CB Draft 2011 Atlantic Division Press Conferences

[StartOrien]

I'm not dismissing it, I'm just saying who really uses the zone effectively for the entire game?

Again, the World Champion Dallas Mavericks are a pretty heavy-zone team. Percentage wise, I haven't the least idea. But they're certainly not afraid to go with it.

Nobody's going to play the same defense over and over again, but you could see a lot of it.

[mgent]

I'm not dismissing it, I'm just saying who really uses the zone effectively for the entire game?

Again, the World Champion Dallas Mavericks are a pretty heavy-zone team. Percentage wise, I haven't the least idea. But they're certainly not afraid to go with it.

Nobody's going to play the same defense over and over again, but you could see a lot of it.

I guess, but a lot of the coaches that were drafted don't seem to feel comfortable using it.

[mgent]

Also if your defense is bad enough where the zone is a better option, you need to have a Dallas Maverick-like offense to win a title.  I don't think any of the other teams in this league have that type of offense.

Except maybe the Dino-boxer-briefs, but I don't see why they'd use a zone against my team.

[wdleehi]

I'm not dismissing it, I'm just saying who really uses the zone effectively for the entire game?

Again, the World Champion Dallas Mavericks are a pretty heavy-zone team. Percentage wise, I haven't the least idea. But they're certainly not afraid to go with it.

Nobody's going to play the same defense over and over again, but you could see a lot of it.

I guess, but a lot of the coaches that were drafted don't seem to feel comfortable using it.

Yet it has shown to be useful in the NBA. 


Good defensive teams will not be going all zone, but I think we will be seeing more of it when the NBA returns as a change of pace.  Keep offenses on their heels. 

[Fafnir]

The Mavericks didn't use zone all that much in the playoffs. They used it in a few specific games to change things up, but it wasn't their primary defense by any means.

[mgent]

I'm not dismissing it, I'm just saying who really uses the zone effectively for the entire game?

Again, the World Champion Dallas Mavericks are a pretty heavy-zone team. Percentage wise, I haven't the least idea. But they're certainly not afraid to go with it.

Nobody's going to play the same defense over and over again, but you could see a lot of it.

I guess, but a lot of the coaches that were drafted don't seem to feel comfortable using it.

Yet it has shown to be useful in the NBA. 


Good defensive teams will not be going all zone, but I think we will be seeing more of it when the NBA returns as a change of pace.  Keep offenses on their heels. 

That's what it's meant to do though.  I just don't understand why it would give my team more problems than it would any other team.  It just forces the offense to change, I feel like McHale and my players are smart and versatile enough to do that.

You can't just argue to every team that a zone will sometimes throw your offense out of rhythm.  It's something that every team is susceptible to, and I think I've got one of the few teams that has enough penetration, passing, and shooting to break them without a problem.

[Edgar]

test

[Roy H.]

The Mavericks didn't use zone all that much in the playoffs. They used it in a few specific games to change things up, but it wasn't their primary defense by any means.

Yeah.  In fact, as the article cited above notes, Miami effectively beat Dallas' zone by using penetration and ball movement.  On the NBA level, teams with good passers and penetrators are going to be able to consistently do so.  If teams play a zone against Philly, the superior passing of Iggy, Wade, and Hinrich is going to kill them, as will the post game of David West.

The reason the Heat lost in the playoffs is because Lebron tightened up, and he decided not to shoot (and rarely penetrate) in the fourth quarter.  It was a bizarre thing to see, but let's be clear:  it wasn't Dallas' zone defense that achieved that result.  It's the stuff between Lebron's ears.

[Slugger]

The Mavericks didn't use zone all that much in the playoffs. They used it in a few specific games to change things up, but it wasn't their primary defense by any means.

Yeah.  In fact, as the article cited above notes, Miami effectively beat Dallas' zone by using penetration and ball movement.  On the NBA level, teams with good passers and penetrators are going to be able to consistently do so.  If teams play a zone against Philly, the superior passing of Iggy, Wade, and Hinrich is going to kill them, as will the post game of David West.

