Our Defense sucks right now!…Let’s talk about it!

[JTB]

So a few Squawkers had some words stating “I’m not surprised we have a board member thinking offense is the problem when the defense is putrid“….or something along those lines. 
 

So let’s talk about the poor defense….and I will go first with my perspective.

 

IF you haven’t heard by now Capela is hurt and playing hurt dealing with an achllies injury I believe. In my perspective capela injury is the ONLY reason our defense isn’t good right now as a whole. Trae is an awful defender no shock here but Cam, Hunter, Collins are playing good defensively (eye test not looking at numbers) but we never see this group on the court at the same time. Personally I believe the defense can be fixed easier than the offensive struggles right now. Defensively if McMillan puts in a lineup of Trae, Cam, Hunter, Collins, with split minutes between Capela and Dieng I would bet anyone that we’d see major improvement!

 

Yes defense isn’t good but PLEASE stop ignoring the fact that Capela is HURT!…when capela is not healthy he can’t help cover bad defensive moments from Trae and Bogi. If capela were healthy we are not having defensive conversations but since he’s not McMillan may need to put in place a more defensive unit and only have one poor defender in the starting unit which would be Trae.

[JayBirdHawk]

13 minutes ago, JTB said:

In my perspective capela injury is the ONLY reason our defense isn’t good right now as a whole.

I disagree, it's not ALL on Clint - everyone else has to take ownership of their respective assignments first then look for help 2nd, they are definitely not doing that.

• They have been switching too much on the perimeter and not communicating effectively when they do which leads to wide open shooters
• They've had too many brain farts in transition or when we are scrambling on defense, like Hunter leaving Curry wide open or Huerter not picking up Conley in transition and leaving him open for a 3.
• Cam sometimes wants to make the homerun play/steal in lieu of playing sound defense
• They have not been able to stop dribble penetration
• They dig too far in the pain leaving shooters open
• Trae is horrible when not engaged, he does better when he is  - he can be a little more consistent with his effort.
• I think the injuries that both Bogi and Hueter had in the offseason has played a role in some of their additional defensive deficiencies.

Fix the defense, the offense will take care of itself.

[JTB]

13 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I disagree, it's not ALL on Clint - everyone else has to take ownership of their respective assignments first then look for help 2nd, they are definitely not doing that.

• They have been switching too much on the perimeter and not communicating effectively when they do which leads to wide open shooters
• They've had too many brain farts in transition or when we are scrambling on defense, like Hunter leaving Curry wide open or Huerter not picking up Conley in transition and leaving him open for a 3.
• Cam sometimes wants to make the homerun play/steal in lieu of playing sound defense
• They have not been able to stop dribble penetration
• They dig too far in the pain leaving shooters open
• Trae is horrible when not engaged, he does better when he is  - he can be a little more consistent with his effort.
• I think the injuries that both Bogi and Hueter had in the offseason has played a role in some of their additional defensive deficiencies.

Fix the defense, the offense will take care of itself.

NOT saying it’s all on Clint! I’m saying Capela is so good that he can cover up a lot of mistakes but with him not being healthy that’s clearly not going to happen right now.

its not all on capela of course and the team does need to step it up and communicate better and be more disciplined…..but capela injury TO ME is the biggest downfall right now because he sets the tone defensively as our anchor and leader. Not only that but he is also the biggest communicator I believe from past interviews I recall and perhaps the injury is affecting him mentally.

 

Capela didn’t just lose his defensive skills over the off season and I believe that’s how people want to down play his impact since he hasn’t started off well this season…not saying you’re doing that.

 

Last while I agree cam likes to go after the big plays and isn’t as disciplined as say Hunter, Cam is still our second best perimeter defender right now and if McMillan wants better defense unit he should seriously consider inserting cam in the starting lineup ….maybe then we can get defense to help create easy offensive opportunities.

[terrell]

42 minutes ago, JTB said:

So a few Squawkers had some words stating “I’m not surprised we have a board member thinking offense is the problem when the defense is putrid“….or something along those lines. 
 

