In why our defense sucks news...

[KaponOOOOdontshoottheball]

So through 12 games, what exactly has caused the precipitous downfall? The Raptors are allowing 101.4 points per game, an increase of 7.4 points from last season.

A huge problem for the Raptors has been fouls. Their opponents are averaging 26.6 free throws per game. They are essentially gifting their opponents more easy points than any other team in the league, and when they don't foul they're allowing easy baskets at the rim.

Much of that has to do with Andrea Bargnani and his overall defensive predicament. He is not physical enough to battle down low with true NBA centers, yet he's neither athletic enough to stay in front of the new-breed power forward.

Valanciunas' presence was supposed to eliminate some of Bargnani's issues but it has been more challenging than expected. While he has shown flashes that he can one day be the vital centre in a strong defence overall he has struggled in certain matchups and adjusting to the faster speed of the NBA game, which leads to quick foul trouble.

Lowry does represent a defensive upgrade over Jose Calderon at point guard but when he missed six games with an ankle injury, his absence from the lineup was painfully obvious. The Raptors did not play with the same efficiency on both ends of the floor.

DeMar DeRozan poses a similar problem as Bargnani. He is scoring above his career average and rebounding better too but he doesn't match up well against small forwards and allows shooting guards too many easy lanes inside.

Finally, the Raptors wing depth has been annihilated by long term injuries to Landry Fields and Alan Anderson.

Due to those injuries and consistent foul trouble, Casey has had a tough time putting together a proper rotation and at times has been forced to play some bad matchups. Last season Casey was able to hide Bargnani and DeRozan's defensive deficiencies by managing his lineup configuration; this season that has proven much more difficult to do.

From: Fan Fuel: Why is the Raptors defence so terrible? - sportsnet.ca

 

[ggill15]

Good Post. But to add a couple things. Our defense has been bad at times and not absolutely horrendous like it used to be.

The 101.4 is skewed WAY up. We had a triple OT game and a double OT game in span of 15 games. Thats 60 extra points allowed due to OT which is equivalent to 4 points a game. With those two games at 100 we would be giving up 97.4 which is pretty good.

For me the big thing is that we dont know how to play the fourth quarter. Casey is a great coach but I`m not a big fan of his substitution patterns. Jose`s minutes should not be above 24 and we should never have two point guards on.

Derozan is learning the fourth but he has no respect in the NBA for fouls. Barg was supposed to be the fourth quarter guy and if he could produce then it would be fine. We lost 6 games at the end of the game. To just get half of them we would be 6 - 9 which is way better then our record right now. We have no idea how to play the fourth quarter.

Casey as good as he is on D has to fix his substitution pattern. I love Jose as a 2nd string PG. As a fourth quarter starter pretty much he just gets burned every time. We had the philly game until they realized that jose sucks.

Further to my fourth quarter point. The game we won against Indiana, what did we score....5 points in the fourth....

 

[CarlWinslow]

the defence is cause of poon. He is absolutely useless when not shooting 90%, 4 on 5 defense. Gotten even lazier as poo spatter continues to baby him under salesman orders who ride bargnani til the end of his career. Burger could get 20-20 in a quarter and bargnani will be back out there for retards like asik and paterson to have career games against. I truely hate tag. He's awesome but i truely despise him.

give me burger and valiant, give me roseanne and rawss, give me porkchop at pg and hornacek on the bench with 6th man andrea barbosa and fucking run(without a lazy big that cant even rebound to start the break and no balderon)


if we lose, at least improving players will develope and ross will dunk cause his shoes fit so god damn well

 

[ggill15]

long long long long time since Ive been on these board...

figure poon is calderon wasnt sure.....tag...figure that casey....not sure....roseanne....dont know....porkchop....dont know...

im useless.....

