Jack Armstrong Says "Guard Your Freaking Man"
By RaptorTalk:Earlier today on Toronto's FAN 590, former Niagara University head basketball coach and Raptors TV analyst Jack Armstrong went on a very entertaining and informative mini rant.
Jack's rant was about the Raptors defence and the coaching staff's overall defensive philosophy. As best I recall, this is a summary of what Jack Armstrong had to say:
First he said the Raptors are kidding themselves if they think they will become a Top Ten defensive team (as Jay Triano said he wants them to be) because the Raptors simpy don't have the starting unit that has the necessary defensive skill. The second unit can be good defensively once Evans returns, but the starting five are not just great defenders.
Jack went on to say the Raptors need to do a better job of hiding their defensive deficiencies with possibly a zone defence and see how that works. Or they need to focus on being able to (as Jack said), "GUARD YOUR FREAKING MAN!" Jay must try to get his players to guard their man straight up without always expecting help and take their chances on the end result.
In the Coach's opinion, the Raptors have become way too reliant on being a HELP defence team. Defenders like Jose Calderon (who Jack singled out as having challenges with defending his own man) have grown to "expect" help on virtually every play. Problem is that the "helper" starts laying off his man, so he can rotate over to help - which then leaves his man open waiting for his help and so on and so on.
Help is becoming a crutch
Jack's feeling is the Raptors are so overly focused on helping to the point that on almost every play he sees them cheating off their man because they know they need to help someone else. They don't have confidence that the guy next to them can contain their own cover. Eric Smith mentioned there were a couple of instances where Antoine Wright was leaving his man early because he was anticipating helping Calderon.
Armstrong said that good coaches like Adelman and Van Gundy know this and they can easily capitalize by utilizing quick passes and by running drive and kick. Once the ball starts swinging and defenders are sucked out of position, the Raptor helpers are scrambling and eventually someone is left unguarded with an easy wide open look.
What Jack described is what we see night after night with the Raptors. The defence collapses to help on the perimeter which inevitablty results in a mad scramble of rotating helpers. No one is in position to effectively guard their man and as a result there is an open shooter taking an uncontested shot.
I checked the 3 point shooting numbers from those two games which Jack mentioned and this is the end result.
v. Houston (preseason): 17 for 22 (77.3%)
v. Orlando (November 1): 17 for 32 (53.1%)
After the preseason game, Jay's strategy was defended as "one of those games where the outside shooters got hot". Well guess what? It happened again yesterday and will continue to happen.
Jack summarized it by saying the Raptors need to decide what they're going to "hang their hats on" based on their skills and talent.
Jack said (and I paraphrase) "let's face facts - the Raptors are a gifted offensive team but they will never be a great defensive team.". Triano needs to focus on maximizing the offensive weapons and masking the defensive deficiencies, whether its through a zone or "guarding your freaking man"!
The way I see it
While we agree with Jack, we should be fair and point out that a good perimeter shooting team can shred a zone very quickly. So its not the cure-all for what ails the Raptors.
But, I most certainly agree that the Raptors should try to play more straight up defence or we're going to grow tired of watching the NBA teams light up the Raptors with record-setting 3 point performances.
By all accounts, Jay Triano's "pack the house" defence isn't working too well right now. While the Raptors are hunkered down in the house guarding the pots and pans, they are allowing the thieves steal the expensive vehicles sitting unguarded on the driveway.
Not sure it makes sense.
RaptorTalk: Have a listen....
Jack Armstrong Audio Link - November 2, 2009
Posted by RaptorTalk at 11/2/2009 8:18 PM 
Categories: media
Tags: Toronto Raptors Jack Armstrong FAN 590
Categories: media
Tags: Toronto Raptors Jack Armstrong FAN 590
Jack Armstrong is a good color analyst and knowledgeable basketball man, but if he was a know all about coaching he would still be a coach, which he is not.
Triano has his system, protect the house, which is a workable defense forcing low percentage attempts, it is up to the players to put the effort and energy into adapting to it.
It's a philosophy that will take time, as it requires a TEAM effort, not individual effort.
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Jack's right. allowing teams to shoot forty percent threes is idiotic. Jose has to strart playing d. He's been awful...
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