None of those teams have done anything in the playoffs besides 12 seconds or less Suns. Teams with deep playoff runs through defence: 1. 2011 Bulls 2. 2009 Magic 3. Dem Celtics teams Etc. After a superstar scorer, the next best thing you need is defence imo.
Not every team can get a superstar scorer though. It would be extremely hard to lure one to Philly currently. Also those teams made those runs on defense but they definitely had the offense to hurt teams. I'd say they are more 60:40 then completely defensively orientated. I mean bulls ha rose,deng,boozer celtics had A host of decent scorers and the magic had Howard who could give you like 30 a night. You still need offensive production and it's much harder to find then guys who can play defense I'm not debating a team needs defense, as I know it is needed for deep playoff runs. I'm saying you need the offensive production first if you want to have a look in at making the playoffs. Late Edit: Take the Pacers with George struggling and Hibbert non existent they go from a 60:40 defensively focused team to a 70:30 and it really shows as they struggle to generate the offense to beat the Hawks, and would struggle to get more then a 6-8 seed in playoffs if that if they had this form all season. If George gives them that extra 6-7 points and Hibbert gives them 10-12 it eases the rotation so much and they just dominate people hence how they got the first seed.
No-ones denying that you need to be able to score in some capacity. But "defense doesn't get you into the playoffs" is such a ridiculously jingoistic and nonsense statement that completely ignores the fact that every year there is at least 2/3 teams who are only in the playoffs because they have elite defense. There's no way this years Bulls (or even last years Bulls) & Bobcats make the playoffs with their deplorable offense, if they didn't have a top 5 defence. It's just the same as this years Mavs are a bit rubbish on D, but they're afforded this because they're a top 5 offensive team. The majority of teams that make the playoffs each year have at least a top 15 O & D, with outliers being the teams like the Bulls or Mavs that are so good on 1 end, it doesn't matter they're rubbish on the other. Ultimately though, you're generally not winning the title if you suck on one end of the floor.
The league average is around 100ppg, pace excluded. Only Chicago made the playoffs off the back of defending significantly less with an abysmal offense, both Indiana and Charlotte did their damage scoring more then 100 in the start and end of the season respectively and Memphis went over 100 when they went on runs once Gasol came back. If you exclude the abysmal Lakers and 76ers; Houston,Portland and Clippers to name some all have below average defenses considering they play some fairly average offenses for around if not more then a quarter of the season. http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/t.../sort/avgPointsOpponent/seasontype/2/split/45 Alot of teams who didnt make it but could be playoff bound over the next few seasons with pretty good at worst average defensive units managed to hover around 103 points allowed per game which is inline with the Clippers,Rockets,Blazers etc but they couldn't average over/or were just over 100 points scored a game. Utah,Orlando,New Orleans,Cleveland,New York,Sacramento,Milwaukee. The only team to do the opposite score lots of points but allow just a few more was Denver. Doc Rivers once said in a time out during a playoff series something along the lines of "keep playing good defense and the offense will come" but we all know excellent defenders don't necessarily translate to offensive production as Doc seemed to suggest As once a commentator took a dig at what Melo was saying to Tyson Chandler when he was harrasing him during a game they were losing "Well you aint going to score the buckets are you" You can make a team buy into a defensive procedure. You can go out and get defensive stoppers on low contracts. It is VERY hard to go out and buy guys in free agency to give you 15 ppg if you are an abysmal team. The draft is the only option.
Houston was actually a pretty good defensive team all season iirc. I think they were top in in points per possession or something. Anyway, I think that trading Noel leaves big holes in your D and you'll really struggle to make playoffs for a couple of seasons imo. Leaves your with MCW and Lamb, both who have potential on D but aren't exactly renowned for their defence atm.
They must play at such a pace where they allow alot of possessions? Basically I've come to the conclusion MOST playoff caliber teams play upbeat in order to avoid close games against average teams in the regular season. Pretty much saying you miss your shots and we'll go on massive runs in short amounts of time. Yeah I'm of that thinking aswell but IF Shagger is taking control of free agency and not letting the cpu decide I reckon you are far more likely to get a defensive minded player to be your "final piece" then go out and find that 20ppg scorer and convince him to join and you'll make the playoffs
NBA Draft 2014 Welcome to the Barclays Centre in New York for the NBA Draft of 2014. Adam Silver will now take the stage to begin proceedings for the first time as NBA Commissioner.
"With the first pick in the 2014 NBA Draft the Orlando Magic select Pat Wilkins from the University of Miami"
"With the third pick in the 2014 NBA Draft the Detroit Pistons select Laurence Hayes from the University of Duke"
"With the fourth pick in the 2014 NBA Draft the Milwaukee Bucks select Darrel Battle from the University of Alabama"
