 Stand On Your Own Two Feet Bob Cooney had an interesting article on Philly.com yesterday and I'd like to talk a little bit about a few points he brought up. It was the first concrete glimpse into the Sixers' defensive scheme that I've seen and I have a few issues with it.
The story does a good job of explaining help and recover, which is a pretty simple principle of helping to stop penetration, then recovering to your man on the perimeter. Eddie Jordan explains it as such: "You're supposed to be in a help position off the ball," said coach Eddie Jordan following yesterday's practice at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. "There are positions on the floor where you're supposed to be when the ball's on the side of the floor. [Tuesday night] we didn't get those positions. The most important thing in help defense is your posture. Are you standing the right way? Second of all is your positioning. Are you in the right position when the ball is on the wing or in the corner or at the top? And then there's your vision. Are you seeing the ball and your man? Those are the most important things in help defense." It's a sound theory, especially if you have deficient defenders at a couple of positions. It allows you to draw on the defensive abilities of the entire unit to collectively keep opponents out of the paint. The problem, as far as I can tell, is two-fold: (1) It's used far too much with this team. (2) The priorities. Let me explain. Help defense, on the entire team level, is kind of a nebulous idea. Honestly, it's like the defensive equivalent of the Princeton offense. A ton of reading and reacting, constantly hedging against a teammate getting beaten off the dribble. Attention split between your man, and the man with the ball. That split favoring the ball rather than your man the further your man is from the ball. As I said above, it's an excellent way to cover up for the weaker defenders on your squad, and it's also an excellent option when you're playing a team who can't shoot, like the Sixers. Someone actually brought a similar point to this up in the comments the other day, and it makes sense. Think about consequences for a second. In practice every day, the Sixers play against the Sixers. They run this helping defense, and their primary concern (penetration) is exactly what the offense is trying to do, for the most part. Over-helping may lead to an open look, but it's more than likely going to be an open look for a guy who's shooting 30% from three. Now apply the same principles to a game against the Celts or the Magic. It's not going to be Willie Green taking the open three, it's going to be Eddie House, or Ray Allen, and the shot is going to hurt you a lot more. That's an overly-simplified explanation of the problem, but it should point out to you the fault in running a defensive scheme that calls for all five players to essentially be help defenders. Check out this quote from Jrue: "I think it's about the rotation," said Holiday. "I think we help too much. I know there were times when I was stuck down low with a big man because I was waiting for my man to come back. Maybe sometimes we need to be a little more selfish and keep our eye on those outside shooters." That's the point exactly. Personal responsibility. Here's the thing, the Sixers have a few things not too many teams have. They have an elite wing defender, who can take the other team's best offensive threat completely out of the game. They also have two bigs who can block shots in Dalembert and Brand. They don't need to have every player on the floor worried about help defense. They don't really have to have anyone worried about it, but the big closest to the rim. Thad shouldn't be cheating off his man (especially if his man is a legit threat from three) to help stop the driver from getting into the lane. That's Lou's responsibility, initially, and then Sammy's, or Brand's, whoever the big on that side of the floor is. Think back to any team Pat Riley coached in New York or Miami. They had an insanely simple, yet effective, defensive scheme. His guards pushed their men to their weak hand on the drive, funneling them right into the weak-side help from the shot blocker. Everyone else stuck with their men. The rules have changed to make it harder to force the offensive man in one direction or the other, but the theory should still work. That's what the Sixers need to do. This over-helping and hedging is also very, very hard to sustain against a team that runs efficient half-court offense and has the ability to hit the three. It's downright suicide against a team whose offense is already designed to free shooters. It's way too easy to get caught out of position, it requires way too much recovery. Patient teams with weapons will pick it apart late in the shot clock. It's time for the Sixers to play to their strengths on defense. Dalembert and Brand can, and do, handle their business down on the blocks. Nine games out of ten there won't be a gross mismatch on the floor except maybe at the point, but it's time for the Sixers to shift their way of thinking. Penetration alone won't kill them. They have two guys who can alter, block or deter point guards from converting at the tin. The problem with penetration against the Sixers is that you have 5 defenders collapsing down to do the work that Sammy and Brand can handle on their own, leaving their men open on the perimeter to do so. Stay at home, let the bigs take care of the paint and cut off the kick out opportunities if/when penetration occurs. Rule changes, the level of competition and elaborate offensive schemes make defending extremely hard in the NBA. The Sixers have a leg up on most other teams in their personnel, it's about time they start using that advantage and stop running a scheme that teams with lesser individual talent need to rely on. This is obviously an overly-simplified look at team defense, but we're talking about the underlying philosophy that dictates how the team handles the finer points, like pick-and-roll defense. Take another look at Jrue's quote above and I'll give you an example. I remember the exact play he's talking about. He was on the weak side, with his man, the ball was outside the three-point line on the strong side. His man sucked down to the baseline, with Rasheed at the elbow on the weak side. Jrue had to hedge against a lob to Sheed and basically stay in the vicinity of the basket because three defenders were hedging to the strong side, worried about penetration. When House made his break for the three-point line, he had to hesitate a second, to make sure Wallace wasn't wide open for a backdoor lob, allow Wallace's man to recover from his help on the strong side. That half-second delay was enough to let Wallace set the down screen and free House for the open look from three. If the Sixers are staying at home on their men, instead of hedging against penetration, Sheed's man is there to prevent the lob and Jrue can stick with House, fight over the screen and be there to contest the shot. Now this example could also point toward Speights being out of position, helping too early, or just way too far off his man, but I think the problem is exacerbated by a faulty philosophy. If Speights is in Sheed's hip pocket, on the strong side, he's in position to challenge a layup if the ball beats the man on the perimeter, and he's right there to stop the lob. Instead, you've got perimeter guys assuming weak side responsibility on a big and losing a shooter in the process. Again, it's early, but this is something I'll definitely be keeping my eye on. In other news, Tom Moore has a good piece on the open competition for the role of first guard off the bench. We really, really need Jrue to step up and take that spot. 
