in the 3rd/4th (after the absolute debacle that was the first half defense), choosing to playing Melo/Covington at center and reducing Kanter's minutes overall. I think that was smart, even though I think it's the wrong player of the Dynamic Defense Duo whose minutes got cut, and our rebounding also suffers significantly in that scenario. But what can you do?
 
We are 29th in rankings, but in reality... Listen. We are probably best defensive team out there. These stats just don't show and fans don't understand that. Look. Millions of fans on the world would love to have our defense.
 
B-Roy said:
Nurk is much better than Kanter, no shit. But something people don't mention with Nurk coming back is that even though the defense is much better with Nurk on the floor, having Nurk start actually increases the minutes for the Melo/Kanter vortex. I suspect that actually negates some of the overall defensive improvement. Stotts actually (properly) went away from it last game in the 3rd/4th (after the absolute debacle that was the first half defense), choosing to playing Melo/Covington at center and reducing Kanter's minutes overall. I think that was smart, even though I think it's the wrong player of the Dynamic Defense Duo whose minutes got cut, and our rebounding also suffers significantly in that scenario. But what can you do?
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I am reminded, however, of things Nurk does that drive me crazy. The missed bunnies. The "I'm a point guard!" turnovers. Kanter may be a disaster defensively, but he's a joy to watch in the post and makes very few stupid turnovers.
 
B-Roy said:
Or play both Melo/Kanter 9th/10th man minutes. But Stotts will never do that.
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I don't think our personnel really accommodates that. I say start Kanter, and join Melo and Nurk at the hip so that Kanter and Melo never play together.
 
PtldPlatypus said:
I don't think our personnel really accommodates that. I say start Kanter, and join Melo and Nurk at the hip so that Kanter and Melo never play together.
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The league is getting so small.... do we really need Kanter? Last night the Raps ran Bouche and Baynes. When they have Bouche out there just play RoCo at center, and if they have Baynes you use Nurk.
 
illmatic99 said:
Millions of Knicks fans don't have the expectations that we do for our team. I have no interest in getting bounced in the first round again, while NY would love to just get back IN to the postseason.

I'd rather be an 8th seed with a better point differential while showing tangible improvements on defense. Nearly every metric shows that we are going to get swept in round one unless we improve drastically. Our record against this cupcake schedule shouldn't sway you into thinking we're a contender.

Forget the numbers, just look at game play. What western playoff team in the top 5 do you think we have a realistic shot of beating in round one?
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NEVER at any point in god knows how long have I EVER thought we were/are a contender.
 
Rastapopoulos said:
I am reminded, however, of things Nurk does that drive me crazy. The missed bunnies. The "I'm a point guard!" turnovers. Kanter may be a disaster defensively, but he's a joy to watch in the post and makes very few stupid turnovers.
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Sure, but on this team, Nurk's strengths are absolutely required. Kanter's weaknesses are harder to hide because of the personnel. At the end of the day it's about scoring more points right? There are stretches in games where our defense is just in perma-scramble mode and is relying on luck in order to not give up guaranteed points. In the playoffs Kanter will be played off the floor.
 
Natebishop3 said:
The league is getting so small.... do we really need Kanter? Last night the Raps ran Bouche and Baynes. When they have Bouche out there just play RoCo at center, and if they have Baynes you use Nurk.
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Not sure last night's game is a compelling reason. Boucher and Baynes playing all the center minutes are a big reason why the Raps suck....in the east.

Let me know if size is important when you're playing against AD, Drummond and LeBron in a 7 game series.
 
PtldPlatypus said:
I don't think our personnel really accommodates that. I say start Kanter, and join Melo and Nurk at the hip so that Kanter and Melo never play together.
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The other option is to start Melo and move RoCo to SF. I think I might like that better, since Melo is also less likely to jack up terrible shots when he spends most of his minutes next to Dame/CJ.

Kanter can play with Powell, DJ and Nas who are positive defenders coming off the bench.
 
Natebishop3 said:
Honest question - which teams in the current playoff hunt do you think we can realistically beat in the first round?
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I believe we can beat the teams circled in yellow in a 7 game series.
I would have chose the same teams back last fall as well. Probably Utah as well, didn’t think they would be this good this year.
I predicted 5th or 6th I believe for us. So we are pretty much right on track.
Side note: Had you told me we would have been without CJ and Nurk the for almost whole season, I would have said we would have finished 10-12th!
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B-Roy said:
The other option is to start Melo and move RoCo to SF. I think I might like that better, since Melo is also less likely to jack up terrible shots when he spends most of his minutes next to Dame/CJ.

Kanter can play with Powell, DJ and Nas who are positive defenders coming off the bench.
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I think Stotts rotation needs to be completely torn down and rethought. He won't do it though.
 
THE HCP said:
I believe we can beat the teams circled in yellow in a 7 game series.
I would have chose the same teams back last fall as well. Probably Utah as well, didn’t think they would be this good this year.
I predicted 5th or 6th I believe for us. So we are pretty much right on track.
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The suns have pretty much kicked the crap out of us whenever we play them. Why do you think they'd be a team that we could knock off?
 
With our luck, we will move up to the 4th spot....while the Lakers drop to the 5th spot.
 
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