Hawks’ switching defense a point of concern for Skiles

[JTB]

First off reading this thread seems that skiles is looking to exploit woody's switching defense and he's pretty smart about it! Not that it's hard to figure woody's defense out but check out what he says in this article after that last game!

qoute's from Coach Skiles in the article:

“They’re switching centers onto our guards,” Skiles said. “A pro guard has got to be able to go by a center and do something. That’s the reality of it, and we took way too many jump shots. We drove some, had a little bit of success, but it’s something we’ve got to be much better at.

“Nothing against Al (Horford) or Zaza (Pachulia), but if those guys are switching onto point guards and two-guards, you’ve got to make them pay. And we didn’t do a very good job of that.”

link:

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/fanblogs/90724584.html

I like the switching defense and all but with their backcourt having jennings and salmons i know they can blow past horford, zaza, and even smoove if we continue to purposely switch those defenders on them. Will Woody come up with a diff. scheme?..................probably not. hope we are not over hyping our selves! looking at another topic though I hear they are sticking mbah moute (whatever his name is, he's known for defense) on JJ but he's there starting PF so it sounds like they are changing there lineup cause of bogut not being here to defend horford! That could be a good or bad thing. I think it's a good thing cause either way there are players on there team playing out of position!

So ATL what do you think about skiles qoute's on woody's switching defense and the rumor that mbah moute (whatever his name is) guarding johnson?

[exodus]

I don't think Salmons is too concerned about the Hawks switching defense. Since joining the Bucks he has scored 92 pts against the Hawks in 3 games.

[JackB1]

When you switch on defense, you are giving the opposition a huge advantage. I dont really see the point in it, unless somebody is way out of position. Just fight thru the screen and stay on your man.

When Horford or Josh ends up covering a guard, that leaves us vulnerable to that guard penetrating and it also gets out Bigs away from the basket to rebound. Also on the other end of the switch is one of

our guards on one of their Bigs. IT's just a bad idea all around. Woody needs to emphasise switching only as a last resort........not as a way to play defense.

[Diesel]

Skiles interview just how most teams successfully play our defense. They tune in the matchup that they want. Usually that is their best scoring guard on either Smoove or Al or Zaza. I say that Woody should install a different defense. Matchup Zone with Smoove as the floater. Pinch the bigs into the middle just a bit. Give the guards the whole perimeter down to the baseline. And Let Smoove Roam Like a Rover in football. I think Smoove plays defensive better from the backside anyway. Plus, we know that Milwaukee's bigs are not a threat to take us to the back of the shed. Skiles will be looking for us to switch and give him the matchup he likes. Fool him. Give us the double. Cover the passing lanes... I think we'd get more steals this way.

[Diesel]

When you switch on defense, you are giving the opposition a huge advantage. I dont really see the point in it, unless somebody is way out of position. Just fight thru the screen and stay on your man.

When Horford or Josh ends up covering a guard, that leaves us vulnerable to that guard penetrating and it also gets out Bigs away from the basket to rebound. Also on the other end of the switch is one of

our guards on one of their Bigs. IT's just a bad idea all around. Woody needs to emphasise switching only as a last resort........not as a way to play defense.

We switch because we are versatile and we can hide our defensive defiencies: Josh, Bibby, and Horf. The problem is that soon teams learn to dial in the matchup that they like using our switch. I say Woody use the Switch sparingly in this series.

[Wurider05]

Woody can't help himself folks. It is going to be switching and ISO-Joe until we win the championship or get beat!! Only a clown would expect anything different from Woody. Skiles is going to take advantage of the defense and ISO-Joe just like every team does. Too easy to figure out too easy to stop!!

[Antmillennium]

I say that Woody should install a different defense.

You know good and danged well that this will NEVER happen.

[HawksFan87]

Al and Josh, will be fine defensively. They are not the problem. Our guards are the one's who need to play some damn defense. Since they don't know what it means..

[Guest]

I'm not a big fan of the switching defense, but it works for this team at this point as we have won 50+ games with it. Now that the playoff are here, you cannot expect significant changes to what the coaches and players have had success with. I think they will have to mix their defensive strategies up but the switching has been the bread and butter for the last 3 years....The PLAYOFFS are no time to start experimenting.

[TruJerz]

I'm not a big fan of the switching defense, but it works for this team at this point as we have won 50+ games with it. Now that the playoff are here, you cannot expect significant changes to what the coaches and players have had success with. I think they will have to mix their defensive strategies up but the switching has been the bread and butter for the last 3 years....The PLAYOFFS are no time to start experimenting.

exactly..why change now..its worked and it gives teams problems for the most part. gotta stick with it unless we have to change it

[Diesel]

I'm not a big fan of the switching defense, but it works for this team at this point as we have won 50+ games with it. Now that the playoff are here, you cannot expect significant changes to what the coaches and players have had success with. I think they will have to mix their defensive strategies up but the switching has been the bread and butter for the last 3 years....The PLAYOFFS are no time to start experimenting.

