I think we are actually a better defensive team!!
1) But first lets pull the breaks on the real impact of our defense last year!It's funny to me that people keep harping on us losing our great defense!!
Didn't you guys watch last year's playoff..
I guess we :
- Finally Escaped the
Bulls series thanks to the
ALL TIME GREAT DEFENDER Gerald Green inserted in the starting line up to change the complexity of the series??
- Barely overcomed the
Wizard in a tight 7 game series thanks to
kelly Olynyk DEFENSIVE PROWESS in the second half??
- Got absolutely DESTROYED by the
Cavs in the ECF because our
DEFENSIVE GURU Isiah Thomas was playing hurt and subsequently missed the rest of the series??
I know defense is important and represent almost half of the battle but frankly Lets all STOP with all these "our defense is worst this year" rethoric I'm seeing everywhere to doubt our team, in
today's NBA great offense beats great defense!
Where was our SUPER DUPER defenders (Bradley, Crowder, Amir, etc...) when Kyrie was single-handedly killing us in the 3rd quarter of Game 4 of the ECF while Lebron was sitting with 4 or 5 fouls...? We were up almost double digits if i recall correctly and a Cavs team full of
all time great defenders like Kyrie Irving, Jr Smith, Kevin Love, etc, amounted a come back to take the lead into the 4th quarter and avoided us tying the series 2-2 which would have made that whole ECF interesting...
You guys act like having Bradley defense, or Crowder defense mattered much during those crucial moments. That's when a series is decided. Those are championship moments. And I will take a Kyrie Irving 3 pointers in Curry's face over any Bradley or Crowder defense that couldn't take us across the finish line for the past 3 seasons.
Good Defenders are easier to find, some very good ones are in the Dleague waiting for opportunities. Great Offensive players that can close a game or series consistently are more difficult to find.
Defense is important, dont get me wrong, but I think we are putting too much emphasis on it and not realizing that we got 3 great offensive players in just a couple of months that can help us get over the hump (Tatum, Hayward and Irving).
Now, here is what I also think :
2) Our defense will be even better than last year!I do think we can still put out there a very good defensive lineup when a stop is needed with players like Rozier, Smart, Brown, Hayward, Semi, Theis, Morris, Horford and Baynes!!
To me, depending on how Semi turns out, and with defensive improvement from our young studs, we
might have even improved defensively with this team (with 1 additional roster open for guys like
Tony Allen or Andrew Bogut)!!
Looking at the players past and present, Defensively :
Kyrie
> IT
Rozier 2018
> Rozier 2017
Brown 2018
> Brown 2017
Smart 2018
> Smart 2017
Hayward
< Bradley (
but just Slightly, the longer but slower Hayward is an
underrated defender)
Semi
< Crowder (
only slightly against the 2017 Crowder and only if Semi can
confirm his great SL defense)
Morris
> Kelly
Tatum
> Green (
younger, longer and more mobile than the stiff Green)
Baynes
> Amir (less on switches but more on
defending the post where we got killed often)
Horford 2018
= Horford 2017
Theis
= Jerebko (
Slight edge to Theis if he confirm his DE Defensive player of the year status)
Yabu
> Zeller (not that it matters much but should be noted...)
Larkin
= Jackson
Nader
> Young (not that it matters much but should be noted...)
In addition to the above, we can also note that :
2018 team length
> 2017 team length
2018 low post defense
> 2017 low post defense
2018 athleticism
> 2017 athleticism
So frankly,
if Hayward and Semi confirm what I have seen from them defensively, and if we can add a Tony Allen or Andrew Bogut with the open roster spot, I really dont think we are much worst than last year at all!! I actually think we might even be better!!!
3) An improved offense is also a net plus defensively :1-
Less Fast-break opportunities for the opponent
2-
Less Energy left offensively after they spent most of it trying to stop our great offensive players
3- last but not least, pushing opponent to make adjustment to their team by lining up more defenders to try to stop us, and thus
reducing their offensive firepower...!!)
So let's all relax, drop those "we are worst defensively" comments and enjoy what is going to be an EPIC playoff run, that
will take us I think all the way to the NBA Finals!!
"It's about to be CRAZY, G!!!"