Why was the defense so bad last season?
- Thread starter chroix
- Start date
The coach with one foot out the door probably didn’t help. Personnel wise we struggled with both rebounding and blocking shots, which I think contributed to lax perimeter pressure. No scheme and no coaching.
No in game adjustments no switching of defenses
90% of the people will say coaching.
Truth is, we just had poor defensive players. That's all.
It's the same exact reason we were so efficient on offense. We had a group of insanely talented players on one side of the ball that were not good on defense.
Truth is, we just had poor defensive players. That's all.
It's the same exact reason we were so efficient on offense. We had a group of insanely talented players on one side of the ball that were not good on defense.
The NBA didn't seem to mind, drafting two of those defenders #3 and #8 in the draft.
Let's cut the BS and call it for what it was: our bad defenders never improved defensively all season. Not even a fraction.
That's ultimately coaching.
Seems like it’s been awhile since we’ve had a competent defensive team . Whose fault is that? And I give some credit to Welch for our improved offense.
Obviously, it's Cal's. There's still about 2% of BBN who tries to deflect for Captain Cal, blaming players for a lack of defensive improvement.
Obviously Minnesota and Houston seem to see the upside in Sheppard and Dillingham and also their defensive potential. Didn't stop them from drafting them #3 and #8.
Eh, maybe. Though it doesn't take much effort to get some hands up or not go for every single pump fake. Cal said numerous times late in the off season that they hadn't worked on defense yet but they'll get there. Pre 2016 we always had good defensive teams. After that not so much. 2015 threw Cal into a tailspin and he never really recovered except for the Fox/Monk/Bam squad.
If mediocre defending were a 1 or 2 off, I'd be inclined to agree.
Our best defensive team of the 2020's would have been one of the worst from 2010-2019. Being ranked in the 30's in defensive efficiency was considered bad for a Cal coached team during the first 2/3rds of his tenure. It became the pinnacle of defense in the 2020's.
But this highlights the problem right here.
If you want to blame Cal for the poor defense, then you have to credit him for what the offense was able to accomplish.
You either take the stance that A) the coaching plays a huge part in this.........or B) it doesn't and it's mainly based on players.
What you can't do is say Cal is to blame for the defense but then not give credit to him for the offense. That's not logical.
You're correct. It's been awhile since we had a good defensive team under Cal. The main reason we have sucked on defense for so long is the lack of interior presence.
Easy to have a great defense when you had Anthony Davis swatting back every shot.
I'm of the mindset that had a whole hell of a lot more to do with things than Cal's coaching approach.
We had good defense when we had good defensive players. It's funny how that works.
People give way too much credit and way too much blame to coaches.
They’re obviously athletic enough, that leaves scheme and coaching.
That’s probably why Cal stopped caring . It was always about what the nba wanted.
Since cal got left to his own devices. Last year was an atrocious display of coaching. Literally 5 guys playing solo defense. That might work if a team follows suit and just has 5 guys play solo offense but it doesn't work that way.
Exactly why the Oakland coach was legitimately happy when they got us. He walked that back a bit before the game then affirmed it after. He knew they could run their stuff no issue and its exactly what they did.
Hell, Gohlke was on a podcast surprised that they kept leaving him open. Zero adjustment and that's just one example. So glad that is in the rearview.
We ranked 1st in block rate last season.
The 2016 team, infamous for their lack of a traditional center and inside presence, finished the season ranked 39th in defensive efficiency. Last year, we finished in the 100's.
For whatever reason, Cal lost his touch in cobbling together a cohesive and effective defensive approach no matter the physical characteristics of the roster. Pre 2019, we had competent defensive teams with a wide variety of roster makeups. In the 2020's, defensive savants became necessities as the goal posts have to be continuously moved to excuse what has been outputs far below standards set by the first 10 years.
Yep that was the most egregious example. Cal expected one person to fight through double/staggered screens to stop a red hot shooter. Its mind-blowingly stupid.
I think we were always blocking our fair share of shots but the opponent 2pt FG% which was insanely low in the first portion of Cal's time here went up drastically over the past few years.
Teams shot 49.4% from 2 vs us last season.
In 2012? 39.6%
In 2015? 39.1%
Even as last as 2019? 43.6%
This was the biggest difference between the earlier portion of Cal's tenure here vs the end.
I still maintain this is all personnel. Ultimately we just weren't getting the guys that we got earlier on especially on that side of the ball. Cal puts the team together so he shoulders that but I'm of the opinion that it did not matter who we had as coach last season, that team with the way they were on defense, wasn't going far.
A lot of people saw that coming too. As much as some wanted to justify it "oh well just outscore everyone" that was never happening for six games in a row.
