When I did my scouting report on Jonas Valanciunas earlier this offseason, I pointed out that one of his man weaknesses was post defense.  As Valanciunas represented Lithuania over the course of the summer, both on the U19 and the Men’s level, we have seen this lack of strength hurt him here and there.  However, yesterday while playing for his domestic club, Lietuvos Rytas, his poor post defense, especially the ease of which opponents can back him down, was very apparent.

Anytime his opponent got the ball on the block, Valanciunas was backed down very easily, leading me to tweet about his lack of strength.  A Lithuanian basketball follower responded with this:

@SebastianPruiti Lithuanian NTs coaches say that Valančiūnas has enough strength but he doesn’t know to use it properly.

Watching tape, especially from yesterday, this lack of technique is pretty apparent.  Take this possession for example:

Instead of getting his body into his man, Valanciunas is standing off of him a bit, using his arm to try and keep his man from backing him down.  With just his arm on the offensive player, he is able to back down Valanciunas rather easily.  So why does Valanciunas play this way?  He’s playing for the block.  He wants his man to stay off of his body so he can time his jump and block the shot.

The interesting question is why does Valanciunas do this.  Is it because he knows he isn’t strong enough to try and keep his man from getting good position so he just puts himself in a position to try and make a play?  Or is it because this is how he was taught and that wants to play this way?  Either way, this isn’t the greatest technique when playing post defense.

What really made this stand out in my eyes is that I just got done watching tape on Markieff Morris, one of the best post defenders in college last season.  There is a sharp contrast between the way Valanciunas and Morris play defense on the block:

Notice with Morris there is no gap. When the post player tries to back him down, he sticks his chest out and uses that to outmuscle the offensive player, keeping him from getting to his spot.  Will Morris block a lot of shots this way?  Probably not, but because his man doesn’t get to the sweet spot often, he won’t make a lot of shot attempts.

So which style will be more effective in the pros?  In a league where guys like Dirk Nowitzki and Zach Randolph can hit ridiculous turn around jumpers if they get to a certain position on the block, I’d rather have a defender keep a post player from getting to his spot than letting him get to the spot and then try to block him.

Now, Valanciunas certainly still needs to get stronger, but it will be interesting to see how he plays defense on the block when he does.  If he keeps playing for the block, even with a lot more strength, he might not improve as a post defender.

Background

You ask any Raptor fan to finish the sentence “Andrea Bargnani is…” and you are more than likely going to get the phrase “a terrible defender.”  Bargnani, the number 1 pick in 2006, is the player that Raptor fans point at when looking to blame someone on their roster for their terrible defense.  This past season, the Raptors had the worst defensive efficiency in the NBA, allowing opponents to score 109.8 points per 100 possessions with Bargnani anchoring the defense.

However, is this Bargnani’s fault, and is he truly a “terrible” defender.  To be terrible, you shouldn’t really be able to do anything good (in this case, on the defensive end).  Does Bargnani fit into this category?

Evidence

In my opinion, when you look at a player’s skill defensively, you need to focus on two very distinct aspects.  On ball defense and off ball defense (help defense).

On Ball Defense

Despite the reputation, Bargnani is actually a very good on ball defender, both on the block and when put in isolation one-on-one situations.  I recently looked at Bargnani’s post defense, here is what I wrote last week:

Despite the reputation, Andrea Bargnani is actually a good post defender.  In the 205 times he was posted up last season, Bargnani held his opponent to just 182 points (0.888 PPP) on just 46.8% shooting.  The key is length.  Bargnani has length, and when defending on the basketball, especially in the post, he knows how to use it well:

Bargnani isn’t going to block a lot of shots, but he is able to go straight up and use his length to contest shots without fouling (fouled opponents on the block just 7.6% of the time) by going straight up.

