Defense-First Approach Emerging as New Blueprint for Rebuilding NBA Teams
Young NBA teams rebuilding around defensive foundations? No way.
Yes way.
At a time when the Association emphasizes nylon-nuking assaults and defense is often referred to as the "less-glamorous end," no fewer than three of the most promising projects are binding their futures to points prevention.
The Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers and Utah Jazz are all changing the way in which we view defensive transformations, as Bleacher Report's Jared Dubin astutely observes:
Pestering opposing offenses is no longer a job left to slow-paced, battle-scarred squads or veteran specialists. For these three teams, it's a primary building block—a collective means to an optimistic end.
Milwaukee Bucks
Defensive Rating: 99.8
Rank: 2
Describe the Bucks in three words.
Long, long and, um, long.
Length is fueling the Bucks' rise through the NBA's defensive ranks. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and John Henson can hug buildings, and they traded for Michael Carter-Williams at the deadline, who, while offensively challenged, is lanky himself.
This gives the Bucks no fewer than four players who can defend at least three different positions. And that's absurd.
Scoring on this squad is an arduous, oft-unsuccessful task, since it's capable of deterring anything and everything. Its weakest point of protection lies behind the arc, where it barely cracks the top half of opponent three-point percentage.
But that's because the Bucks are wont to encourage those shots. Head coach Jason Kidd implements a system in which his players cheat toward the middle, clogging the passing and driving lanes while relying on superior length to close out on shooters.
Ranking 13th in three-point defense is a small price to pay for what the Bucks are doing elsewhere. They're in the top five of defending shots from the restricted area, inside the paint and mid-range.
No other team ranks in the top five of all three categories.
Defense remains the Bucks' lone constant. Their offense is forever sputtering and bogged down by an excess of on-ball scorers. Things are even worse this side of the trade deadline, with Milwaukee fielding a bottom-three attack.
Still, there is offensive potential in most of Milwaukee's core, from Antetokounmpo and Henson, to the injured Jabari Parker and the already-polished Middleton.
In the meantime, the Bucks have an elite defense to carry them. Post-trade-deadline slide and all (6-15 record), they're still playoff locks. And considering this is the same team, with almost the same exact core, that finished 29th in defensive efficiency last season, there's every reason to believe Milwaukee's ascension isn't even close to ending.
It's only just begun.
Philadelphia 76ers
Defensive Rating: 101.4
Rank: 11
From joke to (defensive) juggernaut, the Sixers' talent-shallow roster is doing work.
Make no mistake, the offense is bad. Like, really bad. Actually, let's not mince words: It's an implosive wrecking ball that sullies the concept of scoring points. Almost (but not quite) needless to say, the Sixers have the NBA's worst offense, and it isn't even close.
But the defense, oh the defense.
Nerlens Noel anchors what is now a top-12 unit (top-three unit since Feb. 1). And though the Sixers employ plenty of length and quickness, there really isn't any overstating his individual impact.
Bleacher Report's Alec Nathan starts us off:
When Noel is on the floor, the Sixers allow just 99.8 points per 100 possessions, which would rank second in the NBA. When he steps off, that number explodes, hitting 103.8, which would rank 20th.
Protecting the rim comes naturally. It's obnoxious how effortlessly he seems to rotate over or chase down ball-handlers in time to contest looks at the iron. Of the 117 qualified players who face at least four point-blank shots per game, he ranks sixth in opponent field-goal percentage.
To be sure, Noel is more than a paint policer. He's nimble for a big man, with the lateral explosion and hands of a guard. You won't see him defend all five positions, but he's versatile enough to freelance when the situation calls for or allows it, blowing up dribble drives and passing lanes while switching onto players much shorter and more agile than himself.
If his impact holds (it will), Noel will finish with the third-best rookie defensive box plus/minus in NBA history. And just to clarify, he plays for the Sixers. So yes, the kid is alright.
Not that the Sixers are a one-man defensive show.
Robert Covington is a whiz at defending inside 10 feet of the basket, and the team itself forces a lot of mistakes when guarding against isolation and post-up sets (Nerlens says "You're welcome"). The Sixers cause turnovers 15.2 percent of the time, which, as CBS Sports' Matt Moore previously pointed out, is among the best 31 marks over the last 15 seasons.
