Asik working to adjust to Pelicans

He said the system is totally different from Houston and closer to what he was doing in Chicago. I really hope that means an end to hard hedging.

Imo, hard hedging the pick and roll when you're playing against a jump shooting big man might be the dumbest thing in sports. We might actually give up a few less points if we aren't doubling point guards and leaving Dirk, Aldridge, etc. alone for WIDE OPEN jump shots.

If Asik is setting a screen and team hard hedges Holiday, i think thats fine. Asik isn't going to beat you with the ball in his hands 18 ft from the rim. If its Davis setting the screen, then hard hedging stupid. Holiday just kicks it back to him for a wide open jumper.

We got hurt so many times last year leaving jump shooting big men wide open. We made guys like Patrick Patterson and and Jared Sullinger look like knock down shooters, because they were taking wide open shots.

I also think its hurt Davis' reputation as a defender because when he hedges, then has to turn and run all the way back across court to get back to his man, it "looks" like its his fault when Aldridge is knocking down open jumpers.

How many times last year did we trap the point guard, then actually see a secondary defender jump the passing lane for a steal(like Miami tries to do)? Never? I can't remember any. The only thing that happens when we do it is Davis ends up having to exert unnecessary energy trying to sprint back to his man.

They blitzed a lot and they were bad at it. No one contained the ball well. AD was all over the place when he jumped out. Often there was no secondary rim protection behind him. Players didn't rotate correctly. It basically became death by layups and corner 3s.

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Or attempting to, in our case.

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That's what killed me. The last two years hedging with bigs like Lopez, Smiht (Jazz game ), and Anderson is just dumb. Davis will get there, but he's a young big. His footwork and understanding was all over the place at times. At least we started seeing Ajinca and Steamer sagging back as the season wore on. It didn't help much, but it's a start.

Like others have pointed out, the wings/guards behind them weren't up to the task either. It's a demanding scheme mentally and physically, even without blitzing. Miami flat out wore down after 3+ years playing that way and that downshift resulted in them giving up Pelicans level corner 3s.

The Pelicans don't have the athletes, length, or the discipline on the perimeter to rotate like crazy. They do have arguably the best defensive big man combo in the league. If they regularly send Davis and Asik 25 feet out to defend a non Curry pnr, I don't think Monty will be coaching the team for very long. Davis was a revelation this summer playing ICE with worse defensive players than what the Pelicans have.

I agree completely about Lopez and crew. Smith, for all of his speed, is not particularly agile. If you asked him to move side to side to defend a play, he was done. Lopez.. yeah. Don't need to go into him hedging. I still remember a Portland fan citing Lopez's "excellent P/R defense (using # plucked from Synergy PPP" as a reason Portland's D would improve.

We have been playing ICE vs. sideline P/Rs for a long time now. Can't say I watched USA much this summer, as I was without cable for part of it. USA was forcing high P/R ball-handlers away from high screens? Thought Thibs usually just had guard fight over or under screen while big caught ball-handler at free throw line.

Davis is insanely good at sitting at the free throw line and waiting for the ball-handler. I do wonder how things change with an actual eraser like Asik (or Davis, should Asik be asked to hard hedge or "show" to the perimeter) would make it easier to play an aggressive system.

I don't think there's an easy answer to which is best in a vacuum, but I completely agree that it was tough to see Monty playing an aggressive defense without the right personnel. And even if Monty's system does work with Asik/Davis, what happens when one gets hurt?

Our defense can't get any worse, really. Monty always mentions picking Thibs's brain and Coach K's, but trying not to get too excited and think Monty will suddenly change. Just like I'm trying not to get my hopes up that we'll have anything remotely resembling a healthy season. Setting the bar lower this year for the sake of my sanity.

Yeah, it's hard to gather all of the terminology- particularly since two teams may play the same system and call it different things. I've heard what I think you are referring to as "sagging" on the pick/roll, but can't say with certainty that it's correct. For my money, the link below redirects to the best article I've read on P/R defense in the NBA. If you don't follow Eberhardt already, do so.. guy is an awesome source of info.

***just read the article I linked, and it may be called "zoning up," as you suggested.

LINK

ICE is the act of forcing the ball-handler away from the screener. I think almost every NBA team plays ICE vs. sideline P/R because it prevents middle penetration.. so it effectively isolates the ball on one side of the court. It really limits the ball-handler's options if done correctly.

I also don't know if it's called ICE on high P/R or whether that strategy is even employed. I also don't watch enough of the Bulls to see how Thibs does things over the course of a season. He has an excellent wing defender + two of the most talented defensive big men in the game (Gibson, Noah), so I guess it'd be hard to decipher whether it's his system or the players within it. I remember a "Hibbert vs. Noah" argument (I think Ethan Sherwood Strauss vs. Amin Elhassan), and Amin said for his money, Noah is the best because Noah can adapt to any system. Had never thought of it that way, but in my mind, Noah/Garnett have always been the best defensive comparisons for what Davis could be.

I also was shocked to see 32 3 pointers. Monty was talking about the importance of the 3 pointer in one of his recent interviews, so maybe he's emphasizing it more. He has definitely brought it up previously re: Tyreke, as we all know what happens when Tyreke plays next to a bunch of non-shooters.

I also think it'd be interesting to run an occasional blitz when Asik/Davis are in. Tyreke, though not that great of a defender, is pretty good at jumping into passing lanes. Jrue reads the game very well- love watching him through a defensive possession.. does a lot of little things so well. Salmons put up a really good DRAPM last year, but can't say I'm familiar enough with his defense to adequately back up any assertion.

That Eberhardt link is great. I think I posted that here when it came out. Love his ATO stuff too. Lowe had a big article a while back on the Bulls and their defense talking about how good Hinrich is at forcing the ball handler away from the screen. LINK Tomato tomahto on nomenclature.

And I agree on Noah. He's just so versatile and smart. A great defender. Check out the most recent Lowe Post. Elhassan is the guest and it's great stuff.

I've been thinking a Bosh/Ibaka fusion would be Davis's defensive ceiling. But I'll take Noah/KG

Interesting that Babbitt got 10 3s off. He clearly has the green light for now. Wonder if his release has gotten quicker.

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Interesting that Babbitt got 10 3s off. He clearly has the green light for now. Wonder if his release has gotten quicker.

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Was his release really that slow or was it his pump fakes? Was he blocked often? I really don't remember. More than anything, I think hesitation was his biggest problem. "Slow" comes to mind when I think of his first step off of the pump fake. A pump fake is useless if it sets up nothing.

Watching this Pelicans preseason game vs Atl...

Could just be an early preseason thing, but as of now they have Davis hard hedging the pick and roll. Different strategy for Asik though. They have him playing that "half way" style, basically sitting back.

Anderson's also hedging fwiw