Despite having a steal rate similar to Pat Beverley, Lawson has a reputation for being a poor defender. That reputation is somewhat understandable for the poor effort he has displayed at times, but as long as Lawson is engaged (ie: has something to play for) I believe he helps a team's defense. This is a counterargument to the perceived problem that Lawson brings to our defense: Lawson helps our defense as a team overall, more than he hurts it as an individual defender. Lawson will help tire out opposing point guards. Beverley coming in fresh to full court pressure an opposing point guard after chasing Lawson for 7 minutes is a recipe for fatigue induced mistakes. Lawson will make Harden a better defender. By reducing some of the offensive load on Harden, Harden will have more energy to expend on the defensive end. Lawson will help our "transition" defense. Less turnovers means less transition points for the other team. Lawson will get to line and make free throws. Made free throws allow the defense to set up. Happy players play harder on defense. When players go too long without touching the ball they lose motivation to buckle down on defense. With Lawson'assisting abilities, I expect everyone to be more involved on offense and that to carry over to giving more effort on defense.
You have legitimate points. Our defense will be better if our offense is better, and getting Harden more rest will do wonders for his defense. Harden actually looked like an above average defender at the beginning of the season. He wasn't getting killed one on one, and was giving us tons of hustle plays. More rest will be good for everyone.....just look at Dwight. Missed half the season, and then was eased back into the rotation just before the playoffs. Then playoff Dwight emerged and dominated everyone he went against.
I might be in the minority, but I actually think this is a pretty good post. 1. Having another creator on offense will undoubtedly HELP (doesn't guarantee) tire the opposing defense out at a faster rate. 2. Based on what we saw from Harden in the first half of last season (one of the better defenders in the entire league) I am of the conclusion Harden was burned out towards the end of the year. Expending as much energy on offense as Harden was, I think he was gassed. Having another playmaker like Lawson will hopefully help keep Harden fresh on BOTH offense and defense. 3. The amount of quick turnovers we had last year had to make us one of the worst transition teams in the NBA. I think we were ranked 17th, but that doesn't take into account the easy baskets we were giving up off these quick turnovers. With Lawson, one of the best transition players in the entire league, there is no doubt this aspect will improve. 4. Not so sure I completely agree with this point. A little bit of a stretch. 5. Ideally, this is false, but it's true in regards to human emotions. Winning brings out the best in most players. Period.
I definitely agree with #3. The Rox were 28 out of 30 in turnovers per game last season. They gave away a lot of easy points. Most of those TOs were by Harden, Howard, and Smith. Smith is gone. Harden has a little more help with the ball handling duties. And if we could convince Howard to stop posting up and only set screens for Lawson and Harden this team will improve dramatically on defense just by being more efficient on offense.
good post sir. i agree with your points. im curious where this team will improve with an above average PG, and beverly coming off the bench at reduced minutes playing against backup PG's instead of players like westbrook/paul/curry. there should be positive reactions to the added depth in my opinion.
I mean let's not overstate his defensive impact, but you bring up some solid not so obvious points about his impact. It would be hard to quantify those points though -we will just have to see about mid way through the season as to what his adjusted defensive +/- stats look like compared to Beverly and compare that to Nuggets era Lawson as a baseline. The other side of the coin to your argument is that Lawson was the primary ballhandler/playmaker in Denver and when you cut his usage because he won't have the ball in his hands as much as James Harden, he will likely become a more efficient player but do those reduced but more efficient numbers still make up for his defensive shortcomings. He likely won't be a 15/10 guy splitting time with Beverly and playing off Harden. The only possible saving grace is Lawson will likely see 2nd string time when James rests which means he will get to play against 2nd string talent for the first time in his carer (rather than with 2nd string type talent).
Great post. Repped. Agree with all of the above. Beverly was pretty much a defender and spot up 3pt shooter with Harden as the PG. Now Harden will really beast on some opponents and team turnovers should come down with Lawson's excellent assist to turnover ratio.
Lawson's ability to be an elite creator/facilitator while keeping his TOs super low is going to be huge for this team. How many times did Harden get picked off by doing his lazy, one-handed bounce pass on the break or in pick and rolls? It seems like it was about twice every game. It will be interesting to see what James' and the team's turnover numbers look like this year with Ty handling the ball so much. I expect the decrease in turnovers alone will win us some close games.
I thought point 2 was one of the more valid points. Harden actually did start last season, statistically, as one of the better defenders in the league. So... And both Harden and McHale have stated how the offensive burden he carries is a significant reason why he doesn't give as much on defense. Now whether that is from a lack of energy (conditioning) or just mental fatigue, it is what it is. OP's 5 points are all valid and most likely true. That being said, a better defender in general would trump all of those 5 combined most likely...haha...
Only reason why Lawson can make us better defensively compared to last year is that Beverley wasn't good on defense last year. Lawson signing will return Pat back to defensive focus rather than trying to do too much on offense and THAT can improve us defensively. But in general adding offensive minded players doesn't improve your defense at all, that's why I think OP is stretching too far. Harden in general is below average defender, he looked good defender to some to start last season, first month, not longer, but he was only trying a lot, not actually being good at D. He doesn't have the skills to be good at D, but if he'd try a lot, he wouldn't be below average at least.
so you agree with #1 Wrong he does. His problem is either focus or energy. Do you disagree that turnovers produce fast breaks for the opposing team? Do you disagree that Lawson is capable of going to the line?
Our fastbreak defense this past year was horrible. The year prior we had one of the best fastbreak defense in terms of PPP. PPP numbers may not necessarily improve, but the amount of possessions will be limited big time.
He's great at picking off poor passes... Not as elite as Brewer or Ariza, but I don't think he's any of a worse defender than Harden.. So he's sort of a meh defender..
So was Curry. Is Curry a top 5 NBA defender? Anyone know what % oh james's steals were in passing lanes and what % was 1 on 1 defense? All Harden's defense consists of standing afk in passing lanes and waiting for a steal. He gambles. Those couple steals per game doesn't leverage other areas of defense he's lacking. Steal is a defensive stat. But so is defensive rebound. Kanter is a beast on boards, but every single non biased person on this planet agrees he's one of the worst, if not the worst defenders in the game. And he's superb rebounder