That raises the question: If the Sixers are this defensively sound this soon, are there any limits to what they can do moving forward?
Nope.
As Moore wrote:
"In short, Philly's defense shows everything you could possibly want a team built like this to average. With Joel Embiid possibly joining the team next year, Dario Saric's wingspan, and the possibility of them adding another effective defensive wing in the draft at their multiple potential spots, the Sixers join the Magic and Bucks in a new trend of teams building their defense first, and figuring out how to score later.
"
There are still plenty of things for the Sixers to figure out. At some point, they'll need to quit turning players into draft picks and start adding those who can make instant impacts. After all, for all they're doing defensively, they're still on pace to win fewer than 20 games.
That level of losing is not yet justified. Not with the Sixers still in the early stages of a long-term project. But for the first time since general manager Sam Hinkie started getting his hands dirty, there's a light at the end of a tunnel in the form of a real defensive foundation—a silver lining that suggests the Sixers will inevitably be just fine.
Utah Jazz
Defensive Rating: 102.4
Rank: 14
Upon first glance, the Jazz bear no resemblance to an elite defensive squadron. This misunderstanding has one simple remedy.
Look again.
The Jazz have the league's best defense since Feb. 1 by a wide margin, allowing a staunch 95.7 points per 100 possessions. They're even better since inserting Ruby Gobert into the starting lineup (Feb. 20), giving up just 93.2 points per 100 possessions.
Crediting one player for a meteoric rise is usually taboo, but we'll have to make an exception here. The Jazz are a different defensive team when Gobert is on the floor.
Statistically speaking, they remain one of the better outfits with and without him. But he makes everyone's job easier by locking up big men from the opposing starting five—thereby putting less pressure on the second unit—and guarding the rim to impregnable degrees.
Said Jazz head coach Quin Snyder, per The Salt Lake Tribune's Aaron Falk: "Some of the way he's played defensively and the way he's protected the rim has made people forget that this is a guy that didn't play last year."
Gobert ranks first in iron protection among all 117 qualified players who contest at least four such shots per game. The way in which he's able to step out and hassle jump shooters and those who recklessly barrel into the lane also allows teammates to take otherwise unnecessary gambles.
The Jazz are basically inviting players into the paint at this point. They are allowing the sixth-most shot opportunities inside the paint since Feb. 20 yet rank in the top five of opponent field-goal percentage. That's the power of Gobert and his nearly NBA-leading 7.2 percent block rate.
It's the power of Derrick Favors, too. Though he still struggles to defend outside 15 feet of the cup, he is tying a career high with 1.7 blocks per game and remains a general pest when it comes to contesting shots:
Gordon Hayward, meanwhile, is still a Swiss Army knife. He is one of the few Jazz players who can force steals and knows how to use the presences of Gobert and Favors to goad opponents into jump shots.
Rookie Dante Exum has, at times, been a pleasant surprise as well. He is a defensive plus and a suffocating on-ball defender, and he's already showing signs of lasting excellence, as SI.com's Rob Mahoney previously underscored:
"That no rookie comes into the NBA a fully formed defender works as something of an omen, in Exum's case—that he's already so pesky and effective warns of how suffocating the rookie might soon become. By having the quickness of a point guard and the size of a wing, Exum's close-outs and double-teams take on an elastic quality valuable to Utah's resurgent defense.
"
This up-and-coming gang gives the Jazz a tenacious defensive foursome. When they share the floor, rival offenses are mustering just 94.1 points per 100 possessions—a paltry mark that reinforces everything Utah is building.
Unlike the Sixers and, to a lesser extent, Bucks, the Jazz are starting to see the perks of top-notch defense in the win column. They have the fourth-best net rating since Feb. 20, trailing only the San Antonio Spurs, Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors. And, in turn, they also have one of the five best records during that time.
Apply this kind of winning to an entire season's worth of basketball, and the Jazz would be a playoff team in the mega-brutal Western Conference—a feat they're qualified to chase in 2015-16 so long as their stingy defense remains intact.
*Stats courtesy of Basketball-Reference and NBA.com and are accurate heading into games on March 31.
