The defense appears to be the issue, which is strange because it was the strong part of the team for Avery's first couple of years.
Alabama has a higher rebound margin (6.4) this year than any of his previous seasons. However, it also has a worse steals per game average (4.3) than the prior three years. The scoring margin (3.6) is only behind the 2016-2017 team's 3.8 points per game. This year's team has a higher scoring average (76.9) than the three previous teams, too. But, this year's team also is giving up more points (73.3) than the other three seasons.
As with his tenure, there are some positive stats and there are some negative stats. Pick and chose which ones you want to go with to fit your narrative.