Diesel's thoughts on Defense.

[Diesel]

A lot has been made about the return of Theo being our defensive Savior. I beg to differ. I believe we will be a mediocre to bad defensive team Still. When talking about team defense, you have to look at our personnell. We don't have the personnell to shut anybody down.

I was thinking about Theo's best yr as a defender. It was with 76ers the yr of the trade. He blocked a lot of shots (about 3.5 per) but he was not the reason that they were very good defensively. The true reason was that they had a team built around good defense.

1. Iverson - Steals Leader.

2. Hill - Doesn't do anything but defend and rebound.

3. Lynch - Defensive Specialist.

4. Snow - Probably best defensive PG in the game.

5. Jones - More defense than offense.

6. Bell - good defender.

7. TMac - Big Body.

The proof is when Theo went down. Philly still won games by being good defensively. IN fact, Their percentage when Theo went down, might be the same as it was with him in the game. IN other words, he didn't make a big difference.

Now look at us.

1. JT - Suspect defense. Many believe that he will come around at PG? We will see?

2. SAR - NO.

3. Big Dog - NO.

4. DJ - Only reason we play him ahead of Glover is because he plays good defense. DJ maybe the best one on one defender we have.

5. Newble - Good defense player.

6. Glover - No.

7. Crawford - OK defensively. Has a tendency to lose focus.

8. Hendu - Not really. He plays better defense than Offense.

9. Dickau - Who knows?

10. Email - Good defensive player.

11. Nazr - No.

So this is us. We would be a good defensive team if we played:

Theo/SAR/Ira/DJ/Email. That's our defensive package. Unfortunately, we only have one scorer and I just don't trust Email with the Ball.

So how will we be on defense....

I say we probably will give up about 93-94 ppg.

Fortunately, on offense, we should be able to outscore some teams. However, in order for us to do that, we should play Glover about 23-24 mpg. Not that DJ's offense is lacking. BUt with Big Dog and JT on the floor, it's good to have one guy who can score down the lane and baseline.

[KZ3]

93-94 pa is pretty good for a team that is going to score alot. I agree with you that we will not be a good defensive team, even with Theo, and that we will probably be mediocre at defense. But I think that our pf will be higher than our pa this season, and that should be good enough for a winning record and a playoff berth. I predict that we will score 99-100 ppg and give up 96-97ppg.

[Guest]

D, You're definitely under-rating Terry as a defensive person. Guard points, he's much better than against taller 2's and like Iverson (in this case), his quickness leads to steals. Iverson's still better/ quicker, but it's not as great a difference as you think.

What having Theo does is allow JT to gamble more. Then you have your "clamp down" defender in DJ or Ira at the 2 (both can guard the three, but play 2 due to Robinson). Forward is probably our weakest position defensively, with SAR and Robinson being average...but all the Bucks faithful will quickly point out that Dog led their team in steals per last year...maybe he's just average.

With the new defensive rules and the lack of skilled big men in the East, I just dont' see how you can say that Theo's shot-blocking ability (esp. from the weak side) isn't the key to our defense - it allows some gambles by Glenn and JT in the backcourt and just makes our TEAM defense tremendously better. You're right, the only really good one-on-one defender we'll have is DJ/Ira....but with others trying and Theo getting their backs, the landscape changes more than you give it credit for.

[Diesel]

My thoughts about JT come all the way from rookie year.

I watched JT get burned by Van Exel, Mookie, Stockton, and Cassell. I'm not talking small numbers either. His 2nd and part of his third yr he was a 2. He got burned by most 2s. Last yr at the end of the yr he played some 1 again. I haven't gone through and examined his play because I didn't see many of those games. I will say that I have to see him play defense as a 1 this yr. He's a maybe. If he can be a very good defensive 1, then maybe we can put a really good defensive team on the floor.

[Guest]

Who gives a crap about his rookie year.That

was 3 years ago.Stockton was nothing to brag

about in his rookie season either.Most of these

guys wasn't worth a damn in their rookie year...

Payton/Steve Nash/Baron Davis these guys wasn't

good in their rookie year.But do you hold it

againest them now?

blah blah blah his rookie year 3 years ago...blah

blah blah blah rubbish.

[Guest]

Email is more like Derick Fisher...The only

thing he is good for is taking charges.

