How to Improve Our Defense

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Well, once again our defense let us down. We allowed one of the worst offensive teams in the NBA, Indiana, put up 100 points against us on our home floor playing the second night of a back-to-back. They shot the ball 50% from the field, which is well above their 42% average on the season. Ugh.

This post is a carry-over from the prior "By the Numbers" thread with a focus on how to improve our defense. All ideas are welcome. Here are a few of mine, in no particular order:

#1 - Gorgui Dieng should never, ever, ever try to take a charge again. I am so damn sick and tired seeing him flop on contact, only to be sprawled out on the ground as the play goes on and the other team proceeds to make an easy basket. This is on the coaches. He should not be allowed to try to draw charges. Do you ever see Marc Gasol or Tyson Chandler do this shit? Man up Gorgui! Stand strong with your arms raised up. Force teams to go over the top of you, not through you!

#2 - Start Jeff Adrien. He's not necessarily a great individual defender, but he's physical and he is a very good defensive rebounder. There will be fewer easy putbacks for the opposition with him starting next to Gorgui.

#3 - Zach LaVine should press up more. Zach is long and has really quick feet. With Mo healthy now, Zach should absolutely be picking guys up at 3/4ths court and playing aggressive defense to make it a bit more difficult for them to get into their halfcourt sets. This makes a difference. It looks like Flip did this a little bit tonight in the 3rd quarter. More please.

None of this addresses the disaster we are on PnR, but I think a lot of that has to do with the fact we have point guards that really struggle to get over screens (Mo and LaVine), then the rest of our squad doesn't communicate well on the ensuing coverages.

Other ideas?

[Carlos Danger]

I'm not seeing a need to flip Dieng/Adrien. I thought Dieng was fine (10 pts/7reb and a plus 5). The defensive problem is a lot bigger than the center position. Everyone needs to play better. Adrien has been fine in small doses, but he's not going to be an upgrade to Dieng. It looks like a coaching issue and/or an execution problem. Guys are just flying around all over, but at the end of the possession is a wide open shot. I keep hoping this is something Flip can fix with more coaching and the players buying into whatever his system is. But yeah - it's horrible now.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Carlos, I'm not suggesting that we flip Adrien and Dieng. I'd like to flip Young and Adrien. I actually think it would help both players. Young would probably be better off trying to defend the Luis Scola's of the world instead of the David Wests. I think it would also free up Dieng to be a bit more aggressive around the basket (assuming he stops those stupid flops) since he has a more muscular wing-man at PF that can help clean up missed shots.

[Phenom]

It is tough when the team does not have guys who can/will defend the perimeter. It causes a chain reaction where everyone on D is left scrambling when a team moves the ball at a decent rate. First things first, the players need to step up to the plate and the coaches need to hold them accountable in whatever way they can. If that means bringing in some defensive specialists and handing them minutes, so be it. There needs to be better advanced scouting and planning to put these players in proper positions. As a basis, I would like to see more shell defense to help the players out. It can open up weakside threes but can improve weakside help and forces the defenders to move and be alert. If Flip can get these guys to use their athletic abilities to supplement their defense instead of rely on it, they can be good defenders.

[SameOldNudityDrew]

Maybe Flip should bring that magician back and have him pull our defense out of a hat.

[kekgeek]

Serious question have the wolves ever hard hedged a screen all year. With the wolves really struggling with containing the ball handlers hard hedging could really work. Also dieng and adrien seem athletic enough to get back in d.

[Carlos Danger]

Carlos, I'm not suggesting that we flip Adrien and Dieng. I'd like to flip Young and Adrien. I actually think it would help both players. Young would probably be better off trying to defend the Luis Scola's of the world instead of the David Wests. I think it would also free up Dieng to be a bit more aggressive around the basket (assuming he stops those stupid flops) since he has a more muscular wing-man at PF that can help clean up missed shots.

Ah - sorry I misunderstood. I agree that might be worth a try. Right now Dieng is sort of on an island in the middle without much help. We definitely miss size/toughness inside. I was hoping Bennett would be establishing himself at this point :-(. One issue with starting both Dieng & Adrien though is you lose some offense...so...it might end up being a push. But they need to start trying something because the defense is brutal.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Many good suggestions here, but ultimately our defense begins with defending the point. And neither Zach nor Mo are adequate NBA defenders.

But there's a guy sitting on the bench who reportedly plans to start practicing this week, and in the four games that Rubio played, the Wolves gave up 98 points a game. Still perhaps too many, but a full TEN points less than they are giving up for the season.

Some may argue that four games is a small sample size and should not be considered indicative of our defense with Rubio on the court. But I would argue that it's just as likely that it is indicative. And 108 PPG and 98 PPG is a significant difference by any measure.

I'm not sold at all on Flip as a defensive coach, but I do expect to see a huge improvement in our defense once Ricky is playing 38 minutes again.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Carlos, I'm not suggesting that we flip Adrien and Dieng. I'd like to flip Young and Adrien. I actually think it would help both players. Young would probably be better off trying to defend the Luis Scola's of the world instead of the David Wests. I think it would also free up Dieng to be a bit more aggressive around the basket (assuming he stops those stupid flops) since he has a more muscular wing-man at PF that can help clean up missed shots.

Ah - sorry I misunderstood. I agree that might be worth a try. Right now Dieng is sort of on an island in the middle without much help. We definitely miss size/toughness inside. I was hoping Bennett would be establishing himself at this point :-(. One issue with starting both Dieng & Adrien though is you lose some offense...so...it might end up being a push. But they need to start trying something because the defense is brutal.

You do lose some offense, but don't forget we have Shabazz in the starting lineup instead of Brewer, so what you lose in scoring from Young we get back in Shabazz. Plus Young, like most everyone else, has been terribly inefficient. I'm wondering if he would do better coming off the bench.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

Many good suggestions here, but ultimately our defense begins with defending the point. And neither Zach nor Mo are adequate NBA defenders.

But there's a guy sitting on the bench who reportedly plans to start practicing this week, and in the four games that Rubio played, the Wolves gave up 98 points a game. Still perhaps too many, but a full TEN points less than they are giving up for the season.

Some may argue that four games is a small sample size and should not be considered indicative of our defense with Rubio on the court. But I would argue that it's just as likely that it is indicative. And 108 PPG and 98 PPG is a significant difference by any measure.

I'm not sold at all on Flip as a defensive coach, but I do expect to see a huge improvement in our defense once Ricky is playing 38 minutes again.

No doubt our defense will improve, but it will mostly be because Rubio helps create turnovers and is a good defensive rebounder for a PG. I'm not sure how much he'll help with creating missed shots, which is by far our biggest problem as a team. Ricky isn't exactly great at fighting through screens either.