Even better than his post defense is Bargnani’s one-on-one defense in isolation situations.  When faced with isolation situations, Bargnani is in the top 17% of the NBA in terms of Points Per Possession (PPP) allowed, giving up just 0.684 points per possession on 29.7% shooting:

Again, length is the key here.  Bargnani is so long that he can sit back farther, allowing him to prevent penetration, while still being able to contest shots should his man choose to pull up.  His length allows him to take both dribble penetration and shooting off of the dribble from his man at the same exact time.

Off Ball Defense/Rebounding

This isn’t to say that Bargnani is a tremendous defender, there is a reason why he has a reputation as a bad defender, and that reason is his help defense and poor defensive rebounding.  Bargnani is not good at all when it comes to recognizing when he should send help and when he should stick with his man.  The game tape and the numbers are proof of this:

On this play, stepping up and helping is absolutely Bargnani’s responsibility. However, he doesn’t and watches his opponent shoot a lay-up right over him. This is just one play, but it is very much the norm in help situations, Bargnani is just late recognizing and by the time he decides to bring help it is simply too late and he doesn’t effect the shot at all.

Even at times, his own man gets open looks on him when working off of the basketball. In “Spot Up” situations, opponents are shooting 49.4% (eFG% 60.6%) and posting a PPP of 1.142, which is a number that places him in the bottom 15% of the NBA:

Bargnani’s lack of understanding when it comes to help defense really hurts him in a number of ways.  First, he doesn’t really know how to help properly, so when he does help, he usually ends up turning his back to his own man, making it difficult to return to him and contest a shot.  He also struggles understanding rotations.  He never finishes off rotations correctly and always seems to run at a shooter when it is too late.

Also included in defense in my opinion is rebounding.  To end a possession, you need to be able to secure the defensive rebound.  This is something that Bargnani doesn’t do, almost ever.  Bargnani’s Defensive Rebound Rate was the second worst in the NBA among centers who play at least 20 minutes per game in at least 20 games (behind Brook Lopez).  He doesn’t have the size, or the want to frankly, to get in there and grab rebounds.  It should be at least mentioned that Bargnani’s DRR of 13.9 last year, the worst of his career, happened with Reggie Evans (a rebounding machine) playing next to him (his DRR holds around 16.0 for his career, which is still below average but not as bad as 13.9).

Conclusion

So is Bargnani a terrible defender?  I got t say that this one is “busted” in my opinion.  Does he deserve a large part of the blame for last year’s poor defense?  Yes, but in my opinion, that doesn’t mean that he is this terrible defender that you can’t put out there.  In my opinion he can be an average or even a good defender moving forward.  It sounds crazy, but if you break things down and look at them, it isn’t that far fetched.  First of all, he can stop players when they go at him one-on-one, whether in the post or out the outside in isolation.  Second, he is still 26, I know he has been in the pros for a while now, but he is still young and is still learning.

Finally, look who his coach is now.  If you want a NBA player to learn how to play defense, Dwane Casey is the guy you to teach them.  Casey is a tremendous defensive coach and he is talking about playing Bargnani at the power forward spot, which is where he should have been playing from day one.  Playing the power forward spot allows the Raptors to minimize Bargnani’s weaknesses while taking advantage of his strengths.  Put him with the right teammates (specifically a big who can rebound hard and provide help defense, hello Jonas Valanciunas), and I don’t think he will be this huge defensive liability.

Past Editions: Kyrie Irving (#1) | Derrick Williams (#2) | Tristan Thompson (#4) | Jan Vesely (#6) | Bismack Biyombo (#7)

As I mentioned when looking at Tristan Thompson, Jonas Valanciunas to the Cavs was looking like a lock, but as we got closer to draft night, it was getting more and more up in the air, partially due to Valanciunas’ buy-out forcing him to stay overseas for a year and partially due to how impressed they were with Thompson’s workouts.  As we all know, the Cavs took Thompson allowing Jonas Valanciunas to fall in the Raptors, who need a true center, lap.

