Excited for the Defensive end?

[Dwill4mvp]

People continually talk about how the jazz lost key players Boozer, Korver, Matthews, and Brewer. I would say Matthews was the only one that played defense with discipline. Ronnie played too aggressively, Korver was just... you know Korver. Booz didn't know that we had to protect our hoop in order to win. But, now you bring in guys excited about defense. In interviews you hear them talk about it and it just gets me excited.. Earl watson, bell, AK, even Al Jefferson knows that it is something he needs to work on and is stressing it. Defense has been a huge problem in the past and I really think this will help

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Every year we say "We are going to concentrate on D". Its nothing new, we will still be a sub par defensive team.

 

[One Brow]

How good do you have to be to be "par"?

 

[Purch]

Bell's defense on Tyreke and Ak's blocks,steals and help defense have made me excited for the season

 

[twentytwo]

Every year we say "We are going to concentrate on D". Its nothing new, we will still be a sub par defensive team.

2009-2010 defensive stats:

Opp. PPG: 12th
Opp. FG%: 8th
Opp. 3P%: 16th
Reb.: 12th
BLK: 17th
STL: 4th
Opp. FT%: 19th

I would say most of these statistics are "par". Par would be 15th or 16th in the league, with half over and half under.

To work on:

Guarding the 3P line (as always)
Blocks (we added length and Sap/Jeff starters, emergence of Fes?)
Our taunting while the other team is at the FT line.

 

[Twin Towers]

Bell and Matthews I think are the same defensively. I just think that Matthews is more athletic but Bell is more crafty and knows players way better than Matthews did as a rookie. Bell knows hot to bother players and flop for the refs.

AK - We say he should be healthy every year. He will probably be a little more healthy this year knowing it is his contract year.

Miles - Showed up defensively big time in the playoffs against Melo. I think that carries over this year

Millsap play more minutes will help our defense. Millsap is a better defender than Boozer man to man and help defense.

Jefferson is better at protecting the paint than Okur. Okur is probably a little better with man to man defense but I think Jefferson will end up being the better defender half way through the year.

Elson upgraded our defense off the bench

Fesenko is in way better shape and is moving more which will help and he is developing more also

Watson is a more stable defender than Price. Price is out of control and gets too many fouls is crucial moments.

Hayward I think is a better defender than Korver.

I think we should be around 10th best defensive team in the league. We also are slowing the game down a little bit with Jefferson on this team. Less outside shots which means better transition defense. We will be better. I am excited.

 

[NotDeadYet]

Bell, Watson & Elson are vets who bring a solid reputation for D with them. They don't have to be talked into it by our coaches. Jefferson, from what I've seen and heard, is absolutely thrilled to be on the Jazz and will do anything the coaches want on the court.
Both rookies are sponges; soaking up everything thrown at them and applying it on the court, including improving their defense. Again, they'll do whatever the coaches ask them to.
This is gonna be a fun season!!

 

[bozmansblues]

From the couple of pre-season games that I saw - I think Bell will help a lot with guarding opposition SG's - we have severelly struggled with this - and bell at least looked like he knew what he was meant to be doing - massive upgrade on brewer who could not stay in front of his player.

Miles has looked a bit lazy pre-season - hope he picks it up for reg season.

AJ is also a massive upgrade on boozer - purely in height and atheliticism and strength - it is just far more intimidating for the opposition to have the long AJ coming at them, than the undersized boozer. Having boozer and okur protecting the basket was never going to get us into the finals. Whenever we played agst good teams, it always felt that boozer was punching above his weight - he did well, but it was always a battle - with AJ, like with malone, he is playing at the right height and weight for his position, and when on song, there is not much the opposition can do - It has been refershingly nice to watch.

It also appears that FES and Elso will provide good length off the bench as well - it is also good that they are quite different players and therefore provide a bit of versatility depending on the game situation.

go jazz!!!

 

[Jean-Luc]

Yes. I think this team is a lot tougher and stronger on the defensive side of things than we have been since Deron joined the team.

 

[NUMBERICA]

If I could, I'd pull up defensive stats from this pre-season in contrast to the average defensive stats of the previous three pre-seasons (all basically the same team). I would think that would give some insight.

 

[dipship31]

I know it was only pre-season, but we only gave up 90 PPG. We're still not going to be any kind of defensive force, but if we can at least keep teams from going crazy against us, especially on the road, our offense should be able to win us most games.

