Jazz radio pbp speculates on spurs defense

[SAGirl]

Speaking of Messina, wasn't he the one who suggested a wall defense or something during training camp in which that Argentine coach visiting posted videos of the team running it but were then later removed?

I think it's Messina. I don't know about SportsVU cameras, but Messina and Pop (and their assistants) seem to have tailored the defense to have guys anticipate the motion of the ball based on popular passing lanes and popular sets, and generally clog up the passing lanes.

It's very similar to last year's defense, but I think LMA's length has let Messina tweak the defensive positioning and the default rotations, so as to block popular lanes, and close out on shooters. The only weakness is the increased motion, as evidenced by our susceptibility to speedy PG's.

I am giving credit to Messina a whole lot, for his schemes and emphasis for perimeter players on striving to keep guys in front of them. You can't avoid that with PnR, but I see less "channeling" to someone in particular, and more perimeter players staying in front of guys, without giving away a specific angle.

There has been a lot of switching as well, more than I have seen previously, particularly on PnR and Screen and Roll.

I am a fan of Anderson and pay attention to little things he does. To me his individual defensive improvement is remarkable, but I notice when he played (particularly earlier in the season, when he was still in the rotation), Messina would come out and talk to him about things aside one on one. They have to be defensive things since Kyle's role seemed like it was mainly defense, rebounds, ball movement and the corner 3. He didn't freelance offensively and I suspect he's been discouraged from doing that (except bail out shots with shot clock winding down..)

[MI21]

I have seen this too, and I didn't realize this is probably what he was doing. Some 1st Q he had Kawhi 11 mins or all 12. He was going for the kill early.

My guess for Pop doing this: He's got young pups to train this year. He coaches them hard in the second half, calling Time Outs for mistakes and yelling at guys. He insists they keep the lead as they got it. He has discovered Simms by first giving him some leash in garbage time. Boban was spectacular some games. Bonner has shown to still have his shooting stroke and Kyle we guess is being trained for something in the future, as he's still a kid for Pop.

Pop also is coaching without complacency. I have seen him more willing to bench guys who are just plain sucking or not exerting the required effort during a game, than he did all last year. It didn't seem anyone got benched last season for mistakes or lack of effort.

You sure?

[SAGirl]

You sure?

lol Obviously. But I think some schemes have been tweaked or improved and guys we had before are better defensively, notoriously Tony and Anderson.

[ceperez]

I used to live in SLC and Locke knows his hoops. He learned from one of the greats, Hot Rod Hundley, and saw the elite defensive teams of Sloan. It is early, but what the Spurs are doing is very impressive. I personally find it refreshing. It's like the league was catching up to imitate Pop's motion offense and he flipped the script again...remember defense and rebounding? Yeah that still wins basketball games.

This should scare the bejeezus out of teams. The post may have more weight than I originally thought.

Well, let's see how it goes against the top teams. If they start blowing them out too, then there's real reason for everyone else to panic.

[ceperez]

I am giving credit to Messina a whole lot, for his schemes and emphasis for perimeter players on striving to keep guys in front of them. You can't avoid that with PnR, but I see less "channeling" to someone in particular, and more perimeter players staying in front of guys, without giving away a specific angle.

There has been a lot of switching as well, more than I have seen previously, particularly on PnR and Screen and Roll.

I am a fan of Anderson and pay attention to little things he does. To me his individual defensive improvement is remarkable, but I notice when he played (particularly earlier in the season, when he was still in the rotation), Messina would come out and talk to him about things aside one on one. They have to be defensive things since Kyle's role seemed like it was mainly defense, rebounds, ball movement and the corner 3. He didn't freelance offensively and I suspect he's been discouraged from doing that (except bail out shots with shot clock winding down..)

I'm also a KA fan and do pay particular attention of how he's playing. Though his individual stats aren't much to talk about, his defense and even offense has improved remarkably.

His defense lately seems to resemble that wall defense (video captured in practice). That kind of defense works well with Anderson's length.