INTRODUCTION
The final 4 teams left in the Western Conference this year were the 4 best teams in the West in effective field goal % defense. ( Weighs three point shooting.) The top 5 defensive teams all made it to the round of 8 and the New York Knicks were the only team to make the Final 8 with a defense below the top 15 in the NBA. You must play defense to win in the NBA.
For the last three seasons, the Utah Jazz have finished ranked 23rd, 19th and 21st defensively in the NBA. If the Jazz are competing with the best in the NBA they must become a better defensive team.
Last year the Jazz allowed 104.7 pts per 100 possessions. To move into the top 15 the Jazz would need to allow 103.0 and to move into the top 10 they would need to allow 101 pts per 100 possessions.
Therefore, I reviewed the last 20 plus years of NBA stats and found the 16 teams to have made a substantial (about 5 pts per 100 possessions) defensive jump from one year to the next. Over the next few weeks I will look at those 16 teams to see what made their defensive jump possible.
Note: I have not included any lockout shortened seasons.

DEFENSIVE IMPORVEMENT CASE STUDY #6 – Indiana Pacers 1993-94

DEFENSIVE CHANGE: In 1992-93 the Pacers allowed 110.1 pts (21st) per 100 possessions then in 1993-94 they allowed only 104.2 (8th).

INSIDE THE FOUR FACTORS: Depsite being 21st overall the Pacers were the 9th best team defensively in EFG% in 92-93, they were 24th in forcing turnovers, 18th in defensive rebounding and 24th in FTA/FGA (pr foul rate) . In 93-94 they stayed about the same 6th in EFG% but improved in forcing turnovers to 7th in the NBA and 12 in defensive rebounding. Their foul rate was the exact same. Interesting how important defensive rebounding continues to be in these case studies

PLAYER MOVEMENT: The 92-93 Pacers started Pooh Richardson, Reggie Miller, Detlef Schrempf, Dale Davis and Rik Smits. The primary bench players were Vern Fleming, Sam Mitchell and George McCloud. The next year they traded Detlef for Derrick McKey who was a long and good defender at the 3 and 4. Haywood Workman became the point guard instead of Pooh Richardson, who was injured. They added a physical Antonio Davis to the roster.

COACHING: The big change happened with the coaches. Offensive minded Bob Hill, one of the better offensive coaches in the NBA, was replaced by defensive task master Larry Brown.

CONCLUSION: This is an interesting case study because the team jumped from 21st to 8th defensively dropping 6 points per 100 possessions based on rebounding and forcing turnovers. My guess is they got tougher with the addition of Antonio Davis and Derrick McKey and defensive minded. Bob Hill was an offensive coach and Larry Brown brought a different mindset.

The Pacers organization has a pattern of a new head coach leading to a defensive improvement and then over time they struggle defensively until they get a new coach. It happened with Hill to Brown then Brown to Bird it happened again and from Bird to Isaiah it occurred and a huge drop from Isaiah to Carlisle. Jim O’Brien ignored defense and Frank Vogel has rectified that.

INTRODUCTION
The final 4 teams left in the Western Conference this year were the 4 best teams in the West in effective field goal % defense. ( Weighs three point shooting.) The top 5 defensive teams all made it to the round of 8 and the New York Knicks were the only team to make the Final 8 with a defense below the top 15 in the NBA. You must play defense to win in the NBA.
For the last three seasons, the Utah Jazz have finished ranked 23rd, 19th and 21st defensively in the NBA. If the Jazz are competing with the best in the NBA they must become a better defensive team.
Last year the Jazz allowed 104.7 pts per 100 possessions. To move into the top 15 the Jazz would need to allow 103.0 and to move into the top 10 they would need to allow 101 pts per 100 possessions.
Therefore, I reviewed the last 20 plus years of NBA stats and found the 16 teams to have made a substantial (about 5 pts per 100 possessions) defensive jump from one year to the next. Over the next few weeks I will look at those 16 teams to see what made their defensive jump possible.
Note: I have not included any lockout shortened seasons.

DEFENSIVE IMPORVEMENT CASE STUDY #5 – Houston Rockets 2002-03

DEFENSIVE CHANGE: In 2001-02 the Rockets defensive rating was 108.6 (29th) then in 2002-03 it improved to 102.6 (14th).

INSIDE THE FOUR FACTORS: In 01-02 the Rockets were 25th in EFG% def then incredibly improved to 6th in EFG% defense. They were 29th at forcing turnover and stayed very similar at 27th. They were 25th in defensive rebound and improved to 11th and interesting in the worst defensive year they were the best in the NBA at not fouling got a little worse to 6th when they improved defensively. Surprisingly they played a very slow pace of play when they were terrible on defense.

PLAYER MOVEMENT: The 01-02 bad defensive team started Francis, Mobley, Kenny Thomas, Kelvin Cato and a combination of numerous small forwards from Walt Williams to Eddie Griffin. The Rockets drafted #1 in the draft and took Yao Ming. That was the primary change, the guard line was still the same the power forward and small forward were still a mess but they added Yao Ming.

COACHING: Rudy Tomjanovich was the head coach for both seasons.

CONCLUSION: Having Yao Ming makes all the difference in the world. He leads to improvement in defensive rebounding which was a big deal and that leads to improvement in EFG% defense.

The bad defensive guard starting line-up of Francis and Mobley is somewhat similar to Mo and Foye with an undersized power forward in Kenny Thomas similar to Millsap. But the whole issue is Yao Ming.

Below is the chart of the 5 man lineup data I was discussing today on Tip Off. This chart is the 33 line-ups that were used at least 300 minutes

Yellow are line-ups of the Final 4 tea teams. Green are the Utah Jazz

The defensive rtg is color coded – Red is the best and Green is the worst.

A few takeaways
1) The best 5 man line-ups are alive. Toronto is the outlier here. The Thunder would likely be alive if Westbrook wasn’t hurt.
2) The best defensive 5 man line-ups are teh ones who are the best teams.
3) Amazing the Jazz were plus .500 with the worst 5 man line-up that played 300 minutes this season and the 6th worst.
4) The Mo, Foye, Hayward, Millsap and Jefferson line-up was the worst defensive unit in the NBA used over 300 minutes and the Tinsley, Foye, Marvin, Paul and Al line-up was the worst line-up overall used over 300 minutes.
5) Is Toronto onto something?
6) Atlanta should have been better in the playoffs? Or just a bad match up with Indiana
7) The Heat line-up with an offensive rating of 117.2 is insane.
8) Best defensive line-up is not Memphis but Parker, Green, Leonard, Splitter and Duncan.

The league is about 5 man units that dominate.