re: General NBA Links

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Despite his recent good numbers (YAY POINTS), his defensive rating is pretty terrible

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I saw that.

I don't know how much we can attribute to Evans starting or just general malaise. He's got some holes on defense, but he isn't a one man wrecking ball on defense. And allowing Milwaukee and LAL to torch you is not just on one guy.

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He probably would benefit from turning Gordon into a 3 and D SF to let him play more SG.

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Yep. Really, just more size in the backcourt and on the wing would help. The flexibility means you can hide Evans on the weakest guy.

Here's another one I saw from Mike Prada this week on less hard hedging we've seen for a while. He uses some images from recent games to describe this.

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It's always more difficult than it appears to nail down a team's pick-and-roll scheme. We like to think there's one default plan, but in reality, every team has different coverages that depend on the players involved and location on the floor.

That said, it seems like the Pelicans are shifting strategies. Previously, Monty Williams' club would ask its big men to jump out high on pick-and-rolls

But things may be changing a bit, due perhaps to the presence of slower-footed big men like Alexis Ajinca and Greg Stiemsma. Notice Ajinca's positioning in this pick-and-roll

They'll still use Davis to hard hedge at times, most notably in Friday's loss to the Suns, but it's happening less often with everyone else. And even Davis occasionally is laying back a bit instead of coming all the way out:

It's too early to say if this is a long-term shift, and even the most rigid defensive systems must be adjusted to account for unique matchups like Stephen Curry and Channing Frye.

But with their season lost, now's as good a time as any for Williams to experiment with different looks.

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Also some great stuff sampling younger players (via Thompson and Beal) in that link