I don't have any advanced metrics on this, so can someone post some metrics from this season? My eye test says that Lin is the better positional defender, better defensive awareness, better rotations, better fighting through screens. While Beverly is the better on-ball defender, pressuring the ball handler, full court press. Overall, I have to say this season Lin is the better defender since onball defense is less important than team defense.
Beverley is too short to guard outside shooter. His energy will wear down or get him into foul trouble, as more minutes he plays. It's so naive to praise his offensive rebound b/c he has no advantage to put back and score. Not his fault.
Lin has improved a LOT on defense this year. Bev's played pretty lousy D these past two games but that's only because he's injured (I'm assuming that's what it is). There are times I have to consider that Lin is probably a better "positional defender" than Bev but not one-on-one defender. Also Lin is taller, which helps.
Beverly is the better on ball defender. Peple get confused because they see Lin steal numbers but the propblem is Lin has thoses numbers because he gambles way too much and that why the players he defends get away from him so easily without the ball to get open shots. Also Lin doesn't fight through picks as well as Bervely.
From mysynergy.com: Code: Beverley J Lin Overall* [B]1.26 0.79[/B] Number** 35 62 Rank*** [B]182 64[/B] *Results are in PPP or Points Per Play allowed. In defense, lower the better. A “Play” is always ended with a shot attempt, turnover or getting to the free throw line. PPP is the player’s total points, excluding technical free throws, divided by their total plays. **Number of plays. *** League ranking. How synergy selects the player - Synergy tracks the initial on ball defender for many playtypes. For example, an offensive player is in Isolation and blows by his defender (player A) and gets to the rim. A help defender (player B) rotates over to try and contest the shot. They attribute the defensive play to Player A, as he was the person was initially beaten on the play. Edit: For those who don't know how to read into numbers: There were 62 opposition offensive plays ended up directly involved with Lin, they scored 0.79 point/play, which ranked him 64th in the league. There were 35 plays ended with Bev, and opposition scored 1.29 point/game, which ranked him 182nd in the league.
judging from the simple eye test? Yes...but team defense wise, nah he's not. Bev is great against PG's who can be rattled by the ball pressure defense. But for people like Lillard, CP3, it doesnt faze them. When the Rox play LAC later does CP3 and Doc Rivers get together and go "hey i have Beverley on me instead of Lin, what's our game plan for this adjustment?" Heck no, he'll do the same thing he does and Bev doesnt tone down his aggression he's getting 2 fouls in the first quarter.
ehh Bev was not impressive in his pick fighting against Kemba Walker in game 1....he's too aggressive though, Kemba then faked a pick and completely caught him out of position on another play. If you told me it was a 1-1 iso possession I'd would say Bev for sure. I think the notion of Lin's steals coming from gambling is overhyped. A lot of his steal come from cutting into the passing lane or coming from behind a guy who's not looking. Not that big a gamble, it's not like he's leaving his man to run to the other side of the court for a double team.
Synergy's defensive numbers aren't particular useful, see http://hoopspeak.com/2012/01/stop-synergy-abuse/ Beverley is better at fighting over/through screens and positioning him to prevent players from going middle. At times his aggression works against him, but yes, he is a better defender than Lin and has been so far this year.
Take the Lakers game and the 2nd half when we played decent D. If indeed Bev is playing more minutes then he is playing better D but if Lin is the major contributor here then it's a wash or Lin might be even outperforming him on that end. At the least Lin isn't very far away. Beverley plays Defense more vigorously and disruptingly. Lin is stealing, gambling if you will and using his height and body to disturb smaller guards.
I believe there are two parts to defense. One is mental games (like trash talks), the other is physical games (steals, rebounds etc). I think they are both pretty good at defending physically but mentally, PB has an upper hand. Lin needs to find a way to play with opponents' minds.
It's too small a sample size to be making this call now. Remember, Bev is starting for the first time and defending starting PGs over starter's minutes for the first time. I hope Bev is not gonna get EXPOSED! + Lin has been playing great D (Calderon 0pts, Kemba 0pts) but could be just lucky those guys had an off night.
That's not his game "to get into people minds" he plays pretty good offense & defense that's all he need to worry about
Bev is the better defender, but at his position it doesn't matter as much as people want you to think. CP3, Parker, DWill will screen anyone to death. Parker dismantled the Grizzlies with Conley and Allen on him. Even Nash is fast enough to get open on a screen. This is why the Heat and Spurs aggressively hedge, trap on the baselines, or switch. It takes team D. The things Bev does well are better suited at defending iso-heavy guards who don't use screens or have a post game (ie Harden), but he's 6'1, 185. Rose & Westbrook are where you need Bev most. Rose has to be a one man offense for the Bulls and iso a lot. Westbrook is terrible at QB'ing and a headcase who gets irritated by pressure D. But unfortunately Rose is too fast to guard with that much pressure. And Westbrook is too big AND too fast. Bev is usually out of position to help on D because he plays his man tight off the ball. But I'm actually ok with this. Its easier to tell Bev to sag and keep his man in his peripheral vision than it is to break Harden, Parson, and Lin out of their ballwatching tendencies. You have Dwight Howard behind you. The rest of these guys need to stop pretending like their help D is anything more than swiping at the ball as Harden's man heads towards the paint. Let Dwight switch to contest and someone box out Dwight's man. We're getting torched on D and its not even because of aggressive switching. Guys are just mesmerized by the ball and getting caught out of position playing the passing lanes to pad steals. Lin negates his better help D by losing focus on the weak side drifting from his man, overhelping in the paint and getting burnt for 3, and conceding penetration when he gets beat before the play is over. Each of these happens at least 2x a game. Its nowhere near as bad as Harden or Parsons, but it adds up. At some point the the team has to establish a defensive philosophy/culture. It can't be pack the paint, leave the PG on an island, and ask Dwight/Asik to bail us out at the rim. Bev vs Lin doesn't matter, who's stepping up to help/switch is the issue.
Don't you guys excuse Lin for struggling for 5 months AFTER he was suppose to be back from his injury? or when he sucked again when he had an injury in the playoffs? Bev isn't even suppose to be playing yet so comparing them so far is pointless.
How many folks were giving Lin an excuse? You have forgotten the legendary "Jeremy Lin is a Joke" thread by the legendary Dei? That was one of the longest, most active threads in the board, until Jeremy starting playing more consistently after the All Star Break. Lin was ribbed so hard by this board at the beginning of last season, it wasn't even funny.
I'm reminded that "Lin was coming back from injury. He played better in the last half of the season" so much that I think I say it in my sleep now.
Except for the Holiday thing, it's Lin. I feel like it's a troll move by McSuccess, not with real substance.
