Re: Thoughts on the disappointing Celtics

[Alex Wang <awang@mit.edu>]

> > A note on one of the more common criticisms. There have been
> > quite a few people who believe that fronting the post is a bad
> > coaching decision. In fact, the Miami Heat who have great inside
> > defenders in Mourning and PJ Brown front the post (and subsequently
> > trap) almost always, according to Hubie Brown and Jack Ramsay, as
> > well as what I've seen of the Heat on TNT/TBS. It's not some sort
> > of weird Pitino innovation, it's really a standard defensive move.
> 
> Oh c'mon Alex. Mourning and PJ are uncommonly mobile and quick athletes -
> two the quickest pound for pound. They are the exact opposite of
> Potapenko, who carries at least 30 extra pounds of muscle than those
> guys. If you make Potapenko switch and trap, he will look at his very
> worst and he'll continue to give up those 8-10 or 15-20 games to the
> Shaqs and Mournings of the world. But if you ask Vitaly to try to use
> leverage to body up and deny ideal position in the paint (without
> reaching in or grabbing too much), at least he can say "yeah coach, I can
> do that!" and have a fighting chance. In this sense, Potapenko is not in
> the right system presently.

Miami is one example of a team that does this well because of their
superior low post athletes, but they are certainly not the only
example. My point is that fronting the post is a widespread defensive
technique in the league. I am not talking about 3/4 fronting and then
getting behind the man, I am talking about "pure" fronting and relying
on the other interior player to trap if they lob and the perimeter
players to rotate (which doesn't require as much quickness and
mobility for the big man). If the trap isn't great and the rotations
aren't great, the opposing team will rotate the ball for an open shot.
This happens to Miami too - just not as often as it happens to the 
Celtics, because their defensive execution is superior. 
 
Most people seem to have the opinion, "Just play straight up
man-to-man defense, no traps and rotations, no fronting. Big man
defenders play behind their man and defend them with no help." I think
that under the new rules disallowing the dislodging of the man (which
Potapenko was skilled at), this is often suicidal. I would guess that
most decent low post players, including Antoine, score at a 55% or
better rate when given good low post position, with the man beneath
them and no help coming. Of course if you can prevent the low post
player from establishing good inside position, keep him out and play
behind him. Maybe Potapenko can do that sometimes, but that's often
not possible. If the other player gets inside position, maybe through
transition, maybe through screens, you have to front him nowadays,
because you can't shove him out. Either that or you have to trap down
from the perimeter when the pass goes down. It's just not optimal to
allow any decent low-post player operate without harassment one-on-one.

Now do the Celtics execute the front and trap well?  Some games they
do, and many games not well at all. That is the problem (and the
coach bears responsibility for it), and not the fact that they front
the post like just about every team in the league. "Play good
man-to-man defense behind your man without help" is the sort of
easy advice that sounds reasonable - what coach wouldn't like to
be able to tell their players to do it? It's a lot easier than 
implementing all this trapping and rotation. I just don't think that
it actually works in today's NBA (without superior personnel).

Alex