Strengths

Off Ball Offense

Valanciunas’ biggest strength offensively is when he is working off of the basketball cutting and in pick and roll sets, and his international team, Lietuvos Rytas was smart enough to build Valanciunas’ offense around that, as 43.3% of his offense was either cuts or pick and rolls (if you want to add offensive rebounds, off ball offense makes up 65.1% of Valanciunas’ offense).

As the roll man in pick and roll sets (23.2% of all offensive possessions) Valanciunas posted a PPP of 1.434, which puts him in the top 4% of all international players as he shot 74.7%.  Valanciunas rolled to the rim 97% of the time in pick and roll sets (slipping the screen the remaining 3%), showing his ability to find lanes when rolling to the rim, making the catch, and getting the ball on the rim:

Valanciunas doesn’t set the best screens and that probably needs to be improved upon (though we have seen guys like David Lee, David West, and Amar’e Stoudemire have success without setting the best screens), but when he is rolling to the rim he does just about everything right.  He makes himself available and once he makes the catch, he is going right up with it and has the ability to finish over the help defender (something we also saw during the u19 tournament).

Speaking of Valanciunas’ ability to find lanes and make himself available, that is what makes him so successful “cutting” off of the basketball.  According to Synergy Sports, Valanciunas posts a PPP of 1.488 (top 10%) while shooting 69.8% on cut plays:

One of the reasons why Valanciunas is so good on cuts is because he understands spacing.  On this particular clip, you see Valanciunas’ teammate driving right at him.  Instead of holding his ground, Valanciunas slips back to the opposite block, as as his defender helps on penetration, he now has given his teammate a passing lane and put himself in a position to catch and score at the same time.

It’s these types fundamentals and Valanciunas’ understanding of them that helps him score off of offensive rebounds and have success on put backs as well.  Valanciunas was in the top 25% of all international players in terms of PPP on offensive rebounds, posting a PPP of 1.301 on 64.7% shooting:

What is so impressive about Valanciunas when working the offensive boards is his ability to keep the basketball up.  Whenever Valanciunas grabs an offensive rebound and he has a chance to score on a putback, he keeps the ball high and goes right back up with it, limiting the chance opponents have to block it.  This is something that guys in the NBA struggle with at times, so to see a 19 year old do it just about every single time, that is impressive.

Help/PNR Defense

Jonas Valanciunas had 68 blocks in 44 games with Lietuvos Rytas last season, and most of those came from the weakside or when Valanciunas was playing help defense:

Valanciunas just has a good understanding of when to come help and when to stay home, and when he does help, he isn’t committing 100% which allows him to recover back to his man if the pass is made instead of the shot.  Another important thing is that you don’t see Valanciunas swinging widely at the basketball, picking up fouls from the weakside.  In 44 games, Valanciunas was whistled for just 107 fouls, or about 2.4 fouls per game.  He won’t pick up those cheap fouls because he is arriving with the help late.

Weaknesses

Post Offense

As good as Valanciunas is off of the basketball, that is almost as bad he is with the ball in his hands.  On the block, Valancinuas posted just a PPP of 0.826, scoring 57 points on his 69 post up possessions.  One of the biggest reasons why Valanciunas struggles so much is turnovers, as he turns the ball over 29% when posting up:

Something that Valanciunas needs to work on next year is his body.  He needs to fill out a little bit more and that would help him both when fighting for position and when trying to back down his defender.  One of the things that I noticed is that Valanciunas can’t really back his man down after making the catch, and this causes Valanciunas to swing an arm out and get offensive fouls called on him.  In addition, Valanciunas really struggles when passing out of double teams. He is there using all of his energy to back his defender down and a when they send a double at him, it catches him off guard.

Post Defense

Valanciunas’ lack of size also hurts him on the ball defensively.  On the 81 post up possessions that Valanciunas faced last year, he gave up 84 points, which puts him in the bottom 20% among all international players:

Again, in my opinion, it’s all about strength and position.  At this point in his career, Valanciunas doesn’t have the strength to push his man off of his spots, and if they do catch it off of the block, they can simply back him down into the paint.  No matter how good of a defender or how long you are, if you allow your man to get into your body and all the way into the paint, they are going to have an easy time and not be bothered by size.  Again, there isn’t really anything strategically that you can do or change, it’s simply all about getting stronger.

