Trail Blazers Defense Continues Sinking to New Lows
Trail Blazers: It’s time to stop blaming individual players for a disappointing start; this is a team defense issue
The Portland Trail Blazers defense somehow keeps getting worse. As the team sits at a disappointing 9-10 through the first month of the season, blame getting tossed around everywhere. Fans are disappointed with Evan Turner, wondering about Allen Crabbe’s shooting slump, and continue to be underwhelmed by Meyers Leonard. However, this is a team defense issue.
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After last night’s drubbing from the Houston Rockets, Portland is a distant 30th in the league in defensive rating – a metric that essentially calculates how many points on average a team gives up per 100 possessions. It’s a fairly standard way to measure the efficiency of a defense. (There is a pace adjusted defensive rating that could be more accurate, but no surprise, the Blazers are still 30th)
The Trail Blazers’ roster is not one that will ever be elite defensively. Playing Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum 38 minutes a night throws that notion out the window. But the trade-off for those two players is being an elite offensive team. Portland is right where they were last year as far as offense: 8th in the NBA in offensive rating at 109.85. (Last season they were 6th at 109.55)
With an upper echelon offense, it only requires a league average defense to be a legit playoff team. Portland ranked 19th last season at 108.67 in defensive rating. But this season, Portland is giving up an astounding 113.96 points per 100 possessions. Going back a few years, I could not find a team that finished with a defensive rating over 113… not good.
Now is the time to fix the defense
Fortunately, Portland has two days off to talk about defense before the Indiana Pacers visit the Moda Center. After Wednesday night’s game, Portland gets another two days off. It’s a perfect time to get legit practices in – something that is difficult during a crowded 82 game schedule.
If the defense is to turn around, it has to be during this stretch. Not only will they have a few extra days off, the Trail Blazers have a light schedule as far as offenses go. Five out of the next six games will be against teams that are ranked 19th or lower in offensive rating. It’s time for Terry Stotts and his staff to work some magic.
Defensive and Offensive Rating stats via basketballreference.com
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