Zach Harper of Cowbell Kingdom breaks down some of the defensive lapses of the Kings during the Portland game. Definitely worth a watch.
8 months ago
Aykis16
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Good observations here.
I’ve noticing a lot of these mistakes as well, and I know that the other teams around the league are as well. When we face a decent passing team, the King’s D gets all discombobulated. It happens with great regularity:
3 opposing players on the perimeter, spaced around the 3 point line.
High pick, collapsed D that causes a mismatch, help comes to negate mismatch, pass out to perimeter, King’s player desperately runs to defend, lateral pass to another opposing player on perimeter.
They either shoot it if the King’s stay in position, or make an easy pass to the inside when another King runs out to defend the 3.
Defending the pick, help defense, and proper rotation are all glaring weaknesses right now. We have a lot of guys that don’t fully understand their defensive roles, so we end up with this broken D where everyone is desperately trying to get into position, instead of already being there. Sometimes we luck out and the opposing team gets thrown off by the confusion as well, but against good, disciplined teams (like Portland), we will get beat.
"Thou must give props" - Ice_9ine
We get beat by good disciplined defensive teams period
and Portland was ranked 2nd in the NBA in many defensive catagories. But, your absolutely right about the Kings being weak defending the pick, help defense and proper rotations. And, I have 2 theories, as to why that is. First they’re young and still learning PW’s defense, and secondly, they are playing too many different lineups and the players are having to play too many different positons.
Donte has played the 2, 3, 4, & 5. And, others have played multiple positions. For the most part, they should know their role if they are defending the screener or the player with the ball. But, the help defenders and the rotations, are different depending what position your playing. So, you have to know every rotation for every position you play and for every defensive set you might be in during a game. It’s like having offensive lineman in football changing position every possession, and expecting them to know every responsibility for every blitz. Veteran pros might be able to do it, but 1st & 2nd year players in the first 23 games under a new head coach is asking too much.
I think that’s why we use the zone as much as we do. We have the same problem on double teams. It seems like almost every game we end up with 2 guys going to double the same player at the same time, and leaving 2 guys open. But, it’s also true that Tyreke and most of our bigs, don’t understand their primary responsiblities, or react poorly when they have to defend the pick.
"If you don't have anything good to say, LIE" - Mom
Yeah, I'm not saying that it is a reason to fire the coach and scrap the team or anything,
it’s just something that needs major improvement. As they get more experience, I expect them to all get a little better. But the only way for them to get good at it is for the coaches to extensively train them in it.
Hopefully there will be a lot of focus on that during training camp, so that in 2010 we can notice a difference. For now, they just have to make baby steps.
"Thou must give props" - Ice_9ine
by tomroadrunner on Dec 17, 2009 2:04 PM PST up reply actions
Word. Great discourse, guys.
I’m more than happy with them making baby steps. Defense is harder to learn than offense. They’ll just have to outscore opponents for now.
33 Wins. Yeah, I said it.
Spencer is setting some great picks on D
Unfortunately, they are on our guys and have led to some easy hoops. He also needs to keep an eye on the ball.
"The basis for winning an NBA title is having a superstar in his prime. Not an all-star, or a bunch of all-stars, but a superstar."
by coolcatreportdotcom on Dec 17, 2009 2:53 PM PST up reply actions
A small part of me agrees. But I think it all depends on matchups.
Some players are simply just too tall for Kenny Thomas to guard at the 5.
33 Wins. Yeah, I said it.
pick and roll pick and roll
pick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and rollpick and roll
Start there
So imitate the action of the tiger!.
Lend the eye a terrible aspect
- and teach them how to war!
Henry V iii
Thanks for posting this.
They’ll learn and improve. I’m sure we’ll see a better defensive Kings by the All Star break. Go Kings!
33 Wins. Yeah, I said it.
Thanks for the post, Aykis
I’ll try to keep rolling these out when I can.
by Zach H from Talk H on Dec 17, 2009 6:59 PM PST reply actions
On that second lapse; at 0:56
Zach says “… and Spencer Hawes is too slow to recover…”.
Zach, I realize you mean that Hawes was slow to react to how that play developed, but also a factor is that Spencer literally is often too slow to recover; as in athletically. His lack of quickness puts him behind the action, trying to play catch-up.
I’m not saying that to succeed he has to be a lightning bolt of a big man like LaMarcus Aldridge or Birdman Andersen, but in terms of having some kind of defensive presence, what physical tools does Spencer bring to make up for lack of quickness? Strength? No. Hops? Definitely not. Length? Average at best.
I know… here comes Mucho Moss gain, picking on Spencer, but Gee Whiz Chrysler! Guys are zipping around Hawes like he was a pylon in the middle of El Camino Blvd.
Great break-down BTW, Zach. Thanks for doing this!
"When the going gets Weird, the Weird turn professional."
(Hunter Thompson)
by Mucho Moss on Dec 17, 2009 8:47 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
Agree with you
that’s why I fear how much he’ll improve. Even if he puts on strength, he’s still gonna be slow afoot.
Screw you Knicks! LBJ to the Kings!!!
I can't agree with some of the analysis
In the first example, you fault Spencer, I don’t. First it was a double screen on Donte. Spencer saw it coming and stepped out forcing Roy to go wide. This also allowed Donte to go over the 2nd screen, but he over runs the play and Roy cuts back inside Donte and down the lane. If Donte didn’t have to fight threw 2 screens, he probably comes under Hawes and cuts off Roy. But, If Noc steps into the lane he cuts off Roy, and JT can seal off Przsbilla.
The players that blew the play are Donte who over ran the play, and Noc who failed to move to stop Roy, and not Spencer.
On the 2nd example, Spencer didn’t react fast enough to his man cutting to the basket. Good call.
On the 3rd example, Thomas doesn’t step out and show like Hawes did in the first example. Instead he moves away from the ball, to stay with his man. Meanwhile, Udoka gets screened, and no one covers the ball handler. This is by far the most common mistake made by the KIngs bigs, and not just Thomas.
One thing not mentioned was the last Pick. it was out near the time line and Przsbilla moves up behind Tyreke and sets the pick. By the NBA’s own definition of an illigal screen, when you move up from behind, you must give the player room to go around you, which didn’t happen. That should have been an illigal screen.
It is true that the Kings are terrible at defending the pick & roll. From bigs not showing, to both players leaving the screener or even worse the ball, to other players failing to help, and even to making the wrong decision as to whether to go over or under the screen. But, that is the beauty of the pick & roll, it has so many options for the offense and requires the perfect response from the defense to stop it. The Kings don’t have the experience yet, PW’s system is too new to them, and their assignments change everytime they get moved to a new position. I expect this to be a defensive liability throughout the season, and possibly into next year. Defenses aren’t build in preseason or 25 games, and certainly not with a starting lineup of 1st, 2nd, & 3rd year Pros.
"If you don't have anything good to say, LIE" - Mom
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