 

[vj_74]

Getting outrebounded is still a concern for me, especially with the lack of size. Both Millsap and AJ are undersized for their positions. Millsap has'nt rebounded well in the preseason, something which even Sloan mentioned.
We will still be winning games by trying to outscore opponents rather than stopping them. Our defense will be marginally better than last year.
You have to take into consideration that Al Jeff will be banging with bigger centers night in and night out. We will have to see how that affects his game on both ends of the floor after a month or so.Ditto for Millsap.

 

[bat]

Al really isn't small for the C position in the NBA. There is a myth that most C's are 7'0 and it just isn't true. I believe the average height for NBA C's is right around 6'10, noting that that number is skewed by the number of 7'0 guys who are in the league mostly because they are 7'0, but because they have exceptional basketball talents.

 

[GVC]

Because no one has pointed it out, the Jazz defense was 10th in the NBA in points allowed per 100 possessions last season (the O was 8th).

Jazz were already an above average defensive team last season.

 

[Inn Dawn]

Let's get our energy goin' on the defensive end!

 

[//r00t 4 Jazz]

Because no one has pointed it out, the Jazz defense was 10th in the NBA in points allowed per 100 possessions last season (the O was 8th).

Jazz were already an above average defensive team last season.

Yep was going to post the same thing and Locke even made a point of it in his show yesterday and saying with the new players statically the offense could be worse but how much is hard to say.
I think the defensive ranking would be hard to improve much maybe 1 or 2 spots at most but I think it may be a tougher more consistent defense that will hopefully just wear on teams. I know last year the Jazz where pretty high in steals so I don't know if they can duplicate that part of the defense but hopefully with a little better blocking and just better position D that the new players bring it will overall make it a better defense.

 

[franklin]

Brewer and Price pulled the steals average up last year. Price had more per minute than Watson. I think Watson will play more mpg this year. Assuming Bell gets most of Brewers minutes, that's a huge downgrade in the steals column. Jefferson is an upgrade over Boozer in Steals + Blocks per game, but I think a defensive comparison between the two is moot at this point.

Team offense should lead to better team defense this year. Jazz have problems with fast breaks. Having Jefferson playing near the basket should allow wing players to hold better defensive prep positions compared to Boozer running high pick-n-roll's and high catch-and-shoots. Those plays see a lot of slashing and compression, which can put the offense behind a rebounding and outlet passing defense. In addition, Jefferson will make someone work on both ends. Boozer's faders weren't much of a threat at drawing fouls or tiring out the opposition. I think Jefferson will wear on guys and get them into foul trouble. That'll make defense easier. Maybe they get better without getting better.

 

[The Thriller]

There's no such thing as defense in the NBA.

If we want to get better defensively, then we should pay the refs off so we don't get called for fouls every time down the court. Seriously, the NBA has become a league of whoever can flop their way to the free throw line wins. See Kobe, Durant, Roy, Pierce, Lebron, Dwade, Dirk, The Spurs, etc.... Even Deron 50% of the time just throws his body into a crowd of defenders with hopes of getting to the FT line.

 

[Jazz Spazz]

There's no such thing as defense in the NBA.

If we want to get better defensively, then we should pay the refs off so we don't get called for fouls every time down the court. Seriously, the NBA has become a league of whoever can flop their way to the free throw line wins. See Kobe, Durant, Roy, Pierce, Lebron, Dwade, Dirk, The Spurs, etc.... Even Deron 50% of the time just throws his body into a crowd of defenders with hopes of getting to the FT line.

There is still defense, it has just changed.
It's all about getting a few more stops in a game. 5 more stops in a game could translate into 10-15 fewer points for the opposing team.
Defense is also about positioning, and playing clear defense the ref's can see to limit the flop damage. Flopping is part of the game now, and proper defense will limit the flop as much as possible, while at the same time maximizing the flop on the defensive side..... a la the charging calls. On most or all charging calls, the defender is in the right position and does a controlled fall "flop" to the ground to make it look like the offensive player initiated the contact and hit you hard enough to move you to the ground.

These players have to be talented actors, acrobats, athletes, and thesbians to get what they want from a ref. Sadly not all of a basketball game is about basketball.

 

[bozmansblues]

There's no such thing as defense in the NBA.

If we want to get better defensively, then we should pay the refs off so we don't get called for fouls every time down the court. Seriously, the NBA has become a league of whoever can flop their way to the free throw line wins. See Kobe, Durant, Roy, Pierce, Lebron, Dwade, Dirk, The Spurs, etc.... Even Deron 50% of the time just throws his body into a crowd of defenders with hopes of getting to the FT line.

Is it time for video replay challenges for fouls?

Jeez - it would be a long game!!!