So far - the defensive focus seems to be working

[Jayps15]

Oden has a huge impact defensively, he's 2nd in the league in defensive rating at 91.6 and 1st in block percentage at 8.3%. Basketball-referance also has him #1 in total rebounding percentage, Joel's is even higher but he must not qualify somehow.

Right now I think it's only a matter of Oden's foul trouble and our perimeter shooters starting to knock down some of their open looks and we'll be top 3-5 in both offensive and defensive efficiency, and on track to win 60.

 

[Nikolokolus]

After the Charlotte game, our offensive efficiency continues to drop - we are now #12 in the league at 104.9/100 - but our defensive efficiency continues to rise - at 95.5/100 we are 3rd in the league and closed the big difference we had to Boston (they are 94.7). This team, guys, is becoming an elite defensive team.

Once the offense starts clicking - this is going to be a scary team to deal with.

When the average winning % of the teams we've faced gets closer to .500 I'll start to believe we're an elite defensive unit, but right now after having faced the likes of the Grizz, Hornets, Wolves, Bobcats, etc. I just can't help but feel we're benefiting from squaring off against really subpar teams -- teams that aren't exactly offensive juggernauts. But hey, who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth, at least they are dominating these scrubby teams for the most part.

 

[andalusian]

According to ESPN's SOS - our schedule so far was pretty much on par with Boston's, which is the leading defensive team in efficiency so far this year.

Is it possible this team is not as good defensively as their results show? Sure. But, if we ignore the first 5 games where the defensive scheme was pretty bad - we might actually be better.

So.. time will tell. At this point in time... I am happy.

 

[southnc]

I agree with the good defensive focus.

The proof is not just in the gritty wins in ugly games; according to ESPN as of this morning, Portland is #1 in Points Against (87.1)! The closest team is Boston (a very good defensive team) with 88.3.

Good defense always keeps you in games - even if your offense is stagnant.

Although the offense hasn't taken off the way fans would like, the strong defense will always ensure this team has a chance.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/standings

And, the difference (PF - PA) is pretty darn good too.

 

[Nikolokolus]

I agree with the good defensive focus.

The proof is not just in the gritty wins in ugly games; according to ESPN as of this morning, Portland is #1 in Points Against (87.1)! The closest team is Boston (a very good defensive team) with 88.3.

Good defense always keeps you in games - even if your offense is stagnant.

Although the offense hasn't taken off the way fans would like, the strong defense will always ensure this team has a chance.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/standings

And, the difference (PF - PA) is pretty darn good too.

Points against is a fairly meaningless stat when so many different teams in the league play at such wildly varying paces. The differential however is pretty important and yes it is quite good, hopefully it holds.

 

[andalusian]

After the Atlanta game:

OEF: 104.1/100 (#15 in the league). This is not good. Taking the ball out Roy's hands has not been good for this team's offense.
DEF: 96/100 (#3 in the league) - not as good as before this game, but that's OK - Atlanta is #3 in the league in offense and we are still elite defensively.

Pace - 90.9

This year is turning out to be an opposite of last year's - we are much better defensively - but our offense is going backwards.

Not enough Roy handling the ball, not enough Roy attacking the rim. That's how I see it so far.

 

[magnifier661]

After the Atlanta game:

OEF: 104.1/100 (#15 in the league). This is not good. Taking the ball out Roy's hands has not been good for this team's offense.
DEF: 96/100 (#3 in the league) - not as good as before this game, but that's OK - Atlanta is #3 in the league in offense and we are still elite defensively.

Pace - 90.9

This year is turning out to be an opposite of last year's - we are much better defensively - but our offense is going backwards.

Not enough Roy handling the ball, not enough Roy attacking the rim. That's how I see it so far.

Amazingly you have a seriously good point. But in all honesty, we have the same shots as we did last season. Difference is last season we were hitting our wide open shots, while this season we aren't.

Until our guards and perimeter scorings can score with consistency, we are kinda screwed. Unless Oden becomes insanely good on the low post offensive end and shoots 20 shots per game.

 

[andalusian]

Amazingly you have a seriously good point. But in all honesty, we have the same shots as we did last season. Difference is last season we were hitting our wide open shots, while this season we aren't.

Our shots, percentage wise, are very similar to last year as a team - and on paper, look better - we dunk more, do less jump-shooting, shoot close more. The problem is not what we are doing - but who is doing it.

We feed Greg the ball more for close shots, his TS% is good - but his high turn-over% negates it. Last year, LMA shot less jump-shots and worked more inside. He is more of a jump-shooter this year. Probably because they are working on the high-post/low-post stuff. I can live with that difference.

The big deal is that a lot of our close shots by guards have gone from Roy (who had a .573 TS% last year) to Miller (whose TS% is much lower at .489). Roy's usage% is down, his shots close to the basket are down. his TS% is down (to .562) and his PER is down (from 24 to 19.9 so far this year).

Roy needs the ball more, he needs to attack the rim more. We are marginalizing our best offensive player. I hope this is just a transition - but this is a very worrying trend.

I had no problems with Blake over Rudy before the trip - but Rudy is getting out of the funk. It might be time to start transitioning Rudy for Blake - or Rudy for Miller.

In theory you want Miller in the starting unit to pass the ball to Greg - but if it means marginalizing Roy - this might be a problem.

From a half-court point of view, I would like to see what a unit of Blake, Rudy, Roy, LMA, Oden would do - as the spacing will be much better and Rudy was our best player, last year, feeding the post. From a fast break point of view - Miller, JB, Web, Dante or Howard, Joel will be nice as well.

Maybe we let Blake run more next to JB in the 2nd unit. Blake is not as effective being the 3rd ball-handler and might benefit from higher usage%, and it will be interesting to see if Blake (a better ball handler than Rudy) next to JB will be good.

The biggest obstacle, however, remains the Roy/Miller combo. Roy is not as efficient as he was last year - and that's the biggest concern I still have going forward.

 

[LittleAlex]

On the topic of the Thunder.

I watched the end of the Thunder/Clippers game last week (I can't remember the night).

Durant had 40 points in that game.

But in the last 4 minutes I saw him touch the ball exactly once.

Westbrook didn't even look for him or anyone else. Just kept take the ball into the teeth of the defense or jacking up a terrible shot.

It cost them the game.

I am not sure if Durant has the ability to place his will on a game yet. At least he didn't manage to do so against the Clippers.

And if not against that sad sack team then who?

 

[andalusian]

After the Detroit game:

Offense: Keeps sliding. We are now at 103.7/100 (still #15 in the league)
Defense: Keeps getting better. We are now at 95.6/100 (#2 in the league)
Pace: 90.7 (#28)

I still think something needs to be done to get the offense flowing again. I would love to see if we can do a Miller trade to get the spacing back - because our offense bogs down now.

 

[andalusian]

After the 3rd T-Pups game:

Offense at 104.4/100 (slight increase), still #15 in the league.
Defense at 96/100 (A little worse, the GSW game probably did it), still #2 in the league.
Pace 91 - 28th in the league.

 

[andalusian]

Playing the Bulls, and making sure Roy is Roy is a good way to increase the offensive efficiency.

After last night's game, the offense went up to 106.5/100 - with a big jump to 6th best in the league.
The new line however shows that the defensive efficiency is slipping (Say what you want about Miller in the starting line - his biggest contribution seemed to have come on the defensive end of things). At 96.9/100 the Blazers are still #2 in the league - but the distance to the Celtics (#1) grew and the distance to the Lakers (#3) - shrank.
Pace is 90.8 - still #28 in the league.