[Traceman]

should be a lot better than we were last year. I think giving up 93-94 ppg will be fine because we should score more points than that on most nights. I don't think Theo alone will have the impact of a guy like Deke but he certainly will be a lot better than Nazr. Big Dog obviously won't be great but I think he defends better than Kukoc and Kukoc was the guy penciled in as our starting SF before last season. JT will definitely defend better at PG than he does at SG. He might not be great but I don't think he will be a huge liability either. In fact, because JT wants to be a good defender, I wouldn't be surprised to see that happen. Reef is a decent defender. He works hard but he is just a little too small to shut down the better PFs. Ira is an outstanding perimeter defender and DJ is above average at worst. Whoever starts between the two of them will have thier work cut out for them because they will likely be matched up with the other team's best perimeter player.

The bottom line is that I think we will be an average defensive team at worst and if JT and DJ step up, slightly above average.

[Gray Mule]

Team defense will be better. Hawks may not be great

as individuals, but as a team they will shine.

Theo will fit better under the new rules because of his

mobility. This will free up the other four to play a little

looser, gamble for the steal and raise their scoring when

they do get the steal.

Terry will not be guarding the other teams #2 guard.

This will help him. Big Dawg, while said by the press

to be a terrible defender, is said by the fans who post

on the net to be much better than average defender.

We'll have to wait and see who is right. I believe the

posters who watch him, night after night. If he is so

bad, where did all the steals come from??

Gray Mule

[Guest Walter]

...is a biased hack's way to assess his and the team's defensive ability.

That would be the equivalent of judging DJ's likely performance NEXT YEAR based upon his rookie year!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Putting aside that JT was one of the league's steals leaders for the season last year, especially during the second half of the season when he played the 1, is ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't care if you never watch a basketball game. Being a top 5 (I think) steals leader suggests at least decent defense ESPECIALLY if your argument for Iverson being a good defender is that he was the league's steals leader (having several years experience over JT).

JT said it best. Theo makes everybody better on defense. He is a "coach on the floor" on defense. Ira did some of the same for the team, however, mostly as one who inspired the team to good defense through tremendous effort, determination, and very good positioning and skill. With these two or maybe with DJ stepping up even a good deal more defensively, JT's quickness on and brand of defense will pay off even more. Furthermore, he will not have to work so incredibly hard on offense every possesion allowing more effort on defense.

We have one of if not the league's best shot blockers in Theo, one of the league's steals leaders in JT, and a lcok down perimeter 2/3 defender in Ira. These cogs should be enough to have a better than average defense and, given our likely offense once it gels, enough to win games.

W

[Guest Walter]

First, JT called Theo a coach on the floor and said that he made every teamate on the court better defensively. Should he remain healthy then he alone upgrades every position with his on the court defensive coaching.

Secondly, JT is a year better after being a top 5 (?) steals leader and he is at Pg where he belongs. Upgrade.

Thirdly, Ira or DJ are at Sg. DJ is said to be stronger and he should be better defensively. Ira? He can't get much better as he is already our lock down perimeter defender at the 2/3. Yet, he's actually been with the team more than a preseason and he should return even better. Actually, while our defense was horrible for the season. With Ira it was much improved. Upgrade (for the season).

Fourthly, Big Dawg is better than Kukoc. He steals the ball well. Upgrade.

Fiftly, SAR may not be any better or worse defensively but his responsibilities will be far less. See "First...".

Sixly, Theo is W-A-Y better than Nazr defensively individually, not counting his impact on team defense. He'll scare away as many shot attempts as he will block shots (Ahem, the two handed hurt of a block on O'Neal). UPGRADE!!!

Sounds like an upgrade at every position defensively. Gel time aside and healthy this team might manage some pretty good defense. Certainly good enough to win a good many games.

W

[Iman]

Nazr seemed to almost turn his back for the rebound when someone drove the lane. Theo will make a huge difference in my opinion. Hopefully we'll sometimes use Ira on the floor with DJ or Email if we are having problems stopping a team on a roll. I think that ability to clamp down when needed can be key if used properly by a Coach.

[Guest]

The other thing I really like about Theo on this team is his focus on Defense. Sounds repetitive, but with our "high-powered offense," there aren't going to be that many shots for the fourth and fifth starters...Theo will get his clean up points and focus on rebounding without getting in the way of our "big three." Kinda like Rodman with the Bulls...