Horford is the backbone of the defense, its just that Kyrie's energy/effort level spills over to the rest of the team. Especially with Marcus not around for those "winning plays"
I'm not sure how the coach is supposed to fix the team's best player and nominal leader dictating the team's energy.
Anyways I'm glad that you acknowledge that the C's are in fact a good defensive team on the whole. I really don't disagree with you that there are still a lot of mistakes being made by the C's. Funny thing, Brad even talks about them when asked, so I don't think he's missing what you see.
I only meant backbone by Kyrie being the first line of defense...who basically always gets beat and puts the rest of the team at a disadvantage because they start already a step behind the players and the ball. They are dead as soon as the ball gets to the 3 point line, and he can't stop a shot or the drive.
Also as a team they rarely get deflections, which is a meter a defensive team measure themselves by. They fail at all aspects of it, and it's only because of athletic talent they even win games. At no point in a game is an opposing team worried about passing and putting the ball in the air. That alone kills them. They don't even identify where the ball might go until a player passes it.
Completely inept at D.
So to me it is THEE biggest bone-beaded decision not to play an athletic big who loves blocking shots and is mobile. If he can't teach a guy like that to have value with the team all year, I don't know what they want Davis for.
And the more I think about Brad, the more I want him somewhere else next year.
