[外電] Taking offense to the Blazers' "defense"

看板BLAZERS (波特蘭拓荒者)作者Aldridge (目標：季後賽我來啦)時間17年前 (2009/02/08 16:40)推噓4(4推 0噓 0→)

留言4則, 3人參與討論串1/1

http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/02/taking_offense_to_the_blazers.html 縮址：http://0rz.tw/UjSla Taking offense to the Blazers' "defense" When the Trail Blazers were in their tailspin late last season, they were getting clobbered on defense, which infuriated coach Nate McMillan to no end. I remember stopping him and asking why he was getting so upset. Did he really expect this team to be a good defensive team? How many players on the roster, I asked, would he consider good defensive players? The coach stammered, sputtered, and eventually named two: Joel Przybilla and LaMarcus Aldridge. So here we were Saturday, talking defense again after Friday night's debacle in Oklahoma City, where the Thunder exposed the Blazers defense to the tune of 102 points and 50 percent shooting. It completed a 1-2 trip during which the Blazers played some of the worst defense I can remember over a three game stretch. (Second only to the 2005-2006 season, when the Blazers lost three straight games by 30 or more points at Indiana, Boston and Toronto). "We have to stop the ball,'' McMillan said. "We are not ... we are not ... we ... I guess you know that. We are not stopping ball on perimeter and our weakside is not helping. That to me ... I'm trying to figure out what it is. I don't want to say it's mental fatigue, but I thought it was the worst defense of the year. It wasn't good. But our last three games have been like that.'' Once again, though, I ask: Why does anyone expect this team to be good defensively? It is a roster filled with below average defenders. Travis Outlaw continues to watch players drive by him at an alarming rate. How many embarrassing film sessions does it take before pride sets in? How about a teammate calling him out? Sergio Rodriguez, too. He can't keep anyone in front of him, and that spells trouble for the rest of the team, which has become a brutal help defense team. This, people, is why Sergio never played in front of Jarrett Jack. He simply can't guard people. The thing is, rookie Jerryd Bayless hasn't been much better defensively. One-on-one, on the ball, Bayless is as good as anyone on the team. But in schemes and rotations, he is confused and/or late, which often times is fouling up the whole system. Look at the frustration of say, LaMarcus Aldridge during the OKC game, when he has to cover for yet another Bayless miscue. Brandon Roy, too, is not exempt. He can be a very good defender ... when the game is on the line. Otherwise, he is just as apt to "ole" a driving guard as he is to move his feet. Nicolas Batum has the mindset and the skills to be a good defender, but he still has trouble with the hand-checking rules, which has helped opponents get into the bonus at some very early stages of quarters. And is Greg Oden really all that on defense? Really? Haven't quite seen it yet. The point is, while nobody should expect the Blazers to be a good defensive team, they should certainly be better than what they are showing, and that's what has McMillan as testy and defensive (no pun intended) as ever these days. Want to rile McMillan? Ask him about the team's brutal pick-and-roll defense. On Saturday, I argued the Blazers guards don't even look like they are trying to fight through the picks. McMillan stuck by his claim that the team's plan is to switch only in "emergencies", but he conceded that the guards are getting pinned more often than not. The switch, he says, is designed to prevent the ball handler from getting to the basket. Otherwise, the Blazers guard would be chasing the ball handler, and what good does that do, McMillan asked. "I was watching tape on Boston, who is supposed to be the best defensive team,'' McMillan said. "And you want to pinpoint - and rightfully so, you write about us - our defense. Well, Boston played New York and they are switching all over the place. Some teams run 100 pick and rolls and you are going to end up switching some. It's just going to happen. Because if you don't switch some, you are probably going to give up some other things. But a lot of it is our guys being able to execute our pick-and-roll defense. That's five men communicating and our guards being able to get through.'' But, I argued, it doesn't even look like they are trying to fight through. The Dallas game especially. "Some of it was effort, I agree,'' McMillan said. "And some guys just have to get better.'' Then, McMillan's voice raised. "Can they get better? Will they become a defender? Will they become a stopper? Is that what you are saying?'' What I am saying, is that I don't see many defensive players on this roster. "So what do you do?" McMillan asked rhetorically. The question, really, is what McMillan does. His approach, starting Sunday against New York, is to embrace this mini-turbulence. "This makes you better. You have to go through it,'' McMillan said. "You have stretches where you deal with what comes up, and right now, our last three games really shows us where we are. Who we are. It shows that we are a very young, vulnerable team in the sense of experience and know how.'' The last time the team's defense became a topic, particularly with the pick-and-roll, Brandon Roy was careful in choosing his words when he noted that the two main positions in the pick-and-roll defense are typically point guard and center. It was no coincidence that the Blazers are extensively playing two rookies (Bayless, Oden) and a third-year player (Rodriguez) who has seen bit playing time before this season. By the way, veteran point guard Steve Blake's shoulder injury is NOT healing. He will miss Sunday's game against the Knicks, and quite possibly Wednesday's rematch against the Thunder. "Without Blake, it magnifies everything,'' McMillan said. "This trip, we went up against Chris Paul and Jason Kidd and an Oklahoma City team that plays with four guards.'' McMillan's challenge, he says, is to instill a defensive mindset into a team that is loaded with offensive minded players. "At times, our guys are good at defense. At times, they aren't,'' McMillan said. "And normally, they are better when they are scoring. When you look at the history of our guys, we don't play defense when we don't score. I think we are taking it to the defensive end of the floor. That's what I think.'' I broached my "not a defensive roster" theory with general manager Kevin Pritchard on Saturday. He wasn't buying it. "It's about a lot more than individuals,'' Pritchard said. "Defense isn't one person, it's a team. I think the question is can we as a team be good defenders? I've been on teams where you go down the roster and say, 'Nope, we're not going to be a good defensive team.' But we ended up being good. The onus isn't on 1 or 2 players, it's on all of us.'' -- 水啦!! Jason Quick向McMillan和KP開砲了，終於把我們的爛防守系統拿出檯面講了看McMillan的回應，應該還是不知道如何改進，你當夢幻隊的防守教練過太爽啦以為拓荒者的球員每個都是天才或A咖嗎?? 光靠體能就可以先防下一大半了這種在爭聯盟防守效率墊底的表現怎麼說得過去，大家都知道沒防守沒冠軍啦!! 防守如果一直這麼爛，明年我想McMillan還是識相點自己下台比較快 -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 221.169.172.177