I was intrigued with the guy from San Antonio that is the defensive guru. As we saw in game one of the NBA Finals, defense can beat the Lakers, and we need to beat the Lakers to come out of the Western Conference next year for the Finals. I am not against Porter, he's enough different from D'Antoni's style it may work, but he's also close enough to D'Antoni's style that it could lapse back into more of the same. We just have to wait and see how this works.
I'm not concerned that Porter will too much like D'Antoni. I fear he may be too little based on the way the Pistons played against the Celtics.
Too often people equate great offense with bad defense, but get the causation wrong. If you have a bad defense because of not having anybody who play defense, then not being able to score guarantees and awful season. Running is the only way a bad defensive team can succeeed,
IMHO, claim that having an up tempo offense causes bad defense is a myth. It only causes bad defense when the team includes a lot of guys who play only because of their offensive skills or that pushing the ball can lead to turnovers if they gamle too much. There are a couple of things that D'Antoni emphasized that did hurt their defense, but they are not necessary for an up tempo style.
1. No Fouls: Fouling rather than giving up layups is a common defensive tactic. D'Antoni emphaszied wearing out opponents by running all the time, so letting guys rest by standing at the free throw line was to be avoided.
2. Short Bench: Offense takes less energy than defense, so an up tempo team has less opportunity to rest on offense when the shot is taken in seven seconds or less. To maintain high energy all the way through the game with a short bench means something has got to give. Quicker subsitituions can give more energy but typically less shooting skills.
3.
Small Ball: Getting more speed by playing smaller guys is a common feature of the D'Antoni style. He would keep going smaller to get more speed into the lineup. The problem was created when these same smaller players were being pushed around by their bigger opponents or shot over their outstretched hands.
4.
Unstructured Early Offense: A standard offense puts players in position to get offensive rebounds and get back in transition. Early threes create long rebounds which generate fast breaks from their opponents.
5.
Gambling Defense: D'ANtoni put an emphasis on getting steals to generate fast break opportunities. However, this gambling often left opponents open for easy shots.
To D'Antoni, these elements had strategic value, so it is not clear how much can be done to adjust it without losting the power of his system. That will be the challenge for Porter.
