Tip-In: Effort-less Redux, Indiana beats Toronto 124-100

classic Bargnani

…. and then he tries to take a charge, and make Mike Dunleavy even uglier…..

an abusive Bargs I could get behind.

But that D and work on the boards was still sad.

Didn’t see the game – looks like it was a frustrating one. But, to keep it in perspective, losing is good this year. Right?

For all the talk about Bargs not getting enough shots, Derozan not getting to the rim, Weems chucking shots to earn a contract the real issue is defense. The Raps have given up 124 and 116 points in the last two games and over 100 points in 5 of the last 10. That ain’t gonna cut it.

You don’t need talent to play defense just energy and effort. Since the Raps have full control over there energy and effort this is a major failing on their part and needs to be fixed quick. Forget about the offense and fix the defense.

We are 21 games into the season and I think you can make some solid observations at this point:

Derozan has added nothing to his game. The only reason his scoring is up is because his minutes have been increased by 50% from 21 to 30/gm. He has no jump shot to speak of never mind 3 point range. He has turned out to be a surprisingly weak finisher (only scores if he gets fouled) and contributes next to nothing in terms of boards or dimes on a per minute or per game basis. He does not deserve to start.

Bargs has disappeared lately but he has established himself as a legit and efficient primary scorer in this league. He deserves props for that because I didn’t think he had it in him. Unfortunately, scoring is the only thing he can do. Rebounding, blocking shots, rotating, closing out and passing (never mind leading or coming through in the clutch) are totally foreign conepts to him.

Jose will never be a favourite player of mine because of his inability to pressure the ball on D or the ability to attack/create on offense. However, his play has steadily improved across the board as the season has progressed. He’s put up some especially nice lines lately (pts/asts/3ptm/stls) and even grabbed some steals (still pourous on the ball defense though). Still no complaints though based on how he looked in the summer and at camp.

Amir is far and away my favourite Raptor because of his ability to contribute in multiple ways at both ends. Solid one on one defense, very good help D, great shot blocking and ability to protect the rim, and fights for rebounds. Most importantly he is learning how to control his fouling which shows a definite maturity to his game. On offense he has an innate ability to track down boards (very rare), runs the floor well and knows how to finish (he and Demar need to have a talk). His improved free throw shooting is huge. And now he is trying to add a midrange jumper to his game while still playing within himself and the offense. Amir’s blocks, boards, D, abiilty to run the break and finish and improved scoring make him a keeper for the rebuild. I can’t really say that about anyone else on this team.

Bayless looks promising but not nearly enough games have been played to know what we really have with him.

THoughs?

It’s the same old story, they have to be better perimeter defenders but how do they technically do that. The answer seems quite simple, stay out with the shooters but they never do that because the perimeter defenders are sagging in to help stop the penatration. No matter how many outside shots a defender makes, raps will continue to sag to the middle. That just allows a punch and kick a wide open shooter.
So, by playing as they do, the team has made a decision that stopping penatration is the priority. When a team swings the ball or skip passes the ball, there is simply no way to recover. There is no one in the league able to move faster than a pass. So it’s frustrating to me to hear this constant harping about improving their perimeter defense and it’s simply not going to happen. It hasn’t happened in the last 5 or 10 years and it’s not going to happen now because they are not willing to gamble on “one on one” penatration.
Now I know the first response will be to drop it all on the center but if the wings stay out with the shooters, he opposing PG simply pulls the center to him then dishes to his center for the dunk

For those of you who understand the technical side of defense, please enlighten me

“There is no one in the league able to move faster than a pass. So it’s frustrating to me to hear this constant harping about improving their perimeter defense and it’s simply not going to happen.”

Agree with you in principle because it echos the deficiencies in Jose’s game I noted above. However, there are a number of teams with weak one on one defending pgs (LAL, CHI, ATL, POR) who are much better defensive teams than the Raps. The Raps will never be an elite defensive team with their current players, but they can improve if they decide that is what they want to do. And because they are so bad a slight improvement will make a big difference. To think that ’it’s simply not going to happen’ is to admit defeat and no good teams (or teams looking to get better) do that.

The decision must be made to improve the D (starting on the perimeter but also inside). Full stop.

Since you are the only one capable of talking the specifics of defense, I guess the rest are just blowin wind when it comes to talkin defense. It’s easy to say “they need to play better defense” but do you (readers here) really know what your talking about?
I would take issue with the idea that no players on the Raps are good enough to play defense. Certainly there can’t be many players more athletic than Bayless, Derozan or Weems or Barbossa.
I wanted to get a technical discussion going rather than just the same old Bargs and Calderon suck crap but maybe thats all they’re capable off.

Strange that here you have these athletes who have played for many years, minor league, high school and college often under notable coachs like Krzyzewski, Calipari, Pitino and so on and so on and still can’t execute the basics of basketball defense. I find it hard to understand that defense is that complicated. You either move your feet or you don’t, you either stay with the shooter or you don’t, you either go over the screen or you go under it, you funnel them baseline or you funnel them center. How hard can it be? Are they all stupid or beligerant.

Now that’s more like it. Your last statement is the one I think exposes why they have poor perimeter defense. They are dropping off of outside shooters when they are hot. As soon as an outside shooter has prooven that he is “feelin it” , stay out there. Shouldn’t be that hard to understand especially when your coaching staff are seein it.
Also, one of the bigs has to be verbal out there and direct traffic in front of them.

This can be a new open topic for Raptors fans. Having seen how Nash has been labouring in Phoenix, I am beginning to believe that BC should get our Canadian back home to play for the Raptors. Trouble is finding what is available in our cupboard that the Suns would want. Likewise, Suns would be better off to re-start, now that Amare is gone to the Knicks. Nash would definitely be a better choice than BC’s picks in the draft. If Kessel can be traded to the Leafs for two first round picks in two consecutive years, Nash is worth more than that plus players.