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Bring back the defense

Sub-Odeon

Sub-Odeon

Member
Branching off from the other thread, where Eaton came up.

I was watching this video today, as a reminder of the kind of player Eaton was:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzUGKQk00QM

What it reminded me of, unfortunately, is that Utah hasn't been a truly tough defensive team since Malone and Stockton left. I am not sure if that was players just not listening to Sloan, or players just generally being more concerned with getting their shots than D-ing up, but the fact is plain that until the Jazz decide to become a defensively sound team again, they're second-rate at best.

If the coaching changeout brings anything, I hope it brings renewed focus on defense and rebounding. Right now the Jazz can't seem to do either of these things very well, and as much as we might complain about bad shooting, defense wins. Above all. The other team can be a great shooting team, but if our defense breaks down their sets and forces turnovers, we can beat them.

Alas, our D is fairly rotten and we're not even stopping the mediocre teams.

It won't change until D comes back to focus. Crystal clear.
 
Hate to break it to you but Stockton was never a great defender. He got lit up on a regular basis. He would just play the pass lanes and get some steals.
 
Chad Feldheimer said:
Hate to break it to you but Stockton was never a great defender. He got lit up on a regular basis. He would just play the pass lanes and get some steals.
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This is true to an extent. Stock was not a great man on man defender but he ALWAYS had help. The point the OP was making is that the team as a whole needs to get back to playing team defense. The Jazz were a great defensive team. Not great as individuals but as a whole.
 
Was it Sloan or did we have right Team Leaders as players to make the Defense Rotations happen? Do we need a 'defensive coordinator' like Thibodeaux was in Boston or Frank is now?
 
Ben10 said:
This is true to an extent. Stock was not a great man on man defender but he ALWAYS had help. The point the OP was making is that the team as a whole needs to get back to playing team defense. The Jazz were a great defensive team. Not great as individuals but as a whole.
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This is correct. We didn't really have lock-down individual defenders on those teams, but their team defense was solid. They ranked in the top 5 defensive teams for years on end, more than once as the top defensive team. You can have individual players that "get lit up" and still be a solid defensive team.

Also I think Chad's memory is skewed. Stockton was no Bowen, but he held his own against most PG in the league. The truly solid offensive PG he struggled against (Gary Payton leaps to mind), but for the most part he was a somewhat above average defender at the PG position. Disrupting the passing lanes for him often meant taking the ball away, or deflecting the ball, from the opposing PG as he passed it, which disrupted the offense entirely. As often as not he simply picked their pocket off the dribble (I remember him doing this to Magic repeatedly during the epic 7-game playoff series in the 80's).
 
The best defensive quality Stockton had - aside from his help defense which resulted in steals and even more deflections - was his toughness. Stock was one of the best PG's at fighting over screens on the pick-and-roll - wouldn't go under and wouldn't trail - he would wedge himself between the ball-handler and the screener and fight though the pick. Night and day compared to our screen-roll defense now.

Don't underestimate the rule changes implemented in 2004-05 either. Can't handcheck or bump cutters like you could in the 90's. More emphasis on freedom of movement, and more flow to the game - and you couldn't win 62 games with Adam Keefe starting at SF these days. In the past, you could play good defense just by being physical. You really need length to do it now.
 
I agree, but WAY easier said than done. Jazz defensive philosophy has lagged for years and the Jazz haven't had the personnel in about the same number of years (6-8 years). I frankly don't know where the Jazz could realistically start.
 
NUMBERICA said:
I agree, but WAY easier said than done. Jazz defensive philosophy has lagged for years and the Jazz haven't had the personnel in about the same number of years (6-8 years). I frankly don't know where the Jazz could realistically start.
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They were doing fine earlier in the year. Defense is so much more about effort and wanting to defend than it is skill.. at least at the pro level. (Nearly) Every player in the league has the physical tools to defend their position, otherwise, you'd figure they wouldn't last in the league.

I think practicing defensive drills programs your players to put more effort in on the defensive end during a game, and as far as I can remember, I've never heard of the Jazz running defensive drills during practice. They refer to practices as "shootarounds" from December on, which tells me that they're only practicing offense and staying in shape. It at least tells me they're not focusing very much on it, considering Jerry's attitude on things like defense, film, FT shooting, etc has always been "you just have to want to do it on your own...", as if that's going to work in this generation.
 
The Jazz started the season 15-5 thanks to their consistently solid defense. They forgot how to bring it to the floor every night since then. The offensive execution in half court was supposed to get better and result in an efficient offensive production which has always been the case for Jerry Sloan's Jazz squads throughout the years. The worse thing is the Jazz got complacent and indifferent in playing team defense, helping each other. There is no way they could win 15 in that first 20 games with the way they were playing, executing on offensive end.

We know this team can be much better at defense than the previous roster. They showed how good they can play defensively but I do not know why in the hell they stopped playing defense. Great offensive teams tend to give up easily on defensive end because during such a long and tiring season and hard schedule, those teams sometimes try to win it by trying to outscore the opponent and not emphasising the defense. The Jazz have not had that luxury, which the previous Jazz teams of late 2000s had, heck, maybe they will never become that good and deadly of an offensive team.
 
The bottom line is defense requires constant effort, meaning players must always keep one eye on the ball and one on their man. They need to constantly move and adjust. John Stockton teams did this well, and it masked a lot of liabilities they had. This team loafs ***, often forget where their man is, and stare at the backboard waiting in "rebounding position" rather than covering the wide open guy.

At this point it's not about having a defensive theory or great mind leading the charge. It's about constant effort.
 
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