Question for everyone...

[Buzzard]

I keep reading on this board about how bad our defense is; yet no one ever speaks out about the fact that we ranked dead last in points per game scored last year.

Here is the stat line from NBA.Com

NBA.COM

PPG Scored

Rank 32nd/PPG Scored 93.65

PPG Allowed

Rank 15th/98.41

So here is the question:

[exodus]

Taken literally (year by year improvement) the answer would be offense. But the big reason our offense suffered is because our best players missed a total of nearly 200 games last year.

As far as the current roster goes the biggest concern for me this year and down the road is interior D. We don't have a big with legit center size who can play D.

[prolific25]

The offense was horrible last year but the Hawks should improve(Law,Horford,and an improved Marvin)in that department.

The defense was bad, we just played at a slow pace so it skewed the numbers.The Hawks got killed inside last year and they will continue to get killed inside unless they get a center who can defend the paint. Getting rid of Harrington last year was a big step forward in terms of defense and replacing Zaza with Diop/Kwame next year will also make the D much better. BK has to make this his biggest priority next summer(besides signing Smith).

[roezag]

I could go with what all of my coaches told me and say "defense leads to offense" with transition and easy buckets, and I would definitely like to see the pace picked up from last season (which it sounds like it has). However, I think our half court offense needs a lot of work.

[Diesel]

You have to consider how disruptive injuries have been to this team.

Our best player missed 25 games last year.

Right now, we are currently ranked 9th in ppg... in preseason. Yes it's just preseason, but we're not last.

[thesheedera]

I believe an offense automatically improves at least to some degree as the defense gets better. Teams with good defense are usually (in my opinion) more fundamentally sound, less selfish and more in tune with the "right way" of playing. Good team defense builds trust and improves teamwork/communication.

A good defensive team often gets more offensive opportunites as well.

I can't stand ugly, slow basketball at all, but to me a team's success is most directly related to the way it defends other teams.

[Buzzard]

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Right now, we are currently ranked 9th in ppg... in preseason. Yes it's just preseason, but we're not last.

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But if we bench Marvin, we lose 18ppg...

[Diesel]

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Teams with good defense are usually (in my opinion) more fundamentally sound, less selfish and more in tune with the "right way" of playing. Good team defense builds trust and improves teamwork/communication.

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This is far from the truth.

Lenny's Hawks were great defensively, but lousy offensively. We lacked scorers so he made up for it with Pace Control and matchups... Not uncommon for good defensive teams. For instance, the last championship Piston teams were hard to watch on offense. They had 2 main plays and when these were not working: 67 - 59...

It's also a bad assumption that good offensive teams that run uptempo don't play defense. I think that only applies to the early Nuggets. IF you go back to the Celtics of old, they would run the pants off of any uptempo team now and they were one of the best defensive groups assembled.

[Buzzard]

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However, I think our half court offense needs a lot of work.

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This is the area I think we need the most improvement. If we can score efficiently this season we will make the playoffs. I think Marvin, Smoove, Chilz and JJ will get it done provided we can avoid injuries.

[thesheedera]

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Teams with good defense are usually (in my opinion) more fundamentally sound, less selfish and more in tune with the "right way" of playing. Good team defense builds trust and improves teamwork/communication.

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This is far from the truth.

Lenny's Hawks were great defensively, but lousy offensively. We lacked scorers so he made up for it with Pace Control and matchups... Not uncommon for good defensive teams. For instance, the last championship Piston teams were hard to watch on offense. They had 2 main plays and when these were not working: 67 - 59...

It's also a bad assumption that good offensive teams that run uptempo don't play defense. I think that only applies to the early Nuggets. IF you go back to the Celtics of old, they would run the pants off of any uptempo team now and they were one of the best defensive groups assembled.

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So what I said was far from the truth because Lenny's team was not good on offense? I'm not saying that good defensive teams are good on offense. I'm saying if you take any team and you improve them defensively, it improves that team offensivly as well. It takes less pressure off the team, promotes teamowrk and communication, and creates more opportunities to score with turnovers.

I also never made the assumption that good offensive uptempo teams are bad defensive teams>

You in no way addressed anything I wrote directly, but you still managed to make it into an argument somehow.

Maybe you haven't lost your edge.

[Buzzard]

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It takes pressure off the team, promotes teamwork and communication, and creates more opportunities to score with turnovers.

