No King Exempt from a Trade

[thesanityannex]

So...what has being the 12th best defensive team over the last 7 years gotten us? A great, entertaining team, yes...but if you're looking for a championship-caliber team, something has to be done defensively...that's the bottom-line. I don't think that's arguable...Seattle shoved our sub-par defense down our throats. We've tinkered with many different line-ups and can score a lot of points, but someone had better address our defense soon before we end up a lottery team again. That is definitely not what I'm looking for.

if the suns end up winning this whole thing what is going to be your argument about defense then. they have NO defense. a team with no defense, like the kings, just has to score more than their opponent, not necessarily limit their opponent. i think everyone got on this whole "we need defense" train because the pistons won ONE championship with a defensive team.

 

[uolj]

if the suns end up winning this whole thing what is going to be your argument about defense then. they have NO defense. a team with no defense, like the kings, just has to score more than their opponent, not necessarily limit their opponent. i think everyone got on this whole "we need defense" train because the pistons won ONE championship with a defensive team.

Of course, the Suns aren't going to win the whole thing, unless they get very lucky. Maybe next year.

People have been saying we need defense since the Kings became contenders. Then, when the Kings got defensive, they steamrolled the Mavericks who didn't. Now, the Kings lost their defense, and we all know that is a key in returning to championship contender status.

 

[thesanityannex]

so is offense, did you notice the scoring drop once the playoffs started.

 

[Londonking]

Interesting...Uolj and The sanityannex debating whether or not the bias should be on offence or defence in order to be serious title contenders.

IMHO, while it may be that a 'pure' team of either type has a chance of winning if they are significantly better at that disipline (point prevention or point acquisition) the greatest likelyhodd is that the team who can consistantly demonstrate superior execution at both ends of the court is the one to back.

This year i think that might be The Heat or The Spurs. (Though of course the biased teams of Pistons and Suns have a chance)
As the current Kings are so obviously deficient on the defensive end it isnt surprising we look to address that imbalace as a priority. I just think we have to be careful what we wish for...too stong an emphasis on defence may not achieve the hoped for results and wont be pretty to watch !!

As Petrie puts the pieces together over the coming months its going to be facinating trying to judge how we are going to be.

 

[Bricklayer]

i think everyone got on this whole "we need defense" train because the pistons won ONE championship with a defensive team.

Uh...no. Its because for the last 25 years at least (and likely longer than that, just my window) there has not been a single below average defensive team to ever win the title. Most of the title winners have in fact been great defensive teams, and the ones who have not have still been good.

And the Suns are NOT a terrible defensive team. They play fast, so they give up a lot of points. But they are actually 14th in the league in Opp Fg% and 3rd in the league in Opp 3pt FG%. They are also 9th in blocks, albeit only 22nd in steals. They are not a good defensive team, and very likely not a good enoguh defensive team, but neither are they bad. Mediocre, just play very fast.

 

[thesanityannex]

Uh...no. Its because for the last 25 years at least (and likely longer than that, just my window) there has not been a single below average defensive team to ever win the title. Most of the title winners have in fact been great defensive teams, and the ones who have not have still been good.

And the Suns are NOT a terrible defensive team. They play fast, so they give up a lot of points. But they are actually 14th in the league in Opp Fg% and 3rd in the league in Opp 3pt FG%. They are also 9th in blocks, albeit only 22nd in steals. They are not a good defensive team, and very likely not a good enoguh defensive team, but neither are they bad. Mediocre, just play very fast.

i agree with you totally. and like you said, they are just mediocre. their offense obviously makes up for their defense. im just worried the kings will try so hard to become a defensive minded team and forget what got them to the point they are at now, a top offensive team. i also dont like watching defensive minded teams aka the pistons play. boring games. the suns remind me of the kings of old and im interested to see how far they can take their offensively driven attack.

 

[Padrino]

i agree with you totally. and like you said, they are just mediocre. their offense obviously makes up for their defense. im just worried the kings will try so hard to become a defensive minded team and forget what got them to the point they are at now, a top offensive team. i also dont like watching defensive minded teams aka the pistons play. boring games. the suns remind me of the kings of old and im interested to see how far they can take their offensively driven attack.

i think the suns can make a legitimate run at the title. people seem to think SA will dominate them, but we didnt see the spurs dominate the sonics. as great a defensive team as SA is, and as much as they've expanded their offensive attack, i'm just not convinced that they're gonna handle phoenix. and, if phoenix does advance, i can hardly believe that detroit would be able to keep up with them. miami might, but they would definitely need a healthy shaq. at any rate, the suns have just as good of a chance of winning a title as any team remaining in the playoffs.

 

[uolj]

im just worried the kings will try so hard to become a defensive minded team and forget what got them to the point they are at now, a top offensive team.

Uhh, I wouldn't worry about that any time soon. Unless the Kings get about 12 new players, a new coach and a new GM over the summer, they will still be offensive minded.

 

[thesanityannex]

defense is for people who cant score.







jk