In case you were wondering about GSW’s defensive woes, I put this chart together to see how things have changed defensively over the dynasty years. One of the biggest drops in defensive stats this year (thanks for basketball-reference) compared to last year is in blocks. The team is down 17.9% in blocks compared to last year.
That is not too surprising because as we all know, there’s a lack of big men this year to guard the basket and disrupt shots.
Looking over the chart, you can see that GSW has been consistently strong in blocks and/or defense throughout the dynasty. At first, Bogut anchored the D. Then KD took over that role. Additional role players like Boogie, Bell and Chriss contributed to defense. GSW was so good at blocks that in 2019, the team was ranked #1, but fell 14.2% compared to 2018!
Team blocks naturally went down after KD left, but discounting the disaster injury year, team defense was still good overall in 2021 and 2022.
Last year was interesting in that GSW had a #1 defensive rating even though their team block rate was down at 18. In addition to blocks, defensive rating takes steals and defensive rebounds into account and GSW excelled in those areas ranked #4 in steals and #2 in defensive rebounds.
This year GSW is down in blocks, and also down in defensive rebounds and steals.
The good news is we have some defensive reinforcements hopefully joining the team. GP2 led the team in steals last year and Igoudala helped with blocks last year. I’m still hoping GSW can also bring in another shot blocker on the buyout market.
McJumbos
Ngl I thought they would be worst than 20
myloudassneighbors
Looks like we don’t want to finish 5th in overall rating. All other numbers are fair game
Nessmuk58
I’m not sure these data really tell a consistent story. From 2018 – 2022, Blocks do not correlate well with defensive ranking, and they are off in both directions – a great rank in blocking 2018 and 2019, but a mediocre defensive ranking, then just the opposite in 2021 and 2022 (2020 is missing?).
Then defense vs. outcome doesn’t correlate well, either. Mediocre D with a chip in 2018 and what should have been a chip in 2019, but strong D in 2021 but we lost in the Play-in. With enough offensive horsepower (Steph + Klay + KD in 2018 & 2019), we obviously could win without great D, but without it (no KD and no Klay in 2021), we couldn’t win even with strong D.
Also strange what happened from 2016/17 to 2017/18 & 2018/19. Our starting 5 stayed the same 2016/17 to 2017/18 (Steph, Klay, Dray, KD, Zaza), as did primary reserves (West, Iggy, McGee, Shaun, Looney) and even a few slots deeper on the bench. We lost Zaza, West, and McGee all in 2018/19, but if that loss was significant, why didn’t their presence make us better the previous year?
FeelTheRealBirdie
Why don’t we sign blocking machine Hassan whiteside?
mhowes666
This brought back memories. I love KD and he was such a great fit…but there was this point where he turned on his defense and when he did the Warriors were not only unstoppable but probably one of the greatest teams to take the floor. He could play the 4 with Draymond at the 5. There is only one way to describe that ..,,sick
OlorinDK
My understanding is that defense is not all about blocks and steals, and a block-first big is not all that important in the playoffs. We should know, given how many times we’ve exposed such bigs (looking at you Gobert and Horford) and given that we’re the ones who’ve had the most success with small ball lineups!
Last year we ranked 18th in blocks with the no. 1 defense. We’ve also ranked no. 1 in blocks while everyone was saying we were lacking rim protection. I remember it happened, just not which year, but looks like 18 or 19.
SummerGoal
Basically we’re not repeating unless Steph pulls off a goat tier carry job at 35
bl123123bl
Wonder what we’d be home vs away this year in rankings
AkimboLife
This is why the Wiseman situation failed.
Wontonsoupz
2018 to2019 defense was literally coasting. They were top tier defense in the playoffs. This year, our defense is just trash
YoungKeys
TIL defense was important
Leggitt69
Moral of the story: during the season, this team can be all over the place but once playoffs start, that’s when they take things seriously
RimRunningRagged
Is there a way to see this data, but with all lineups that include Poole filtered out? You know, for science…
15 Comments
In case you were wondering about GSW’s defensive woes, I put this chart together to see how things have changed defensively over the dynasty years. One of the biggest drops in defensive stats this year (thanks for basketball-reference) compared to last year is in blocks. The team is down 17.9% in blocks compared to last year.
That is not too surprising because as we all know, there’s a lack of big men this year to guard the basket and disrupt shots.
Looking over the chart, you can see that GSW has been consistently strong in blocks and/or defense throughout the dynasty. At first, Bogut anchored the D. Then KD took over that role. Additional role players like Boogie, Bell and Chriss contributed to defense. GSW was so good at blocks that in 2019, the team was ranked #1, but fell 14.2% compared to 2018!
Team blocks naturally went down after KD left, but discounting the disaster injury year, team defense was still good overall in 2021 and 2022.
Last year was interesting in that GSW had a #1 defensive rating even though their team block rate was down at 18. In addition to blocks, defensive rating takes steals and defensive rebounds into account and GSW excelled in those areas ranked #4 in steals and #2 in defensive rebounds.
This year GSW is down in blocks, and also down in defensive rebounds and steals.
The good news is we have some defensive reinforcements hopefully joining the team. GP2 led the team in steals last year and Igoudala helped with blocks last year. I’m still hoping GSW can also bring in another shot blocker on the buyout market.
Ngl I thought they would be worst than 20
Looks like we don’t want to finish 5th in overall rating. All other numbers are fair game
I’m not sure these data really tell a consistent story. From 2018 – 2022, Blocks do not correlate well with defensive ranking, and they are off in both directions – a great rank in blocking 2018 and 2019, but a mediocre defensive ranking, then just the opposite in 2021 and 2022 (2020 is missing?).
Then defense vs. outcome doesn’t correlate well, either. Mediocre D with a chip in 2018 and what should have been a chip in 2019, but strong D in 2021 but we lost in the Play-in. With enough offensive horsepower (Steph + Klay + KD in 2018 & 2019), we obviously could win without great D, but without it (no KD and no Klay in 2021), we couldn’t win even with strong D.
Also strange what happened from 2016/17 to 2017/18 & 2018/19. Our starting 5 stayed the same 2016/17 to 2017/18 (Steph, Klay, Dray, KD, Zaza), as did primary reserves (West, Iggy, McGee, Shaun, Looney) and even a few slots deeper on the bench. We lost Zaza, West, and McGee all in 2018/19, but if that loss was significant, why didn’t their presence make us better the previous year?
Why don’t we sign blocking machine Hassan whiteside?
This brought back memories. I love KD and he was such a great fit…but there was this point where he turned on his defense and when he did the Warriors were not only unstoppable but probably one of the greatest teams to take the floor. He could play the 4 with Draymond at the 5. There is only one way to describe that ..,,sick
My understanding is that defense is not all about blocks and steals, and a block-first big is not all that important in the playoffs. We should know, given how many times we’ve exposed such bigs (looking at you Gobert and Horford) and given that we’re the ones who’ve had the most success with small ball lineups!
Last year we ranked 18th in blocks with the no. 1 defense. We’ve also ranked no. 1 in blocks while everyone was saying we were lacking rim protection. I remember it happened, just not which year, but looks like 18 or 19.
Basically we’re not repeating unless Steph pulls off a goat tier carry job at 35
Wonder what we’d be home vs away this year in rankings
This is why the Wiseman situation failed.
2018 to2019 defense was literally coasting. They were top tier defense in the playoffs. This year, our defense is just trash
TIL defense was important
Moral of the story: during the season, this team can be all over the place but once playoffs start, that’s when they take things seriously
Is there a way to see this data, but with all lineups that include Poole filtered out? You know, for science…
the D last year was next level