Excerpt from interview of Keith Smart.
We’ve talked mostly about offense, but you’re a defense-first guy. I swear, you once talked to me for 45 minutes just about the proper defensive stance. So why is this team so bad defensively? Why does that never seem to change? I think you’re last in points allowed per possession.You can shave away three putbacks a game. Shave away two or three turnovers a game that lead to a transition basket, and you've taken 12 points off the board — and you haven't changed one coverage, or one changed rotation. Those putbacks — we don't have a shot-blocker, or even a multiple-effort player, so once the guy gets a rebound, he goes right back up. We really need that multiple-effort player in the paint. But shave away just four or six points …
This is why it matters if:
- Amare gets lazy on screen or
- Melo decides to face his man and lean on him instead of boxing out with proper form when a shot goes up
- Or any of our big three Stars complains about a call instead of running back up the floor
Most games in the NBA are decided by so few points that the difference between
the leagues WORST defenses and above average ones
a W or an L
is just a few possessions.
So on a game thread or forum post when people harp on these type of things you can't just dismiss it with a wave of the hand as something that doesn't matter.
Let's try to elevate the level of discourse in this byeetch. Please
