In Defense of the Suns Defense

In today's feature of Behind the Box Score from Ball Don't Lie, Kelly Dwyer responded to my post yesterday about the Suns improvements on defense via several statistics I quoted. Here were his thoughts regarding my post.

Look, I really liked this post from Ben (a real up-and-comer, give him a bookmark) upon a first read, but all the stats he quoted are just by-products of a slower pace, and the Suns entered the game 19th in defensive efficiency. Teams aren't shooting worse, teams aren't turning the ball over more, and teams aren't getting to the line less. They're just scoring less because the Suns aren't shooting in seven seconds or less.

A lot of this defensive "improvement" is just coming because the team is giving up fewer points per game, mainly because they're milking the clock on offense and taking fewer shots as a result. Which means there is less of a chance for teams to put up big scoring numbers on the other end, even if it's easier to score on Phoenix.

19th is down from 16th last year, and while that might go up a bit after this game (the Suns gave up 105.6 points per 100 possessions in the loss, a better mark than the 106.4 they were averaging before the game), just be careful when you get into non pace-adjusted stats.
Offensively, Amare Stoudemire was taken out of a game by the opposing defense for the second time in six nights, and this can't keep happening.

First, I am glad someone reads this blog. : )

While I don't disagree with many of his points, I do argue that the Suns have improved on the defensive end and the pace of play is just a bi-product of our new regime and shouldn't be credited for the Suns defensive improvements.

Sure, the pace of play is down as they work the offense through Shaq more (which is something I called for a few months back) but that doesn't directly correlate with teams scoring less - no matter the pace of play. Teams are actually getting more of an opportunity to score since we are turning the ball over at a god-awful 17 a game or 27th in the league.

While I'm not saying they are a defensive juggernaut, I am saying that their style of play allows the Suns to be a better defensive team and their numbers are showing that.

Also, the Suns as a team have not shot well at all this year. The only reason our FG% is up is because Shaq and Amare shoot over 50% a game. When the Suns start making some shots and become more involved and comfortable in our offensive schemes, we'll see our scoring go up even more and opponent's scores going down.

It is my belief that turnovers directly correlate with the amount of points we allow per game. If those are cut down, I think we'll see further statistical proof of their improvements.