—

In my opinion, Jonas Valanciunas is a perfect fit for the Toronto Raptors and they should be very happy that he fell to him at #5.  Especially considering the new coach, Dwane Casey, has experience working with a player who has Valanciunas’ skills.  Tyson Chandler compares pretty favorably with Valanciunas in my opinion, and considering that Casey used Chandler to anchor a championship winning defense, that’s a good thing.

The one concern that I do have with Valanciunas is his body.  However, he’s only 19 so he should continue to develop and playing another season against grown men in the Euroleague (His team is in the qualifying rounds of the Euroleague) will help in that department as well.  He should make an immediate impact when he comes over in another year.

The second thing that the Raptors did during the offseason that showed an emphasis on the defensive end was drafting Jonas Valanciunas.  While Valanciunas is staying overseas for one more season, the Raptors’ front office and new coaching staff have big expectations for him on the defensive end.  While doing my player comparisons for Basketball Prospectus, Kevin Pelton’s player similarity scores showed us that Valanciunas compared most closely to Tyson Chandler.  Funny enough, the man who just coached Chandler and will be coaching Valanciunas in the future saw the same things, as Holly MacKenzie tweeted:

Quote from Casey on Valanciunas: I just came from having Tyson Chandler and Tyson Chandler at this age was not as good as this young man.

After this season (once he comes over), Jonas Valanciunas will most likely be the Raptors’ starting center.  His starting power forward?  Most likely Andrea Bargnani.  Despite the reputation Bargnani has for being soft and a terrible defensive player, I think the combination of Valanciunas and Bargnani can work on the defensive end.  While Raptor fans are probably rolling their eyes at me, because both Valanciunas and Bargnani have strengths and weaknesses right now defensively.  Luckily for them, their strengths compliment each other well, and they should be able to hide each other’s weaknesses.

Despite the reputation, Andrea Bargnani is actually a good post defender.  In the 205 times he was posted up last season, Bargnani held his opponent to just 182 points (0.888 PPP) on just 46.8% shooting.  The key is length.  Bargnani has length, and when defending on the basketball, especially in the post, he knows how to use it well:

Bargnani isn’t going to block a lot of shots, but he is able to go straight up and use his length to contest shots without fouling (fouled opponents on the block just 7.6% of the time) by going straight up.

Where Bargnani struggles on the defensive end is recognition and help defense, and this is what makes him a poor defensive center.  You saw it this postseason, you want your center to be able to recognize things quickly on the defensive end, identifying when they should help and when they should stay home.  Andrea Bargnani was awful at that, and with him as the last line of defense, it destroys everything the Raptors are trying to do on the defensive end.

Luckily for Bargnani and the Raptors, Jonas Valanciunas’ biggest strength right now is his help defense/being that last line of defense, blocking and bothering shots, but never really getting too far away from his man and being in position to defend him as well:

Valanciunas just has a knack for knowing when to come over and when to stay home and the end result is usually a contested shot in the paint (and please don’t bring up the level of competition, the plays in the above clip come from the Euroleague, probably the second best competition in all of basketball behind the NBA).

Where Valanciunas struggles is post defense.  Valanciunas was in the bottom 20% among all international players, allowing a PPP of 1.037 on his 81 post up defense possessions while giving up 52.6% shooting in the post.  At just 19 years old, Valanciunas doesn’t really have the strength to prevent post players from establishing strong post position, and that puts him at a disadvantage. Assuming that Valanciunas bulks up during his final year of seasoning overseas, he will more than likely improve his post defense.  However, if he doesn’t it shouldn’t be a problem for Toronto.  The reason is that teams don’t really have two post threats anymore (some barely have one).  All the Raptors have to do is put Bargnani on their opponent’s main post threat, and let Valanciunas concentrate on bringing help defense and playing that last line of defense role.