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Brian, Jrue!s quote hit the nail on the head, and I loved reading it.And I have to say he is more qualified than our new coach probably on that end of the court after a year playing under Howland.We used to call it your man being one pass, two passes, or three passes away when teaching the kids in our league good man to man defense but at this level the talent is too good to have this work.I hope it gets better or it will be a long season.
Tom!s article puts some clarity on what our coach is doing rotation wise but I hope if Jrue fails this audition he isn!t buried on the bench.
Well this shows you Jrue hss a high basketbsll IQ but Ty L.......sorry couldn't resist.
Seriously I think the principles here as Brian laid out are very simple. It is not just these past few games or even last year. It has been years that the Sixers have been getting beat trying to defend 3's. Think about Jim O'Briens defense which was was predicated upon the same thing. He used to say "we want to keep people out of the paint". I agree if we have big man who can block shots I would rather take my chances with that than have a team shoot 30 3's in a game because we are giving it to them. Even the Knicks shot themselves back in the game. The other thing as mentioned is figting over a screen. Lou has to get better at that because he usually goes under.Ivey can fight over a screen and even sometimes Green.
Any philosophy won't matter with this team until the guys play with a sense of urgency and assume accountability until the defensive rebound is secured resulting in the stop. When Dala makes comments of the sort, like when he said after the game the other night, that he thinks they just relax after several seconds on the shot clock then it won't matter what system you employ. Intensity throughout a defensive possession is absolutely vital.
At what point will these players drive and will-to-win kick in? Motivation from a coach can only go so far, a certain level or degree has to come from within.
It has been mentioned before that this team needs someone to tap into it's defensive potential. Well, doesn't potential just mean you haven't done anything of note yet?
Measureables and athletic ability in no way automatically translate to defensive prowess. Smarts and the all important will-to-want-to take precedence when it comes to defense. When you have individual defenders that are subpar (and we have quite a few), at the blink of an eye the whole team concept can be broken down. A guy can be the biggest freak of an athlete you have ever seen and be height and weight proportioned, and have passable lateral quickness, but if he lacks the IQ and the want-to then you pretty much have nothing.
Maybe our guys just have an inflated sense of self-worth. Because they sure aren't as good as they think they are or as good as they seem to believe from quotes they make to the press. Thad after the Boston game is a good example of this. If he thinks the team is as good as Boston and can compete with any team in the league, how long does it take for that sense of urgency, full-game intensity, want-to on each possession, and relentless drive for the will-to-win to shine through?
I sure am damn-skippy patiently waiting...
Honestly, I think it's a bad combination for this team and I'm not really sure how much desire plays into it. The desire is there, for the most part, in fact I think the problem is that they're too aggressive in their helping and not aggressive enough in covering their own men. I'll steal from TK76's football analogy below, and use Thad as an example. Say he's the safety when he's on the weak side, when he over-helps and jumps into the lane it's like a safety trying to jump a route and pick off the pass. The only problem is that jumping the route made him lose deep contain, and the QB pump-faked.
All hope isn't lost, and you're right, the players do need to do a much better job of executing this system, whether they (or I) agree with the principles or not. You've got a bad mixture of youth (Lou, Thad, Jrue), low basketball IQs (Sam, Speights) and somewhat diminished athleticism (Brand, Kapono) any one of which can lead to a breakdown. Make them play and adjust to an offense for 24 seconds, and something is going to slip through the cracks.
This describes basic principles of every help defense. There is a triangle between a defender, his man and the ball. the defender is supposed to be able to see the ball and their defender and that way can in theory get back to cover their man abs the ball moves.
This defensive base is sort of like "Cover 2" in football. Some teams can be great at it, but other teams play it so soft the result is a prevent defense (preventing only penetration but not shots.)
The problem is that teams try to take advantage of this, and it is susceptibility to simple 2 man games like pick and pop. On defense teams typically adapt by telling certain defenders to only give token help- which I assume EJ is doing but not going into that level of detail in the press.
Personally, I prefer more aggressive schemes like how the Celtics play. They pressure both the ball handler and players one pass away. The Sixers were taking 12 seconds just to get into their offense because the PG could not make the initial pass. This type of pressure undermines many offenses because if they start running out of time they can't get to their better options.
