It's not the system. That's not an excuse for a lack of defense. Our bench plays SSOL and manages to have pretty good defense. So it can be done.
I just don't see how you can say that. This system requires guys to get out and run on the wings. This does two things, one it requires that you have less guys crashing the defensive boards. In addition, it requires you to have offensive minded guys (who generally are not good defenders). Pre-Shaq this team in the paint was one of the worst in the NBA. You remove Shaq from this team and that paint becomes as pourus as it ever was. The Knicks are now a horrible defensive team and one of the worst defensive teams in the NBA. D'Antoni has either traded away good defenders or sat others based on their offense ability. Why would he do that unless this system required it?
Sorry, but this team has never played good defense. We have always had spurts of good defense (for example with our bench), however, the Suns have always done that. You can't sustain consistent defense with this system for 4 quarters. If anything your proving my point. This team can have good defenders and it helps in spurts but ultimately it gives away to the system your running.
I think the only way this system could ever work is if your deep 1 though 5 at every position defensively. Oh...and....just by chance have those players also have the ability to score too.
I don't think there's any question that our defense became worse post trade, no matter what the numbers say. Players may have scored against Bell and Diaw but they had to work hard for their points. Scoring for the Mavs the other night was effortless, as it has been lately for every team. It was just wide open shot after wide open shot.
Bull. Guys were working Bell and Diaw on a nightly basis. Sorry, but they were horrible. Nash tries hard too but it doesn't mean he is any good at defense. The reasons don't matter. The facts are facts this team at the time had the 2nd worst defense in the NBA at the 2 guard position at the time. I think we countered the "makes him work hard" point in another thread. There were several more examples of guys shooting high percentages against Bell then there were Bell making them work hard.
Bobcat fans will also tell you that the defense of their team improved considerably since the trade too. I haven't seen one Bobcat fan yet anywhere complain about Bell's defense.
Bobcat fans are getting their first taste of Bell as well. If they had seen what a good defender Bell was when he first got here and see the craptastic defense he was playing at the start of this year (and part of last year)..they would be complaining too about how far he has fallen. Besides, Bell is allowing 19.3 Points per 48. There is no planet where that is good. They also rank 19th in the NBA in total PER at the SG position. The most interesting things is when Bell is on the court they net 2.9% more offense but he makes practiclaly no difference on defense (difference of only -0.7%). Besides, you and I both know they didn't bring Richardson in here to be a shut down SG anyway. They brought him in here to score. Prior to the trade this team had the second worse PER in the NBA at the SG position. Now they are #11. The Suns got what they wanted and didn't have to give up much defense at all to get it.
This teams defensive problems were much bigger then any single trade or single player. It's the philosophy around here.
