This is an older article from a fortnight or so ago. I meant to link to it back then but never got around to it. It’s an excellent article and well worth your time reading. Here’s the link and here’s a few of the highlights:
Kevin O’Neill describes his defensive philosophy in simple terms.
And if the Grizzlies can simply stop people this season, then O’Neill — and a fan base deprived of defense over the past two seasons — will be giddy.
So just how does O’Neill, hired in May as the Grizzlies’ assistant coach in charge of defensive strategy, plan to transform one of the NBA’s worst squads without the basketball into a respectable protector of the rim?
O’Neill preaches man-to-man principles, no easy baskets, no open three-pointers and contested two-point shots. It’s a playbook that may seem as though any church-league coach would implement it, but the Griz are expecting more from a man who brings a wealth of NBA and college experience.
“We’re going to be aggressive,” O’Neill said. “We want to blitz pick-and-rolls and show hard. We don’t want to be on our heels at all. We want to be a team that plays on our toes.”
Griz owner Michael Heisley has been outspoken on the Grizzlies’ lack of defense, telling the The Commercial Appeal his vision soon after the draft.
“I’d like people to say someday that you don’t like going into Memphis because those guys play dirty, they play tough and they’re rough,” Heisley said.
Last season, Memphis tied with Milwaukee for the highest opponent’s field goal percentage (.480). The Griz finished the 2007-08 campaign with the third-most points allowed (106.9 ppg), and third-worst opponent’s assist average (23.9).
“If you can get some stops,” O’Neill said flatly, “you can win games down the stretch.”
O’Neill said there’s no magic to his defense. It is a help-oriented system that relies on players to be in position to make plays. He has drilled the Grizzlies in this philosophy throughout practice and personal visits.
O’Neill has already visited every young player on the roster at their respective off-season homes, wasting little time to instill his mantra: Defense is a mentality.
“He’s a very intense guy,” point guard Mike Conley said. “It seems like he picks up on every mistake you make. He wants to make everybody better. He’s yelling and picking up the intensity. Everybody’s learning a lot from him.”
Iavaroni likes the addition
The change in coaching staff seems to have taken pressure off head coach Marc Iavaroni, whose team didn’t exactly take on his personality as a defensive-minded former player.
“We’re going to entrust Kevin’s system with our players and buy into that. I feel very confident about that,” Iavaroni said. “At the same time, we’re going to insist that we don’t give up our attack mentality on offense. That’s going to be the challenge this year.
“But we needed to reassess with better players and better schemes. Kevin’s going to be more of me than I could possibly be. That’s what I like about it. I don’t have to be that (sergeant at arms). . … It allows me to hand something off, and still keep the big picture.”
More on their new defensive system and O Neill’s practices
After utilizing both a man-to-man defense and a zone last year, the Grizzlies will switch to a man-to-man style that O’Neill prefers. Players will still provide help, but O’Neill wants to see the pride a player should have when it comes to stopping his man.
“My game starts with defense. The game is more fun when you start diving around and hustling,” Griz rookie guard O.J. Mayo said. “We have a lot of guys who can score. But it’s good to know we’re going to bring intensity on that end of the court.”
O’Neill is known for sometimes overseeing an entire session without anybody touching a ball.
“We want to be a team that plays in a group,” O’Neill said. “A lot of times people talk about whether guys are selfish on offense. The same thing is true on defense. If you don’t go and help your teammate and do the right thing on every possession, then you hurt your overall team defense.
“Individual defense is a big part of man-to-man defense. But we want to adopt the philosophy that you’ve got one guy guarding the ball and four guys helping to guard the ball at all times.”
Defensive stats?
When Hubie Brown coached the Grizzlies he kept track of deflections.
“That’s how you know your team is working,” Brown would say.
O’Neill follows different statistics, and you won’t necessarily see them in an NBA box score. His biggest pet peeve is “blow bys,” as in how many times an offensive player beats his Grizzly off the dribble and gets into the lane to score or create.
“We want to make people shoot over the top of us,” O’Neill said. “And then be a great defensive rebounding team. We’ve got a group of young guys capable of doing those things. As long as we have a work mentality on the defensive end we’ve got a chance. That’s what we want to give ourselves every night out.”
O Neill wants to avoid letting opponents drive down the middle, plus the players like his approach
To that end, the Griz will make a major change in the Iavaroni Era.
O’Neill insists on shifting from forcing opponents to the middle of the lane to steering offensive players toward the baseline where they run out of real estate.
“We can be instinctive and concentrate more on one-on-one defense now,” Conley said. “We’re forcing people baseline, which a lot of the guys are used to coming out of college and high school. It’s a lot easier for people to get used to that than forcing people to the middle.”
Grizzlies hoping for defensive improvement from better defensive personnel
Then again, the Grizzlies hardly employ the number of defensive liabilities they started last season with. In addition to the obvious speed and athleticism throughout the roster, these Griz also seem to possess more defensive intensity.
The additions of Mayo and Darrell Arthur on draft night are expected to bolster the otherwise weak defensive mentality the Grizzlies displayed last season.
“Everybody is trying to keep up the intensity on defense,” Arthur said. “We know that we’re a very athletic team and if we play hard on that end then it’ll make our offense a lot easier.”
Conley adds
“We’re starting to pick up (opponents) a lot full court,” Conley said. “We’re learning how to turn our man a couple of times. We’re trying to take people out of their sets and aggravate them.”
Iavaroni wants the team to keep it’s fast paced offense
Iavaroni seems pleased but remains a bit cautious about the newfound emphasis on defense disrupting what he intends to accomplish on offense. The Griz still want to play an up-tempo game and not fall back into the plodding style that turned off fans during former Griz coach Mike Fratello’s tenure.
“I do not want to slow things down,” Iavaroni said. “Everybody understands that. If you devote a lot of energy in one area then something’s got to give a little bit. We don’t want it to give a lot. We don’t want to give up a quick inbound after an occasional make.”
More info on the move, Heisley, and former coach Chiesa
Still, the early progress O’Neill has made in the Grizzlies’ defense and mentality explains why team owner Heisley insisted on a change. Griz management made the move to re-assign veteran NBA assistant coach Gordon Chiesa, who sans finding employment with another team will remain on the payroll and given other duties.
