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Re: Where is the defense?
There are very few guys on the team that I see as totally unable to play at least average defense. Other than steals, I don't think Jamison will ever be much of a defender. Same for Atkins, more or less. All the other rotation guys though, could be at least average, and a few could be real studs on that end of the court.
Obviously, you can put some blame on the players. It's always said that defense is far more about hard work and determination than natural abilities and gifts, so you could argue some that the guys simply aren't trying as hard as they could. Then you could jump to the cliched yet accuarate answer of blaming it on the coach, for several reasons. We all saw last year how much steals and flashy play were more highly valued than just playing tough and forcing difficult shots. I thought then and I still think now, he'd be secretly happier with the team forcing 15 steals than 30 well-contested shots. Also, you can kind of tell that a lot of the players on the team aren't really interested in giving the guy their full effort. You can try to lump this one on the players as well, but when you've got a lot of guys in the rotation who seem to at best tolerate the coach rather than enjoy playing for him, it's probably more his fault. Guys like Daniels, Atkins, and more recently Haywood, they must be losing some interest with their roles changing on seemingly a daily basis.
Our defense won't instantly become good if we make a coaching change, but I think such a move would almost instantly make it better, merely because those players who aren't happy with their roles now would give a better effort knowing there's someone new in town. Such a high wouldn't last forever, but if whatever new guys is brought in is capable of demaning even just average defense, we'd be much better off than we are now.
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Where is the defense?
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