Cuttino Mobley: Defensive Player of the Year Candidate?

when the Rockets are on tv this year, and Cat shows to the media that he can stop a top tier player then he will get recgnize. maybe for starters make the 1st o 2nd team all defense. then next year if he continues to play good dfense the doy trophy will be up for grabs. but first he hs to pay his dues.


Rockets playing very well

 

i think I'm gonna cry, that or watch the bbs implode

 

yup, a cabbage sighting ...

sure wish you posted more, dude!

 

Against McGrady, Iverson, and particularly Carter, Mobley was NOT at all covering them single-handed, and was often beaten off the dribble to be rescued by his teammates who were doubling, etc.

The only guy of anything like top-level talent who Mobes covered one on one had a better than average night;

Defensive Players of the League shut down top stars by themselves, and Mobes has not shown an ability to do that. If he had that kind of ability, we'd rarely see the kind of aggressive team defenses on players like Carter, nor would we be left open to their teammates killing us with open shots as a result.

 

A) I'm not talking about having a cover-up big man, and thuis being able to play up...I think you're lumping me in with another poster's take. I'm talking about, like againt Carter, running a help defender or two at Mobley's man the second he puts the ball on the floor. There is a big difference between havong teammates who help and having a help defense keyed on your man.

B) I agree that basketball favors the scorer, and no one is gonna stop a Carter one on one...but a top flight defender doesn't need the degree of help Mobes gets, not even close; it's more of an on again off again type of thing to off-balance the guy. The kind of help Mobes was getting against Carter was saying " We KNOW he'll kill us if we don't."

C) Jordan was a waaay overrated defender, and I would put several people, Dumars, Pressey, Pippen, etc. ahead of him on your list of who can and cannot take a guy on single handedly. Pipp got the tough calls against the Bulls, excpet in occassional crunch situations, where MJ hadn't worked all game, and played sooo aggressive that he dared the refs to call a foul on him in crunch time, which, of course, they almost never did. As a pure defender, I would put MJ as an Alvin Robertson with better ref protection.

 

Mobley is The Claw.

Try to battle "The Cat" and he'll give you catch-scratch-fever.

 

It sure ain't stopping opposing PG's like starbury from lighting us up. Yes Cato and Yao help just like Duncan helps Bowen but Cat is denying some of the best guards in the league from scoring their normal points.

 

I meant "The Cat" is giving his opponents cat-scratch-fever. not catch-scratch. damn my face is red right now.

 

Not sure why you are saying you disagree - aren't you also saying that it is a combination of having the big men and his good individual defense?

From the games I have seen, it looks like he was putting a lot of pressure on the opposing shooting guards and his defense did look better than what I have seen in previous years. However, I think he will not even be a candidate for rookie of the year - players like Ben Wallace, etc. will easily get more recognition for their defensive efforts.

 

I thought they doubled Carter way too much. Cat played fine defense against the likes of McGrady, Miller, and Iverson. To me, the constant double teaming was a mistake and showed no confidence in the Cat. They didn't give him a chance to check Carter and it resulted in Bosh having a career game. Cat is certainly one of the top defensive 2s in the NBA, with the likes of Doug Christie. To see some evidence that it is not just the help he gets, look at how badly many PGs are still beating us (see Marbury, Nash, Miller, and Tyron freakin' Lue).

 

hes flourishing under a system that allows and encourageshim to. dont discredit him with that kind of talk. thats like saying ben wallace has no defensive capacity if not for carlisle...who is a defensive minded coach. or that GP, or AI arnt good defenders because their coaches were defensive minded.

we've all known that cuttino has had great instinct and ability on the defensive end. We saw it last year sporadically, and this year,thus far, hes really honed it in. JVG has been quoted as thinking of mobely as potentially a GREAT lockdown defender.

someone was saying how we doubled vc and ai, well, yeah....they are superstars...

i can remember on some occasions last year, durring the Pistons games, they were doubling yao before he even touched the ball....we are talking about a guy who was being defended by the reigning defensive player of the year. we all saw what happened when they went straight up man to man with yao. throw it down big man, throw it down!

 

1. Mobley's perimeter defense is excellent. He's quick, aggressive, and anticipates well. He seldom falls asleep.
2. Mobley's help defense is less than spectacular. He goes too often for the steal, then gets burned.
3. Mobley is a target to be posted up because of his small size for position.

Right now, I'd say he's a good overall defender. But he's sort of like a reverse Scottie Pippen. Remember his defensive rep when he came to Houston? People thought he was a shutdown defender who'd stop the other team's swingman every game. Well, his overall defensive affect on the team was positive, but he was never good at shutting down a specific man. He was just really great playing the passing lanes and help defense. Mobley is just the opposite.

 

Those numbers surprised me.

However, I don't think he'll win Defensive Player of the Year. ESPN has been highlighting Ron Artest's defense lately.

 

i think mobley's defense has been underrated but macbeth makes a strong point. dude is getting a TON of help. by himself he is an excellent perimeter defender, but it's amplified by a strong system and insurance in the form of jackson, cato, and yao. it's not a knock on cat, whose doing his job, but more a compliment for the team. just for the record, steve guarded iverson most of the night, but it was almost never alone either.

 

It won't surprise me if one of the Rox is named all-defensive first/second team at the end of this season.

 

Good Post.

I don't know why you think Mobley, Yao or Cato won't get mentioned in the Defensive Player Of the Year category. They're all doing great jobs defensively on the best defensive team in the league...They might not win it, but i think all 3 will get mentioned...if they keep defending the way they have been for the first month of the season