BASKETBALL–HOW IMPORTANT IS DEFENSE?

BASKETBALL—HOW IMPORTANT IS DEFENSE?. The Bulls are running an experiment this year which should provide data on what for me is one of the great questions in basketball. The question is: Why don’t basketball journalists and fans give equal weight to offense and defense? A player spends half his time on defense so it should be equally important. To take some rough approximations, Eric Snow should be as highly regarded as Alan Iverson; Bruce Bowen should be as valuable as Michael Redd. The Bulls this year are considered to be as unbalanced a team as any in recent memory—unbalanced in terms of emphasizing defense rather than offense. Charles Barkley has compared the Bulls to a team with a good pitching staff and no hitters. There will be a test of another proposition. I have compared Ben Wallace for several years to Bill Russell. Not as good, but close. The experiment hasn’t begun yet because the Bulls are still on their long annual Circus road trip, but we will see. Of course, I should have a criterion for interpreting the results of the experiment. I think people generally agree that the Bulls do not have overwhelming talent. Perhaps it is the level of talent that matters rather than how it is divided between defense and offense. The last two years the Bulls’ wins have been in the 40’s. If the Bulls do much better than expected, perhaps win 50 games, that would indicate that good defensive players are underrated. A season in the 40’s would indicate that the defense/offense balance doesn’t make much difference. In the 30’s would mean that you’ve got to have shooters.