Blazers last in the league in defense

[TBpup]

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?

That is flat out embarrassing. But let's keep the same main pieces year after year after year.

 

[Natebishop3]

Id rather make Melo a token starter. Or maybe dont play Melo close to 30mpg? But we gotta protect his legacy apparently

The worst part about Melo is that we don't sit him when he's ice cold. I don't get it. The guy has no leash at all.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

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.

Odd, though, that the furthest we've progressed in the playoffs in the past 20 years was with Kanter as the starter.

 

[B-Roy]

Odd, though, that the furthest we've progressed in the playoffs in the past 20 years was with Kanter as the starter.

Cool, but that team was never a contender, much like this one.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

NEVER at any point in god knows how long have I EVER thought we were/are a contender.

June 4, 2000, at about the end of the third quarter.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Cool, but that team was never a contender, much like this one.

Cool, but with Nurk as the center, would we even have got past Denver?

 

[wizenheimer]

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?

I'm not getting your point

Portland ranked 29th in defensive rating when this thread was started, nearly 3 months ago. They still rank 29th. No improvement relative to the league. After 26 games of Kanter/Trent starting, Portland's rating had dropped. Maybe by 1-1.5 points. But it has dropped 1.2 points after the Stotts challenge at the all-star break, and that includes 8 games of CJ starting, rather than Trent, and two games each for Nurkic and Powell. Last night, the Blazers had their full lineup against a Toronto team missing their starting PG and the Blazers posted a rating worse than their abysmal season average

sure, there will probably be some adjustment time, but it's pretty damn rare for Stotts to adjust Portland into better defense

 

[wizenheimer]

June 4, 2000, at about the end of the third quarter.

you mean just before the Brian Shaw bank shot from 30 feet?

 

[maxiep]

NEVER at any point in god knows how long have I EVER thought we were/are a contender.

It takes some luck in addition to talent. In the Era of Superteams we don't stand much of a chance in a 7-game series with star power against us.

I think we're top 4 in the West, which is fine by me.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

That is flat out embarrassing. But let's keep the same main pieces year after year after year.

Olshey has completely changed the roster this year. And last year was completely different than the year before. Unless you’re just talking about Dame & CJ. I doubt you want to trade Dame, so it’s CJ. Why not just call out CJ instead of “main pieces.” Unless you want to trade Dame.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I think we're top 4 in the West, which is fine by me.

So do I - so long as you ignore at least two out of the Lakers, Jazz, Suns, Clippers and Nuggets. Also probably Dallas. And I bet the Spurs could take us in the playoff series. And if Memphis ever got healthy...

But for sure we're better than Houston and Minnesota.

 

[KSF-ERIC]

I'm not getting your point

Portland ranked 29th in defensive rating when this thread was started, nearly 3 months ago. They still rank 29th. No improvement relative to the league. After 26 games of Kanter/Trent starting, Portland's rating had dropped. Maybe by 1-1.5 points. But it has dropped 1.2 points after the Stotts challenge at the all-star break, and that includes 8 games of CJ starting, rather than Trent, and two games each for Nurkic and Powell. Last night, the Blazers had their full lineup against a Toronto team missing their starting PG and the Blazers posted a rating worse than their abysmal season average

sure, there will probably be some adjustment time, but it's pretty damn rare for Stotts to adjust Portland into better defense

We were missing Little and our starting PF.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

I believe we can beat the teams circled in yellow in a 7 game series.

View attachment 37820

You're assuming that CP3 gets his traditional playoff injury even earlier than usual?

 

[wizenheimer]

where are they getting that stat?

last column:



it's certainly the best on the team, but not good enough for 3rd in the league. He had a defensive rating of 121 last night. Besides, he can't play 48 minutes a game.

I'm sure he will help the Blazer defense, but they are in such a deep hole, Nurk can only do so much

 

[e_blazer]

I'm not getting your point

Portland ranked 29th in defensive rating when this thread was started, nearly 3 months ago. They still rank 29th. No improvement relative to the league. After 26 games of Kanter/Trent starting, Portland's rating had dropped. Maybe by 1-1.5 points. But it has dropped 1.2 points after the Stotts challenge at the all-star break, and that includes 8 games of CJ starting, rather than Trent, and two games each for Nurkic and Powell. Last night, the Blazers had their full lineup against a Toronto team missing their starting PG and the Blazers posted a rating worse than their abysmal season average

sure, there will probably be some adjustment time, but it's pretty damn rare for Stotts to adjust Portland into better defense

I think that both Nurk and Powell will have positive impacts on the defense. I don’t think you can make any conclusions about their importance based on yesterday’s game. Nurk isn’t in shape and is on restricted minutes. Powell just got here. Saying that RoCo and DJ Jr. haven’t made a significant difference on the defense is kind of like saying that closing two of the water tight doors on the Titanic didn’t improve things. Olshey made his off-season roster plans to improve the defense looking at the entire roster. Not having Nurk and Collins made it pretty difficult to judge whether his moves were going to be effective. Now that Nurk is back, we’re going to get to find out more.

 

[Natebishop3]

Gramps Stotts cares too much about feelings.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

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?

I honestly have no idea how we have as many wins as we do. It's kind of miraculous. We've gone 7-3 in the last ten games with these stats:

It's witchcraft.