A lot of things can change over the course of a season, but as things currently stand I really like the Jonas Valanciunas draft pick, and Dwane Casey probably can’t wait to get him in a Raptor’s uniform and put him in that role that Tyson Chandler played with his Mavericks last season.

Over at ESPN.com, there is a new feature called 5-on-5 where TrueHoop Network bloggers are grouped together with ESPN.com writers.  Yesterday, Graydon Gordian, Rahat Huq, Beckley Mason, myself, and David Thorpe looked at some coaching related questions, including who has done the least with least:

Sebastian Pruiti, NBA Playbook: George Karl. No disrespect to the players currently on the Nuggets’ roster, but Carmelo Anthony left the team and we all wondered if they would be able to score enough. Not only have they been able to score, but they are now the most efficient offensive team in the league, and a lot of it has to do with Karl’s offense.

Meanwhile, today at SBNation.com’s NBA page, I took a look at the Triangle, and how the offense creates scoring opportunities in the low post:

When people think of Phil Jackson’s Triangle offense, they think of an offense that is designed to cater to superstar wings (guys like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant), isolating them on the perimeter.  While there are options that lead to isolation sets, the Triangle offense is so much more than that, especially when it comes to the post-up game.  In the Triangle offense, there are a number of different sets/options designed to get the basketball on the block to the Lakers‘ big men.

Finally, over at Basketball Prospectus, Dan Feldman and I looked at the interesting case of DeMar DeRozan, a player who is a strong long two shooter, but very poor when it comes to taking threes:

College stats don’t always project smoothly to the NBA, but DeMar DeRozan‘s three-point shooting has held up.

Unfortunately.

DeRozan, who made just 6-of-36 three-pointers (16.7 percent) in his lone season at USC, has been quietly putting together one of the worst three-point shooting seasons in NBA history. With six games remaining, DeRozan has made just 4-of-41 three-pointers (9.8 percent). Just 10 players have posted worse three-point-shooting seasons (minimum: 30 three-point attempts). Here are the 20 worst three-point shooting-seasons in NBA history:

All of this is very interesting stuff and I hope you take the time to head on over to the links and check them out.  Thanks!

Play 3 (1 Point) – Jay Triano/Toronto Raptors

Coming out of a SLOB set, the Raptors get the ball into Jerryd Bayless.  Bayless gets the ball into Andrea Bargnani, and it looks like the Raptors are working a two man game (in fact they ran this play to start the game).  However, this is not the case as Sonny Weems cuts through the middle and Leandro Barbosa comes off of a pindown screen open behind the three point line.

Play 2 (2 Points) – Nate McMillan/Portland Trailblazers

Being down by 5 points with 13 seconds left, Nate McMillan needed to get a quick basket for his team, preferably a three.  He ran a nice stack set from the side that got exactly that.  You have the three Blazers shooters curling off of LaMarcus Aldridge, who stays in place.  At the last second, Wesley Matthews puts his foot in the ground and comes off of an Aldridge pindown to get the open three that he makes.

Play 1 (3 Points) – Rick Adelman/Houston Rockets

Here, the Houston Rockets run a perfect misdirection play coming out of a timeout.  The play starts with the ball getting entered to Chuck Hayes on the elbow.  After the entry pass, Lowry sets a backscreen for Budinger.  Hayes looks in the direction of Budinger, but then quickly turns around and gets the ball to Kevin Martin, who is coming off of a backscreen set by Luis Scola.

