Thursday, December 18, 2008

When transforming the defensive system, sometimes you take one step forward and two back

John Schuhmann has a good story today over on NBA.com about MIL's progress on the defensive end under new Bucks coach Scott Skiles.

Of course, getting a team to break old habits requires "a culture change," in Michael Redd's words, who acknowledges that it was necessary. "We had to get better at that end in order to compete."

As Coach Skiles puts it, "It's not going to happen for us overnight."

The good news is, the new staff's emphasis on defense is starting to pay off. According to the article, "Milwaukee ranks 13th in the league this season defensively, allowing 107.3 points per 100 possessions. Only Cleveland has improved more."

"We've been an excellent defensive team in our practices. We know what we're supposed to be doing. It hasn't always translated [to games], but we are becoming more consistent on that end of the floor. When you're trying to transform the attitude and the defensive system," Skiles said, "sometimes you take one step forward and two steps back. And then all of a sudden you take two steps forward and one step back. And then eventually, you get it all ironed out."