you're biggest gripe about the raps this season - area for improvement

[S.R.]

This is the issue at the moment for sure, though I do think you are overstating how dire the system is. This is the same system that has been run for the last couple of years, fairly successfully, with similar personnel. I wish Dwayne Casey, who should be a good defensive coach, would be able to design a defensive system that works with the people he has, but I understand why he hasn't yet. It was working up until recently, and maybe with DeRozan coming back, another defender who knows the system and can play it pretty well, he's hoping it will right itself.

But I don't think this should be the long term defensive system for this team as constructed. The players, particularly Valanciunas of the core group, lack the defensive ability to play it well. Plus, if the effort level drops for any reason like it did at the end of the road trip, the whole defense just crashes and burns.

Why basically the same personnel with the same coach and system have dropped off from a top third defense to a bottom third defense boils down to 2 or 3 things:
- DeMar's absence (also mentioned in Lowe's article - as well as being a better defender than replacements like Lou and GV, the heavier offensive load picked up by all the guards seems to have hurt their defensive play in his absence)
- Other teams figure out the Raps system and weaknesses. The D & the limitations of the personnel are now being exploited by opponents. Do the Raps just need to "try harder," or does the coach need to adjust?
- All that said, the effort is inconsistent. We can all see it. They crank it up every now and then for stints, and the defense still looks potent and disruptive. I don't know why the effort and attention to detail are so irregular.

[TeamEd]

Why basically the same personnel with the same coach and system have dropped off from a top third defense to a bottom third defense boils down to 2 or 3 things:
- DeMar's absence (also mentioned in Lowe's article - as well as being a better defender than replacements like Lou and GV, the heavier offensive load picked up by all the guards seems to have hurt their defensive play in his absence)
- Other teams figure out the Raps system and weaknesses. The D & the limitations of the personnel are now being exploited by opponents. Do the Raps just need to "try harder," or does the coach need to adjust?
- All that said, the effort is inconsistent. We can all see it. They crank it up every now and then for stints, and the defense still looks potent and disruptive. I don't know why the effort and attention to detail are so irregular.

The biggest reason -- well, replacing Demar's time with GV and Lou is a probably a bigger reason -- is Amir is not healthy. Amir's value to this defense as an excellent help oriented big cannot be overstated. That man is the essentially the only member of the starting lineup who's a good fit for the current defensive scheme, but his body is touch and go. There is no one else on the team who's mobile and also offers any semblance of post defense and rebounding against opposing bigs.

[3inthekeon]

Thing is, would the Chicago style system really work better with our team? Seems to me it starts with individual wing defence, and Chicago with Butler, Hinrich Dunleavy,range from very good to competent. DD, Ross, Williams range from competent to bad. Or am I missing something.

And even with defensive studs and Thibs, the Bulls D rating is 11th.

[TeamEd]

Thing is, would the Chicago style system really work better with our team? Seems to me it starts with individual wing defence, and Chicago with Butler, Hinrich Dunleavy,range from very good to competent. DD, Ross, Williams range from competent to bad. Or am I missing something.

And even with defensive studs and Thibs, the Bulls D rating is 11th.

I think that's partly that the league has figured out the Bulls D, partly that Noah's got niggling injuries and partly that Gasol is simply not a good defender. I gotta say, though. I worry the Raps' system is currently making the wing defenders look worse than they actually are. I'm not saying that GV could ever be a good defender, but TRoss certainly could. And yet, in this system he either seems perpetually lost, or he's funneling his man into help D that never shows up.