Big Bad Defense (Why You Overrate Your Favorite Power Forward) - Big Man Help Defense (Intro)
I know I left my man somewhere... Some times bad defense is easy to spot - you've got your blowbys, your missed rotations, and your loss of vision on your man (and leave Amare alone, he forced a turnover here...) We even can recognize that even if my guy didn't score, I played bad D if your guy waltzes right past me on a pick-and-roll. But most of the best (and thus most of the worst) defensive work from interior players happens away from the ball and thus the attention. So I'm going to shine a light down there and look some at the off ball defense of some good, but mostly some bad defending NBA big men. Some of the names are people you would expect (Kevin Love, David Lee, Greg Monroe) and some may surprise you (Kenneth Faried, in some ways Brook Lopez).
My basic premise is that there are three ways a big man can be a failure on the defensive end: he's either too small, too slow or too stupid. I use the last more for alliteration than as a pejorative - even at the level of an NBA caliber athletes, some players self-evidently lack the specific processes required to read and react appropriately to developing offensive situations. These guys "get fooled" or "are in the wrong spot" a lot because they either aren't sure where the right spot is, or recognize it too late to get there in time to do more good than harm.
And of course there is a fourth possibility: lack of effort. I'll touch on this as well. However, it is worth noting up front, with continual reminders as we go that the guys who get away with the occasional lapse in effort are guys who are bona fide offensive studs, and they aren't even necessarily being selfish by husbanding some energy on the defensive end. How many more minutes of Dante Cunningham should Minnesota be willing to trade for maximal defensive effort at all time from Love, because either his minutes or his offensive production will drop as his defensive intensity and activity increases, or even both. As Zach Lowe pointed out, the set of players who can sustain franchise player offensive loads on offense AND defense at the same time is Lebron James and...well that's it, though if Paul George continues his offensive play throughout the season, he's probably in the conversation as well.
My intent with the series is to take a look at the failings of some of the players mentioned above, categorize where their shortcoming lay, and perhaps speculate on some players or systems which might best hide or at least dampen the effects of their defensive frailties. First up, some time this week will be everyone's favorite lightening rod, Kevin Love.
My intent with the series is to take a look at the failings of some of the players mentioned above, categorize where their shortcoming lay, and perhaps speculate on some players or systems which might best hide or at least dampen the effects of their defensive frailties. First up, some time this week will be everyone's favorite lightening rod, Kevin Love.
Posts in this series
Fantastic day of NBAing today. If it wasn't for Brow Davis' broken hand, would have been one of the more enjoyable wall-to-wall Sundays of games in memory.
The stretch runs of GSW-SAC and Indy and the Clips, really could not have illustrated better my thesis from yesterday that DMC is a superior primary offensive weapon than Blake. While Blake was essentially a non-factor in the 4th quarter (using two possessions to score two free throws but also turn the ball over once), Cousins was dominant down the stretch despite working against a top defender in Andrew Bogut. Working one-on-one vs. Bogut, Cousins wracked up 8 points on 6 possessions, adding two assists as well (including one nifty coast-to-coast fastbreak off of a steal.) The role of primary creator requires the player in question to be able to score efficiently against single coverage so as to draw help and disrupt the shape of the defense. Cousins again proved that when left on an island he is capable of just that.
I think I have to start a semi-regular feature on guys who are coaching their asses off versus guys who are just coaching asses. Today's winner would be Mike D'Antoni for somehow keeping the Lakers competitive with no healthy point guards and Robert Sacre as his go to big in the second half.
Lose would be Dwayne Casey for not only benching Amir Johnson for the egregiously bad and unwatchable Tyler Hansbrough, but for keying an 11-0 run for Denver to end the game by deciding the 2:22 left was the perfect time to bring Psycho-T back in the game for the heretofore dominant Jonas V. Bad job by you, Dwayne.
Lose would be Dwayne Casey for not only benching Amir Johnson for the egregiously bad and unwatchable Tyler Hansbrough, but for keying an 11-0 run for Denver to end the game by deciding the 2:22 left was the perfect time to bring Psycho-T back in the game for the heretofore dominant Jonas V. Bad job by you, Dwayne.
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