The last time the Sixers played the Wizards this preseason, the defense did not give a great showing.
Actually, according to coach Brett Brown, it’s like the defense didn’t show up at all.
The Sixers lost by 34 points, gave up 129 and let the Wizards shoot 57.7 percent from three-point range. For a team that emphasized defense during training camp, it was a demoralizing performance.
Afterwards, Brown didn’t mask his disappointment.
“We didn’t play transition defense at all and that’s what our camp was based on,” Brown said after that loss to Wizards.
Since then, though, the Sixers have improved. Sort of. The team has allowed 101 points per game in the last three games and held nearly stacked Knicks and Nets teams to 94 and 95 points.
Not great, but not awful.
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The issue for the Sixers hasn’t been lack of practice time or misunderstanding of defensive theory or anything like that. Instead, it’s been personnel. Last Monday, the Sixers played without big men Nerlens Noel and Jahlil Okafor and the duo has played together in the preseason just twice.
One of those two games was the 34-point loss against the Wizards.
So in that regard, the Sixers’ progression on defense has been checkered, at best.
“As far as it goes with Nerlens and Jahlil, we haven’t progressed because they haven’t played,” Brown said. “With the group, we’ve had some really good practices and good performances in the preseason games. From that perspective, holistically, we’re ahead. When you add some pretty important pieces like Nerlens and Jahlil, we’re even.”
One of the knocks on Okafor during his lone season at Duke was his uninspired play on defense. It was a criticism that dogged the big man through the draft and into training camp and likely won’t go away until Okafor proves otherwise during the season.
But it’s a reputation that doesn’t seem too fair, according to Brown, who says Okafor isn’t half bad as a defensive player. He still has a lot to learn, the coach said, but Okafor has a lot of potential as a defender.
“In the limited time I’ve seen him it’s much better, because he cares,” Brown said. “He wants to be a good defender. Coming in, that was advertised as one of his weaknesses so you want to put him in positions where he can succeed. I’m not going to position him where he’s blitzing pick-and-rolls because he can’t be successful there — that’s not his style of game.”
In the last game against Washington, Okafor picked up four fouls in 17 minutes. He was pushed off the low block by veteran centers Nene Hilario and Marcin Gortat even though he hit his first five shot attempts. It was an education for the rookie, to be sure, but not one without merit.
Moreover, given that the Sixers want to play an uptempo style of offense that will be centered on Okafor, the defense becomes that much more important.
Needless to say, Okafor will be the center of the defense, too, with Noel looking over his shoulder.
“He’s been incredibly willing to listen and learn and watch tape,” Brown said of Okafor’s defense. “He wants to please. He has a great heart. So if we get him in career-best fitness and in the best shape of his life, he’s going to be a lot better.”
After the game against Washington, Okafor chalked the poor defense up to poor focus. That’s easy to fix, he said.
“We can compete at a high level when we’re all focused and engaged," Okafor said, "but we’re a young team and it was a learning experience."