Derek Bodner’s Blog

(Reposted from my PhillyArena.net blog)

11 games into the season and the 76ers have a winning record. There are more than a few positives to the early season. The team is clicking in a manner in which nobody could have predicted offensively, ranking among the NBA’s elite in nearly every statistical offensive category. The team ranks in the top 10 in points per game, field goal percentage, and assists per game. They are scoring 104 points per game, at a rate of 1.29 points per shot. Allen Iverson is scoring a career high 32.4 points per game at a very impressive 44.7%. Chris Webber has exceeded expectations as he rebounds from a tough second half to last season, and Andre Iguodala has shown flashes of asserting himself. So what is the hold up? The other side of the ball.

The Sixers defense has been porous. There really are not enough negative words to describe it. Every member of the Sixers, from Iverson, to Korver, to Webber, and even to Andre Iguodala, is a flawed defender. The sad state of the Sixers defense is compounded by the lackluster rebounding efforts.

At the heart of the matter is penetration, typically from the point guard or shooting guard positions. Allen Iverson has never been one to deny penetration defensively, and this is made worse by his inopportune gambling for steals. Kyle Korver’s foot speed is less than optimal. The pairing of these two in a starting lineup creates a team susceptible to dribble penetration, a problem that has been sorely evident after the previous two games in which the Sixers played two of the best penetrating wing players (Wade and LeBron) in the game.

And you may have noticed I included Andre Iguodala in that group. Yes, he’s shown flashes of defensive brilliance. But he needs to do a better job of fitting his defensive strategy for differing players. He did a great job of getting in the face of Kobe Bryant and forcing him into tough shots. But he then came back and played the same defensive game against Wade and King James. Knowing the lack of rotational help behind him, and knowing how potent of penetrators James and Wade are, he had to play off of them. As good of an individual defensive player as Iguodala is, there isn’t a player in the game who can stay in front of those two offensive juggernauts. This recognition is an area Andre must improve on.

That being said, Andre’s the least of our defensive problems.

Once the perimeter players get into the lane, our big men are hopeless in their rotations. It is unfathomable how poorly our bigs rotate to deny a penetration. Quite simply they don’t. All of our big men currently in the rotation are a complete liability in one phase defensively.

Chris Webber has been rejuvenated of sorts offensively. He and Iverson have combined to answer the critics who said they could not play together offensively. Where the effects of microfracture surgery are most evident with Chris Webber is with his lateral mobility. Chris was never a great defender, and at this point he’s a complete and utter liability. He’s performed acceptably on his own man, playing some solid (if unspectacular) man to man defense. But his defense on the pick and roll is pathetic, and his rotation to challenge penetration is non-existent. When Chris is in the game, particularly at the center position, guards have complete freedom to drive down the lane.

A great shotblocking center could help mask some of the Sixers greatest deficiencies. And Steven Hunter is a more than capable shotblocker. He’s averaging 1.7 blocks per game in 27 minutes per game this season. So why isn’t he playing more? Why is he often not in the game in late game situations? Because he’s one of the worst defensive rebounding centers in the league. Steven Hunter is averaging 1.9 defensive rebounds per game from the center position in 27 minutes per game. That’s simply unacceptable from a starting center. To put that in perspective, the following players are averaging more defensive rebounds per game than the player manning the pivot for the Sixers: Chris Webber, Andre Iguodala, Kyle Korver, John Salmons, Allen Iverson, James Thomas.

Yes, that’s right. James Thomas in 9 minutes grabs as many defensive rebounds as Steven Hunter in 27. Kevin Ollie, all 6’2” and 195 pounds of him, averages more defensive rebounds per minute than Steven Hunter. That leaves Maurice Cheeks with the unenviable position of either having shotblocking but no rebounding (letting Hunter play major minutes), or have rebounding but no shotblocking (Thomas or Bradley at the power forward position, Webber at center). Unfortunately, Maurice has decided that the answer for large stretches of the game is to have Lee Nailon log time at the power forward position. To say the least, that’s been disastrous. Lee Nailon has played 27% of our power forward minutes. During that time the Sixers have collected 59.5% of the defensive rebounding opportunities. A good defensive rebounding team collects about 75%. Ouch.

Dribble penetration. Defensive rebounding. The crux of the Sixers problems in this young season. Can it be fixed?

Unfortunately defensively I don’t think we will ever see the Sixers as a good defensive ballclub. There are just too many guards/forwards who can’t deny penetration, or are slow laterally. There are too many big men who are bad at defending the pick and roll. Obviously, we have to improve. But we’ll never be good.

In order to make up for bad defense, a team must (besides be good offensively) do two things. One, they must dominate the turnovers. Check. So far the Sixers have 45 fewer turnovers than their opponents. That’s a very good statistic. Two, the Sixers must dominate the rebounding category. And this is where the Sixers must improve. The addition of Dalembert will help, as it will finally give a big man who can provide both weakside defensive help and rebounding, and not be a liability in one facet of the defensive game. Dalembert will help not only in what he himself is able to provide, but that should also allow us to get two poor defensive rebounders off the court. With Dalembert and Hunter eating up all the center minutes, it will allow Chris Webber to eat up nearly all the power forward minutes, meaning Nailon should be able to be taken out of the power forward rotation. It will also limit Hunter’s minutes more effectively, and allow him to play in situations where his shot blocking abilities can be an advantage, and not hurt us so much on the boards.

But Samuel must improve. This is where we will find out how hard he worked in the offseason, and whether the investment was well spent. A Samuel Dalembert who doesn’t box out will leave the Sixers a mediocre team. Fun to watch, but mediocre.