Last edited:
Disagree, defense is all effort which last year lacked. No one wanted to hit defense hard. They definitely had the feel for the game but there wasn’t a large amount of effort.
I'm what many called a Cal supporter because I didn't scream to flush him until last season. But part of the reason I got to wanting to flush him was his defense scheme never seemed to adjust to the modern style of offense ( Pope's offense, shoot from anywhere particularly 3's). He never went zone for out of bounds under our basket and didn't seem to learn from getting burned time and time again. He had us playing tough, non-switching man D which made for better NBA defenders, but it was plain stupid to never mix it up with zones or stunt defenses to get into the other teams head and make them think. And his players never seemed to learn how to defend a pick and role. And he never wanted his guards to challenge one on one fast breaks. It was just stupid-ass coaching.
Our defense was hot dog water the last 4-5 seasons. That was a bigger issue than an outdated offense.
Let's say it was that. That was just effort (tho I'm not sure I agree with that as there are several players good on one side of the ball and not on the other).........at what point does one point to the players on the team with that?
I get part of coaching is motivating your players to try hard at all times but one would also need to look at the players and wonder why THEY aren't giving it their all.
I don't think it was lack of effort. I think they were trying. Maybe they prioritized offense over defense but I do think they were trying.
This is what it felt like. No defensive scheme in place whatsoever. Just can’t understand why.
Honestly he was my guy but Rob might’ve been the worst defender I’ve ever seen of a highly touted player. The combination of his lack of size/strength, disregard for wanting to defend, with incredibly low awareness was something to behold.
They could’ve been better than they were. The players and coaches leaned into the offense, thinking it would be good enough to overcome.
I’m really looking forward to this season. Butler, Williams, etc have proven to be good defensive players. Their experience as a whole team should prevent all the mind numbing self inflicted errors on that side of the ball.
They could’ve been better than they were. The players and coaches leaned into the offense, thinking it would be good enough to overcome.
I’m really looking forward to this season. Butler, Williams, etc have proven to be good defensive players. Their experience as a whole team should prevent all the mind numbing self inflicted errors on that side of the ball.
I think at some point in the season while they continued to try and get the defense better, they realized that if they were gong to win, it would be on the offensive side of the ball.
To me, the season was very much like:
Dec = we need to get better on defense
Jan = get better on defense
Feb = get better on defense
March = u know what we aren't getting any better on defense, let's just try to outscore everyone lol.
Maybe, while I could go on for days of why I’m glad Cal is gone, I think not building defense up and or not holding them accountable on that side of the ball is enough to get results we saw. There wasn’t a lot of hustle in my opinion or they didn’t take pride in defense. Historically, Cal’s defense got better as the year went but his last 5 years the trajectory on everything went down. I’m not convinced it was all Cal’s fault because the players gotta own their effort as well, but there is definitely enough blame to go around for everyone involved when the defense sucked that bad. Having said that, I do believe Cal could have fixed it if he had really wanted to.
No, they go hand in hand. Cal's philosophy has always been "funnel the guards into the shot blockers" so when we didn't have an Anthony Davis, he should've coached his guards a different way of defense. You're right but doesn't mean we aren't also.
And the year before that, and before that, and the year before that?
99% of it was an extremely lazy coach.
Our guards wouldn't even get down in a proper defensive stance most of the year and players aren't going to do the hard effort stuff when a coach will not make them.
When your players continuously look exactly the same on defense from the first game to the last, it's a COACHING issue.
We don't always agree but I agree 100% with this. I often wonder if this kind of issue can be linked to the assistant coaches in some way. Did we lose an assistant who was great at teaching defense?
Pretty certain Dillingham pretty much said the same thing when asked. Said the team really did not have a plan. They were never on the same page just guys out there kind of doing their own thing. That is 100% coaching..
The defense has been bad. Ever since 2018-2019. Did we have bad players then?
There are many reasons IMO. Defense like all other skills requires fundamental teaching from the start, in today's world that doesn't happen. I coached a 3rd & 5th grade boys team and was criticized by parents, who'd never played, because of teaching how & why defense is important. Now 3 pointers is what they were wanting me to teach. Most young players have a problem getting in the proper D stance and being able to stay there through out a game. Good quality player play travel ball, no de sense played there. AAU ball is all offense and very little defense. Stars are protected by coaches so they can get their offense, so defense isn't important. Therefore it, lack of teaching defense, becomes an issue when they get to college and muscle memory and mental memory about is weak. Isn't it odd that Tyler Ulis was such a great Defensive player, especially at his size. He had to be exceptional in all phases to be a great player. I'll guarantee you he worked hard to become a defensive player from a very young age.
