Hiding Trae Defensively is priority going forward...

[JTB]

Not able to hide Trae early on:
There are a ton of complaints about LP and I understand it but he is just in year 2 and he was given absolute trash to work with early on defensively therefore I don’t and won’t blame him for that!...his hand was being forced so much this season before the trade deadline especially with the big man rotation for most of the season to a point where he’s had to rely on old man VC to provide minutes at PF/C

 

We should be able to hide Trae defensively a lot better now after the deadline:

moving forward I think Schlenk made great moves in bringing in Capela and Dedmon among some of the other bigs but once we have a mostly healthy team after all star break, LP need to start implementing some schemes he hasn’t introduced to hide Trae defensively or consider changes in his scheme to hide trae defensively! ....I would go ahead and start working on this now so this young team can learn what’s needed going forward!
Trae in my opinion will likely never be a good or may not even be a average defender but you know this when your drafting this kid! It’s not an excuse but it also shouldn’t be a surprise he’s not very good on that end. What I know Trae can improve on is BBIQ defensively with his rotations and perhaps his strength but he can only add so much muscle to his small frame .....more than likely there will always be a need to hide Trae defensively.

WHY I’m bringing this up today :

Last nights game really got under my skin! Usually I can look past defensive issues with such a young team and look I get it!....Capela wasn’t out there and it’s just season 2 for most these guys including the coaching staff ....but to me at some point we have to start holding the coaching staff and players accountable. The sad part of last nights game was there was more effort defensively than normal and seeing the effort also brought attention to where this team lacks at ....I will be just flat out honest the rotations and zone playing is so pathetic it’s hard to see a major change coming next season on that end! Sorry but I’ve watched other young teams like Memphis and Miami play way better defense with their young guys and they just seem to get things better on that end .....it’s not the end of the world but seeing major top 15 defense improvement for next season seem unrealistic but hey anything is possible.

 

LP’s Defensive Scheme need to be focused on hiding Trae:

I love Trae folks! He has MVP written all over him once we start winning anyways but I’m about to drill him a bit on the defensive side....

-First off Trae is just bait at the top of the key! Sorry but once the pick/screen comes  the defense is instantly broken and there’s no going back! Rotations must start immediately once this happens. Trae is not strong enough to get over screens consistently or really hardly ever and the offense gets behind him easily causing help defense immediately.

-Even if LP ....Ask Trae to follow his man the opponents have gotten smart enough to instantly go to backing him down to the paint!...AGAIN instant defensive breakdown! ROTATIONS must start immediately! Help defense has to react!....which all ends up to someone being open.

Trae is not the only defensive problem don’t get me wrong but he is a huge one! He either is the cause of a bucket or a defensive breakdown even if his man doesn’t happen to score on the play! That’s not being unfair to him , he really is the target defensively for us and If we figure out how to hide him defensively....we will see immediate results I guarantee it! Trae may not be getting scored on every play but he is the opponents go to, to get the offense set to score for their Team (yup I repeated that cause it’s an important fact ). He’s just an easy target to scheme against ...it is what it is.

 

The scheme must change....

going forward I hope we see some type of zone/switching scheme that keeps Trae zoned at either corner 3pt line where he isn’t allowed to switch off but rather just stays in that area picking up whoever is near. My thought is it’s not as easy to run a screen on trae when he’s not at the top of the arc . 
I am tired of seeing trae get backed down in the paint as well! That should never happen! Trae should never find himself in the painted area on defense.

Trae need to be zoned in either corner 3 area where he doesn’t have a ton of space he has to cover. Then with a lineup of him, Cam, Hunter, JC, Capela we should be able to effectively play zone and switch on the screens with the other 4 guys. Trae is the lone wolf that should  stay in a zone on the perimeter.

[JayBirdHawk]

Nah...I don't what that as a priority.

I need to actually see the team as a whole and players individually and collectively look like they know what the hell they are doing on defense.

 

[NBASupes]

Trae has to figure out he can't be switching on bigs and he also has to fight more as well instead of dying on screens. Trae has to improve, point blank period

[JTB]

5 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

Trae has to figure out he can't be switching on bigs and he also has to fight more as well instead of dying on screens. Trae has to improve, point blank period

Trae can’t improve much from where he is now. Trae can’t get over those screens ...it’s not happening . He don’t have the same kind of attitude defensively as he has offensively.

stick his ass in a corner would be best for him in my opinion.

[JayBirdHawk]

10 minutes ago, JTB said:

Trae can’t improve much from where he is now. Trae can’t get over those screens ...it’s not happening . He don’t have the same kind of attitude defensively as he has offensively.

stick his ass in a corner would be best for him in my opinion.

