It's a False Idea that Pace and Defense Can't Mesh

I specifically said "this is with the understanding that more blocks doesn't necessarily mean good defense", so I'm quite aware of the limitations of blocks as an indicator of good defense. It could indicate bad perimeter defense allowing too much penetration which makes the bigs have to help a lot and therefore block more shots. It could indicate a gambler who blocks shots but gives up offensive rebounds, could indicate a Dikembe Mutombo who has great timing and blocks shots while not jumping all over the place and is a great defender. That's why we also watch, right?

It's a false idea that pace and defense can't mesh, the issue is whether you're sacrificing defense to play fast (eg: Phoenix going undersized in order to play a fast pace). His block regression isn't due to pace, even fast paced teams still play the majority of their games in the half court, and a faster pace would mean more block opportunities, and more rebound opportunities.

Two teams very close to Houston in pace were the Bucks (3rd) and the Nuggets (2nd). Two of the league's top shot blockers, Sanders (3.7 blks/36) and McGee (career high block%, 3.9 blk/36) were on those teams, Milwaukee also had Dalembert (2.5 blks/36) and Udoh (2.3 blks/36) with a high block rate, and Denver had Mozgov (1.8 blk/36) and Koufos (2.0 blk/36), just so we can't say "oh well its just the super athletic jumping jacks". Golden State (4th in pace) had Bogut (2.5 blks/36) and Ezeli (2.4 blls/36) and the Spurs (6th in pace) had Duncan (3.2 blks/36, career high)

The top three teams in blocks were 10th, 3rd and 2nd in pace.

In addition, Milwaukee and Denver ranked 12th and 11th in defensive efficiency, while San Antonio who was 6th in pace ranked 3rd in defensive efficiency. The Wizards were the 5th ranked defense, and only 14th in pace, but their pace both increased and their defense improved after Wall returned.

Again, pace and defense aren't mutually exclusive, the reason people have is perception is that they have seen teams in the past who realize they can't defend and decide to just try and push the pace and outscore everyone. It's similar to the fact that slow pace and defense don't go hand in hand. You don't have to play slow to defend well (San Antonio, OKC), but there are teams who realize that they can't really score that well and that limiting posessions is their best way to stay in games. Their low opponent PPG didn't always mean they were defending well, they might be giving up a poor point per posession, just limiting the games posessions.

You need to look at the context of why I mention KG unless it's of no value. I'm saying that while Asik is better than DJ defensively, it's not significant enough to overcome a mediocre defensive system that the Clippers had. Only a KG level anchor defender can do that, so while Asik can defend better, he can't wouldn't have a significant impact on the team defense in the exact same system. KG has some individual and team/communication abilities that could help overcome some of those weak links, and he would be a guy that players will listen to about defense while an Asik wouldn't command that respect.

When the Spurs transitioned from Duncan to Parker/Ginobili, they increased the pace, but also were still a top defensive team.

The 1980 through the 1987 Bucks teams, which featured Sidney Moncrief, Ricky Pierce, Terry Cummings, Bob Lanier, and Mike Dunleavy during various years, were another example of teams that were top 4 in defense 6 of the 7 years (they had the 6th best in 1983), while also playing at a top pace most of those years.

Those Bucks teams were also examples of great defense and pace. It's happened before.

The Sweet Cheeks Philly teams were other examples of teams with top defense that some years played fast.

For the Stockton Jazz teams, some years they played fast, some years they played slow. The 1994 team was their best in terms of being top in both. They were 7th in offense and defense.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/UTA/1994.html

They lost the the Rockets in the conference finals in 5 games. They'd get their revenge in 1997 against Houston in the conference finals. As well as in 1998 when they knocked them out in the first round, and 20007 when they won a first round game 7 at Houston. And in 2008 when they beat Houston in the first round again.

Bro why are you resurrecting here old ass threads. Are you trolling?

I wouldn't have spent 20 - 30 minutes typing up that response, and comparing DRTG of teams on basketball-reference.com, if I wasn't interested.

There weren't many threads to discuss, so I found the "Clipper Blogs" section, and was reading what some other people have posted.

Come on Postman, this is what people should be doing... search for a thread, instead of making a new thread saying the same thing... Many people, including myself, would get upset if he had rehashed a new thread saying the same thing we've said in the past.

It is a little weird that such specific threads are being rehashed, but the comments seem genuine AND it helps to talk about weird things in the offseason, considering there is not much to talk about.

Thanks.

Also, looking at it further, that 1994 Jazz team isn't a good example anymore. While they were 7th in both offense and defense, they were 23rd in pace. I guess I overlooked that when I was searching through their history.

I do remember when I looked up their offense and defense a few months ago, there were some years they played fast, and some they played slow. But perhaps the years they played fast, maybe they weren't that good at either offense or defense. Or, maybe I should forget about offense, since this thread is more about pace and defense.

Also, if I would have created a new thread, then it just would have been a product of not knowing this thread already existed.

But in this case, I didn't make my post because I originally had something to say.

I was just reading some of the threads in the "Clipper Blogs" section, and this one stood out to me. So I read it, and after reading it, wanted to look at some other examples (Bucks, etc.). So this blog inspired me to respond.

Also, if I spent 20 - 30 minutes with my response, then the Agent0 probably spent even more time with the original post. So it's nice to acknowledge the effort it took with that post, with a response.