Reply With Quote
Nuggets. Camby, Nene, K-mart, and Melo.
...is the Phoenix Suns.
http://www.nba.com/statistics/sortab...ml?cnf=1&prd=1
Discuss.
Nuggets. Camby, Nene, K-mart, and Melo.
The Suns have been blocking up a storm lately.
Amare Stoudemire's defense hasn't drastically improved, but his shot-blocking has.
This isn't new. The Suns and Denver have been 1 or 2 most of the season
It hasn't but he has got much better at blocking and not committing the foul.
faster pace leads to more possessions??
Blocks don't neccesarily mean good defense. It means those guys go for a lot of fakes and pumps and don't play good fundamental d. If you wanna throw stats out, I would be worried about being dead last in rebounding differential. When has a team ever won by being so attrocious. You were already bad last year, Utah killed you guys in every meeting during the season, but this year it's even worse. Al Jefferson by himself has beaten you twice simply by hitting the boards. I honestly have no idea how you survive a series with a team that has a dominating frontline. Spurs, NO, Utah, Lakers all would be favourites against you. And if Dampier plays anything like he has during this year that he is healthy add Dallas to the teams that you would have no chance with. I am not even trying to trash talk. I still can't understand the K.Thomas move. You barely had a chance with him and then you decide to send him away???? I don't know how D'Antoni deals with this problem this year. You just have no personnel to do anything about it. I personally think that the Suns FO has made up their mind that this team has gone as far as it can, how else do you explain them being so reluctant to make any moves to improve the current team, and will probably make changes in the summer. They probably want to see a couple more things in the playoffs. Clearely you can't build around a 34 year old Nash, but can you around a hothead like Stat? Is Diaw worth keeping, or do you just try to clear cash and you send him out on a package with Marion? Do you try to build a grind out team with Raja, Barbosa, and Stat and bring in a real center and some other tough guys and maybe a Rick Carlisle kind of coach? It's clear stat does not want or is able to play center.
That was chapter 1 of Endrity's book
Another example of why stats can be misleading.
hope you read it, i put some good effort on it.
the rest of it you can find it at dallas-mavs.com, but it's all mavs analysis. I think you wouldn't care that much. Gotta target the audience
Actually, your post is interesting
I am worried about it. Dead last is not good--to state the obvious. Heh.
Actually, we blew out Utah in the last meeting of the season last year, and we beat them in the only meeting so far this season.
I think Tip has got it. Both Phoenix and Denver play up-tempo styles. Now, you still have to have the players to do that, but I'd be interested in a per-100 possession average who's #1 and how far the Suns and Nuggets fall.
Suns would likely be a top-10 team, but probably no better than 6th or 7th while the Nuggets could possibly be a top-5 team.
So?
They are also the worst rebounding team in the league and give up nearly 104 ppg.
So what, the Nuggets are the best stealing team in the league....what does that =, being one of the worst defensive teams in the leagues. Look at PPG and opp FG% that is a sign of a good defensive team, not blocks/steals
PPG will tell you nothing, because like we've already said... a faster-paced team will allow their opponent more possessions, a.k.a. more opportunities to score.
For me, the two stats you want to look at are Opponent's FG% and Points Per 100 Possessions. These will tell you a lot about how often a team allows the other to score.
I think the Suns are in the middle of the pack in both of these categories, which doesn't surprise me in the least. They've always been a middle-of-the-road defensive team, not great, not bad.
LOL Sun Fan will desperately spin the numbers in any way possible in order to convince themselves that their team's defense isn't total .
Defense is limiting your opponents chances at scoring. If they have more chances to score because the Suns play a fast pace, then their offense is contributing to poorer defense. Notice that all the best defensive teams are capable of slowing the game down and scoring in half-court sets.
So you're basically saying that Fast Tempo = Bad Defense? WTF, Stretch
no, fast tempo = more energy expended on offense = less energy & attention to defense = bad defense.
I've seen enough games to know that this isn't and never will be the case. The Suns tend to play their best defense in the 2nd half, when they would theoretically be more tired from all that running and gunning. Their fast tempo has nothing to do with their determination on defense.
if you say so, but here's another theory - other teams who get into a running game with Phoenix fall into the same trap of "all offense, no defense", but since they aren't used to a running game & don't have as talented of personnel, their offense falters in the 2nd half as they get winded.
and then teams that will dictate things instead of allowing the Suns to dictate (like the Spurs) can take advantage of the Suns lack of attention to defense.
I was not trying to say that this means the Suns are a good defensive team.
I was just trying to say that it means they are a good shot-blocking team. Most people don't think of them as a good shot-blocking team, since they are considered "small."
That's all.
I'm sure there is some level of exhaustion that comes into play in the 2nd half for Suns' opponents, but how do you determine the difference between really good defense and tired legs?
Even if you are correct, the Suns are fully capable of handling teams in a half-court set, as well. The Spurs tend to beat us in the half-court because Tim Duncan is virtually unstoppable down low, but I think they're the only team that really poses a huge problem in a slower tempo.
Yes, there is definitely some truth to that, kinda like high powered scoring = good defense, much like Mono touched on. when other teams that dont know how to slow the game down, or take advantage of their defensive issues, they end up getting sucked into a run-and-gun game with the Suns, leading to a lot of bad shots and blown opportunities. it will not work against teams that have the ability to score efficiently like Phoenix, but also slow the game down, and take advantage of Phoenix's defensive weaknesses. They blow out a lot of crappy teams, but then end up losing to good teams like San Antonio, LA, and Dallas.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
