Help me understand how this new coach's calling card was DEFENSE

[sturt]

Yes, I know, it's early. Yes, I know, this is a young team figuring things out.

Is that pretty much the whole explanation for why we seem to be quite THIS bad on the defensive side of the floor?

[JTB]

Trust me early or not I don’t believe this is excusable .

 

they look like shit on both ends and LP don’t seem to be getting every players all just yet. 

[benhillboy]

Its just where the game is I guess.  Used to be about half of the league was respectable defensively.  Now it’s a quarter.  I’m afraid of where it’s headed when post ups and midrange shots are demonized and defense is rigorously legislated out.  

As far as the Hawks though there’s only 4 solid defensive players and they’re all bench level.  Clearly Pierce can’t tout himself as a defensive coach these days but I surely won’t call him awful yet.  Trae is leading the team in minutes, having him out front adds absolutely no value to that end at 3 boards and half a steal and perhaps the most unimposing defensive stance in NBA history.

[kg01]

We should be better.  Early, young, whatever .. it all comes down to effort and, many times, we simply show none.  There were several times I saw guys simply give up on a play.  All-NBA defense level or scrub level, that's not acceptable. 

I saw Vince do it.  I saw Young do it.  I saw Prince do it all night. All of them, except Bembry.  Unacceptable. Somebody's gotta take ownership.  This is where CLP's craptastic staff hires come into play.  There's no one there with the chops to help him fix this imho.

Better see if he can beg Bzdelik to consult with them.

[KB21]

2 hours ago, sturt said:

Yes, I know, it's early. Yes, I know, this is a young team figuring things out.

Is that pretty much the whole explanation for why we seem to be quite THIS bad on the defensive side of the floor?

[kg01]

Go back to your thread, KB.  We left some half-opened Halloween candy in there for you. 

[KB21]

4 minutes ago, kg01 said:

Go back to your thread, KB.  We left some half-opened Halloween candy in there for you. 

[Sothron]

The scoring this year league wide has been insane if not historic. There seems to be a concerted effort to simply not play any defense by most of the teams in the league this season.

That aside...our defense is putrid. There is no defense. I knew Trae Young was the worst college defender I think I've ever seen but I figured they would try to hide him at the NBA level. I did not expect they would hide him by simply making the rest of the team as bad as he was in college on defense. You can't even pick his bad defense apart from the rest of the team at this point.

[High5]

We have a lack of defensive talent for sure, but the turnovers are making it worse. 

[sturt]

I posted this thread, realizing one of the first who would respond would be someone whose idea of a fact is whatever his opinion happens to be. (And that, in fact, is fact based on his own statements.)

Let's not play that game here, or for that matter, ever again. His only interest is self-congratulations for his self-deceived omniscience, and that pretty much precludes any thoughtful insight to the actual question and topic of the thread. It has never been a truer admonition, "(alleged) physcian, heal thyself."

Rather than going down any detour orange barrels he throws on the highway, let's please just ignore and run right over top of them rather than letting them nudge us onto that other highway where he gets his jollies.

All of that to say, thanks to those of you sincerely offering ideas and theories... I'm for one genuinely interested in them.

[sturt]

Well, Pierce did tell us to expect that, effectively, he wanted to run-and-gun like no other team has run-and-gun before. So, is it the case that even if we WERE playing good defense, the other teams would STILL be averaging well into triple digits, simply because there are more shorter possessions by design on our side of the ball?

 

[benhillboy]

5 hours ago, kg01 said:

This is where CLP's craptastic staff hires come into play...

I never wondered until now, but is it common practice for a GM to allow a 1st year coach to select his staff?  Bud knocked it out the park, Lloyd not so much.  Melvin Hunt as the lead assistant doesn’t inspire any confidence whatsoever.  Dude look like he play 2K and wolf Ding Dongs more than he does any impactful coaching.  His Punchface Game is actually pretty scrong.

[EazyRoc]

The reason our defense is so bad is because Trae, sadly enough, isn’t our worst defender.

[kg01]

7 hours ago, sturt said:

I posted this thread, realizing one of the first who would respond would be someone whose idea of a fact is whatever his opinion happens to be. (And that, in fact, is fact based on his own statements.)

Let's not play that game here, or for that matter, ever again. His only interest is self-congratulations for his self-deceived omniscience, and that pretty much precludes any thoughtful insight to the actual question and topic of the thread. It has never been a truer admonition, "(alleged) physcian, heal thyself."

