Why does everyone believe Ron Artest has good defense (now)?

Reputation

 

He's a brand name. Artest is average at best defensively, at this stage, and even that is being kind. Anyone that watched more than 2 games last year can agree on that.

 

Well he did defend Lebron pretty well...

 

I wouldn't call him a defensive stopper anymore, but he's still an above average wing defender. He's physical and he has long arms and quick hands. Larger guards or small forwards can't post him up. But he doesn't stay in front of guys very well, and he'll often lose his man off the ball.

 

yeah. The lakers are in for a rude awakening. Bad shots, not playing withing the defense. Hell be gone by trade deadline.

 

Reputation, of course, and he doesn't mind being physical. Even to the point of picking up multiple, stupid fouls.

 

Exactly, he's not as good as the media thinks he is on defense.

But he sure as hell isn't as bad as this board makes him out to be on defense.

 

Ron Artest is a good defender he's just not in our future plans.

It'll be interesting to see how he does in L.A.

I'm fine with losing him for Ariza.

 

In a fantasy world they would trade him back to us for an expiring, Mac and Yao are healthy in February and we roll to the championship.

Brooks
Mac
Ariza
Scola
Yao

Lowry
Barry
Battier
Artest (at the 4)
Landry

 

he got a lot of steals with his strong hands and blocked some clutch shots at the end of games. If there's a loose ball and ron artest is near it... you can bet if he gets his hands on it that ball is his. I hate all lakers, but Ron is still a pretty good player. He just cant stay infront of people to save his life and he gambles wayyy too much.

 

He used to be very very good defensively. Now he has decreased imo.

 

I wonder this same question. It was clearly obvious in the playoffs that Battier was the better defender of the two. From what I saw in the playoffs Ariza was basically LA's stopper. Not to mention that it seemed when Ron was relied upon to be the defensive stopper his numbers fell. If his three point shot was not falling he wasn't contributing much on the offensive end. In fact, he hurt us if his shot was off becuase at that point he was forcing up ill advised shot attempts. Then there is his attitude which is always in question. So much so that we wondered if he would make it past the trading deadline last year. Ariza is better at cutting and slashing. We discuss the fact that Ariza was the beneficairy of being a spot up shooter from Kobe but I don't see many people pointing out that Ron was basically a spot up shooter on this team. I am all for the Ariza over Ron. Over the course of the contract this "should" be a much better move for the Rockets.

 

Average? He made the NBA All-Defensive second team last year. Defense isn't just about steals and blocked shots. Ron is great at getting into defensive position and and he is one of the best at holding that position. While he may not be as good as he once was, he still is one of the top defensive players.

 

My suspicion is that most fans struggle to evaluate defense because there are few quantifiable numbers, so reputation plays a big role. Does Ron get some steals and/or blocks because of the aggressive style he tries to play? Sure, but a majority of the time, he whiffs and the player goes right by him. But because there's no quantifiable data for that, fans really hone in on the rare times he does get the steal/block and blow it out of proportion.

His man to man defense is pitiful, and it's only going to get worse with a chronic ankle injury and each passing year. There's a reason Morey, who scouts players more in-depth than any of us could ever dream, is in love with Shane and was only willing to make Artest a one-year offer (courtesy, more than anything else). He doesn't fit offensively, and his defense doesn't help, either.

Shaud, you're right that Ron's defense isn't what the consensus opinion of this board is. It's worse. The idea that Artest is a defensive upgrade on Ariza is one of the most absurd things I've ever heard, and it shows which writers/fans actually analyze the games.