We have good/above average man defenders, but our help defense is what makes us great. Probably our worst defenders in rotation are Head and Juwan. That's pretty good. Head is just too small, and he doesn't fight hard enough over picks. He does get some steals though. Sometimes, you'll see him pick up his defensive intensity and he'll force turnovers. He just doesn't do it consistently enough. Juwan is just too slow, but he's actually better than you guys give him credit for. he's good when he guards traditional forwards who play with their back to the basket because he strong. It's when they face up juwans lack of footspeed becomes glaring. our best man on man defenders would probably be Shane, Chuck and Yao. THey all have their achilles heels though. For Chuck, it's the really big forwards. he plays them very physical and usually gets called for a foul. Also the ones that can post and shoot a turnaround give the most trouble because he's not tall enough. Play him face up, and he'll kick your ass. Yao is a great post defender because he's strong and big and he doesn't go for pump fakes. Rangy jumpshooters are what burns him. Shane. he does well on smaller quicker players because he gives them so much space to drive but he has great anticipation to draw charges and he's 6'8" so he can recover to bother the shot. he's big enough to guard the big guys, but one of the guys he's gotten abused by is ron artest who's quick and strong. THe other, being kobe who he did the best any could do on him. Tmac plays exceptional post defense and I just laugh when i see the opposing team try to "wear him down" in the post. he just picks their pockets. when they fade for a jumpshot, macs long arms bother their shot enough to make them miss most of the time. Again, Artest was too strong for tmac though, but then again that b**** is crazy. All in all the only players that have really killed us one on one are artest, kobe and I think ray allen. And I think that's pretty darn good. i should mention kirk because one on one, he's very good. What he doesn't do well and it drives jvg crazy are his defensive rotations. sometimes, he loses his man outside and they burn him. very athletic and a great addition to our team defensively. He gives us extra versatility.
I think Battier makes it. And that would make the look something like Kidd? Bowen Battier Duncan Howard/Wallace I think the reason he didn't get in before was because his team sucked. This year we are the best defense, and a pretty damn good team. So I think he'll become more noticable as a defensive player. If he doesn't get atleast 2nd team though, I would be really pissed.
couldn't said any better. I think our team has some of the best indivdual defenders in the league, which almost puts us in the same class with teams, like the Bulls, Heat, and Pistons. Yao is incredible in one-on-one defense, I have never seen one player (consistently) in his entire career that really beat him down (or dominated) the offensive end, except for Shaq in his prime. He can throw most C or Pfs off their average game, if they play in the post alot. If your primary game is to play in the post, 9 out of 10, Yao will totally take you out of your game. Because he is so tall and big, he even makes it hard for Shaq to score. I have seen odd shooting centers give him trouble here and there, like LaFrentz and Okur. T-Mac is inconsistent on defense, but still his defense is probably above average and better than most. He's got great shot-blocking ability and is trouble for small shooting guards and he can play against small fowards, because his height and quickness. I actually think that he could be the best defender in the league, if he wanted too. Battier is probably the best defender on our team (in the league), he doesn't give up alot of points, especially against average small fowards. He probably guards the Kobes and Lebrons of the world better than most, outside of Prince. I think he is far better defender than Marion, Ak-47, or Posey. And is much younger and more talented Bruce Bowen. He does a lot of dirty work, like going after loose balls and taking charges (setting his feet well). He gets rebounds and he can bother the other teams' best backcourt scorers. Hayes is good man to man against smallish pfs under 6,9, but he has trouble guarding those PFs who are really centers (like Duncan, Nowitzki). Strangely, Howard is the opposite he guards back to basket pfs alright, but jump shooting ones are a problem. Mutombo - even though he is closer than being a senior citizen than NBA rookie, I don't think I need to comment about his defense. Snyder - great indivdual defender, but I don't think he is discipline in rotations. Head - has good hands, can play against scoring pgs/small sgs, but I wouldn't dare put him on big shooting guards. Wells - I think he is not that bad. He can body up against the big shooting guards and small fowards, but gets burned by smaller players. But when he is in his game, he can be handful on defense. Good shot blocker and plays the passing lanes well. He's great rebounder. (he should playing more). V-Span - ????, haven't seen him play enough. J-Tsak - I would find a way to get him more minutes, if possible. I think he is troublesome defender for post player, because I watched him earlier in the year with Memphis and last year. He is not a stiff and will be good for this team down the road. I would actually try to get some plays in where he and Yao are the floor at the same time. I think he they both could make teams on dimensional by forcing them into crazy jump shots. But he is a little slow, but overall a better-than average defender. JVG - As a coach, I think you really can't ask for much more when it comes to defense. I think the only coach I would take over JVG when it comes to defense is maybe Popovich (not by much). I might give him a slight nod over Avery. I think JVG team defenses are little bit more suffocating, while Avery's can really good and stop you at crucial moments. I think JVGs def. gameplans can shut you down for an entire game. I really don't buy into the whole notion that his defense doesn't work against the Suns, because the same defense has slowed down other teams who like a fast paced and are good at 3pters and jump shooting. I think it's more of him not getting away from his gameplan or at times being too predictable. He probably change his strategy more quickly in a playoff series, since everything is on the line than after a season loss where we gave 100 to some odd team. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I rarel
if battier isn't defensive player of the year, or at the very least defensive first team -- that sh*t is rigged.
I think that's a good point. But Marion is not really great defender, he is good. But I don't think he has the same kind defense as Battier, Bowen, and Prince. Because they are specialists at defense and is usually their primary concern.
Battier definitely deserves a spot in all defensive team, he did perfect jobs, the only regret is that Battier does not get good numbers.
