Kind of a random question, but here goes... I was thinking about the way people discuss defense, and it occurred to me that maybe we've got it all backwards. Guys like Lebron, Camby, Kirilenko, etc constantly get bashed for "only" being help defenders, as if help D was just some minor aspect of defense as a whole. Those guys also get bashed for supposedly being too selfish and not "team"-oriented defenders. Well basically I have two points I'd like to hear addressed: 1) 20% of defense is man-to-man D (when your man has the ball). 80% of defense is help D (when somebody else on the other team has the ball). 2) Man-to-man D is about doing your own job. Help D is about making your teammates better by "helping" them do their job. Based on these two points, couldn't you make the case that help D is not only more important than man-to-man D, but also represents "team play" more than man-to-man D? Let me put it another way. Tracy McGrady gets bashed because he's only good with the ball in his hands. Should a pure man-to-man defender like Bruce Bowen get bashed because he's only good when his man has the ball in his hands?
but to be serious. A) has no truth behind it other than being a broad generalization. b) Help D is more selfish because while you are helping others do their job you aren't doing yours. If you are playing the passing lanes or trolling the paint looking for steals and blocks you are doing a ****ty job defending your own guy. Both are important parts of defense though.
There's different aspects of defense: man-to-man defense: - denying your man the ball in his favored spots - holding him to low efficiency when he gets the ball (i.e. contesting shots, deflecting the ball) - keeping your man off the boards when a shot is taken "Team" defense: - recognizing what the opponent is trying to do with their offense, and communicating to teammates (e.g., talking, pointing where they need to be, and TALKING) - rotating to an open shooter or driver to contest their shot and/or force a turnover - "gang rebounding" - getting back in transition to deny easy scores at the rim - strategic double-teaming on post players or traps on ball-handlers - opportunistic passing lane defense - switching on ball-screens (requires communication and versatility) Its hard to put a value on one over the other. It really depends on what the opponent is trying to do. For instance, suppose against Portland we put Ariza on Roy, and we put Battier on Webster/Outlaw. That probably means man-defense is more important for Ariza, while "team" defense is more important for Battier. They both will contribute, to varying degrees, to what ultimately matters -- limiting the opponent from scoring as much as possible each possession.
Both are needed and in the Rockets case, we have them both. Our team plays hard team defense, Battier is a lock down defender and Ariza is one of the best help defenders in the league imo.
Personally i think you build a team in hopes that each guy can contain their man as much as possible, therefore focusing on man to man D, so i'd say that truly is more important. However, if your man to man D is below average, then team D becomes more important. So it's all relative... but if you're not a good man to man defender, you're probably not a good help defender. That's why some stars get bashed, straight up they get scored on, but they get a steal or block by taking advantage. For example, if Yao scared Anthony Randolph to death and randolph jumped back into an awkward position and threw up a weak hook and therefore DA was able to swat it...that's good help D, but i can't start giving DA a lot of credit as a defender in those situations. So if lebron is snatching passes because his teammate did a good job denying the ball, that's more about his teammate's D than Lebron. and you do realize bringing up this question may give more crdibility to shane, right?
to expand on this post, there's also a difference between necessary help D and that help d which is not necessary. If you're playing the passing lanes and leaving your guy open, then technically that's not good D or necessary, even if you get some steals. Necessary help D is when your teammate is beat and you slide over to help, or you double for a certain reason, etc..
IMO, Man-to-man defense is the fundamental of all things defense. If you can't contain your man, you suck on defense period. You can be the greatest team defender of all time, but if your man scores on every possession, all the team defense does not matter what so ever. That is not saying team defense is not important. Basketball is a team game and not five one-on-one match up. Each team's offensive plays contain a lot of team work, from the basic pick and roll, to more complicated offensive sets. Five man-to-man defender will not get the job done. Besides, there are elite players in this league that simply cannot be defended well one-on-one. So a good defender also needs to excel at help defense. If you can put two defender on one guy, it is always better than one defender. Then someone gets open and the rest of the team needs to read the situation and act accordingly. Again basketball is a team game, and it always takes a team effort to be good on defense.
Defense starts with the man D pressuring the ball then everyone else can try snatching in passing lane. The primary ball handler defender doesn't get the stats, but he's more important.
The better your man 2 man defense, the less your teammates have to help. Teams focus on exploiting liabilities, no matter how good of a help defender you are, if you yourself are a liability, you wont account for just 20% of the defensive contributions from a possession standpoint. But yes, TEAM D is more important IMO. But there are different degrees of ugly, if your really really bad at either, your team will suffer. If your decent at one and good at the other thats all you should really ask for.