Our defense has been getting worse month by month since the beginning of the season. It's odd because our offense is better and better. I think the thing is that teams know that we only use the switch because we want to hide our weaknesses. I don't say get rid of the switch altogether. I say let's surprise these guys. With our athletic team and with Josh's shot blocking ability.. we should be forcing teams out of the paint and letting Josh be the guy to double. Milwaukee's bigs aren't going to do much. Our concern is Salmons, Stackhouse, and Rookie. Close out the lane... Force the rookie to shoot. Double the SGs to get the ball out of their hands. IF it's Gadzurich that beats us, then we're supposed to lose.

[JTB]

exactly..why change now..its worked and it gives teams problems for the most part. gotta stick with it unless we have to change it

I agree we shouldn't change since it is how we got here but woody should tweak up the way we play defense just a little and im sure he is cause every coach makes some type minor change come playoff time!

[AHF]

I agree we shouldn't change since it is how we got here but woody should tweak up the way we play defense just a little and im sure he is cause every coach makes some type minor change come playoff time!

This is the big test for Woody - to have some variations in his pocket to switch things up in the playoffs. The regular season is done and sticking with a vanilla gameplan won't cut it. He is going to need to be able to counter the adjustments we see from other teams in the playoffs. Bring it Woody!

[High5]

It's a point of concern for me too. Skiles is going to coach circles around Woodson.

[JTB]

It's a point of concern for me too. Skiles is going to coach circles around Woodson.

He will against the switching defense unless woody change it up a little and i k now it sounds crazy but i truly believe woody will change his scenario of the switching defense up once skiles show he can coach against it and exploit it. as of now woody might have a minor tweak in his defense but he's not going to change what has been working for this team especially since it worked so well for the hawks last game against the bucks but i know the playoffs can be and will be diffrent but the bucks really just dont scare me! not to doubt them or any thing cause everybody in the playoffs has a chance, it's just we have the better team and if the hawks do lose it's all on them! even woody's gameplan should get us out the 1st round, with this talented hawks team!

Edited April 17, 2010 by JTB

[Diesel]

He will against the switching defense unless woody change it up a little and i k now it sounds crazy but i truly believe woody will change his scenario of the switching defense up once skiles show he can coach against it and exploit it. as of now woody might have a minor tweak in his defense but he's not going to change what has been working for this team especially since it worked so well for the hawks last game against the bucks but i know the playoffs can be and will be diffrent but the bucks really just dont scare me! not to doubt them or any thing cause everybody in the playoffs has a chance, it's just we have the better team and if the hawks do lose it's all on them! even woody's gameplan should get us out the 1st round, with this talented hawks team!

The good news is that our series is spread over a lot of days. There are big breaks for Woody to coach in something new. I would still prefer to see him come out with something new and make Skiles have to adjust. If we start out with the defense that I have suggested, we may be able to get a blow out win in game 1. We will always know how to play switching defense, but the point is to catch them off guard and put them on their heels.

[Dexmethylphenidate]

Switching is okay I guess for position 2-5. But Woody should not allow Bibby or our PG to switch with their bigs... many bad things can happen.... open threes, their bigs against our PG post up, our bigs against their fast PG (although Josh is the exception since no one wants to drive by him).

[bonethugz]

why change, after all, woody won us 50 plus games. we're only fans.....

[Joker]

The thing I like about the playoffs is it's every three days. We suck so bad after back to back and I am glad for this format.

[Crank]

Its not the switch itself;f but how often we use it . We need to mix it up more .

Sometimes we should double ballhandler

sometimes we should stretch him out all the way to the out of bounds area or until he picks up his dribble

sometimes we should play straight up

They switch caught a lot of teams off guard and they spend most of the time trying to force in inside because there big has a smaller guy on him . All they did was waste clock and end up taking bad shot. So now they keep rock in the smaller players hand and have him try and take our bigs off the dribble .

Salmons and Stack are guys that are average ballhandler and decision makers so you trap them and force them to play a cerebral game giving up the rock and finding there teammates but with Bogut I fully expect them to struggle if they are forced to become facilitators .

IMO one the biggest issue has been the lack of our players preparedness in knowing the opponent in some of these situations. We seem to not know that a guy is shooting 40% from three until after hes made 3 of them in his first 5 minutes on the floor .