The reason the Heat lost in the playoffs is because Lebron tightened up, and he decided not to shoot (and rarely penetrate) in the fourth quarter.  It was a bizarre thing to see, but let's be clear:  it wasn't Dallas' zone defense that achieved that result.  It's the stuff between Lebron's ears.

Yep, too many good mid-range jump shooting big men setting up in the middle of zones (think DWest, Stat and Haslem) for it to be effective.

[KCattheStripe]

Did everyone see the Eric Gordon love fest on ESPN.com today?


http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/5-on-5-110726/shooting-guard-ratings

[StartOrien]

If teams play a zone against Philly, the superior passing of Iggy, Wade, and Hinrich is going to kill them, as will the post game of David West.

I'm not sure how much different the success rate would be from the real Heat against the zone compared to this 6ers team.

[Roy H.]

If teams play a zone against Philly, the superior passing of Iggy, Wade, and Hinrich is going to kill them, as will the post game of David West.

I'm not sure how much different the success rate would be from the real Heat against the zone compared to this 6ers team.

I think it would be similar.  As mentioned above, though, it wasn't the zone that stopped the Heat, it was Lebron wilting under pressure (or whatever it was).

Of topic -- nick and Rondo can defend Lebron all they want -- but it really was very strange to see Lebron play against the Mavs.  People say he "quit" against the Celtics, but I always thought that was nonsense.  He had some bad games, but still seemed to be trying.  Against the Mavs, I have no idea what it was.  He'd have open lanes to the basket, and he'd dump the ball off to teammates instead of shooting.  I don't know if he was afraid of failure or what, but I think the Heat losing says more about Lebron, and less about Dallas' zone (which, again, they didn't employ that much, and which wasn't that successful when Miami attacked it aggressively.)

[mgent]

If teams play a zone against Philly, the superior passing of Iggy, Wade, and Hinrich is going to kill them, as will the post game of David West.

I'm not sure how much different the success rate would be from the real Heat against the zone compared to this 6ers team.

Well I think I'm about done talking about a hypothetical zone which will bother any team for 5 minutes out of a 48 minute game.

If you want to accept my previously stated counter-points then fine.  If not, then it's a good thing I explained how my team is better than the real EC champs in every way.

[mgent]

If teams play a zone against Philly, the superior passing of Iggy, Wade, and Hinrich is going to kill them, as will the post game of David West.

I'm not sure how much different the success rate would be from the real Heat against the zone compared to this 6ers team.

I think it would be similar.  As mentioned above, though, it wasn't the zone that stopped the Heat, it was Lebron wilting under pressure (or whatever it was).

Of topic -- nick and Rondo can defend Lebron all they want -- but it really was very strange to see Lebron play against the Mavs.  People say he "quit" against the Celtics, but I always thought that was nonsense.  He had some bad games, but still seemed to be trying.  Against the Mavs, I have no idea what it was.  He'd have open lanes to the basket, and he'd dump the ball off to teammates instead of shooting.  I don't know if he was afraid of failure or what, but I think the Heat losing says more about Lebron, and less about Dallas' zone (which, again, they didn't employ that much, and which wasn't that successful when Miami attacked it aggressively.)

I think it had at least something to do with two alpha-MVPs on the same team.  LeBron never came out and said it was Wade's team like KG did when he came to Boston, but I think that's something that the two of them knew.  Wade was having a really amazing series against the Mavs, and I think if LeBron choked any harder or tried to take any more possessions the way he was playing, Wade would have killed him afterwards.

Instead LeBron deferred to Wade (the only finals MVP between the 2 of them) who continued to tear it up.  It just wasn't enough to overcome the offense and way better depth of the Mavs.

I said the second LeBron relocated his talents, that in 5 years everyone is gonna be talking about how Wade is better than LeBron.  I think last year's Finals are just the first step in that direction.

[nickagneta]

Not sure if my other post got lost but in brief:

1. Philadelphia
2. New York
3. New Jersey
4. Boston