 

[CarlWinslow]

long long long long time since Ive been on these board...

figure poon is calderon wasnt sure.....tag...figure that casey....not sure....roseanne....dont know....porkchop....dont know...

im useless.....

very close gill, porkchop is the porky pg and roseanne is that promising 2guard that can only dunk in practice

 

[ggill15]

who

very close gill, porkchop is the porky pg and roseanne is that promising 2guard that can only dunk in practice

didnt the promising two guard just have a monster dunk last game....i didnt see it....

i was right about the others...ncie...

 

[KaponOOOOdontshoottheball]

Good Post. But to add a couple things. Our defense has been bad at times and not absolutely horrendous like it used to be.

The 101.4 is skewed WAY up. We had a triple OT game and a double OT game in span of 15 games. Thats 60 extra points allowed due to OT which is equivalent to 4 points a game. With those two games at 100 we would be giving up 97.4 which is pretty good.

For me the big thing is that we dont know how to play the fourth quarter. Casey is a great coach but I`m not a big fan of his substitution patterns. Jose`s minutes should not be above 24 and we should never have two point guards on.

Derozan is learning the fourth but he has no respect in the NBA for fouls. Barg was supposed to be the fourth quarter guy and if he could produce then it would be fine. We lost 6 games at the end of the game. To just get half of them we would be 6 - 9 which is way better then our record right now. We have no idea how to play the fourth quarter.

Casey as good as he is on D has to fix his substitution pattern. I love Jose as a 2nd string PG. As a fourth quarter starter pretty much he just gets burned every time. We had the philly game until they realized that jose sucks.

Further to my fourth quarter point. The game we won against Indiana, what did we score....5 points in the fourth....

Very good points, gill. I completely agree with your questioning of Casey's substitution patterns. I remember questioning the exact same point last season when he kept playing the two PG system, which I still think is a piss poor system.

I also completely agree that our team is terrible at playing 4th quarters/closing out games. Remember during the overtime San Antonio game when we got another 5 second violation? That's twice in two seasons! Complete bonehead errors that no other teams make. I don't know if it's the coaching or the players, but the team has to fight through it and grow or something has to change.

I disagree about Bargs being the fourth quarter guy and about DeRozan's fouls though. Bargs shouldn't be our fourth quarter guy. I really do think it should be Lowry. Even though he hasn't played the same level since returning from injury, his play before injury gave us a lot of evidence that he can be and should be our closer. As for DeRozan not getting calls, yes, there are plays where there were contact and fouls should've been called. However, DeRozan also has a tendency of falling on his ass when he encounters any type of contact. Sometime it's minor and he still flails to the ground. Even I don't buy his reactions at times, let alone the refs. I also don't like the fact that DeRozan gets all pissy when fouls don't go his way. Suck it up. Get up. Run back and play some D. I've seen it on multiple times where his complaining has caused an odd-man advantage for the opposing team and ends up in easy baskets.

 

[KaponOOOOdontshoottheball]

long long long long time since Ive been on these board...

figure poon is calderon wasnt sure.....tag...figure that casey....not sure....roseanne....dont know....porkchop....dont know...

im useless.....

Porkchop = pure genius.

 

[froman77]

last year our defence gave up 101.5 points per 100 possessions.

this season they are giving up 103.7 points per 100 possessions.


so not the worst drop off when you consider we've been starting a rookie center, alongside one of the worst defensive players in the league in bargnani.

 

[froman77]

i can understand why swag casey is using the 2 pg lineup, our 3rd and 4th best wings are terence ross and dominic "who the fuck even knew i existed before this season" mcguire. personally, id rather see ross play more at the expense of the 2pg lineup, but whatever.

jose and lowry are two of the best players on the team, and playing them only a total of 48 minutes makes no sense.

 

[raptorlife4]

a lot of bad luck this season so far as well
Need to stay together
Schedule gets a bit easier.

 

[KaponOOOOdontshoottheball]

a lot of bad luck this season so far as well
Need to stay together
Schedule gets a bit easier.

Finally woke up from your 10-day bender, huh?

 

[raptorlife4]

Finally woke up from your 10-day bender, huh?

look whos talking:tm: