Interesting Defensive Stat on the 08-09 Bulls

[Fred]

"The Bulls ranked eighth in scoring last season but really only guarded the three-point shot well, finishing fourth in opponents' three-point percentage. They allowed 102.5 points per game, 21st in the league, and ranked 14th in opponents' field-goal percentage, at .458. Deng and Hinrich remain from the Bulls teams that almost led the league in opponents' field-goal percentage three straight seasons from 2004-07, doing so the first two." - KC Johnson, Chicago Tribune.com

I was kind of shocked to see that the Bulls guarded the 3-point line so well last year since more often than not, the guards and small forwards are responsible for closing out on 3-point attempts. (Obviously, most power forwards and centers don't shoot 3's). It's all the more surprising when you consider that Kirk Hinrich, one of the best defenders in the history of basketball, missed almost 40% of the season.

This fact hammers home the point that in order for the Bulls to take that next step defensively, it needs to come from Thomas & Noah improving. Miller was an underrated addition. Part of the reason we were on a 50-win pace after the trade was because of his fantastic defensive interior fundamentals. If Thomas and Noah continue to improve, as they did at the end of last year, we'll win more than we did last year. If not, we're in for a season similar to 07-08.

 

[RC_Skinny22]

So with 4 Inches more on the SG the Bulls will finish first in opponents´three-point percentage next season.

 

[DASMACKDOWN]

I think we were fine on the perimeter, but always got killed on penetration.

Rose was a big culprit of this but it still wasnt totally his fault. Rose did do the correct thing of trying to filter in the traffic but there was usually no one there to cover.

So its an improvement from both ends. Hold penentration longer and be more defensively aware.

At the beginning of last we had Gooden with Tyrus. You cant get a worse combination than that.

 

[??? ??????]

Small Forward was our best position defensively last year, ranking 12th in the league in points scored against. That shouldn't be much of a surprise, as Deng played great defense in the times he played, and Kirk Hinrich defended the three position very well for some odd reason.

Shooting guard was our second best position last year defensively based on points scored against. Gordon played 64% of the team's shooting guard minutes. Hinrich played 18% of the minutes, Larry Hughes played 8%, Sefolosha played 4%.

Power Forward and Center especially, were our worst positions. 24th in points allowed at power forward, and 29th at Center.

We were also 17th at point guard.

Our big man were not only bad at letting their own man score, but their help defense was pathetic as well. There was never anything wrong with our perimeter defense (well except for Derrick Rose being one of the worst defenders in the NBA...but that can be fixed, he was a rookie). You had guys like Deng and Hinrich who are good defenders. Than Gordon and Salmons who keep their guys from killing them on penetration, while at the same time closing out on shooters. Then you had Rose, who couldn't stop penetration at all, but who could make some athletic plays...some of which showed up in the clutch.

We need big men who can guard their guys, rebound, and give good help defense. Emeka Okafor would have been a good edition this summer to address that problem.

 

[cool007]

Actually, our pick and roll defense was TOTALLY TERRIBLE. Also, I simply hate the switch on pick and roll - coz that means Noah/Tyrus/Gray/Gooden were guarding the opposing team's PGs mainly and it was a disaster.

IMO, our overall defense wasn't too bad (wasn't great either) but our pick and roll defense, defensive rebounding etc were just horrible.

I hope we improve on these 2 things and having Deng and Hinrich play more minutes will take care of other problems (and also not having Gooden/Nocioni guard will certainly help).

 

[cool007]

??? ?????? wrote:

Power Forward and Center especially, were our worst positions. 24th in points allowed at power forward, and 29th at Center.

I agree on that.

Remember we were getting killed by pretty much even the scrubs down low. Remember how many of those players had career nights??? Partly it was our dumb defensive schemes (we actually didn't have any defensive scheme other than swich).

We also had Gooden and Gray for a lot of the first half of the season and Nocioni also played some PF of us. All that carried over throughout the season.

Noah was out of shape for the first 3 months and Tyrus was mentally up and down.

I just see a new vibe in the camp this year and stressing defense will certainly help along with some new schemes.

 

[TheStig]

I was saying all year that our front court was the issue. Our back court was one of the best in the league and Sf was pretty average. Our front court was putrid bad, espically before the trade.

 

[Fred]

DASMACKDOWN wrote:

At the beginning of last we had Gooden with Tyrus. You cant get a worse combination than that.

Great point. For some reason, (probably because he sucked) I had totally blocked Drew Gooden from my memory. Essentially replacing Miller with Gooden is such a massive upgrade. I have to pinch myself when you realize how one-sided that trade was with Sacramento. Man, did we win that trade.

 

[Diddy1122]

Mark & I talked alot about this on the new Bullseye. Defense was my biggest ? going into this season & it must be a priority from day 1. It seems that Gar & Vinny are echoing this sentiment.

Our perimeter D will be better. Salmons length & fundamentals will help & I feel Rose will make a big leap in this area as well. It's our interior D that was atrocious. Every other night they would make guys like Kendrick Perkins, Andy Varejao, & Jason Maxiell look like perrenial all-stars.

The onus is on Noah & Tyrus. Noah already showed much improvement, once his conditioning was up to par, & he had Miller on the team to teach him some new tricks. I already think Noah will have a breakout year & will be much better on the defensive end. However, I can't say I am as confident in Tyrus Thomas.

Tyrus is one of the worst 1-on-1 defenders in the NBA. Period. And if anyone tries to argue otherwise, I will pop you like the zits plastered all over your face. The guy has no defensive instincts to speak of. Yes, he gets alot of blocks. Yes, blocks are good. But I can't tell you how many times last season where his blocks turned into offensive rebounds & put backs for the other team. I am sick & tired of hearing this guy being talked about as a good post defender. Nothing could be further from the truth. It's do or die time for Tyrus & I hope he makes me eat crow this season. I really do.