So let’s talk about the poor defense….and I will go first with my perspective.

 

IF you haven’t heard by now Capela is hurt and playing hurt dealing with an achllies injury I believe. In my perspective capela injury is the ONLY reason our defense isn’t good right now as a whole. Trae is an awful defender no shock here but Cam, Hunter, Collins are playing good defensively (eye test not looking at numbers) but we never see this group on the court at the same time. Personally I believe the defense can be fixed easier than the offensive struggles right now. Defensively if McMillan puts in a lineup of Trae, Cam, Hunter, Collins, with split minutes between Capela and Dieng I would bet anyone that we’d see major improvement!

 

Yes defense isn’t good but PLEASE stop ignoring the fact that Capela is HURT!…when capela is not healthy he can’t help cover bad defensive moments from Trae and Bogi. If capela were healthy we are not having defensive conversations but since he’s not McMillan may need to put in place a more defensive unit and only have one poor defender in the starting unit which would be Trae.

How is supposed to heal playing on a hurt achilles? He needs to sit if that's the case......

[terrell]

Maybe we should mix in some zone And stop trying to chase players all over the place, across screens etc? Because it's not working..This would also keep Clint under the basket more....

Edited November 11, 2021 by terrell

[RedDawg#8]

Effort is there, communication is not.

Too many breakdowns at the rim. I think their instinct is accustomed to Clint being a step ahead and they have to realize he needs more help. He played out of his mind during the regular season last year. Guys will get beat, they just have to be more vocal about the rotations.

[Peoriabird]

I've said this a million times...CAM/Hunter pairing would be our best defensive unit.  It would eliminate the need for Hunter to guard the other team's point guard or best perimeter player....Cam can do that. Hunter can then be more of a zone defender to help out the big with guarding the paint and rebounding.  Nate will have to somehow get Cam to focus on defense rather than superstardom.  Also Hunter needs to be Hunter again on offense and be a secondary initiator of the offense like he was so adept at doing before the injury.

[Sothron]

I believe we should simply rest Capela until his heel injury is fully healed. I don't know how he is supposed to be treating an injury while still playing on it. 

[benhillboy]

Clearly Calepa is limited but he’s still posting a +14 net rating.  We were just spoiled after his near-perfect regular season last year at +19.  Dre has to be hobbled as well.  Outside of the game where he apprehended Luka he just hasn’t been gliding across the floor like he usually does.  
 

ALL 4 of our wings are below average rebounders.  I was so impressed with Trae during the second half of his rookie season he was routinely pulling 5-7 rebounds.  He’s currently working on a career low by a considerable margin at 3.3.

Delon and Cam are 12th and 43rd in defensive plays per foul, respectively.  You would expect that to be vice versa but Cam is lacking discipline and again rebounds poorly.  He also kills the defense at times driving smack dab into traffic, getting blocked, and creating a short handed transition play.

When Nate first took over guys were guarding high above the three point line and it really limited good looks.  Now it just seems like chase the ball and pray.

And just like cowbell, we need more ball denials.

Edited November 12, 2021 by benhillboy

[Dynamo]

It’s questionable to have Clint play on a sore achilles.How is he  going to heal completely  ?

 

 

[AHF]

8 hours ago, Sothron said:

I believe we should simply rest Capela until his heel injury is fully healed. I don't know how he is supposed to be treating an injury while still playing on it. 

Would be an easy call if OO was healthy.  Doctors need to weigh in for sure but seems like the priority should be on getting him back to healthy over having him playing at 50%.

[macdaddy]

I thought it was implied that his heel is healed but he's just out of shape because of recovery.

[JayBirdHawk]

7 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

I thought it was implied that his heel is healed but he's just out of shape because of recovery.

That's what I got too.

[AHF]

48 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

I thought it was implied that his heel is healed but he's just out of shape because of recovery.

I'm not a doctor and didn't even spend the night at a Holiday Inn Express last night.  That said, he looks more than winded to me on the floor.  If his explosiveness will return as he gets in shape then great.  I'd certainly rather play with him getting better every game than try to win without him.  But if he is hurting his recovery by playing that doesn't make a lot of sense to push.