Updated Standings (Previous)

1. Doc Rivers – 38 points (1st)
2. Erik Spoelstra – 32 points (2nd)
3. Gregg Popovich – 24 points (3rd)
4. Monty Williams – 18 points (4th)
5. Rick Carlisle – 13 points (5th)
6. Frank Vogel – 12 points (6th)
7. Phil Jackson – 12 points (7th)
8. Rick Adelman – 12 points (11th)
9. Nate McMillan – 12 points (10th)
10. Alvin Gentry –  11 points (8th)
11. Tom Thibodeau – 10 points (9th)
12. Avery Johnson – 8 points (12th)
13. Doug Collins – 6 point (13th)
14. Larry Drew – 6 points (14th)
15. Scott Brooks – 6 points (15th)
16. Jay Triano – 6 points (16th)
17. Jerry Sloan – 4 points (17th)
18. Ty Corbin – 4 points (18th)
19. Lionel Hollins – 4 points (19th)
20. George Karl – 3 points (20th)
21. Scott Skiles – 3 points (21st)
22. Mike D’Antoni – 3 points (22nd)
23. Byron Scott – 2 points (23rd)
24. Stan Van Gundy – 2 points (24th)
25. Flip Saunders – 2 points (25th)
26. Paul Silas – 2 point (26th)
27. John Kuester – 1 point (27th)
28. Keith Smart – 1 point (28th)
29. Vinny Del Negro – 1 point (29th)

With his 1 point, Jay Triano ties Scott Brokes, Larry Drew, and Doug Collins.  Rick Adelman and Nate McMillan both hop Avery Johnson and get themselves into the top ten.

Play 3 (1 Point) – Avery Johnson/New Jersey Nets

This is a play that the Nets use coming out of a timeout to set up Brook Lopez in the post.  It starts with Sundiata Gaines getting the basketball on the wing and coming off of a Brook Lopez ball screen.  After setting the screen, Lopez comes off of two backscreens as Gaines takes the ball to the middle of the court, using another ball screen.  Normally, this play is designed for a post up opportunity, but the defense overplays that and both Gaines and Lopez read it, Lopez stays on the opposite side of the rim, waiting for the lob.  Gaines throws it, and Lopez is able to finish.

Play 2 (2 Points) – Avery Johnson/New Jersey Nets

This set from coach Johnson starts with Jordan Farmar bringing the basketball up to the wing.  As this happens, Anthony Morrow sets a cross screen for Lopez, who posts up on the block.  After setting his cross screen, Morrow sets a backscreen for Kris Humphries.  Humphries uses the screen and heads to the rim, looking for the lob.  Farmar throws it, and Humphries is able to finish with the uncontested jam.

Play 1 (3 Points) – Jay Triano/Toronto Raptors

Needing a three point shot to tie their game against Oklahoma City, Jay Triano ran a variation of the pinch screen.  Instead of running it to the corner (which is what we have seen most of the time), Triano decides to set it up for the top of the key.  The play starts with Leandro Barbosa getting in position to set a cross screen for DeMar DeRozan.  DeRozan, who is set up in the corner, fakes towards the screen and then returns to the corner.  Once DeRozan gets back to his original position, Barbosa shoots up to the top of the key, splitting his two teammates.  Once Barbosa clears them, they pinch, screening Barbosa’s man and creating a wide open three that Barbosa knocks down.

Updated Standings (Previous)

1. Doc Rivers – 33 points (1st)
2. Erik Spoelstra – 30 points (2nd)
3. Gregg Popovich – 19 points (3rd)
4. Monty Williams – 18 points (4th)
5. Rick Carlisle – 13 points (5th)
6. Frank Vogel – 12 points (6th)
7. Phil Jackson – 12 points (7th)
8. Alvin Gentry –  10 points (8th)
9. Tom Thibodeau – 7 points (9th)
10. Rick Adelman – 7 points (10th)
11. Nate McMillan – 6 points (11th)
12. Larry Drew – 6 points (12th)
13. Scott Brooks – 6 points (13th)
14. Avery Johnson – 6 points (16th)
15. Jay Triano – 5 points (21st)
16. Jerry Sloan – 4 points (14th)
17. Ty Corbin – 4 points (15th)
18. Lionel Hollins – 3 points (17th)
19. George Karl – 3 points (18th)
20. Scott Skiles – 3 points (19th)
21. Mike D’Antoni – 3 points (20th)
22. Byron Scott – 2 points (22nd)
23. Stan Van Gundy – 2 points (23rd)
24. Flip Saunders – 2 points (24th)
25. Doug Collins – 2 point (25th)
26. Paul Silas – 1 point (26th)
27. John Kuester – 1 point (27th)
28. Keith Smart – 1 point (28th)
29. Vinny Del Negro – 1 point (29th)

