Observations from a 91-85 loss to Providence
- Thread starter LeftCoastPirates
- Start date
I stand by what I stated. I showed my work too, and the numbers support my opinion.
I don't think anyone is neccessary right or wrong because "Defense" is a broad topic and can be contributed to in different ways by players with different skill sets. When we talk about defense from a guard, there are a number of different ways to be an impact defender.
- You can be a guy who shuts down offense by forcing a Turnover, Blocking a Shot or grabbing a Defensive rebound. These are easy things to quantify with stats.
- You can be a Shutdown defender who has great feet and always keeps his man in front of him. prevents his man from driving or getting open for a shot. Can draw offensive fouls. This can be difficult to quantify with traditional stats but this is the guy who guards the oppenents best player.
- You can be a great Help and team defender. Someone who can step up to stem penetration when a teammate gets beat, always makes proper reads and rotations, fights through ball screens and can closeout hard on a 3. Can't quantify this with individual stats but great team defenses have guys like this.
Using the available defensive metrics, it looks like Garwey Dual may be our best defender this season. He can be a very disruptive defender with his 7-foot wingspan helping him get his hands on a lot of balls. But he's also one of the easiest defenders to shake and beat off the dribble. Ideally you want a guy who can combine all of the qualities that make a good defender but those are rare.
- You can be a guy who shuts down offense by forcing a Turnover, Blocking a Shot or grabbing a Defensive rebound. These are easy things to quantify with stats.
- You can be a Shutdown defender who has great feet and always keeps his man in front of him. prevents his man from driving or getting open for a shot. Can draw offensive fouls. This can be difficult to quantify with traditional stats but this is the guy who guards the oppenents best player.
- You can be a great Help and team defender. Someone who can step up to stem penetration when a teammate gets beat, always makes proper reads and rotations, fights through ball screens and can closeout hard on a 3. Can't quantify this with individual stats but great team defenses have guys like this.
Using the available defensive metrics, it looks like Garwey Dual may be our best defender this season. He can be a very disruptive defender with his 7-foot wingspan helping him get his hands on a lot of balls. But he's also one of the easiest defenders to shake and beat off the dribble. Ideally you want a guy who can combine all of the qualities that make a good defender but those are rare.
Maybe he could start to actually develop a point (Felton) in this lost season instead of playing the kid 11 minutes because of his turnover that led to a layup. Gee, that must be the 1st turnover all season that led to points for the other guys.Hes not learning anything sitting 29 minutes. And playing point has nothing to do with DAW shooting 3-15 and taking 8 threes. He’s shooting 34% on the year and 31% from 3. And No Coleman/Jenkins - maybe actually get Middleton more then 5 shots a game.
A common denominator with the best defenders, and the best defensive teams, is length. Everyone likes the tiny ball hawks (like Shavar and Dawes) who hustle their asses off and “leave everything on the floor.” It’s like cheering for Rudy.
But at the end of the day size matters in hoops. A lot. The best defenders are usually the guys with great positional size and freakishly long arms. Like Richmond, Edwin, and Dual. Look at Duke this year. Length on top of length on top of length.
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