I realize the personnel hasn't been ideal for playing the defense they want to, but the deep drop on the PnR is just a recipe for giving up points to the opposition. Vonleh wasn't in the same area code as some Bulls shooters last night after the wing defender got picked.
I was able to watch only the 2nd half of last night's game but Scal mentioned that they were playing drop coverage with Al too. Scal harped on the Cs PnR defense not being very good.
Here's an issue i see.
As everyone recalls, the switch-heavy scheme that Ime installed last year didn't work very well until they put Rob in the "free safety" spot. In the first half of last season, teams were getting smalls switched on to our bigs and blowing past them and since our bigs were on the perimeter, the offense had free reign to go to the hoop or dump off to an open person. Switching Rob to the "free safety" both allowed him to deter guys who were driving to the rim
plus he has such a freakish athleticism, he could get out and contest (and even block) the corner 3P shot.
As much as everyone hated the "2BIGZ"
(tm) lineup, having a rim protector plus someone who could bang with bigs plus switch onto smalls (Horford) was a key to the defense in the 2nd half of last year.
Well fast forward, and now not only do the Cs not have a rim protector but they are playing much smaller.
My guess is that Mazzulla knew that the defense wasn't going to be the same, which he wants more offense on the floor and wants the Cs to run more (and get -hopefully - more easy buckets). Even still, last night's defense was pretty off and I'm sure they will be working on PnR defense plus applying more ball pressure on their upcoming days without a game