Both Avery Johnson and Jay Triano were able to go from the bottom of the pack towards the middle of the pack with their post-timeout playcalling on Sunday, getting to 14th and 15th respectfully, and only a few points outside the top 10.

As Russell Westbrook brings the basketball up along the wing, Kevin Durant gets in position to set a screen for him.  Westbrook uses the screen to take the ball to the middle of the court.

The reason why a Durant/Westbrook pick and roll is so dangerous is because you can’t hedge too far off of Westbrook because Durant you are leaving Durant open for the pop.  However, you can’t just ignore the ball handler, because it is Russell Westbrook and he can get into the lane and create in a split second.  However, the one weakness in this play is Westbrook’s shooting ability.

The Raptors used that knowledge to come up with a creative way to defend the pick and roll.  DeMar DeRozan, the man covering Durant, takes a step back creating a lane for Jose Calderon, the man covering Westbrook, to shoot through.

As Westbrook comes off of the screen and through the lane, Jose Calderon is in position to play defense.  The key to this defensive strategy is that there is no need to hedge now, meaning that DeRozan doesn’t have to leave Kevin Durant open.  As Westbrook attacks, Amir Johnson also steps up, providing help defense.

Westbrook takes off and since Calderon was able to get through the screen pretty easily he is right there, challenging the shot.  This forces Westbrook to bring the basketball down and double clutch.

The double clutch allows Johnson to get up in the air and challenge the shot.  Westbrook doesn’t let go of the shot until he is on the way down, and he ends up missing it.  The Raptors secure the rebound, and they now have the basketball with a chance to take the lead.  Here is the play in real time:

The Thunder did the Raptors a favor and made the pick and roll easier to defend by running it on the wing, where there is only one direction that Westbrook can go, versus the top of the key, where Westbrook can go either way.  This lets the Raptors, and specifically Amir Johnson, know where the help needs to be and he gets there well ahead of time.

That being said, this is still a great defensive play by both DeRozan and Calderon.  Every once in a while you see a team try this pick and roll defense but they screw it up with improper timing.  That doesn’t happen here and the Raptors are able to get a stop that helps them pick up a win against a quality opponent.

We pick up the play with Devin Harris on the elbow with his dribble picked up and he is making his move to get the ball on the rim.  Highlighted is Reggie Evans, one of the better rebounders in the league, leaning up against Al Jefferson.  As of right now, he is in proper position as the shot is about to go up.

As the shot goes up, all of the Raptors’ eyes start focusing on the basketball and the rim.  Like moths to a flame, both Raptors at the front of the rim start moving closer to the rim.

Instead of boxing out, the Raptors (especially Reggie Evans) try to out-jump Al Jefferson.  This is hard enough to do, but the fact that Evans and company are underneath the rim makes this task even harder.

Jefferson is able to get his hand on the ball as it comes off of the rim, tipping it in as the buzzer sounds.  Here is the play in real time:

While this is a great job by Jefferson never giving up, I place the blame on the Raptors here rather than crediting the Jazz.  With so little time left, securing the rebound isn’t even important for the Raptors here, the main objective is to keep the Jazz from getting the rim.  So instead of jumping up and trying to grab the basketball out of the air (and whenever a defensive player does this they tend to end up underneath the rim), the Raptors should have just boxed out and held it.  Who cares if the ball bounces around on the floor, as long as the Jazz can’t tip it in, this game is going into overtime.

That doesn’t happen, the Raptors get pushed under the rim, and they try to out-jump Al Jefferson.  It doesn’t work out for Toronto here.

