Defense and Rebounding

[luckyman]

Defensive rating is 29th and defensive rebounding % is 30th (dead last). Oddly enough team is ranked 9th in offensive rebound %. Yes Lonzo Ball needs to get into the lane more, but these two items are the most pressing matter. They cannot get stops and when they do, cant rebound the ball. And I dont think size is the issue. They simply do not do the fundamental things like block out.

Other ranks:

Assist % - 2nd
Assists/game - 1st
3 point attempts/game - 2nd
Offensive rating - 5th
Assist/TO - 2nd
Pace - 7th
Points in the paint - 10th
Opponent's 2nd chance points - 30th

Also, Brandon Ingram is ahead of you know who in most player efficiency metrics. But I'll hold off on that for now.

[AUSSIE_PELICAN]

Defensive rating is 29th and defensive rebounding % is 30th (dead last). Oddly enough team is ranked 9th in offensive rebound %. Yes Lonzo Ball needs to get into the lane more, but these two items are the most pressing matter. They cannot get stops and when they do, cant rebound the ball. And I dont think size is the issue. They simply do not do the fundamental things like block out.

Other ranks:

Assist % - 2nd
Assists/game - 1st
3 point attempts/game - 2nd
Offensive rating - 5th
Assist/TO - 2nd
Pace - 7th
Points in the paint - 10th
Opponent's 2nd chance points - 30th

Also, Brandon Ingram is ahead of you know who in most player efficiency metrics. But I'll hold off on that for now.

Is it JT?

[Snarly]

When your best rebounders aren’t big men, you’re a bad rebounding team. Seems like boxing out isn’t emphasized and ball watching is not held accountable for. What’s new?

[Pelicanidae]

I'm honestly not too worried about it in the long run. Obviously it could easily turn into a big long-term issue, but I'm willing to wait to see if that is the case.

As of right now, we've been injured since day 1: Zion not active. He's 8+ rebounds a night that we just aren't getting, and while he's a rookie (and therefore will take a little while to catch up on consistent defense) he's still a quick twitch defender who can switch and get steals that we don't have active.

Favors has also been injured, throughout all of pre-season and up until now. I was personally in support of sitting him out of pre-season so he could be ready for the real season, but apparently Gentry didn't agree, and the consequence is that we've now played multiple games with a hobbled Favors who couldn't top 25 minutes on any night, and now he's missing games as well.

Add to that Jrue's offensive troubles which have made the scoring disparity more dramatic and, oh yeah, him missing games due to injury as well now, it's no surprise that our rebounding and defense has looked bad, and that a slightly wobbly offense hasn't been good enough to offset it.

Wait for Jrue and Favors to come back and settle in, and there will very probably be some improvement. Then when Zion comes back and settles in, it will probably get better again. It's obviously fair to be concerned, but I feel like there are some things we just need to be patient with.

[Nichols]

I'm honestly not too worried about it in the long run. Obviously it could easily turn into a big long-term issue, but I'm willing to wait to see if that is the case.

As of right now, we've been injured since day 1: Zion not active. He's 8+ rebounds a night that we just aren't getting, and while he's a rookie (and therefore will take a little while to catch up on consistent defense) he's still a quick twitch defender who can switch and get steals that we don't have active.

Favors has also been injured, throughout all of pre-season and up until now. I was personally in support of sitting him out of pre-season so he could be ready for the real season, but apparently Gentry didn't agree, and the consequence is that we've now played multiple games with a hobbled Favors who couldn't top 25 minutes on any night, and now he's missing games as well.

Add to that Jrue's offensive troubles which have made the scoring disparity more dramatic and, oh yeah, him missing games due to injury as well now, it's no surprise that our rebounding and defense has looked bad, and that a slightly wobbly offense hasn't been good enough to offset it.

Wait for Jrue and Favors to come back and settle in, and there will very probably be some improvement. Then when Zion comes back and settles in, it will probably get better again. It's obviously fair to be concerned, but I feel like there are some things we just need to be patient with.

[pelicanchamp]

Totally agree with OP.

Zion will change everything though. The problems are rebounding, getting to FT line....

We gotta move Okafor and Moore if possible. I want a young big who can defend and get rebounds. I would trade a 1st to get one.


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