Being a good defender does have a lot to do with team concepts asw much as it does the person. Battier's 1st 2 yrs in memphis, they sucked on defense, they bring in hubie brown and they enter top 7. Maxwell was regarded as a "jordan container" , can't really say stopper, but he played jordan physical and forced him to help. As soon as max left without dream, jordan was dropping 50 on him. The nba has too many good scorers and too much court to think a guy can totally shut down another guy. GSW has a couple of good defenders, but Nellies approach to defense doesn't show it. You put shane on gsw, and he will get exposed from a non help, non defensive commitment from the coach. The first year miami were without Zo, they were still top 5 in fg% and ppg allowed even though the were missing a very,very,very good defender, but their philosophy hadn't changed.
Artest did a better job guarding Lebron than anyone else I saw all of last season. Shane got obliterated in the 1st Cleveland game especially in the decisive 3rd quarter. I remember vividly because this was far and away my favorite game all season. Ron kept him in check in the 2nd and 4th quarters when we went on our big runs. Ron also guarded him the majority of the time in the 2nd Cleveland game and did a much better job than Shane. Shane was much better against just about everyone else except for a handful of other large wings.
I agree with some that having both Ariza and Battier in the starting lineup does not give us much offense, but I don't feel that b/c we have one we need to trade the other. We need BOTH Ariza and Battier b/c these days teams are STACKED. Teams like the Lakers, Spurs, and Celtics have multiple players that are all-star caliber. It's not just about slowing down one guy anymore. You need as much elite defense as you can get. I think it's a luxury to have both those guys on our team.
