Decade of decadance

[Ryan, Patrick S Maj RES USAFR 439 MSG]

I'm curious, do you think it's the individual defense, the team defense or
both? I ask because I agree wholeheartedly on the defensive aspect being the
key to making this team better on the whole, but at the same time question
exactly "how".  
 
My gut says that Al is passable man on man both at the forward and center
spot, but as soon as he's asked to cover both his man and the myriad guards
who get into the paint at will against this team; it then is HIS man that is
getting the dunk off the dish, foul shots, easy follow up rebound when in
fact it was the SG/PG/SF who actually broke the defense not Al's assignment.

 
I'm not saying Al is Rodman or Cooper; but manned up in the post against the
post players (Ming/Curry/etc) or at the elbow against the driver/shooters
(Bosh/O'Neal/Okur) I think he's at least meeting his +/- most nights
comparing his stats to his opponent over the course of a season.  Now
against the real beef - yeah he's toast - he'll never cover Shaq or Howard
that well, but who exactly does??? That's why Doc starts Perk against those
guys most times.
 
I would put Al in the "most" untouchable arena.  Would I trade him for
Howard - uh, yeah, but that is never going to happen, but when older guys
like O'Neal and Garnett's names are floated I really have to stop and think
"hey, this kid is all of 22 and they're 32 or more" - that's A DECADE of
production. That's a lot.
 
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SNIP
 
It's more than obvious to me that we need to get better defensively.  This
is our Achilles heel.  We need to address it and since none of our young
guys are defensive wizards then none of them should be considered
untouchable.  Offense may be pretty but defense still wins championships. -
JayCelt