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Weird things happen with 3-4 game sample sizes.
Only Utah (Gobert) & the Dubs are ahead. Pelicans/Bucks are dead lastin their respective conference, worse than the Lakers/Philly
Weird things happen with 3-4 game sample sizes.
Good defense doesn't happen by accident thus the Jazz, Dubs, Spurs all being top 3 isn't a fluke.
Apparently Monty Williams was better at scheming for defense than this new coach in the Pels. They are very hobbled with injuries though. If healthy they would probably be better.
I agree that the Jazz/Spurs/Warriors are some of the best defenses in the league...was more just speaking in general. After an entire offseason of no basketball, people are always too quick to try and draw conclusions when the season starts. For example you have people completely writing off the Rockets and acting like they're no longer a good team because of 3 games. The Hawks started off 1-3 last year and wound up winning 60 games.
Freaking Warriors are so damn good... Kerr walked into a Russian Czar's throne room by taking that job.Only Utah (Gobert) & the Dubs are ahead. Pelicans/Bucks are dead last
I can't wait til our first game against them!
Spurs have always been an elite defense since Kawhi/Green were inserted into the SL, but the current success is probably a product of playing 3 teams with limited offensive talent, tbh..
Still, though, they'll finish with a top 5 defense, as usual..
Of course the Pels are last. Their starting guards are out and they had to play Curry twice when he already owned them they were healthy.
Although this team has been feasting on the poor lately, they have been performing admirably on D.
Aldridge has been slightly more active than I thought. I knew he could play D and hustle, but it's good to see him go to the "try-hard" when he realizes he's hurting the team with his performance.
For a star to go "try-hard" on D and loose balls- that's nothing, but a good thing.
I am very interested to see this team go up against a superior offense later in the year when they are more in-sync on both sides of the floor, communicating easily and at full strength.
Those late games in the season against the Warriors could be very telling, should health and Pop allow it.
But they also won't play okc all the time. And contra the warriors only get to rape Memphis a few more times.
Basically, sample size is a big deal. But as Harlem notes, we have the best back court tandem, subtract a splitter (great big when healthy, not always healthy) add a motivated lamarcus , keep Duncan and Parker, and you end up with a defense on par with last year. But with a healthy kawhi to start the year we should be even better. Basically our defense should be good unless kawhi and lamarcus regress.
I'm not surprised and no one should be. I said all along that Aldridge is a similar (if lesser) defender to Splitter, only he's far more durable and can actually play more than 20-25 minutes without looking like he needs an oxygen mask. The ability to effectively play significant minutes is probably the most underrated skill there is.
Hopefully Pop, if he's dead set on not playing Diaw-West together, realizes this and starts playing Aldridge accordingly, instead of running Duncan into the ground. Really, the easiest way to avoid overplaying Duncan/Aldridge and minimizing the time Diaw/West spend together, is to stagger Duncan's/Aldridge's minutes better, so that Diaw/West only spend short stints together.
Agreed. As great as Splitter was on defense, he would only play ~20 mpg for 55-60 games a season. Having someone like Aldridge who can play 35 mpg for (hopefully) 70+ games will be a big help.
And yeah, iirc Duncan got more minutes than Aldridge last game...and that was on the 2nd night of a b2b. Granted, Duncan was having a great game, but still...going forward, makes more sense to give Aldridge 35-36 mpg and ensure Duncan doesn't get too worn down before the playoffs.
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