It's a lot of things.
- Poor defensive rebounding (27th)
- Lead the league in turnovers
- We take a lot of unassisted shots at the rim which if missed lead to transition
- We foul a good bit (21st)
We are a pretty poor switching team
- Part of it is our reluctance to switch with Toumani to keep him on the best player when we have the personnel to be an excellent 1-4 switch team
- Often late to communicate which leaves both the player guarding the ball a step out of position to get under the screener and the player guarding the screener late getting into the ball.
- We also are a very poor peel switching team. Whether that be in pick and roll when the ball handler gets below the free throw line. The on ball defender often does a poor job late switching and getting into the legs of the big rolling to protect the lay down pass or offensive rebound when the 5 has to step up.
- We should also be better at this (or utilize it more) on perimeter drives w/o a screen considering we are a very aggressive team guarding the ball which leads to more blow-by's. We have the length and athleticism to switch off the wings and corners when guys get beat and still recover.
* Think a lot of these switching issues can be pinned on our reluctance to give up spot up or assisted threes. It why we drop with Clingan and don't help much off the elbows when the handler turns the corner....it's why we pressure the ball. It's the main tenant of our defensive strategy minus our ball pressure.
I think Clingan's discipline around the rim has taken a step back as well. A guy that big should always be second off the floor but instead we've seen a guy that has bitten on far too many pump fakes. His impact numbers on shots he defends inside 6 feet have dropped as well. Opponents shot -12.8% below league avg. in 24-25 to only -8.9% this year.
There's also some know your personnel stuff going on where I think the ball pressure gets us in trouble. Like why am I seeing Isaac Okoro guarded 35 feet from the basket and beating us back door multiple times in a quarter....this team seems to lean playing harder rather than smarter most of the time.
I see all of this.
There are a lot of issues when it comes to switches. I keep seeing guys get switched, and then try to go back to their original assignment, instead of guarding the guy they got switched on, leaving shooters wide open. There are a lot of guys standing around. Clingan refuses to move more than a step or two to play defense. We are getting killed at the arc from guys he is supposed to be defending hitting wide open threes. Okongwu had 7 threes this last game.
Toumani's defensive prowess, seems to have faded a bit. He seemed to be a far better defender at the beginning of the season, allowing less points from whoever he is guarding and getting more charges on opponents. I know he still leads in charges on opponents, but it just doesn't feel the same for him. A lot of that could just be he's tired, it's been a long season, and the burden on defense has been placed more and more on him. Also, guarding opponents star players every game is gotta be taxing as hell.
The players on this team are not being used as effectively. We should be trying to get our best shooters (Krejci and Thybulle) open for threes in the corner. Even Grant. I'd prefer him in the corner rather than going to basket 1 on 4 and causing us turnovers and gifting opponents points. It feels like for every point he nets us, he nets the opponent 2. Grant didn't used to play so chaotically and recklessly. What happened?
I see more and more guys going to the basket and not throwing out to wide open shooters.
I get we have lost a lot of our offense with Deni and Shaedon out. Our top two scorers (three if you include Lillard) aren't playing. To combat that, you have to play by committee. You have to play as a team. No one player is going to make up those missing points. Everyone has to pitch in. I don't see the Blazers playing as a team. I don't see connection or togetherness on the court. I see a lot of Iso. I see guys just trying to get theirs individually and not involving teammates. I see blindspot court vision, lazy passes, poor ball security, and just an overall lack of effort.
I don't see a game plan. I don't see attempts to get certain players open or to get certain players shots. It's just pick up basketball with trying different players together, but not different schemes or plays. I do see any adapting to opponents. We just do the same thing and keep wondering why it's not working.
And, I'll say this, as much it's nice that we have a center that can shoot threes. Someone needs to tell him he isn't a fucking shooting guard. If he was inside more on offense, we'd get more offensive rebounds and second chances.
There is just so much going on. I hope we move Grant and Jrue this summer to bring in guys who actually fit this team. Though, I have not faith we will be able to move Grant. No one wants to touch him with a ten foot pole.