Play 3 (1 Point) – Gregg Popovich/San Antonio Spurs

This play takes a little while to develop, but George Hill eventually gets the ball to Tim Duncan on the wing as Antonio McDyess flashes to the elbow.  After making the pass, Hill flashes to the ball side corner.

Once McDyess spots up on the elbow, Duncan enters the basketball to him.  After making the pass, Duncan sets a screen for Manu Ginobili.  Meanwhile, Marc Gasol gets sucked into a double team of McDyess.

Because Gasol is double teaming McDyess there is nobody in position to help out on Ginobili after he comes off the screen.

Gasol tries to recover but he can’t make up the space to keep him out of the paint.

This allows Ginobili to get to the rim and hit the layup.  Here is the play in real time:

The Spurs like to run this kind of stuff for Ginobili, screens that get him going towards the rim and then putting the ball in his hands.  This is another example.

Play 2 (2 Points) – Jay Triano/Toronto Raptors

We pick up this set as DeMar DeRozan has the ball on the top of the key after getting a pass from Jose Calderon.  After making the pass, Calderon sets a pindown screen for James Johnson.  After setting his screen, Calderon flashes to the weakside midpost.

DeRozan makes the pass to Johnson and then cuts off of him as Jose Calderon gets himself into position.

It looks like Calderon is going to come off of an Amir Johnson screen, but at the last second Leandro Barbosa quickly flashes through the paint.  This quick flash gets the defense to sink in.  After this flash Calderon uses the pindown.

The Barbosa flash draws the defense’s attention and Calderon comes off the pindown wide open.

Calderon makes the catch, spots up, and knocks down the wide open jumper.  Here is the play in real time:

A lot of these sideline plays involve strong screens off of the ball, this one instead uses a quick and unexpected flash off the ball to set up the defense and set up the open shot.  That is why I enjoyed it so much.

Play 1 (3 Points) – Monty Williams/New Orleans Hornets

This is a SLOB set where Trevor Ariza quickly inbounds the basketball to Chris Paul and then flashes over the two bigs at the foul line to the opposite wing.

Before Ariza even finishes his cut, David West gets a screen at the foul line, allowing him to flash to the opposite side.

The defense is focused on Ariza that nobody is in help position to defend against the screen that is set for West.

This allows him to get himself all the way to the rim where he finishes easily.  Here is the play in real time:

Just a very nice misdirection play here.  Monty Williams and the Hornets get the defense thinking the action is going to take place on one side, and then hit them with a screen on the other side.

Updated Standings (Previous)

1. Erik Spoelstra – 22 points (1st)
2. Doc Rivers – 17 points (2nd)
3. Frank Vogel – 12 points (3rd)
4. Phil Jackson – 12 points (4th)
5. Gregg Popovich – 12 points (5th)
6. Monty Williams – 10 points (6th)
7. Tom Thibodeau – 7 points (7th)
8. Rick Adelman – 6 points (8th)
9. Scott Brooks – 5 points (9th)
10. Nate McMillan – 5 points (10th)
11. Alvin Gentry – 5 points (11th)
12. Rick Carlisle – 4 points (12th)
13. Larry Drew – 4 points (13th)
14. Jerry Sloan – 4 Points (14th)
15. Lionel Hollins – 3 points (15th)
16. George Karl – 3 points (16th)
17. Jay Triano – 2 points (NR)
18. Byron Scott – 2 points (17th)
19. Stan Van Gundy – 2 points (18th)
20. Flip Saunders 1 – point (19th)
21. John Kuester – 1 point (20th)
22. Keith Smart – 1 point (21st)
23. Ty Corbin – 1 point (22nd)

Jay Triano is now the 23rd coach to get himself on the Clipboard Awards leaderboard, jumping to 17th place with his 2 point play yesterday.  Gregg Popovich’s 1 point performance now ties him for 3rd with Frank Vogel and Phil Jackson as Monty Williams turns this into a 6 coach race by reaching double-digits in points.