Sticking with a FB analogy, I'd rather go with a attacking scheme like the Ravens the a soft cover 2 scheme like Dungy runs. Both can be effective, but the Sixers quickness and length suggests an aggressive scheme to deny initial passes fits better.
Let's stick w/ the football analogy for a second. Say the on-the-ball defense is the equivalent of the pass rush in the NBA. With no pressure, a QB is going to pick apart a cover 2. Same applies here, if Lou can't stop the pressure on his own, it's only a matter of time until the ball is going to find an open shooter because the zone is busy reacting. (I think that makes sense). With the other four players all designated as helpers, penetration breaks every aspect of the defense down.
Anyway, if the Sixers are going to be scrambling to recover on the defensive end, I'd much rather have them scrambling to recover from hard doubles and traps on the perimeter, than scrambling to recover from help that isn't even needed on the weak side. I think the Sixers trapped Rondo one time in the Celtics game (Brand doubled off the P&R) and it resulted in a turnover. I'd like to see them mix in some hard traps on the P&R instead of just going with having the big execute a token show, which seems to be their MO.
Well what do you know....they hard-doubled and trapped quite a few times tonight (Hassell at least twice). It created desperately needed turnovers too on a few of them.
So does this explain why this team hasn't been able to defend the pick & roll for close to a decade?
I'd say some combination of AI, Andre Miller, Lou Williams and Sam Dalembert has a lot to do with that decade long porblem :)
Not exactly the best players to execute great P&R defense. A combination of Lazy, Stupid and Pick magnets.
That's why I could see this eventually being a great defensive team with Jrue/Iguodala/Thad/Brand/Sam and a defensive minded coach.
That said, I thought the 1st half defense from the starters V. Celtics was great. The key was Iguodala denying passes to Allen (and Thad to Peirce.) If you can bog down the offense before it gets started the shot clock starts working for you and the other team breaks down.
Sorry, this was in response to Brian's earlier comment.
Definitely thought Jrue over-helped a couple of times that game. Hopefully it's just a young kid not fully grasping the system or just taking it too far. I do agree that Jordan's help is disturbing. I feel like this is a fairly simple point from playing basketball,Over-helping= Open Threes, plain and simple. Even though Iguodala is an elite wing defender, the strength of our D is inside WHEN Elton and Sammy play. The 1st quarter the other night was beautiful. The Celtics kept throwing it down low to Perkins and Garnett and they forced tough shot after tough shot. Let those guys handle their business down low!
Finally, I'm concerned about Thad's D. I don't have stats in front of me but right now he is a below average defender. Whether or not it's just confidence or playing too far off his man, he just isn't there yet. Pierce killed him the other night, going anywhere he wanted. He has a history of not being smart either (Ray Allen 3 in reg season last year= over-helping, Turkoglu 3 in playoffs= way too easy of a shot letting Hedo do what he was comfortable doing). The other night was a little scary because his shot wasn't going but he was hurting us on the other end too.
Keeping to the Football analogy, I remember in Maurice Cheek's first season, we employed a trap and press defensive strategy. It worked very well.
It fits this starting lineup nicely. And to be honest, the PG position is still one of the most valuable positions in basketball. Let's run traps, presses, double-teams. Pressure the imbounds pass.
Let's be the basketball version of the Eagles. Blitz, Blitz and Blitz some more! With a little zone in between :).
I agree 100% that the Sixers over-help too much. I noted elsewhere last year that the "protect the paint" strategy employed by Cheeks, O'Brien, and Larry Brown was effective in the 80's up to the early 90's when teams didn't take (or make) as many 3's, but half the players in the NBA today can hit a standstill open 3 better than they can hit an intermediate runner or floater. It's disturbing that Jordan also talks about protecting the paint; I had hoped his defensive strategy would be more 3-conscious (since the Princeton offense itself often involves taking lots of 3's). It's also a great point (I said it last year too) that what works in practice for the Sixers won't work during the game, because almost every team is better at shooting 3's than the Sixers.
Now, protecting the paint is necessary if a guy is going to get a lay-up or a dunk (eFG's on dunks is probably close to 100%). But as some have noted, those cases don't account for a lot of the over-helping. With players like Thad and Speights, I think a lot of it is laziness, watching the ball exclusively instead of keeping track of where your man is. Thad's losing sight of Ray Allen last year was the most egregious example (esp. since a made 3 was much worse than a made 2 -- and the potential 2 was Pierce against Iguodala and Dalembert), but I remember the 1st quarter of the Spurs game around the same time when Thad gave up 3 or 4 wide-open 3's to Matt Bonner in the 1st quarter. Matt Bonner! -- who can't do anything but shoot 3's.
Anyhow, let's hope the Sixers can keep the short-handed Nets under 10 made 3's tonight ...
Well, they held them to four, but JK made four all by himself.
Funny, Bonner was the absolute difference in that game as I think it was the Parker fluky for the win, but Bonner was sizzling at the start, though one-dimensionally - which doesn't pose a threat to guard.
You guys deliver some thoughtful convo around these parts(been reading off and on). Poignant observations.