Super job on the comments. Here is some reaction.
1) It will be hard for PJ to have a long tenure because that is the reality of the NBA
2) The Spurs have been as good offensively as they have been defensively over the past years. I love the Spurs and think they should be the model but the Spurs aren't the Spurs because of a model they are the Spurs because of Duncan.
3) It is going to be a huge challenge to get this team to play well defensively. They are so young and very fun young players are good defenders.
4) The real issue defensively will be Robert Swift. No team is good defensively unless they have a 7 foot anchor.
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3 comments:
I think the two main components to a good defense is to have a man in the middle to clog up the paint and a point guard who can stay in front of his man. I don't know what has happened to Luke, but in the year we went to the playoffs, he did a very fine job in keeping in front of his man slowing his man down and making them run their sets at a different spot in the court than what teams wanted. We do not have that guy who can stay in front of the PG. If the other teams PG is able to go wherever he wants to then it leaves everybody else to be more aware of the PG and maybe overcompensate for helping out Luke. Another thing that we had was keeping the paint "tight" like Billy McKinney likes to say. We need Robert Swift to anchor the paint and keep it tight. That was one thing that Jerome James and Danny Fortson did for us. Without these components you are left with a bad defensive team.
I think the NBA is changing. In order to have a great defense, a team needs a great perimeter defender, who can take away the opposing team's best perimeter option. Then it needs a great post defender who can cover up the lane.
San Antonio doesn't have a great PG defensively. Tony Parker is able to be hidden on defense because Bruce Bowen and Manu Ginobli are very good defenders.
I agree that it takes time to teach guys to be great defenders, but it's good to lay the foundation now so they don't become apathetic on defense as they get more comfortable in the league.
Even if PJ's role in the grand scheme of things is to teach the young guys how to play the game and then have a different coach when the team reaches the next stage, PJ will do fine as far as teaching the game to the kids, in my opinion. Different coaches have different strengths and I feel that because Presti is looking for high character, coachable guys, the Sprewell incident isn't likely to happen again.
I agree with john s. If Durant/Green end up playing the wing postions then tying up the PG's attention and options is important as is having a guy to respond to drives. Durant/Green might get beat by SGs and SFs but that is not necessarily terrible as long as their opponent doesnt get all the way to the rim or creates an easy dump off. A strong defensive center appears vital. Thinking you are getting to the rim but then having to manufacture a midrange shot or a tough floater over a defender or a lastsecond pass in traffic is a staple steered outcome of Spurs defense.
I hope PJ gets good offensive and defensive coordinators as assistants. The newstories that mentioned his dialogue and learning from football coaches was interesting and positive to me. Probably helps bond with Bennett a bit since he is a big football guy as did PJ's dad playing football with Vince Lombardi. If he gets good assistants and actually follows through in giving them big responsibilities I will be more optimistic. If he goes Bob Hill, it is all on me and all about my genius, I will be less so. PJ's jokes about Spurs duties didnt bug me themselves but he didnt really answer the question what he did or how Pop's staff was actually organized. It sounded somewhat delegated but not necessarily structured. Pop plays impressario well but I'd rather PJ didnt try to dance too cute and rather delegated firmly.
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