In those videos from Jalen's mini-camp, Amen looks noticeably stronger. He was already an athletic juggernaut with great instincts, but if he is now able to bump people off their spots even more, I don't think it will be particularly close. If I was told I would get a million dollars if I could score a basket against any one of these defenders, Amen would easily be my last choice (not that I would score against any of them lol).
How do you determine this? If you ask, who will guard the best opposing player that is not a massive center, than I am pretty sure the answer will be Dillon Brooks. Amen is a great defender, but I don‘t see him guarding the Durants, LeBrons etc. I also don‘t really see hin guarding the top guards with Brooks also on the court. He might end up with better (advanced) stats, but Dillon will chase the opposing best players on most nights (if he get‘s on the floor that is - with our young 7 that might be challenging for him - he probably is a clear trade candidate).
I voted Tari. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Amen is winning by a landslide, his athleticism pops out on film. But I think people have forgotten how good Tari has been defensively. Amen is super talented and active on defense but I think Tari is more fundamentally sound and productive. I guess that is an argument for Amen getting better this year though. As fast and as quick as Amen is, he doesn't slide well, and many times people get past that have no business getting past him. He is fast or quick enough stay on their hip and often to recover and get a block or good contest though. Tari has better numbers per 36 mins than Amen in all categories except assists. Also, Jabari is super underrated on defense. I think he is the only guy who will truly be able to guard 1-5 well. He isn't exceptionally quick or strong and his play doesn't generate many stats for himself, but he is great at staying in front of even the best offensive players. He doesn't gamble or jump passes, but he locks down on the ball handler and lets the other guys play the passing lane. He is usually in good position and helps direct the defense.
Amen might legitimately become the best perimeter defensive player in the league and I'm excited to see him take another step toward that goal next season. So yeah, him
Looking forward to seeing the All-Defense lineup of Fred VanVleet Tari Eason Amen Thompson Jabari Smith Jr Steven Adams
Him playing hurt then getting hurt, hurt our perceptions. Him playing healthy and regularly will almost be like adding a new player to the team.
Dillon did ok vs Lebron, but mostly just irritated him and fouled out. Amen is a much better defender 1-4. I fully expect Dillon to start, because Ime will always defer to veterans until it becomes obvious he is being outplayed. Jabari is the guy that’s guarding the Chet’s and Durant’s off the world and is better than Dillon with them. Dillon is also a horrible rebounder and will pretty much kill our transition game while in the game.
Part of becoming a good defender is experience. For 1-2 yrs players, they still haven't played against all the heavy rotation players at a high frequency. Also takes time to study and remember all scouting and opposing team's pet plays. More games to see a good amount of opposing offensive players' tricks. Time to convert information to knowledge. And experience to convert knowledge to wisdom.
Hahaha, yes you are definitely a certified troll, but not nearly nuanced enough to get a reaction from the borderline idiots, just the certified ones.
It's clearly Amen. Not even debatable IMO. Tari is #2 but he has to prove the leg issue is totally behind him. If so, Amen and Tari on the floor together will be tough to deal with. I'd put DB and Jabari at #3/#4, in that order. DB gets a lot of justifiable grief here, but he knows the tricks of the NBA very well and is effective when he doesn't commit stupid, unnecessary fouls 35-feet away from the basket. I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I am in Jabari's defense since he joined the NBA. If you watched him at Auburn you'd understand why. He's not a poor defender but he should be elite. Too often he allows shooting slumps to affect his effort on defense and rebounding.
Jabari seems desperate to prove he's not just a 3&D player and that's causing inconsistent motivation. He doesn't seem to get any joy from doing those things. He only seems to work on things we don't really need (handle, midrange). We need our PF to be an excellent defender and shooter, those are our priorities. You can tell he's a hard working coachable kid but he's still in his ego. I think Udoka and the NBA will slowly wrestle that ego into submission and we're going to see a tougher Jabari next season. Already saw some of that last season. He's not far. If he makes tiny improvements to his defense and shooting a couple more summers he'll get there. If we wait till he's RFA that gives him enough time to develop and maybe by then his handle will start to be useful to us.