[Spud2nique]

11 minutes ago, AHF said:

I'm not a doctor

But you stayed at a Holiday Inn last night?

kg made me do it. His exact words were.. “ do it”…

[JayBirdHawk]

Quote

On what’s going wrong with the Hawks’ defense, John Collins could start in a million places.  Therein lies the challenge.

“I really feel like it’s a lot of the small things and the small things always add up,” Collins said. “That’s how I feel about our situation, especially defensively. Whether it be guys getting blown by, whether it be rebounding, whether it be weak-side, whatever the case may be, fouls, it’s tough to digest sometimes but we just have to attack as many things as we can, all at once, really, and try to make them an emphasis.”

 

Quote

“I don’t think his conditioning is where it would be if he didn’t have that injury,” McMillan said. “The fact that he really didn’t start running until he got to training camp, I think that set him back. And he is now trying to play himself into game shape with the season starting. ... Absolutely, I think it has been part of the concern with a few of our guys who didn’t have a training camp or wasn’t able to do anything, so they’re trying to play themselves into shape, conditioning.”

Capela is still receiving treatment on his Achilles and said he’s not feeling like himself out on the court, though he’s continuing to fight through it. He knows that’s hard on the team, and it’s hard on him, too.

The Hawks won’t be at their best defensively until Capela is at his best, but starting now, they need to push themselves more on defense overall, he thinks. And they can help themselves out by taking better shots offensively, so opponents can’t capitalize as much on the fast-break and they’re not always rushing to get back on defense.

“I think the team’s doing its best right now, but we have to go harder,” Capela said. “That’s what I think it is right now. When you’re in this position, you just have to do what you do harder, do it more consistently. From what I’ve learned, that’s the only way to get out of this spiral that we’re in, is just go harder until it stops. ... A couple guys are not comfortable, tense, and that’s how it should be, because we care. No one wants to go on a five-game losing streak. We all know. The starters first, we all know we have to be better.”

No matter the reasons for their defensive struggles, the Hawks have to keep working on it as they go, McMillan said at practice Thursday.

“We’ve got to continue to work at it, whether you have injuries or conditioning is not quite there, you just work at it,” McMillan said. “There’s no other way of doing that. We’ve been playing against a lot of teams that are playing small-ball. Speed, putting a lot of speed out on the floor, and we’ve just got to work at controlling that basketball and keeping the ball in front of us. It’s not just one individual. As a team, we’ve got to work at being better.”

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

Part of fixing the defense is taking better shots on offense - the transition defense has been AWFUL.

[JTB]

5 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

 

 

 

Capela “going harder” or “getting more tense” aka physical just sounds like a bad idea for big man that has a Achilles injury and trying to work himself into game shape.

smh…I hope the increased intensity doesn’t set him back . I like McMillan but him and his staff should really discuss only playing healthy players…just saying , this may be the most frustrating stubborn thing McMillan is doing since taking over.

[NBASupes]

18 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Part of fixing the defense is taking better shots on offense - the transition defense has been AWFUL.

It was awful last year but we used to get a lot more open threes and Trae used to get to the FT line more. Offensively, Trae hasn't regressed much but defensively, he's the worst in the NBA and has a lot. Same for Capela who defense is a net negative when last year, it was in the top 5 for all players. 

[JayBirdHawk]

13 minutes ago, NBASupes said:

It was awful last year but we used to get a lot more open threes and Trae used to get to the FT line more. Offensively, Trae hasn't regressed much but defensively, he's the worst in the NBA and has a lot. Same for Capela who defense is a net negative when last year, it was in the top 5 for all players. 

The team as a whole has not played well on defense. Too many missed reads, misdirection, forcing players to the help,  no help defense when needed. The team defense has been bad. Just not enough communication.  And the guys who are supposed to be the defenders aren't showing up with any level of consistency - Capela, Hunter and Cam.

Just one example.