LoL. It has nothing to do with Harden. They are rarely side by side defensively. Parson has regressed tremendously since his rookie year - his offensive skills have gone up a lot, but he doesn't seem to make much effort on the defensive end at all anymore. I dunno - maybe they are being given a bad system to work with?
It's unfortunate that his best season defensively was by far his rookie year when he had to give a big time effort on the defensive end to get play time. Being that our coaching really doesn't preach defense it's fallen off a ton. Of course it also has to do with the fact that he's now playing 40 minutes and has more expected of him offensively, but he showed his rookie season that with effort he could guard the opposing teams best wing. Now I would hardly trust him to guard Jeff Van Gundy one on one.
I like Parson's alot but he's not exactly long. Guys like Kawhi and Sefelosha have the reach advantage.
I don't think Parsons has really lived to the defensive promises he showed his rookie year. And if this Ibaka situation has shown us anything, Parsons needs to be a lot better at D to even consider becoming that third best guy on a championship. Parsons became Mchale's guy because even on a bad shooting night be brought D and Rebounding and that's why Bundinger lost his position to him really fast. I hope he can take that step this coming season.
After his good rookie season defensively, my eye test tells me his D is regressing to Cheetonian levels.
Not even close to making All Defensive Teams Give me a break, ~75% of Clutchfans. I'm a big Parsons fan but he's not a defensive player.
Parsons defense has gone from slightly above average in his Rookie season to average in his sophomore season to below average in his 3rd year. His D is over-rated.
Even then, it was ridiculous for 9% of posters to think he'd become defensive player of the year. DPOY's anchor defenses for entire teams. I hope people are seeing that Parsons has regressed as a defender. Given he has improved a lot offensively, I tend to think it's not accidental - offense gets you a bigger contract than defense. The sad part is, Parsons can become an excellent defender if he wants, and he has a 3pt shot, and his overall offense is good. This team needs him to lock people down more than they need him to drop 18ppg.
He was an elite defender that year. I think the lesson here is how much things have changed in just two years. He has regressed from one of the best young defenders in the NBA to a traffic cone, and it's largely a lack of effort and commitment on that end of the floor - the lack of accountability is a coaching issue. McHale coached both squads (and the team was below average on D that year), so I think the X Factor is Parsons' effort and commitment.
