The last time I looked at the current roster its says we lost two key cogs from the teams that made the Finals. Everyone is pointing to the departure of Perk and saying it's the reason we are losing all these games. There are a few reasons we are losing and yes, one of them is because we don't have enough big men that together, can share all 48 minutes and be effective defensively. However, wing defense has been overlooked this season. Yes Paul Pierce and Ray Allen are underrated defenders, but they can't focus solely on defense, as they are both paramount to the offense. Also, not having a healthy Delonte for most of the year either certainly hasn't helped. That being said, this team clearly misses Tony Allen's defensive capabilities off the bench.
Many important aspects of defense don't show up on the stat sheet, such as, the amount of points Lebron is going to score when he's covered by Jeff Green compared to the amount Tony would have limited him to. However I can point to Tony's stats in Memphis since returning from the all star break. He's shooting 50.9% from the field and he is averaging 3.51 steals per 40 minutes. What these numbers show is that he's back to being the player he was before the post whistle dunk that changed his career. The question is will he continue that. But it should noted that his presence on the bench is sorely missed.
Topic: The Reasons Behind The Struggle (Read 947 times)