How Defense Impacts Offense [Why Philly Misses Ben Simmons]

[Im Still Ballin]

Came across this statistic in a recent Thinking Basketball video:



The average offensive rating after a steal or defensive rebound: 115 oRTG

The average offensive rating on all other possessions: under 106 oRTG


Here's the complete quote from the video:



And all of these defensive stops lead to run-outs and easier shots on the other end. And this is the final dimension of the Warriors' defense: it makes their offense better.

The Warriors are 3rd in the NBA in forced turnover percentage, and they're first in offensive possessions that come after a steal or a defensive rebound. In other words, a live-ball stop that generates transition and early offense.

Why is that so important?

Well, the average offensive rating after a steal or defensive rebound is 115, but the average offensive rating on all other possessions is under 106.

So by generating so many live-ball stops, the Warriors offense starts with more high-value chances than anyone else in the league.

If they had fewer live-ball stops, say, the same rate as the Portland Trail Blazers, they'd lose about 3 points on their overall offensive rating, dropping them down from 3rd in the league to around 10th or 11th.

Yes, this defense is so good that it makes the offense that much better.


This makes me think about Philly and how much they miss Ben.

It also makes me think about the Lakers: where they were a year ago compared to where they're at now. It's a tragedy how they broke up that championship team. They had hard-working defensive roleplayers and they traded them away for stat sheet darlings.

KCP, Green, and Caruso were vital pieces.

The Lakers will only succeed off of a dominant defense. They don't have the half-court pizazz to consistently churn out efficient offense.

The only way they're winning it all is if they get Myles Turner, which isn't happening.

[GimmeThat]

I generally favored against the make it and keep it rule in 1 v 1 ball

[Im Still Ballin]

Important information.

[Mask the Embiid]

Look you can keep the Seflashoas, robersons, and ben simmons were good. They dont win SHIT! THEY NEVER WIN SHIT! No team with a player like that never wins shit unless they play vs an injured team in the finals or have Steph + KD + Klay on the same roster to balance out their non shooting azz



WE DONT WANT HIM....what dont yall get about that..WE DONT WANT HIM ANYMORE! idc if we go back into tanking....WE STILL DONT WANT EM. NOBODY LIKES WATCHING THEIR TEAM PLAY 4 ON 5 on offense....HE IS A FKING PG....WHO SITS IN THE DUNKERSPOT ALL FKING GAME AND LETS THE GOBERTS OF THE WORLD JUST CAMP NEXT TO THE PAINT BLOCKING EVERYTHING....ALL GAME....WTF WOULD WANT TO PLAY WITH SOMEONE LIKE THAT???????HE LITTTTERALLYYY MAKES EVERYONE ON THE TEAM WORSE OFFENSIVELY BECAUSE THEY CANNOT GET ANY POINTS IN THE PAINT.


I could see if he was a good offensive rebounder like a tristan thompson or something BUT HES NOT!!!! HE BRINGS NOTHING TO THE TABLE ON OFFENSE UNLESS YOU LITERALLY BUILD THE ENTIREEEEEEEE...ENTIREEEEEEEEE!!!!!! OFFENSE AROUND HIM.


HE IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO BUILD AN ENTIRE OFFENSE AROUND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[FultzNationRISE]

Look you can keep the Seflashoas, robersons, and ben simmons were good. They dont win SHIT! THEY NEVER WIN SHIT! No team with a player like that nevers wins shit unless they play vs a injuried team in the finals or have Steph + KD + Klay on the same roster to balance out their non shooting azz



WE DONT WANT HIM....what dont yall get about that..WE DONT WANT HIM ANYMORE! idc if we go back into tanking....WE STILL DONT WANT EM.


:biggums:

Tayshaun Prince, Shane Battier (x2), Bruce Bowen (x3)

[Mask the Embiid]

:biggums:

Tayshaun prince, shane battier (x2), bruce bowen (x3)

they could all shoot!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[FultzNationRISE]

they could all shoot!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Well yeah, compared to Simmons.

But so could Sefalosha, Roberson etc. if we’re using Simmons as a measuring stick.

Pretty much every perimeter player in history is a knock down shooter compared to Simmons.

[Full Court]

Came across this statistic in a recent Thinking Basketball video:



Here's the complete quote from the video:



This makes me think about Philly and how much they miss Ben.

It also makes me think about the Lakers: where they were a year ago compared to where they're at now. It's a tragedy how they broke up that championship team. They had hard-working defensive roleplayers and they traded them away for stat sheet darlings.

KCP, Green, and Caruso were vital pieces.

The Lakers will only succeed off of a dominant defense. They don't have the half-court pizazz to consistently churn out efficient offense.

The only way they're winning it all is if they get Myles Turner, which isn't happening.

I think this is one of those cases where taking the statistic at face value is misleading. If you think about it, the vast majority of points are scored after a steal or an offensive rebound, including pretty much all fast break points.

So what is the comparison? Offensive rebounds? Points scored after a jump ball? Points scored after an out of bounds turnover? Maybe a few other things that happen every once in a while?

It's comparing something with a massive sample size to something with a teensy sample size. I would guess it's going to give a skewed picture.

That said, defense is half the game, and I'm not intending to underrate it in any way.

[Im Still Ballin]

I think this is one of those cases where taking the statistic at face value is misleading. If you think about it, the vast majority of points are scored after a steal or an offensive rebound, including pretty much all fast break points.

So what is the comparison? Offensive rebounds? Points scored after a jump ball? Points scored after an out of bounds turnover? Maybe a few other things that happen every once in a while?

It's comparing something with a massive sample size to something with a teensy sample size. I would guess it's going to give a skewed picture.

That said, defense is half the game, and I'm not intending to underrate it in any way.

I see your point, but those types of possessions would have a lot of "scalability."

I don't imagine the offensive rating of a possession coming from a defensive rebound or turnover would decrease with more volume. And regardless of whether that's a block, steal, or defensive rebound, I'd imagine all of those possessions are worth more than having to inbound the ball and face a half-court set.