That makes no sense. I'm not asking him to be Gary Payton, but he can't be a chair. Sticking him in the corner is not the right play. That's just not good route to go for him or the team as a whole.

 

 

 

[HawkItus]

14 minutes ago, JTB said:

Trae can’t improve much from where he is now. Trae can’t get over those screens ...it’s not happening . He don’t have the same kind of attitude defensively as he has offensively.

stick his ass in a corner would be best for him in my opinion.

I f Nash, Barea, Spud, Bogues, KJ and Mark Price could do it, so can Trae

[JTB]

14 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Nah...I don't what that as a priority.

I need to actually see the team as a whole and players individually and collectively look like they know what the hell they are doing on defense.

 

Most of it is communication! We haven’t had a defensive anchor until trade deadline and now we have two in capela and dedmon.

Atleast to me cam and hunters defense will be better just based on communication alone. It’s not necessarily ability for them (yes they have to keep improving) but they’ve shown good ability to defend...now they have someone behind them having their backs  and overseeing what need to be done while also not being afraid to yell it out.
 

communication is a big factor in a good defense. It will be very noticeable (Once capela starts playing) that someone is helping direct the defense rotations and  actually shouting out OVER! UNDER!...HEY SCREEN! ....some type of heads up that our young wings just haven’t received all season long. Dedmon didn’t just bring energy...he’s bringing passion, a sense of urgency, and he’s talking to these guys on the court (Huerter says he was the loudest guy in the locker room last season)...well two games have passed and Dedmons presence is extremely noticeable.

[JTB]

Just now, HawkItus said:

I f Nash, Barea, Spud, Bogues, KJ and Mark Price could do it, so can Trae

Nash was a horrible defender. Spud wasn’t all that great either.

3 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

That makes no sense. I'm not asking him to be Gary Payton, but he can't be a chair. Sticking him in the corner is not the right play. That's just not good route to go for him or the team as a whole.

 

 

 

I said trae can improve but I really believe it’s at a minimal. The most we need from trae is actual effort. Trae is unlikely to ever be impactful on defense.
 

I don’t see why everyone is upset about that. It’s very similar to curry. I’m not saying trae isn’t great cause he is ...but just like curry, just like kyrie, just like nash, just like Lillard...Traes offense is his defense!

[JayBirdHawk]

2 minutes ago, JTB said:

Most of it is communication! We haven’t had a defensive anchor until trade deadline and now we have two in capela and dedmon.

Atleast to me cam and hunters defense will be better just based on communication alone. It’s not necessarily ability for them (yes they have to keep improving) but they’ve shown good ability to defend...now they have someone behind them having their backs  and overseeing what need to be done while also not being afraid to yell it out.
 

communication is a big factor in a good defense. It will be very noticeable (Once capela starts playing) that someone is helping direct the defense rotations and  actually shouting out OVER! UNDER!...HEY SCREEN! ....some type of heads up that our young wings just haven’t received all season long. Dedmon didn’t just bring energy...he’s bringing passion, a sense of urgency, and he’s talking to these guys on the court (Huerter says he was the loudest guy in the locker room last season)...well two games have passed and Dedmons presence is extremely noticeable.

Agree with all this, doesn't mean Trae gets to shirk his defensive responsibilities and add more burden to these young wings.

He's midway through his 2nd season - still lots for him to learn and figure out on defense.

[JTB]

18 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Agree with all this, doesn't mean Trae gets to shirk his defensive responsibilities and add more burden to these young wings.

He's midway through his 2nd season - still lots for him to learn and figure out on defense.

Why does it have to mean that ?

I’m not saying Trae gets to relax on defense cause he’s likely never to be good (....ok I am saying that )...but not in the way you’re putting it.

trae still need to bust his ass on every defensive possession like he does offensively and do what he can to increase his BBIQ defensively and strength. LP should stay all over him on defense just as much as offense...

but as a fan and hopefully as a coach or franchise You want to see these guys win and some guys just can’t do well in certain schemes!

i don’t disagree completely with LP defensive scheme as all the screens in this era nearly forces you to switch. But with that said when we are playing a switching defense most of the time let’s be real about it.....a switching defense scheme with trae is not good!...
 

i rather place him in a corner Zone and tell him to hold his zone area at the mid range and perimeter down! Shouldn’t matter if Trae is placed in a corner or not he should always work his ass off to defend whoever comes over there or just stay active in the defensive play.

We can agree to disagree but trae won’t likely fit too many impactful defensive schemes even when he improves some. I’m just being real about our future MVP. I use to say the same stuff about Iverson but then Larry Brown got smart and placed all those defenders around him even though they couldn’t score a lick but same situation different era. In this era you can’t get away with what Larry did in the early 2000s.

