John Hollinger is a Dangerous Nerd

Sonics Have Worst Defense Ever"? (Insider)

I will say this: the Supersonics' defense is indeed atrocious. It's just not the worst ever. Jay Bilas was right when he said that Luke Ridnour couldn't guard the chair that Bilas was sitting in on draft day. Luke is actually a fine off ball defender who can get into passing lanes and disrupt the opposition's transition game. But that doesn't matter because the NBA is primarily a half court game especially in crunch time.

The Supes are also hampered by the developing twin towers Bob Swift and Johan Petro. Watching the Sonics play, opposition big men salivate when they get the ball in the paint against these guys. Just this week Pau Gasol hung 44 on the Supes and Yao Ming followed that up with 28. That's 28 considering he didn't play much in the fourth quarter because the Rockets had led by as much as 40 and the game was over at half. It is not unreasonable to expect the seven footers to dramatically improve as they get more experience and begin to feel their defensive oats, but right now there is no respect level from the other team. That strains the already limited perimeter defense as they have to cover for our post weakness. There's no denying the Sonics are bad at defense.

But still...worst ever? Hollinger's rating is based on opponent's points per 100 possessions adjusted for free throws and three pointers. That number is then measured against the league average. I can make up formulas too, John. I was once involved in the creation of a drink called the Holocaust consisting of Maneschevitz and 151. Hollinger rated that one of the highest VERs or all time. (That's vomit efficiency rating and a yuk if you're scoring at home.)

How about a crazy abitrary stat like pure average points against? John Hollinger doesn't want you to know that this year's Sonics don't even make the Top 100 worst defenses since 1979-80 (advent of the 3 point line). NOT IN THE TOP 100 YA HEARD? Worst team ever if you're wondering? Try the 1990-91 Denver Nuggets. Opponents averaged a mind-boggling 130 points against them. That is per game. I didn't believe it myself which is why I linked to the game log so you could see that debacle score by score. They had a rookie Chris Jackson by the way.

There is no team in the Top 50 highest opponent's points per game later than the 1992-1993 Dallas Mavericks at 32. There is no team in the Top 100 later than the 1994-95 Golden State Warriors at 85. I would think this is due to the bruising defensive styles introduced by the Pat Riley Knicks teams of the mid-90s. Hollinger might be getting carried away with his worst ever claim because we've been spoiled by good defense in terms of total points for a little over a decade. So like, there's that.

Footnote:

In positive Supes news Hollinger did note that the team has shown marked improvement under Bob Hill owing to the acquisition of Earl Watson. It also helped to hit Danny Fortson in the knee with a lead pipe and trade Reggie Evans to get rid of those fouling machines.

I love databasebasketball.com.