New Orleans Hornets' Season Depends On Establishing Defensive Identity

“Offense sells tickets. Defense wins championships.” The mantra is usually heard in the context of football, but it applies to the New Orleans Hornets this year as well—although it would be more realistic to insert “first-round playoff series” into the second half of that statement.

Defensively, the Hornets are like an unfinished jigsaw puzzle: A couple pieces are in the right place, but most are still searching for positional identity. Head coach Monty Williams has a reputation for assembling hard-nosed defenses, but he can only work with what he has.

So what does he have?

A young, athletic team, with a superstar running the offense and two exceptional one-on-one defensive starters in Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okafor. An undersized starting five by Western Conference standards (Okafor being the biggest starter at 6'10"). And a shallow bench, even with the recent acquisition of versatile one/two guard Jerryd Bayless.

Chris Paul, when healthy, can get this team into the playoffs by himself.  Offensively, he’s the complete point guard package: penetrating the lane and drawing double teams, kicking out to wing shooters, executing the pick and roll, and popping threes. His offensive skills can carry the team because they constantly create opportunities for other players to improve and contribute.

Paul alone accounts for the offensive side of the playoff equation. Defensively, though, a team effort predicated on a distinct style of play is essential to the Hornets season.  And it’s primarily a matter of developing that style around the strengths of the team.

Ariza can guard the superstars of the West: the Kobe Bryants, Carmelo Anthonys and Kevin Durants.  Okafor and Paul compensate for their size disadvantages with respective physicality and quickness. Marco Belinelli and David West are touted primarily for their set-shooting skills, but both can fit well into the defensive scheme simply by playing tighter perimeter defense.

Forget last year's ranking of 21st in defense; last year was a totally different team. The main statistic from last year worth analyzing and applying to the present is defensive rebounding, which ranked 25th last year. That has to improve this year.

Why this one stat? Because it represents the mechanism through which most teams create points in transition. Boxing out aggressively, hitting the outlet pass and running the floor are all elements of the game conducive to an athletic team with few high-scoring threats, and all are facilitated by efficient defensive rebounding.

Of course, opportunities in transition arise from steals and blocks too.  But the Hornets are undersized, ranked 30th in blocks last year and rely almost entirely on Paul for steals.  They have size and speed coming off the bench, but with it comes a serious drop-off in defensive proficiency.

The size factor makes zone defense implausible against teams with any sort of low-post threat. And with the individual discrepancies in the starters’ defensive skills, the key to defensive identity must stem from athleticism, bench included.

Consider another sports cliché: “The best defense is a good offense.” The Hornets already have a good offense just from having Chris Paul on the roster, but their youth and athleticism give them more explosive offensive potential—provided they’re willing to run the floor like Oklahoma City last year. 

The easiest way to manifest this potential is through transitional scoring, and the easiest way to score in transition is to haul in defensive boards and play coast-to-coast basketball.  It’s never been the team’s style of play, but for this season, it’s vital to this team’s defensive effort.