Yes- you've unmasked me. I joined CF in 2003 after watching a young Jeremy Lin dominate on his middle school team, knowing that he one day would be the Rocket's starting PG and bring Linsanity to Houston. I've lurked around the board for a decade and finally decide to start a thread but don't mention Lin in it at all. Yet somehow, super sleuths like you have used clever deduction and amazing intelligence to unmask me as a LOF. Congratulations. You are definitely no Avg Joe.
I used them both b/c both have been used to describe Beverley's defense and frankly, I don't agree with either. That's why I choose to interchange them.
And in that same vein of thought, the Rocket's are not a good defensive team so maybe Beverley is just average but appears to be better playing against the rest of the team...
Make them beat us with Jackson, Fisher and Martin- yes. Give them wide looks without even trying, no. And that is what I saw happening based on the eye test when those guys were completely wide open. It was usually Beverley who was covering them. My point isn't to say that the Rocket's game plan wasn't to gamble and let the other guys beat us. But what I saw was plenty of times when Beverley was on a guy, the guy got open shots. And sometimes it was because he was doubling, other times because he got screened or other times because he was manning the lanes. Whatever the reason, the people who think he played great D have an excuse for why his man was open almost every single time. How about the times when he wasn't doubling or when he could've come around the screen but went the wrong way or just gave up? Compare his D to Battier's and they're not even close.
Just curious Ed do you think Lin plays better defense than Beverley? Judging from your past post I assume you think so?
There you go. If this is what your "analysis" was composed of then you can understand why many posters are hesitant to give it much credence.
That's the sound perspective I can subscribe to. That explains why Morey (McHale?) in recent interview said he didn't thin Lin would lose his starting job to Beverly, but both are needed on the roster. The upside is, both will improve greatly next year!
Another attempt to bring Lin into it huh? But I'm not afraid to answer. I think that they both are decent defenders (both are great at getting steals) but both have plenty of room to improve. I think that when Lin's man beats him, most people don't say that it's because a screen was set on him or say that it's b/c he was forced to double on someone. It's because he is too slow or because he isn't athletic enough. Do you agree on that? I specifically didn't want to bring Lin into this discussion because the thread would easily deteriorate into another Lin v Bev debate and there are plenty of those around. The point of this thread is specifically to point out that Beverley, exciting as he may be to watch pestering the man with the ball, makes a ton of mistakes on D and doesn't do anything else to merit the media praise and Rocket's fan praise based on what we've seen so far.
Defensive Advanced Statistical Comparison b/t Lin and Bev (Keep in mind that Jeremy, on average, faces better offensive talent as he usually faces the starting PGs): Defensive Synergy Stats JLin, allows .87PPP, rank is #191 out of the entire NBA Bev, allows .89PPP, rank is 256 Comparison Points: Lowry (.81ppp, Rank = 78), Conley and Paul, tied (.83PPP, Rank = 108), Dragic (.9ppp, Rank = 278) Defensive RAPM (adjusted Box Score stats, very popular new advanced metric...the NBA.com best defensive players article was based of this metric) http://www.nba.com/hoop/the_devil_is__the_dtails_2013_02_05.html Lin = .1 DRating Bev = -0.3 DRating Comparison Points: Lowry = .5, Conley = 1.2, Paul = .8, Dragic = -1.3 Sorry folks, JLin is statistically the better defender, and I'm pretty darn sure Morey knows it..
https://sites.google.com/site/rapmstats/2013-rapm-non-prior-informed-updated-march-30 Here's the Link to the RAPM stats...
I pointed out what stats we had so far also and agreed that while it is a small sample, it's the same sample size that people are using to hail Beverley as a good defender. The good thing about this thread is that I see that I'm not the only one who thinks it's a myth so there must be something to it.
It's baiting b/c if I had answered Lin straight up, then I'm labeled an LOF. Even I saw that from a mile away. I explained in detail how my mind works on this. 1) Jackson was getting off on us every game that Bev was on him. Even when Bev was on Martin or Fisher, they were killing us too. Even my buddy who thinks Bev plays great D admits that Bev's D on Fisher in the 4th quarter was a big reason we lost the game. And he thinks that I'm wrong about Bev's D. 2) Bev's double teaming or cutting off the lane didn't seem effective at all on Durant. Yes he was quoted as having 3-4 guys coming at him all night but Durant still had great numbers every game. 3) Bev was picked off easily or couldn't stay in front of Jackson, time after time after time. Yes he was running into screens but what player in the NBA doesn't run into screens when you are playing defense? The bottom line is that good defenders fight through them or know when to go over or under them. Beverley didn't seem to know when to do either. 4) Fouls, fouls, fouls... 'nuff said. Does that explain my thinking process a little better?
lol if other label you a lof cuz of that I don't have control over it (the ones that think that already do), I would simply argue your points on why you thought Lin was better.
Nice one, these are indeed areas where he has to improve on, fighting through screens and doubling on someone without leaving his man.
I've been called that by a few folks already in this thread even though I said nothing about Lin and have been on Clutchfans for over a decade. And if this were a Lin v Bev- who is better thread then it would be an appropriate place to debate it.