Edited February 11, 2020 by JTB

[JTB]

25 minutes ago, HawkItus said:

I f Nash, Barea, Spud, Bogues, KJ and Mark Price could do it, so can Trae

Sorry  if that’s what we are looking forward to in terms of improvement then LP really need to set the tone on what he plans to do defensively with this ball club!

all star week is coming up maybe he should take the time to really think it over since defense is his thing.

[Buzzard]

The top scorers for the Magic last night:

Gordon 26, Vucevic 24, Fournier 22, and Ross 21; to add insult to injury, the Magic got 14 2nd chance opportunities with 14 offensive rebounds. Defense is a team game and when a team scores 113 points in the last three quarters, its a pitiful team game.

I do not know what the fix is here. You would think after a half season of games, our defense would improve at least a little. Last nights debacle looked as bad as any three quarters I have watched all season long.

[KB21]

3 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

The top scorers for the Magic last night:

Gordon 26, Vucevic 24, Fournier 22, and Ross 21; to add insult to injury, the Magic got 14 2nd chance opportunities with 14 offensive rebounds. Defense is a team game and when a team scores 113 points in the last three quarters, its a pitiful team game.

I do not know what the fix is here. You would think after a half season of games, our defense would improve at least a little. Last nights debacle looked as bad as any three quarters I have watched all season long.

The majority of this is a function of the youth on this team.  Young players simply do not have any idea what type of consistent effort they have to put forth when playing defense.  

[Buzzard]

12 minutes ago, KB21 said:

The majority of this is a function of the youth on this team.  Young players simply do not have any idea what type of consistent effort they have to put forth when playing defense.  

It is very frustrating. I also have a huge bias against the switching D we constantly employ. It is to much of a reminder of the bad old days with Woody and BK thinking we could win a championship with a team full of 6'8" to 6'9" wings.

Edited February 11, 2020 by Buzzard

[NBASupes]

4 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

It is very frustrating. I also have a huge bias against the switching D we constantly employ. It just is to much of a reminder of the bad old days with Woody and BK thinking we could win a championship with a team full of 6'8" to 6'9" wings.

BK wasn't wrong with the idea, he was wrong due to the players he chose.

[JTB]

13 minutes ago, KB21 said:

The majority of this is a function of the youth on this team.  Young players simply do not have any idea what type of consistent effort they have to put forth when playing defense.  

That very well could be true but I still believe you can get to the young guys to put up consistent effort...just takes the right voice(s)

5 minutes ago, Buzzard said:

It is very frustrating. I also have a huge bias against the switching D we constantly employ. It is to much of a reminder of the bad old days with Woody and BK thinking we could win a championship with a team full of 6'8" to 6'9" wings.

I’m not the biggest fan of it but it’s something many teams are doing and it’s damn near by force of the offenses today ....it’s really hard to not switch in this space and pace era. Im sure the really good defenses don’t have to but if you’re not going to switch you better have some excellent defenders at all 5 positions who can fight through screens

[Buzzard]

8 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

BK wasn't wrong with the idea, he was wrong due to the players he chose.

The Hampton Five ( death lineup ) has never won it all and the Hampton Five is only employed when GSW is dealing with injuries. So I say he was wrong for trying to make that his every day healthy defense.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion; as I am mine.

Edited February 11, 2020 by Buzzard

[Buzzard]

Just now, JTB said:

That very well could be true but I still believe you can get to the young guys to put up consistent effort...just takes the right voice(s)

I’m not the biggest fan of it but it’s something many teams are doing and it’s damn near by force of the offenses today ....it’s really hard to not switch in this space and pace era. Im sure the really good defenses don’t have to but if you’re not going to switch you better have some excellent defenders at all 5 positions who can fight through screens

Man defense is still the most used. Switching and zone is used to change the pace, stop a run. The reason Curry and Klay run through so many screens is not because they want a switch, its because they want to gain two steps and space to get a shot off.

[JTB]

4 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

BK wasn't wrong with the idea, he was wrong due to the players he chose.

Yup it’s weird cause it seems like BK was a head of time when you look back at the roster he put together....Specifically speaking of the switch defense  and positionless basketball he was hoping to get out of the roster .

[Buzzard]

3 minutes ago, JTB said:

Yup it’s weird cause it seems like BK was a head of time when you look back at the roster he put together....Specifically speaking of the switch defense  and positionless basketball he was hoping to get out of the roster .

This is a fallacy that is romanticized by fans. GSW has never went without a rim protector or two getting 20 - 30 minutes of the 48 minutes available a game.

They switched things up and that is what defense is all about. Play match ups and keep your opponent off balance; do not employ the same strategy for 48 minutes and become predictable.