 

[julius]

I honestly have no idea how we have as many wins as we do. It's kind of miraculous. We've gone 7-3 in the last ten games with these stats:
View attachment 37822
It's witchcraft.

Well, taking out the Dallas ass whuppin' changes things a bit.

Though their defense still sucks ass.

 

[wizenheimer]

I think that both Nurk and Powell will have positive impacts on the defense. I don’t think you can make any conclusions about their importance based on yesterday’s game. Nurk isn’t in shape and is on restricted minutes. Powell just got here. Saying that RoCo and DJ Jr. haven’t made a significant difference on the defense is kind of like saying that closing two of the water tight doors on the Titanic didn’t improve things. Olshey made his off-season roster plans to improve the defense looking at the entire roster. Not having Nurk and Collins made it pretty difficult to judge whether his moves were going to be effective. Now that Nurk is back, we’re going to get to find out more.

I don't disagree with that, although if Powell permanently replaces Jones as a starter, I don't think he improves the starting unit's defense

when this thread was started, Portland's rating, with Nurkic, was 114.9 which would be good enough to move Portland from 29th to 28th. Both instances have sample size issues. And obviously, entering the playoffs what matters is how the defense has been playing over the last 20% of the season, not the first 80%

we will get to see the impacts from here on out, and the test will have a degree of difficulty much higher than what Portland has faced so far. They currently have the 28th hardest strength of schedule, but their remaining SOS is brutal:



and that includes their next game against the 12-33 pistons

 

[KSF-ERIC]

I think that both Nurk and Powell will have positive impacts on the defense. I don’t think you can make any conclusions about their importance based on yesterday’s game. Nurk isn’t in shape and is on restricted minutes. Powell just got here. Saying that RoCo and DJ Jr. haven’t made a significant difference on the defense is kind of like saying that closing two of the water tight doors on the Titanic didn’t improve things. Olshey made his off-season roster plans to improve the defense looking at the entire roster. Not having Nurk and Collins made it pretty difficult to judge whether his moves were going to be effective. Now that Nurk is back, we’re going to get to find out more.

Exactly. Collins was supposed to return in Jan when he made his off-season moves.

 

[blazerkor]

I honestly have no idea how we have as many wins as we do. It's kind of miraculous. We've gone 7-3 in the last ten games with these stats:
View attachment 37822
It's witchcraft.

Not that miraculous. We beat one team that has a record better than .500 who turned around and beat us by 40 the next game and the rest of the teams have losing records. So I guess the fact that we're not 6-4 is a little odd but hardly the result of witchcraft.

 

[Tince]

I don't disagree with that, although if Powell permanently replaces Jones as a starter, I don't think he improves the starting unit's defense

when this thread was started, Portland's rating, with Nurkic, was 114.9 which would be good enough to move Portland from 29th to 28th. Both instances have sample size issues. And obviously, entering the playoffs what matters is how the defense has been playing over the last 20% of the season, not the first 80%

we will get to see the impacts from here on out, and the test will have a degree of difficulty much higher than what Portland has faced so far. They currently have the 28th hardest strength of schedule, but their remaining SOS is brutal:

View attachment 37823

and that includes their next game against the 12-33 pistons

Given the information you have, what do you expect our record to be these last 26 games? 10-16?

 

[KSF-ERIC]

Since Nurk returned, we are 20th in defense and we’re just getting started.

 

[tlongII]

 

[wizenheimer]

Given the information you have, what do you expect our record to be these last 26 games? 10-16?

I want to see how the Blazers play against the Bucks first. Portland has 10 of the final 25 games against top-4 seeds (including Denver). They have only beaten those teams 3 times this season, and two of those wins came against the 76ers; the other win was 3 months ago.

if they can start showing more fight against the caliber of teams they'll see in the playoffs, I'd revise upward. Right now I expect them to finish about 10 games over .500

 

[KSF-ERIC]

Stotts can coach defense with right players. 9th best defense in NBA in 2014-15

 

[KSF-ERIC]

I want to see how the Blazers play against the Bucks first. Portland has 10 of the final 25 games against top-4 seeds (including Denver). They have only beaten those teams 3 times this season, and two of those wins came against the 76ers; the other win was 3 months ago.

if they can start showing more fight against the caliber of teams they'll see in the playoffs, I'd revise upward. Right now I expect them to finish about 10 games over .500

Why including Denver? They aren’t top 4 seed. Knicks are though and we beat them.

So losses 3 months ago matter but wins don’t?

 

[Tince]

I want to see how the Blazers play against the Bucks first. Portland has 10 of the final 25 games against top-4 seeds (including Denver). They have only beaten those teams 3 times this season, and two of those wins came against the 76ers; the other win was 3 months ago.

if they can start showing more fight against the caliber of teams they'll see in the playoffs, I'd revise upward. Right now I expect them to finish about 10 games over .500

If they can go .500 with what many are saying is a brutal schedule, that would make them a pretty good team.

 

[B-Roy]

Cool, but with Nurk as the center, would we even have got past Denver?

Probably in less games.

 

[Wizard Mentor]

Dead last in defense, any team can do that.

Dead last in defense AND assists, only Blazer fans have the stamina to endure that!