Interesting Point on Team Defense

From Lowe's PDX article

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But this is all by design, to some degree. Portland is playing the odds in a way that reveals the very close interaction between its analytics-oriented front office and its numbers-friendly coaching staff headed by Stotts, who regularly cites wonky stuff like effective field goal percentage and defensive efficiency in casual hoops conversation. All those play types — post-ups, isolations, pick-and-roll attacks in which the ball handler shoots — generally yield low-efficiency shots. The good stuff comes when guys handling the ball, in the post or via the pick-and-roll, break down the defense and begin passing it around to wide-open spot-up guys and cutters near the rim.

Portland wants to do away with those passes, even if it means giving up some decent shots. Teams are killing Portland on post-ups because Stotts has refused to double the post, even when another team has a matchup advantage, or when an opposing post player has driven deep into the paint.

And Stotts is fine with that. “We want to take away the 3-pointer,” he says. “We won’t double the post. And there’s so little post play left in the league, it’s really not a big number to me, going forward.” He might instruct his guards to dig down a little more aggressively in the future, but only when post-up players penetrate the paint on their way to a close shot — and never before then.

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Only six teams have allowed more combined shots from the short midrange (i.e., the paint outside the restricted area) and the long midrange, and five of them play at a faster pace than the Blazers, thus yielding more overall shots, per NBA.com. No team has allowed fewer corner 3s — attempts or makes. Portland opponents have hit just 0.9 corner 3s per game, a remarkable early number

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Pelicans certainly have better defensive talent than the Blazers at nearly every position. They should and have used that talent to force TOs, but there is something to this simpler approach. Particularly the decision not to double.

One thing I've noticed over and over again is needless doubling. Anthony Davis v Gasol in the post? I'll take my chances with Davis, thank you very much. Not a doctor, but I do believe it would make rotations a lot easier if there are none.

Thoughts?