New Orleans Pelicans making incremental progress on defense

Chuck Cook-USA TODAY SportsThe New Orleans Pelicans were a disaster on defense in the first couple weeks. Not only were they the worst defense in the league but opponents were still getting to the rim at will in addition to shooting a scorching hot percentage behind the arc. There isn't much going right on defense when opponents are scoring over 1.1 points per possession.

As I stated two weeks ago Darren Erman has fixed a poor defense before and helped turn the Boston Celtics into an excellent defense in the span of a couple weeks. The primary issue, one which has haunted New Orleans for three seasons, is the inability to protect the basket. Opponents were taking over 34% of their shots in…