Mo Taylor's defense

Nice points. The Cat is right, Mo isnt a bad defender. He can get physical too, remember that monster block he had on Bradley? He just needs to get more into the games.

 

People have this tendency to think that if you're a PF or center, and you're not a shot-blocker then you are a "bad" or "soft" defender.

 

The Cat,

we've always been in agreement regarding motay's defense. people want a defensive crusher. realistically, if mo can keep the superstars to their average, then go down and contribut 17-20 & 7-10 boards, that's a victory in my book.

i don't think we rely on him to "obliterate" his man. that's steve and cat's job.

 

I agree that Mo's D is at the least adequate. He probably gets an unfair rap on his rebounding as well. Although he is not a spectacular rebounder by any measure and has a low average, I have seen many games where he does get timely rebounds in traffic. He could be an effective rebounder one day w/ a little better understanding of positioning and awareness. The potential is there for him to be a 9reb/gm guy.

 

This is hardly a "legitimate" way to decide if Mo Taylor is a good defender. In every one of those matchups (a) he undoubtably benefited from double teaming, (b) some of those minutes were taken by other players, (c) you don't break down Mo Taylor's performance vis-a-vis these PFs - rather the Rockets performance against these PFs, (d) double teams necessitated by MoTay's slow feet and pillsbury doughboy physique surely refocus some of the scoring away from these superstar PFs to their (now) wide open teammates, (e) you should compare MoTay's numbers during these matchups to these PFs and I'm sure you'll see what separates these PFs from MoTay. Rebounding doesn't encompass all of the factors we should use to evaluate a players defensive prowess. BUT it is a large part of defense to muscle players out of position, and box out, and gain possession of the ball for your team. And Mo doesn't do this. And Mo does not play help defense well, and he doesn't block shots, and those are part of defense too. And of this without even challenging your assumption he is a good one on one defender. I'm afraid that opinion puts you far in the minority.

 

Oh brother... Rudy's defensive strategy is often to double team the low post threat and force a pass out of the double team. Part of a POWER FORWARD'S defensive responsibility is to defend not only his man but the PAINTED area. Mo Taylor is not scaring anyone in this league with his defensive presence in the middle. Mo Taylor is clearly not a good defenfer or even an average rebounder and most of the basketball watching world understands this.

 

The kind of evidence you have provided is moot when discussing Mo Taylor's defense, because you convienently ignore such things as 'how many minutes was Mo actually defending these players?' and 'how much of a role did team defense have in containing them?'

In the case of the latter, it played a big a role in games against Elton Brand, who the team could easily collapse on given the lack of other offensive players on the Bulls, and Duncan, who we doubled instantly.

So I assume that this theory of yours, of correlating defense to "keeping" a player at their average, is applicable to other power forwards in the league?

And please explain to me how rebounding and defense are not related. Since when has boxing out not been important when evaluating a big man's defense? Boxing out is what made Barkley, Jayson Williams, and even Jerome Williams great rebounders. Then again, they had/have natural rebounding skills, and didn't move like molasses when going for a loose ball.

 

First, Rudy didn't double team nearly as much last year as normal because their defensive rotations stunk. They had a tough time picking up defensive assignments so Rudy tended to have them stay put. If you watch some game tape, you'll see that they didn't double unless they were getting torched.

Second, not all power forwards are meant to prowl the lanes. If they don't block shots (and many do not), it is their responsibility to help when asked to. To call Mo "not a good defender" is taking it a bit far. He is an average defender but he is not a liability on the floor.

His biggest problem is that he tends to play defense with his hands and not his feet, something the Rockets and Mo both said their players in general needed work on over the summer. Mo tends to try and block shots or take charges rather than just playing good position, but that is really the case of nearly the entire team except Anderson.

This was not a good straight-up defensive team. They will be better with Morris and Griffin but their strength is still in their quickness, not in their individual defensive talent.

I do think, though I respect his posts, that The Cat may have used a bit of dubious logic in deciding that Mo can defend well. However, this board is far too often black and white - he's either great or he sucks. Rarely does a player float somewhere in the middle on this board even though, in reality, the vast marjority do in reality.