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I agree 100%. Off topic but maybe relevant, My golf mentor said something like this yesterday...If you have a great short game, your confidence will improve in your long game as well. Just knowing I can miss in the tee box and still make a par or bogey works wonders for my confidence...

[Diesel]

Not just Lenny's team... Da Bulls, Da Knicks, Da Pistons, a whole lot of teams that made their reputation as good defensive teams were terrible offensive teams. I just pointed out Lenny's team because this is a Hawks board and if your basketball History doesn't go back far enough, at least you'd remember Deke, Long, Corbin, Smitty, and Mookie.

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if you take any team and you improve them defensively, it improves that team offensivly as well. It takes less pressure off the team, promotes teamowrk and communication, and creates more opportunities to score with turnovers.

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This is eutopia but not necessarily reality. What happened with Isiah Thomas' Indiana Pacers. He had Artest, Miller, JO... Three good defensive players who could get it done. Good defense didn't help their offense. Their communication was lousy.

You have to have the system and the coaching for that stuff that you're trying to talk about to work. That's why Utah has only been out of contention 1 time in the last what 16 years? It's not the players... It's the system and the coach. Those things are what increases communication and teamwork.

[Dexmethylphenidate]

Obviously if you're last in one category it's extremely hard to be in the playoffs. They definitely have to improve offensively. Marvin have to emerge as the #2/3 scorer, preferably #2 since he's the better sound shooter than Smith. The addition of Acie IV and Speedy (basically a FA addition) and Horford will uplift the offense tremendously I'd imagine.

[thesheedera]

More than one way to skin a cat of course.

[TheDude]

it's funny that most of the arguments i'm seeing that defense is the most important are saying things like "our offense should improve anyway due to lack of injuries and additions of the rooks." so why exactly does that mean that we don't need to improve our offense this year? just because you think we WILL improve it doesnt mean thats not what we needed to improve the most.

the question was NOT "what do we need to improve the most that you don't think we may have already done steps to go toward that."

the question was simply which one from last year needed improvement..and offense is CLEARLY that choice...

i agree that defense is more important than offense. i agree that to win a championship defense is more important. but for THIS PARTICULAR TEAM to make the next step to playoff-dom, our offense has got to get better than last year......i'm not saying we may not have already taken the steps to do that, but i am saying the season isnt being played yet so that's an assumption not a statistical fact yet.

[thesheedera]

Well it's a question where there's no right answer, it's a matter of preference. We need to imporve both if we're ever gonna have a shot, so posters who care more about defense want better defense while posters who care more about offense want better offense. It might as well be "What should we have more of at Philip's Arena? Beer or hot cheerleaders?"

[AtLaS]

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I believe an offense automatically improves at least to some degree as the defense gets better. Teams with good defense are usually (in my opinion) more fundamentally sound, less selfish and more in tune with the "right way" of playing. Good team defense builds trust and improves teamwork/communication.

A good defensive team often gets more offensive opportunites as well.

I can't stand ugly, slow basketball at all, but to me a team's success is most directly related to the way it defends other teams.

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That's basically exactly what I was going to say. I completely agree. Good defense improves offense.

But you can also have a good offense without having a good defense, of course, which we definitely don't have.

[AHF]

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Well it's a question where there's no right answer, it's a matter of preference. We need to imporve both if we're ever gonna have a shot, so posters who care more about defense want better defense while posters who care more about offense want better offense. It might as well be "What should we have more of at Philip's Arena? Beer or hot cheerleaders?"

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lol I like it. I guess I would go with offense just because I see what Woody is trying to accomplish on D but I haven't seen any kind of offensive structure on the other end of the court. I would call this a question with no wrong answer since both need a lot of improvement.

[Buzzard]

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I would call this a question with no wrong answer since both need a lot of improvement.

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I agree that there is no wrong answer but also have to agree with Doc that there is a much more right answer.

Our offense is obviously the biggest concern; and agree that Woody has a sound defensive plan for our team. I also think that with the addition of Speedy (if he is healthy), Law, and Holford his defense will get even better.

Offensively, we need Marvin, Smoove, and someone at the point to step up and put some scoring pressure on the opposing team. The D will be there; now its just a matter of the offense getting it together...

[Diesel]

Is there a button for just better coaching over all?

Scheme, Matchup, and usage of time.

I think with health, our offense will automatically become better.

Our defense needs work.

However, coaching.... Now that's an issue.