we have arguably the 4 worst defenders in the L at their position in the starting lineup (when all are playing) brooks, martin, scola, and miller. just terrible.
Martin's defense. At least Battier can occasionly get hot on Offense. Martin's defense is alway atrocious
When Brooks returns, the starting backcourt needs to be Brooks and Lee. Martin can enter the game when it is not required for him to chase someone around on defense. Lee is able to match up better with opponents who have all-star PG's. I'm also confident that Brooks can be a solid defender mentally but his size will always limit his effectiveness. Ish Smith needs to teach Aaron how to use his size and quickness to his advantage. CP3 - Lee Belinelli - Brooks Westbrook - Lee Sefalosha - Brooks Curry - Brooks Ellis - Lee Williams - Lee Bell - Brooks (?)
I don't think scola is horrible, he's just not a stopper. Man, imagine scola's offense with chuck's defense. That would be awesome.
I think what annoys me more than anything is you never really see him in position for long rebounds, always running up the court.
Scola is worse than Martin by position. Watch the games closely. Martin plays solid defense on his man. Not great and yes sometimes he gets beat but sometimes Battier gets beat and many times Lowry gets beat. The problem isn't Martin's perimeter defense. He is at least average there if not better than average. It is why Adelman kept him on the court with the last shot against the Thunder. Contrary to what this board thinks Adelman and staff know Martin is better than Lee on the perimeter. he has quicker hands and feet. The problem is Martin is thin as ice. HIs man in most cases can back him down. His man can almost always beat him on the post. If teams were smarter they would take advantage of this weakness more. Without Yao backing up Martin this is a smart strategy that more team will start to test. When they do that Battier swings to help. On most nights Battier swings back and forth instead of the rest of the team rotating. That is the defensive strategy. Battier takes it on his own to help Martin and then go back and cover his man rather put the whole team on a rotation that inevitable leaves someone wide open. It is amazing how he sometimes succeeds covering up but sometimes Battier's man is wide open. SO that is the big problem with having Martin on the floor. That and the fact Scola and whoever else not named Hill isn't even close to a shotblocker. ANd Hill is but he isn't the best defender yet. he doesn't know how to roam the paint to cover ground. So Martin is a snowflake that can't stop his man from backing him down. Yeah he gets beat on occasion. Everyone gets beat. The NBA players can not be stopped one on one. Battier can't do it no one can. martin is better than lee at it when he focuses. But he will get beat.
I've never figured out why Martin's defense is blamed so much. It's not great, but it's really not as bad as people think it is, particularly when he carries as much of the offensive load that he does these days. We have much bigger problems that Martin's defense, in the end.
Just look at the game against Dallas last night. Shawn Marion got an easy dunk from a pick and roll at the top of the key solely because Martin was in such horrible position trying to get over the pick. Hell, he almost got knocked all the way to the halfcourt line.
