I still didn't find a better measurement than points/100 possessions. All the other measurements are very subjective and skewed.
Mr.Clutch uses points/100 possession, too. He's saying BREF as basketball-reference vs nba.com. They have different calculations for Pace, so they get different results for 100 possessions, but typically the rankings are the same (as all teams have same change in numbers). He is also using BREF's Drtg Adjusted to strength of schedule. I just use straight Drtg since I like to compare to nba.com, and since everyone talks about that. Usually Mr.Clutch is the only one talking about Drtg-A, which is fine, but gets confusing. At BREF 16th in DRtg 18th in DRtg Adjusted. At NBA.com 16th in DRtg Since Beverley came back (Nov 16th) At NBA.com 7th in DRtg
At the end of the day they all show defense is improving which is awesome. Beverley is huge. If we can get to top 10, Bev for DPOY
Harden's defense has been somewhat inconsistent this season. Some nights he's pretty good (like last game), but in others he needs to do a better job. But it feels like he's definitely more engaged defensively than last year, so it's surprising to see that his DRPM has actually declined this season. Going by play-type synergy stats, Harden ranks somewhere between 40~60% in PnR, isolation and spot-up defense, the most important aspects of perimeter defense. Solidly average. And then you look at the defensive numbers of Kyrie and Lillard, it's just devastatingly awful (bottom 10~20% across the board.) IMO, those two are the worst defenders among all-star caliber guards, and people need get off of Harden's back about defense. I would say even players like DeRozan, McCollum and Isiah Thomas (all low-key horrible defenders) are worse than Harden defensively, although the last one gets a pass due to his vertically challenged height.
I actually wonder if the turnovers end up counting against his defense because they end up giving teams easier baskets. Not sure how that works. I agree his defense looks better.
Why would or should TOs subtract from a player's defense. Hakeem had high TOs for a center, more than Deke or DeAndre. Are you really going to assess that against them on defense? Many great defenders can't dribble well, so they aren't really even allowed to be put in situation to TO. Does that make them better defenders? You're talking about how defensive-minded coaches like to keep TOs down. So they tend to favor more ball control offenses vs high-octane passing games (to barrow from football teminolgy). So yes, at a team level coaches often choose offensive systems and 4th Q plays based upon how it improves their defense
Agreed, I'm not saying it SHOULD count against the defense. I'm just wondering if the statistic Real Plus Minus ends up counting turnovers against the defense because turnovers lead to the other team scoring more fast break points and it's a plus/minus stat.
It does for Team Drtg for sure. Anything that increases Efficiency of shot in less shotclock time will have the biggest impact on team defense stats that use possessions. And that is fastbreaks
Those stats indicate that Harden is an average defender. He's always been around the middle of the pack in the defensive side, he was never a really poor defender like he was made up to be. I wonder how he count this year compares to Westbrook's defensive numbers. Just for the kicks
ppp = points per possession Isolation Harden gives up 0.75 ppp , ranks 72.4% Russ gives up 1.21 ppp, ranks 8.8% Harden > Russ PnR Harden gives up 0.84 ppp, ranks 49.6% Russ gives up 0.68 ppp, ranks 79.3% Russ > Harden Spot-up Harden gives up 1.04 ppp, ranks 39.6% Russ gives up 1.08 ppp, ranks 32.6% Harden > Russ Off screen Harden gives up 0.86 ppp, ranks 61.4% Russ gives up 1.20 ppp, ranks 18.9% Harden > Russ Post up Harden gives up 0.70 ppp, ranks 79.3% Russ gives up 0.78 ppp, ranks 68.1% Harden > Russ Per Synergy, Harden definitely has been the superior defender this season. Westbrook has better DRPM, but I put more faith in these play-type stats. They give more detailed and accurate picture, IMO.
The overall numbers confirm what many of us already know : Harden is actually a decent on-ball defender, especially in one-on-one isolation and post-up situations. Harden is slightly below average in PnR and Spot-up defense, which he needs to get better at, but is not god awful as haters suggest.
Last year our goal was to be on the top 15, which we didnt achieve due to bad effort at the end of the season. Finished #18. This year with the addition of great defensive players such as CP3, Fresh Prince and Tucker we aim for top 10. Can we make it? As of today (Nov 26 2017) we are #7 at defensive rating. Great start! https://stats.nba.com/teams/defense/?sort=DEF_RATING&dir=-1
BTW room for improvement is points in the paint (#24) and points off turnovers (#26). If we can do a better job at protecting the rim and protecting the ball I believe we can even make it to top 5 on Offense AND Defense.
