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Corbin's defensive adjustments are working...

Beantown

Beantown

Well-Known Member
According to MIT alumni and stat magician David Locke:

https://www.nba.com/jazz/features/locked_on_jazz.html

Kind of a boring read but I do think the defense has improved. Mostly though to guys like Howard, Favors and Millsaps steals. Kanter has done good for a rookie too.

It's been awhile since the Jazz had an above average defensive team. Hopefully this means Corbin has hope.
 
Not a boring read at all.

I have seen the changes so far so I'm glad to see it show up in those analyses. If Drew Gooden and Jason Smith don't go the **** off, the Jazz's defensive numbers would look significantly better. Also bear in mind that even left wide open, the show the Spurs put on from beyond 3 was incomprehensible. The team will not only just get better at defending, teams have to start missing more of those shots.

God damn Ty the Turd for adapting style of play to reality with basically no preparation.
 
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Beantown said:
But wouldn't the teams be missing these shots now instead of later in the season?
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This season in general is an aberration. While players will grow more fatigued, they will also be learning their offenses and each other better (especially since play is very sloppy right now from a rushed start to the season). I consider that a wash. Also, the law of averages is a pretty real thing.
 
Stats are not counting we have played 3 good teams and they killed us. Followed by three horrible teams which we let stay in all of the games until the end. And Lakers were without Bynum and Denver were without the chinese players.
 
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Super. While all these egg head stats are encouraging; it's way too early to tell. The real challenge is for Corbin to get his players to buy into this system for a full season.

Last year The Jazz put on a defensive clinic against The Heat in Miami early in the season. Things kind of went down hill from there.
 
candrew said:
Super. While all these egg head stats are encouraging; it's way too early to tell. The real challenge is for Corbin to get his players to buy into this system for a full season.

Last year The Jazz put on a defensive clinic against The Heat in Miami early in the season. Things kind of went down hill from there.
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While saying it's a small sample size is relevant, it doesn't seem that you're separating results from intent/method. Defensive intensity is probably the most important single-factor, but you're going to get limited results if you're not playing smart and the majority of the Heat's possessions are trying to get to the paint (which was also basically the entirety of what the old Jazz defense was concerned with).

The Jazz have fundamentally changed the defensive philosophy. They're doing a better job denying shots at the rim (something that the talent itself is at least partially responsible) AND chasing players off of the 3-pt line. The latter is antithetical to previous philosophy (if you have to give up a shot, let them take a 3). The Jazz have also traditionally not allowed inefficient mid-range shots whereas this year they are letting that slide. The facts say that that is the smart way to defend as a team. You can't stop teams from scoring in the NBA, but you can force a team to take shots that generally (over a massive sample-size) don't yield as much point value and that's what the Jazz are doing.

That's smart, and that's probably been my biggest problem with Sloan (hallowed be his name) over the years. He was a philosopher, but he'd be damned if he let cold hard facts change how he approached anything.

Getting back to the point, if/when the offense starts coming (or flowing as a unit), the Jazz foul less and the rotations become more crisp (which is inevitable if you ask me), this cake might bake real nice like.
 
I'm with Candrew here... too early for statistics to speak. Still, these were the right adjustments and it is nice to see they are bearing some early fruit.

Still too easy to get into the lane. Still too many wide-open threes.
 
NAOS said:
I'm with Candrew here... too early for statistics to speak. Still, these were the right adjustments and it is nice to see they are bearing some early fruit.

Still too easy to get into the lane. Still too many wide-open threes.
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Something that doesn't seem right to my eyes is that the team seems so preoccupied with forcing the ballhandler baseline that they are no longer trying to stop penetration. Maybe someone with more knowledge than me can spell out why that's okay, but that doesn't seem right to me. To me, you force them baseline if they get a step on you, but your first objective should be to try to stop the ball.

Also, this may be more of something that comes down the road as the team gels more, but mixing in forcing middle with forcing baseline starts to make a lot of sense once you start scouting rates of opponent scoring when a ballhandler is right side or left, driving right or left, and driving middle or baseline. The team is really focused on the philosophy of baseline right now, and that's good, but I hope the team becomes more flexible.
 
NUMBERICA said:
Something that doesn't seem right to my eyes is that the team seems so preoccupied with forcing the ballhandler baseline that they are no longer trying to stop penetration. Maybe someone with more knowledge than me can spell out why that's okay, but that doesn't seem right to me. To me, you force them baseline if they get a step on you, but your first objective should be to try to stop the ball.

Also, this may be more of something that comes down the road as the team gels more, but mixing in forcing middle with forcing baseline starts to make a lot of sense once you start scouting rates of opponent scoring when a ballhandler is right side or left, driving right or left, and driving middle or baseline. The team is really focused on the philosophy of baseline right now, and that's good, but I hope the team becomes more flexible.
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Poetry.
You can tell the jazz are playing scales right now instead of hard-core improvizing with the philosophy at heart. It's my greatest hope that they'll master this basic defensive jam and start tweaking things to the particular situation ... that's where championships come from.
 
KOC BEGONE said:
Stats are not counting we have played 3 good teams and they killed us. Followed by three horrible teams which we let stay in all of the games until the end. And Lakers were without Bynum and Denver were without the chinese players.
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I can't believe I'm saying this but I totally agree. We've looked good against a bunch of ****heads at home. And hell, we still barely won two of those. In the other three games, we got absolutely spanked. Stats are great and all but I want to see these guys play competitive ball night in and night out. I want them to be fierce attacking the rim on the road too. Playing smart, team defense on the road too. Hitting shots on the road too. Be resilient on the road too. If they show me this, then I'll be impressed.
 
I think we need to see what our defense looks like against good teams first.

It's easy to assume our defense is better NOW than we're playing teams like the Bucks and Zachless Grizz than the Lakers and Spurs.
 
Wes Mantooth said:
I can't believe I'm saying this but I totally agree. We've looked good against a bunch of ****heads at home. And hell, we still barely won two of those. In the other three games, we got absolutely spanked. Stats are great and all but I want to see these guys play competitive ball night in and night out. I want them to be fierce attacking the rim on the road too. Playing smart, team defense on the road too. Hitting shots on the road too. Be resilient on the road too. If they show me this, then I'll be impressed.
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Going from the team we saw on opening night to a contender will take some time, though. What this is all about is that there is something truly different happening right now, and if you believe correlation means anything, the Jazz are headed in the right direction.

All I need to stay invested and excited about this team is seeing signs that the talent, the culture, and the coaching is getting on that correct path. So far, I'm happy. Al Jefferson chucking, Devin Harris being wildly inconsistent, and Raja Bell just being horrid doesn't mean much to me because I see them as nothing more than stop gaps.
 
NUMBERICA said:
Going from the team we saw on opening night to a contender will take some time, though. What this is all about is that there is something truly different happening right now, and if you believe correlation means anything, the Jazz are headed in the right direction.

All I need to stay invested and excited about this team is seeing signs that the talent, the culture, and the coaching is getting on that correct path. So far, I'm happy. Al Jefferson chucking, Devin Harris being wildly inconsistent, and Raja Bell just being horrid doesn't mean much to me because I see them as nothing more than stop gaps.
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Well said. However, how much of what we see as appearing that we're on the right path is that we're playing ****heads. Looks can be deceiving.
 
NUMBERICA said:
This season in general is an aberration. While players will grow more fatigued, they will also be learning their offenses and each other better (especially since play is very sloppy right now from a rushed start to the season). I consider that a wash. Also, the law of averages is a pretty real thing.
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Like leprechauns, and eskimos.
 
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