Mavs' hard task is to win with soft D

[jayC]

Mavs' hard task is to win with soft D

High-scoring team again tries to go against the grain in the playoffs


12:36 PM CDT on Saturday, April 17, 2004


By DAVID MOORE / The Dallas Morning News



Our attention has been diverted the last few weeks by small ball and the daily drama of the Western Conference standings. Before that, we focused on the rise of the rookies, the failed experiment of using a point forward and the strained relationship between Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and coach Don Nelson.

But on the eve of the playoffs, those topics melt away and we're left with the question that has dogged this franchise since it returned to the land of the living four years ago.

Can the Mavericks win with offense in a league that places a premium on defense? Has Dallas sacrificed a chance at the championship for the sake of entertainment?

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OK, those are two questions. But as the team's No. 28 ranking on defense indicates, there are more questions than answers on that side of the ball.

Is it coaching? The players? The system?

The Mavericks are like a football team that passes on every possession and scores too quickly for its own good. The irony is that this explosive collection of offensive talent spends more time doing what it can't do – assistant coach Del Harris estimates Dallas spends 60 percent of each game on defense – than what it does best.

There won't be a lot of talk about defense during the Mavericks' first-round series. That's because not a lot will be played. Sacramento is almost as soft on that side of the ball as Dallas. But if the Mavericks do advance past the first round for the fourth consecutive season, it will become a major topic.

Nelson and his staff don't ignore defense. But they don't emphasize it, either. Nelson will tell you that personnel dictates this offensive slant. But fellow coaches and general managers who have sat in competition meetings with Nelson say the Mavericks coach values entertainment over the defensive principles that have grabbed hold of the sport.

You can debate whether Nelson adjusts his scheme to fit the talent or pursues talent to fit his offensive sensibilities. But few would debate this: Among the Mavericks' top five players, a group that consists of Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash, Michael Finley, Antoine Walker and Antawn Jamison, the only one regarded as an average defender around the league is Finley. The others are viewed as below average.

"What are you going to do?" Nelson asked. "Put them on the bench and play the guys that guard? Or are you going to find a way to make it work? Now, how far can that take you?

"Not far enough, evidently, because I've never won a title as a coach."

E-mail dmoore@dallasnews.com


INSIDE THE MAVS' DEFENSE


System failure
Critics who dismiss Don Nelson as a creative offensive mind who knows nothing about defense need to brush up on their NBA history.

Nelson's teams were known for their defense in Milwaukee. The Bucks owned the league's best defense in back-to-back seasons in the mid-1980s and finished among the league's top seven in that category in Nelson's final eight seasons as coach.

He sat out for a year and returned to coaching with Golden State during the '88-89 season. Seven of Nelson's 15 teams since then have ranked last or next to last in defense. Only one has ranked in the top half of the league, and that was the New York team he inherited from Pat Riley.

The dramatic shift implies that Nelson underwent an offensive epiphany in his brief time away from the game. Associates believe Nelson's desire to be different pushed him to these high-scoring heights while everyone else got defensive.

The 63-year-old coach claims that's not the case. He says he just didn't have another Sidney Moncrief to build his team around.

"It's all personnel," Nelson said. "If you have your best players who can't guard and really don't have the tools to guard, you're never going to make them what they can't be."

You can argue the Mavericks don't even try.

The team's defensive deficiencies are glaring. The coaches and players constantly talk about the need to get better. Yet some players will tell you that Nelson spends less than 15 minutes of every practice working on rotations, traps and the zone.

"I would say we've spent a great deal more time on offense than defense this year," Nash said. "At the first of the year, we spent more time on defense.

"But when you're a running team, it's difficult to come in here and beat up on each other and hope to continue to be a running team, if that's you're strongest suit. You have to back off, have to go with what got us to this level."

That's valid. But shouldn't the standard be what can get the Mavericks to the next level?

Watch a San Antonio game. Coach Gregg Popovich will pull a player if he doesn't rotate on defense or deny the baseline. Nelson pulls a player if he's missed four consecutive shots and passes up the fifth because it disrupts the offense. He's more likely to yell at a player for his offensive mistakes than his defensive miscues.

Nelson is unapologetic because he's convinced this is the best way for Dallas to be successful.

"I go to Golden State, and I have Chris Mullin as my best player," Nelson said. "He can't guard me.

"It doesn't matter how many drills you run. He's slow afoot, he doesn't guard and it's not a high priority. So, I had to be flexible on that. Am I going to bench Chris Mullin or am I going to make this thing work?

"It's kind of the same situation here."


Defaulting to the zone
Dirk Nowitzki isn't the only culprit. Coaches and personnel directors say Steve Nash has decent quickness and tries hard but doesn't play with a defensive purpose. His lack of strength is an issue and he over-commits, allowing opposing guards to drive past him and split the defense.

Antoine Walker and Antawn Jamison, like Nowitzki, lack lateral quickness and can't keep their man in front of them. Michael Finley has improved but is far from a defensive stopper along the lines of Sacramento's Doug Christie. The reason the Mavericks give up so many open looks on the perimeter is because when they double-down in the post, they are slow to rotate back outside on the shooter.

The zone helps mask some of these deficiencies. The Mavericks use it more than any other team in the league and have made it work because they are a good rebounding team.

