Quote
Ram_Ruler
But it sounds like, even with all the big trades on defense and the signing of Suh, we still only managed to be an average defense? Is that accurate? Because if the offense being 15th this season did us in, then the defense being 14th, 13th, etc was likely a big issue the past two seasons

Yeah the D has managed to only be average when I believe their talent level seems like it's above average. But maybe we're exaggerating the talent on D.

This is why I stated above to compare the D to the pieces we have on offense.

This year we had two consistent, standout performers: Donald and Littleton. Ramsey has a rep for being elite and he played decently well but I don't think we got elite performance from him. And is the defense as a system going to get the full benefit of having his level of talent when we plug him in mid season? If he's the best press man in the league, it doesn't seem like we did.

Last year we had Donald and who? Probably only Littleton again and Suh in the playoffs.

Someone recently made a good point in regard to the structure of the team. Who has the defense invested in as far as foundational pieces? So far, only Donald. The rest are pieces that have constantly moved in and out. Suh is in one year, out the next.

The offense, on the other hand, has probably got more talent overall and perhaps most importantly the core pieces have been in place for several years.

Perhaps it's unfair to expect Wade to get much more than average results when we have not given him more than one player on which to build the foundation of the D. Just handing him a hodgepodge of supposedly "above average" players isn't the same thing.

I think this is the reason why they traded for Ramsey. They need to make a long term investment in another core defensive piece. Then you build your entire defense on those 2 or 3 players.