 

I think the fact that our guards did rebound as much they did should give you a clue as to how much confidence they had in Mo in that department.

In the fantasy world that you're living in , did the same Carlos Rogers I know, not average a whopping 3.56 rpg, in all of 39 games last season? Ah, now I can see how Carlos' presence on the floor adversely effected Mo's rebounding numbers.

Though I liked the combination of Kenny and Mo on the floor at the same time, it wasn't used too often, so that's a moot point.

Mo Taylor is an average defender, period, and is a liability on the defensive end at times. His defense is adequate, but please don't tell me he's an above average defender and plays good post D.

 

Mo Taylor's rebounding numbers in Houston are right about what they are for his career. Who were the great rebounding guards on the Clippers? LOL

The Rockets make mistakes. Matt Maloney, Brent Price, Scottie Quitten, and Kelvin Cato all come to mind very quickly. If you're trying to say Mo Taylor is a good player because the Rocks gave him $48 million then you better come up with a better plan because they've given a lot of money to a lot of bad players in the past.

What I want to know is if in 2 years when Griffin is our star power forward (as some project he will be) and MoTaylor is sulking on the bench as a reserve power forward with his $48 million deal, will you then finally drop the MoTay goggles and acknowledge this was a big reach.

 

The Rockets have been known to make some stupid big money contract decisions (examples: Cato and Malone), so just because they are giving Taylor this big contract doesn't mean they know more than any body else. I feel they just felt pressured to keep a free agent since they lost their main free agent in Hakeem. This contract was a bit high for Taylor. Front court rebounding and defensive responsibilities are going to have to weigh heavily on Griffin, who is a rookie. I hope Griffin is up to it.

 

Mo also held Hakeem's "real" PF to 8 and 9 on 3-10 shooting, and Malone was also below averages.

However, on many of the guys, I noticed Mo's MPG were below his average, as Clutch stated due to foul trouble.

Jeff is right. Mo isn't a great defender, nor a terrible defender.

Mo was the best on our team at taking charges, no doubt.

I maintain a more ideal backup type that is more of a polar-Mo. IE-not an offensive threat, but an excellent rebound/shot blocking guy, with tough defense.

I think Mo's defense is hard to judge, partly, because our entire defense was so porous. Outside of a few spurts, Dream was hardly an anchor on defense, Cato was lazy, and Shandon at the 3 was horribly undersized. Francis and Mobley were hardly lock down. Many times, Mo was caught trying to help out, and was burned by fouling, or letting his man sneak by easily. That is why I like Griffin so much for our team-he's LONG, quick, and does what Mo is trying to do in these situations- get weakside blocks.
Kobe looks like a great defender because he's got Shaq eating the lane for him. The Griffin-Mo tandem will be interesting. I expect the Rockets to put Griffin on the "new-age" PFs like Garnett and Wallace, and use Mo on the bulkier ones.

Mobley and Francis made great strides in their defense between the past 2 seasons, and I hope the same will happen this year.

 

Hey Cat,
clutch beat me to my response -

Taylor sat on the bench so much, in Foul Trouble, my only memory of Taylor was: starting the 1st period with a jumper, then getting into foul trouble, starting the 2nd half with a jumper, then getting into foul trouble, etc............

He might hit Webber numbers, if he learn how to stay out of FOUL TROUBLE!!!, and maybe not?

 

Well I'm not going to argue that Rudy did or didn't double as much, that's hard to prove. However, the instant double teams are pretty much a staple of Rudy's teams in the last few years. Just like having his guards always go under the pick, these are things Rudy does pretty regularly on defense. Both of these strategies serve to protect the paint.

I don't expect power forwards to block a lot of shots, however, there is a certain presense that a power forward can provide in the lane. There are a lot of very good power forwards in the league who do not block shots yet provide a very physical presense in the lane. Kevin Willis for example never blocked many shots but had a tremendous defensive presence in the paint. Mo Taylor is particularly soft in this respect.

Of course considering the guards were not particularly great on defense last year only magnifies how soft Mo Taylor is down low. Once the offense penetrates inside the guards, nobody is afraid to drive on this guy because they know he's foul prone and soft.