Much has been made about how the Mavericks miss the physical, in your-face presence of Raja Bell and, to a lesser extent, Adrian Griffin. They do. They also miss Raef LaFrentz defensively. Their absence results in a more passive zone than the one the Mavericks played last season.

Another difference is Shawn Bradley and Eduardo Najera. The Dallas zone is at its best when those two are active in the middle. Off-season knee injuries have hindered both.

After a game against Dallas this season, Houston's Jim Jackson talked about how passive the Mavericks are in their zone and how bad they are in man-to-man. After a 76ers victory in March, Philadelphia players talked about how the Dallas defense breaks down if you milk the 24-second clock.


Communication breakdown
Scott Williams joined the team in early February. After his first practice, assistant coach Del Harris took him aside, handed him the playbook and informed the veteran center that he was responsible for getting everyone in position defensively when he was on the court.

A team four months into the season shouldn't have to turn to a new player to direct its defense. But another problem the Mavericks have, especially in man-to-man, is that they don't talk enough.

"The middle guy, if he's vocal, can really help a lot," assistant coach Del Harris said. "Good communication compared to no communication is going to make you a 25 percent better defensive team just like that, no matter what other abilities or deficiencies you have."

There are two reasons a player won't talk on defense: He's unsure of his assignment or it doesn't fit his personality. But if you don't talk on defense, the primary defender doesn't know where he has help or who is coming up behind him to set a screen.

"I don't think any coach would tell you our players talk too much on defense," Harris said. "We're always looking for better communication."


The future
Dallas recognizes the need to improve defensively. That's why it pursued Alonzo Mourning and Brad Miller during the off-season.

But if the Mavericks keep their nucleus intact, it will take more than one good defender to make an appreciable difference.

Josh Howard and Marquis Daniels are a good start. The coaching staff will tell you the rookies are the team's best defenders. But assistant coach Del Harris believes the Mavericks "need to get a couple of defensive-minded players" before this group can make significant strides on defense.

That's a discussion for the off-season. The coaches and players have to deal with the present.

In the words of Michael Finley, the Mavericks have picked their poison. They have chosen to be an explosive and well-rounded offensive team that must scrap to get by on defense.

We're about to find out – again – if the gap between the Mavericks' offense and defense is too great to win a title.

"I think the balance between our offense and defense is good enough to beat a lot of teams," Steve Nash said. "If we play up to our standards, I feel good about our chances, regardless of how inefficient we are defensively at times."


No D in Dirk
A basic tenet exists among the league's coaches.

If the team's best player isn't committed to defense, if he doesn't consistently put his energy and effort into that phase of the game, you won't be a good defensive team.

Look at the last four franchises to win a championship. San Antonio has Tim Duncan. The Lakers have Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. Chicago had Michael Jordan and Houston had Hakeem Olajuwon.

"I do agree," Don Nelson said. "Look at [Orlando's] Tracy McGrady. He's never going to guard. Are you not going to play him because he doesn't guard or are you going to change your philosophy and be a high-scoring team?"

That leads us to Dirk Nowitzki.

He's conscientious. He plays hard defensively in bursts. But he doesn't provide the sort of sustained effort that results in a positive, trickle-down effect to his teammates.

"I know that my defense is the weakest part of my game," Nowitzki said. "I do know that. I think it's getting better, but compared to my offense, it's lacking.

"Once my career is over, I want to be a complete player, a great all-around player. I don't want to be known just as a shooter or an offensive player. I want to be known as a great rebounder and a good defender. Or at least a solid defender."

The offensive versatility that makes Nowitzki one of the league's top forwards works against him on defense. He's too slow to keep up with the small forwards who shadow him around the 3-point line and too weak to grind with the majority of centers down low.

The odds are that Kevin Garnett will be the league's Most Valuable Player. When asked about the Minnesota forward, Nowitzki marveled that Garnett expends so much energy on defense when he's so involved with the offense.

That commitment to defense has allowed Garnett to pass Nowitzki as a player and the Timberwolves to pass the Mavericks in the standings.

[ShaggyDirk]

n

[#41]

Originally posted by: ShaggyDirk

Totally agree!!

I used to think that Garnett was a step below Dirk in ALL categories. This year Garnett is 2 steps above Dirk in ALL categories.. Its reality. But, it can change because Dirk does have a need to get better.

Playoffs will show if Garnett has become a better player, the Wolves have definately become a better team most of all because of Cassell!

[jayC]

The interesting question is whether defense is about talking, effort , athletic ability or coaching?

[Chiwas]

The coaching staff will tell you the rookies are the team's best defenders.

Don't worry; if Nellie stays, both will lose that defect very soon.

[Tarzan]

Originally posted by: ShaggyDirk

Totally agree!!

I used to think that Garnett was a step below Dirk in ALL categories. This year Garnett is 2 steps above Dirk in ALL categories.. Its reality. But, it can change because Dirk does have a need to get better.

We'll find out about who has passed who in the 2nd round. KG has always been a great regular season player but he is a record setting loser in the playoffs. Cassell & Spree probably won't be enough to carry him very far.

[Murphy3]

[quote]
Originally posted by: Chiwas

The coaching staff will tell you the rookies are the team's best defenders.

The coaching staff would be lying.

[Epitome22]

Who would you suggest was the Mavs best defender then?