Offense isn't the problem..

[oldtimeball]

We scored 122 last night in a loss. Isaiah shot 8 for 19.. Was a -8. Lol. Marcus Smart was a -22...)))).. We are allowing to many points.. How does Marcus "a great defender" get a -22?? Even with the whole team we have been giving up 100 points to MEDIOCRE OFFENSES.

[FLCeltsFan]

We were missing a vital key to the defense with Jae Crowder out. In the first 3 games we were missing another key in Marcus Smart. I'll wait to pass judgement until they get everyone playing and we see how they do. Hopefully once they get it going they can cover if a player but it's still very early.

[oldtimeball]

One of those keys had a -22 last night.. That's cold.. Jb was very good ...

[FLCeltsFan]

Smart was just playing in his second game back after missing close a couple of weeks. He is a very good defender but I think he's still getting his conditioning back.

[DERRENMATTS]

I'm sure we do need to beef up our defense, but lets not discredit our last 2 opponents -- the Bulls and the Cavs can be explosive. They have darn good scorers.

Brad and the team will certainly tighten things up on D. I'm not worried.

[jrmzt]

Nov 4, 2016 21:11:29 GMT -5 DERRENMATTS said:

I'm sure we do need to beef up our defense, but lets not discredit our last 2 opponents -- the Bulls and the Cavs can be explosive. They have darn good scorers.

Brad and the team will certainly tighten things up on D. I'm not worried.

Yup completely agree. People are forgetting that this isn't the Bobcats or Jazz we're playing against. One is the world champs and the other has 2 explosive scorers. Lets have a full team like they did and see how we really stand up against them.

[oldtimeball]

In the preseason and regular preseason we gave up 100 points to mediocre teams.

If this team is to be anywhere near above average they need to show it now..

[DERRENMATTS]

Sure glad the playoff seeding isn't determined after only 5 games.

OTB, give it a month more and see where we are at. Wait till our injured guys return and assimilate into the system and gel. Wait until Brad figures out how to mask our deficiencies.

[oldtimeball]

Darren I think the problem is rebounds .. Shooting percent is not that bad.. Not sure that you can mask not rebounding..

[jrmzt]

Its not completely true that rebounds will win us games... I know its early in the season but have a look at these stats.

The top few teams in the league right now are:

1. Cleveland
2. Spurs
3. OKC
4. Hornets
5. Raptors
6. Clippers
7. Warriors

All those teams above sit on 4+ wins.

Yet if you really looked at where they sit on the rebounding list leaders per team...you'll find the following..

1. Cleveland - Rank 16th in League
2. Spurs - Rank 11th in League
3. OKC - Rank 3rd in League
4. Hornets - Rank 6th in League (Tied with the Brooklyn Nets who have a record of 2-4)
5. Raptors - Rank 12th in League
6. Clippers - Rank 8th in League
7. Warriors - Rank 18th in League


So whilst the sample size is small it does point out that you don't need to take a huge rebounding step to be a top team because the top team doesn't necessarily rely on having the best rebounding rates. Instead of focusing on the rebounding, we should take pride in the fact we're actually 3rd in the league in offensive leaders behind the likes of Golden State & Cleveland! So lets field a full team including Crowder and Smart and Olynyk and see how our rebounding actually is once they all come together.

[oldtimeball]

Wow! That's about as bad of an abuse in making stats prove our point..Wonder why Cleveland is at number 1..😗 Two guys named LeBron and Kylie..

We dont have them..

Smh. The defense has been terrible all preseason! We lost to the team that finished dead last last year gave up over 100 points to Philly.. We had high hopes of having a elite defense..

Things don't get fixed by excuses but by looking at the truth.. Saying we don't need rebounding to be great in this league is like that red Sox guy who told how many days his team was in first place ... But sir you didn't make the playoffs))))?

[jrmzt]

Nov 5, 2016 21:32:42 GMT -5 oldtimeball said:

Wow! That's about as bad of an abuse in making stats prove our point..Wonder why Cleveland is at number 1..😗 Two guys named LeBron and Kylie..

We dont have them..

Smh. The defense has been terrible all preseason! We lost to the team that finished dead last last year gave up over 100 points to Philly.. We had high hopes of having a elite defense..

Things don't get fixed by excuses but by looking at the truth.. Saying we don't need rebounding to be great in this league is like that red Sox guy who told how many days his team was in first place ... But sir you didn't make the playoffs))))?

I'm not saying you dont need rebounding. I'm saying you don't need to be a great rebounding team to win championships. Great rebounding does NOT equal rings. Having a good balance is far more important and from past historical stats, its actually more important to be a top 10 offensive team than a top 10 defensive team. All it takes for us to move into being an average rebounding team is to have our whole team being healthy which we have not had yet. Once we have a fully healthy roster, then and only then, can we actually view the team in its entirety to understand its strengths and weaknesses...not this chicken little stuff where we crap ourselves over some early losses and such a small sample size.

And what do you mean by we lost to a team that finished dead last the previous year? We've had 2 losses all season and one is to the Bulls and the other to the defending champs..not sure which of those were even close to dead last?

[oldtimeball]

We lost to Philly giving up more than 100 points. Gave up over 100 to the nets lol.. At some point you have to look at that and say its not getting better..

To win a championship you must be good at a lot of things. They have averaged 100+ points on offense? The defense including rebounding has stunk! Not anywhere near playoff type basketball .

[oldtimeball]

We are 19th in opponents assists, 26th in points allowed, 5th in opponents shooting %,27th in rebounding!

Unbelievable! Its as plain as the nose on your face that this team currently is not a good defensive team. Not in the pre season. Not now! Its also equally evident that we contest shots, but don't rebound. Thus we give up to many points.. 27th ! 26th!... Wow.

[jrmzt]

Nov 6, 2016 3:46:17 GMT -5 oldtimeball said:

We lost to Philly giving up more than 100 points. Gave up over 100 to the nets lol.. At some point you have to look at that and say its not getting better..

To win a championship you must be good at a lot of things. They have averaged 100+ points on offense? The defense including rebounding has stunk! Not anywhere near playoff type basketball .

Slightly confused..we haven't played Philly yet. Unless you mean the preseason which in that case we only gave up 92 points to them and all our starters played an average of 15 minutes..


Also again you're being slightly selective because whilst we did give up over 100 to the Nets, if you look at their offensive statistics, they aren't a terrible offensive team. The Nets scored 109 points as well on the Detroit Pistons...and why is that significant? Because the Pistons are currently the no.2 ranked defense in the league giving up an average of 93 points in all games..so if the Nets are scoring over 100 on the no.2 defense, why is it surprising for them to score over 100 on us when we're ranked the 26th best defense?


Not saying our defense doesn't need some work but like I've said..I'm reserving my judgement until we have the full lineup on the floor..