NBA 2016-17 News, Players and Projections: Five Potential Best Defensive Teams Include Warriors and Celtics
NBA teams that have balanced offensive and defensive prowess go a long way in the season. It cannot be done with just defense, because strong defense should be complimented with consistent and reliable offense.
In the last 5 seasons, only 4 teams have had consecutive appearances in the top 5 best defensive teams. These are the San Antonio Spurs, Golden State Warriors, Indiana Pacers and Chicago Bulls.
The following teams are expected to continue their defensive excellence in the upcoming season, mainly because they have kept their key defensive players in the roster or maintained their coaching staff and defensive system through the seasons.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
1. Golden State Warriors
The Warriors just ranked eighth in NBA team defensive efficiency last season; they were ranked first in their championship run in NBA season 2014-15.
That's probably one of the reasons why they didn't shut down LeBron James and Kyrie Irving as they made a come-from-behind victory in the NBA Finals. With a lot of expectations un-met, especially after having a record breaking 73-9 season, Warriors head coach will likely preach defense next season.
It also helps that key defensive players, Thompson, Green and Iguodala are still in the roster, along with Durant who is an underrated defender.
2. Boston Celtics
The Celtics ranked 4th in NBA team defensive efficiency last season. Coach Daniel on YouTube points to the following reasons for the effectiveness of the Celtics defense: communication, effective post defense, good defensive rotation, excellent on ball defenders, and throwing out a zone defense from time to time.
Boston benefits from Brad Stevens' coaching philosophy, which focuses on defensive emphasis, which has the following elements: commitment, positioning, scouting, awareness or being unconsciously competent, execution or technique, and completion or finishing the play.
3. Utah Jazz
The Jazz ranked 5th in NBA team defensive efficiency last season.
The team has had to deal with injuries, diverting resources, and other distractions, so they haven't really shown their defensive prowess constantly throughout last season. However, if the Jazz can stay healthy next season, they will definitely be top 3 in the league when it comes to defense.
Utah's defensive assets include Rudy Gobert, who is arguably the best paint defender in the league, averaging 2.2 blocks last season while grabbing 11.0 rebounds, and high quality defenders throughout the roster (Hayward, Favors, Hood and Exum, to name some).
4. San Antonio Spurs
The Spurs are ranked first in terms of NBA team defensive efficiency last season. The team has been a top 5 defensive team the last 4 seasons, and much of it has to do with their highly defensive players, including the defensive player of the year, Kawhi Leonard.
The team, however, lost an important defensive player, Tim Duncan. He announced his retirement back in June.
5. Atlanta Hawks
The Hawks have been consistent year after year. Last season, they placed second in terms of NBA team defensive efficiency. They also added Dwight Howard in their roster, a big man who was once the most prolific defender in the paint.
However, the Hawks lost two excellent starters in Al Horford in Jeff Teague. Schroder and Bazemore need to step up their defensive game. But surely, coach Budenholzer has created a team that didn't have a legit rim protector like Gobert and still managed to use their positioning, aggressiveness and quickness to be a top defensive team.
