03-04-2024, 12:14 PM
(03-04-2024, 10:16 AM)SleepingHero Wrote: Worst Defensive Rating Since NBA All-Star Break:I think those numbers tell us all we need to know
30. Dallas Mavericks: 124.4
29. Washington Wizards: 122.9
28. Los Angeles Lakers: 121.5
27. Sacramento Kings: 119.1
26. Philadelphia 76ers: 117.7
Kidd mentions in his press conference that we aren’t playing defense because we aren’t making shots. There’s a lot of chicken and egg with this. I think both are true. Our bad offense hurts our defense. Our bad defense hurts our offense. They ARE connected. They’re both problems
Our offense is broken. The half court iso and PnR we run is so effective in the playoffs. We run it better than anyone in the league. This does not work all the time though. We can and need to have this half court iso ball as part of our game plan. It can’t be the only plan though. We need ball movement. The main ball stoppers are Luka and THJ. The positive news is we’ve shown flashes of being a faster team with more of a transition game. The shots will fall more frequently if more than one person touches it
The defense is broken. I refuse to believe that Lively can only play drop. I refuse to believe that Lively is a worse perimeter defender than most of our guys. Kidd is wrong. What he’s right about is we’re only as good as our weakest link defensively. Obviously Luka and the world see that THJ is causing problems. Luka himself is causing problems defensively when he doesn’t show up like yesterday.
It’s like we have no real philosophy or sense of direction with this team. Kidd is responsible. Still no identity. No real adjustments. With the talent we have compared to the WCF run there’s no excuse to be playing this poorly. Kidd has to fix it now or get fired