The Point Where Raptors Defensive Woes Begin
By RaptorTalkThe Raptors are not a great defensive team. It's pretty obvious that they hang their hat on their offensive prowess - so we better buckle our seatbelts and prepare for a bunch of 120 - 115 games.
As we near the end of November, the Raptors continue to sport the worst ever rating of Points Allowed Per 100 Possessions in NBA history - at 116 pts per 100 possessions. Jay Triano's dream of a top ten defense is just that - a dream.
That said, the Raptors have the talent to improve defensively and only time will tell if they tighten up the D. If they do, they stand a chance to approach 50 wins based on their high powered offense simply overpowering the other team on many nights. If they don't, then the Raptors will be no better than a .500 team.
Thanks to the Letter V who is responsible for creating this great pic!
Help defence is based on the basic concept that defenders rotate to fill gaps as if all five players are on a rope or a chain. We all know that a chain is only as strong as it's weakest link and the same can be said for the Raptors' defense.
As Leo Rautins said early in the Orlando game, "let's not sugar coat it - Jose Calderon's defense has not be good". No doubt, Jose is the weakest defender on the Raptors. The fact is there are times when Jose has trouble sticking with his is own shadow on a sunny day. That gives us pause for concern.
Jose's jazz hands and clapping may look like he's doing something - but that's not much consolation to his teammates who must deal with blow by after blow by.
Stan Van Gundy made it clear in the first Magic meeting with Toronto that he was going straight at Jose Calderon with the quicker Jameer Nelson. Early in the second Orlando game, Van Gundy had Jason Williams driving unabated to the hole.
The plan is simple. Blow by the token Raptor resistance at the point and watch the remaining five defenders scramble. With a little ball movement, its easy to get an open look against Toronto.
A glimmer of hope
The good news is that Jarrett Jack is playing more minutes and is noticeably more tenacious in defending the point.
Calderon seems to be responding accordingly and there are glimpses that his defense at the point of attack is showing an uptick from 'non-existent' to 'poor'. Now if Jose can get his defense moved up a notch to say 'passable' - this would have a huge impact on the Raptors' overall team defence. If it leads to only 3 or 4 additional stops per game, we're looking at a defence that surrenders 6 to 12 fewer points.
That's huge.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not putting all our defensive problems on Jose. But I do believe that a slight improvement at the point of attack from numero ocho will have a significant improvement on the team's overall defense.
Am I expecting lockdown defense? No. Am I hoping for something that's better than worst ever in NBA history? Absolutely.
Hopefully Jose Calderon's defense gets better over the upcoming weeks. Time will tell.
Posted by RaptorTalk at 11/25/2009 11:13 AM 
Categories: General Raptor Talk
Tags: Toronto Raptors Jarrett Jack Jose Calderon
Categories: General Raptor Talk
Tags: Toronto Raptors Jarrett Jack Jose Calderon
LOL That picture is hilarious!
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Hilarious! Hilarious!
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I'm sure Bosh, Bargnani, Turkoglu, DeRozan et all, are glad to see that Calderon, who everyone is jumping on, is the reason for the poor defense, and not them.
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