Rather than going down any detour orange barrels he throws on the highway, let's please just ignore and run right over top of them rather than letting them nudge us onto that other highway where he gets his jollies.

All of that to say, thanks to those of you sincerely offering ideas and theories... I'm for one genuinely interested in them.

Dang, never knew anyone (else) could get under yer skin like this.  Haha

2 hours ago, benhillboy said:

I never wondered until now, but is it common practice for a GM to allow a 1st year coach to select his staff?  Bud knocked it out the park, Lloyd not so much.  Melvin Hunt as the lead assistant doesn’t inspire any confidence whatsoever.  Dude look like he play 2K and wolf Ding Dongs more than he does any impactful coaching.  His Punchface Game is actually pretty scrong.

Shiiiii, Schlenk was a 1st time GM.  What leg would he have to stand on to suggest CLP couldn't pick his own staff?  IIUC, staff hires would be something discussed in the interview (of CLP) process.  It should be, anyway.  That would give the GM an idea of who would/could be hired.

Hunt as his 1st hire was a major red flag for me.  The fact that we don't have any former HC's on staff is another major red flag.  That, imho, is something Schlenk should've made a non-negotiable.

5 minutes ago, EazyRoc said:

The reason our defense is so bad is because Trae, sadly enough, isn’t our worst defender.

That's not fair at all.

Young being a bad defender should have no impact on Len showing poor effort on D, Baze playing poor D, Prince playing uninterested defensively, on and on and on ..

These guys are the vets.  They should be motivating/encouraging Young to be better.  Not the other way around.

[Diesel]

When you talk about defense, there are factors.  Mainly, the league has made the rules set to offense.   Secondly, for a new team, Defense takes the longest to master.   None of our guys have ever  played with each other so... defense from a new coach is going to take some time.   Let's revisit in Dec. 

[KB21]

8 hours ago, sturt said:

I posted this thread, realizing one of the first who would respond would be someone whose idea of a fact is whatever his opinion happens to be. (And that, in fact, is fact based on his own statements.)

Let's not play that game here, or for that matter, ever again. His only interest is self-congratulations for his self-deceived omniscience, and that pretty much precludes any thoughtful insight to the actual question and topic of the thread. It has never been a truer admonition, "(alleged) physcian, heal thyself."

Rather than going down any detour orange barrels he throws on the highway, let's please just ignore and run right over top of them rather than letting them nudge us onto that other highway where he gets his jollies.

All of that to say, thanks to those of you sincerely offering ideas and theories... I'm for one genuinely interested in them.

[mcleitsy]

1 hour ago, EazyRoc said:

The reason our defense is so bad is because Trae, sadly enough, isn’t our worst defender.

Yeah at least he tries. Vince is a turnstile, Len is a turnstile...Heurter tries but he needs to bulk. I don't think it was ever going to be good. 

[sturt]

1 hour ago, kg01 said:

Dang, never knew anyone (else) could get under yer skin like this.  Haha

I was one of those a week ago after the DAL victory to suggest, when others were taunting the guy for suddenly going quiet, that it would be wise instead to tap the brakes on any hint that maybe the team was better than previously thought.

The consistent theme over here is, how bout we try to maintain some sense of balance and some sense of humility as we go about having insightful discussion, and maybe a few intelligent laughs along the way.

Consider myself an equal opportunity critic. :)

 

[kg01]

3 minutes ago, sturt said:

I was one of those a week ago after the DAL victory to suggest, when others were taunting the guy for suddenly going quiet, that it would be wise instead to tap the brakes on any hint that maybe the team was better than previously thought.

The consistent theme over here is, how bout we try to maintain some sense of balance and some sense of humility as we go about having insightful discussion, and maybe a few intelligent laughs along the way.

Consider myself an equal opportunity critic. :)

 

You're leaving no room for sophomoric laughs though.  Is this a subtle message that I'm not welcome (again)?

[sturt]

1 hour ago, kg01 said:

The fact that we don't have any former HC's on staff is another major red flag.  That, imho, is something Schlenk should've made a non-negotiable.

Jent was an NBA head coach... is 18 games not enough? :)

I dunno... I think the fact there isn't anyone with any significant NBA head coach experience just speaks to the player development commitment. You hire a former HC mainly, imo, to be there as bench support and advice during games, but that they didn't is just more affirmation that winning isn't the #1 objective.