How KPJ responds to Udoka + a change in role is one of the things I'm most interested to follow this upcoming season. He has the tools to be a good defender, you're right, but so far in his career he has been much worse than FVV in practical terms because the effort and execution hasn't been there.
Good comment….needs to bulk up in general. While he’s doing great against scrubs in summer league (as he should), disappointed that he still is looking really skinny. Add 25 pounds of muscle and he’ll be a beast this year.
Good comment….needs to bulk up in general. While he’s doing great against scrubs in summer league (as he should), disappointed that he still is looking really skinny. Add 25 pounds of muscle and he’ll be a beast this year.
We do not have a interior defender! Sengun tries but effort and leaping ability hurts him. Landale is a almost 7 footer, has size, hustles but he is a offensive center and not going to stop the layup drills. Jabari played well in the summer league but he had no interior defense presence for the team. Huff was a interior defensive presence at the first game for us until Shaedon Sharpe made a ESPN highlight on him after that Huff became passive. He have great on ball defenders(FVV and Amen) He have great perimeter defenders(Brooks, Tari, and Jabari) Interior Defender?
Anyone who thinks Sengun is part of a defensive lineup has had too many margaritas (its Monday I guess) I really hope Alpy takes a major stride defensively this year. Let's wait and see what the coaching team can do for him? High hopes!!
25 pounds of muscle wouldn’t work with his frame. His advantage is he’s too tall for perimeter defenders and too quick for bigs.
VV Amen DB Tari Bari I think people underestimate VV's defense. He's known to be a dog on D. I think with this staff, all of the core will make a significant leap on D this year.
There are no death line ups without a guy who can score in iso. Also, CLEARLY, FVV is a better defender than KPJ. For a death lineup you need Alpi or Jalen hidden in there to generate some double teams otherwise they will struggle much like the Raptors last season. Sengun Jabari Eason/Amen Brooks/KPJ FVV or Jabari Eason Brooks Green/KPJ FVV/Amen
the death lineup this team has is more like death by suicide. now if we have a second dylan brooks...
I'd still have a line-up with some heavy agree... was about to right similar to this a while back.. inserting Green to the lineup to attract double teams and a focal point of attack when shotclocks' about to expire -might be the reason why he's given the ball when time's almost up, and most of the time just throwing/chucking the ball to beat the time ..TRAINING for situations that uses this lineup FVV Green Jalen Amen Brooks Tari/Smith Jr
I've been thinking something similar ..... it's entirely possible (probable) we see some version of this lineup often. As for KPJ - everyone has written him off as a 6th man or traded him away .... yet, it's in the realm of possibility that he actually starts over Green or at the 3 spot (with Brooks as the 4) in this new era of Earn Your Playing Time. He is, to this point, the better, more efficient player than Green, pretty much all the advanced statistics bear that out, even if Green's "upside" is higher. That might be a discussion that I.D.I.O.T. on it's own .... but I'll leave that to the thread police to decide.
KPJ is very underrated on this board. What were his stats last year … 19/5/5 … something like that? It’s controversial on here but if he buys in on defense, he’s a better two way player than Jalen at this point. Truly FVV is a better defender but if teams are trading buckets and 3 or 4 consecutive stops are needed to get back in a game, I could see KPJ being more effective due to length and switch ability. But we shall see, in Udoka we trust
Jabari and KPJ two man game, with Amen and Tari cutting, Brooks spotted up in the corner… I think Jabari will show he’s capable of being a focal point this year, he can score at all 3 levels.
Jabari hasn't shown that consistent defensive presence yet, IMO. Even in the summer league now guys aren't afraid to attack him. He's decent on the switch, but hasn't shown the same level of lockdown ability as say Tari. His rim protection also isn't elite despite his length. He's still very young and has plenty of time to improve. FVV is a better defender than KPJ too. The defensive pressure he, Tari, and Brooks can apply is enormous and would be crazy if they had Brook Lopez behind them.
