Big_Stacks"I don't worry about hittin' power, cause I don't give 'em nuttin' to hit." 4,670 Posts
motown67 said:
2nd year in a row Lakers strike out in signing a major free agent. Aldridge allegedly told them no. They were then looking at Greg Monroe but he just signed with the Bucks.
No one with half a brain in their head wants to play with that washed-up, egomaniacal, asshole Kobe Bryant. One day, the Lakers management might realize what a deterrent he is to them signing top-notch free agents (the Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol situations did NOT help). He must have dirt on Mitch Kupchak or something, geez! As I said years ago, the Lakers should have let his contract expire (instead of making the 2-year extension) and dealt him away like they did with Shaq back in 2004. My prediction was that his body would never hold up to play out the contract. Oh well...
My 2015 NBA No-Defense Team: Starring Damian Lillard, Enes Kanter, Rudy Gay and many, many others
Tim Kawakami
* 2015 No-Defense PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Damian Lillard, Portland.
OK, I believe I’m going to get some criticism for this selection, and maybe some counter-attacking analysis, because Lillard has many fans (statistically-inclined and regular) and that’s fine.
Lillard has been a great offensive player since he stepped into the league… and actually the defensive metrics point to an up-tick in Lillard’s play (his -0.37 DRPM this season wasn’t horrible–but still 30th among point guards–and much better than his -1.97 last season) and his steal rate was much higher.
However… On this one, I’m just going to go with what I saw in many, many Trail Blazers games. I’m also giving coach Terry Stotts a ton of credit for maneuvering his defensive scheme so deftly to cover up Lillard’s glaring weaknesses.
In some ways, it’s very similar to everything Steve Nash’s coaches used to do to cover for his inability to stay in front of quick offensive players or work through screens. Yes, Lillard currently is the primary benefactor of the star-player Courtesy Defensive Assignment strategy.
Flat out: Stotts tries to avoid putting Lillard on anybody who is any good.
When Portland played (and lost to) Memphis in the first round of the playoffs, who did Lillard cover? Tony Allen, of course. Who almost never does and never should shoot.
That was just one of the very frequent times Arron Afflalo and Nic Batum (and of course, before he was hurt, Wesley Matthews) had to lock into the dangerous perimeter scorers and stay locked on them, and from what I saw, even when they were screened by Lillard’s man or even when Lillard should’ve given them some help, they had to keep chasing their dangerous scorer.
Because Lillard wasn’t going to. He had the CDA. He wasn’t going to be playing D, nope.
Nobody dies easier on screens that Lillard, that’s just a fact.
Most of the time, it’s almost as if Lillard just stops playing when he’s screened–he doesn’t work through it, he doesn’t switch hard, he doesn’t rotate. It’s just… in his mind, once somebody makes contact with him, the defensive possession is over, time to play offense now! (Except the opponent still has the ball.)
Lillard also has a habit of getting back late in transition, trotting to one spot, then staying anchored there and refusing to rush out to defend a shooter at the three-point line even when he actually should be… rushing out to the three-point line.
That kind of stuff just kills a defense because so much pressure is heaped on the four guys (if you’re lucky) who ARE playing defense that eventually they have to break down vs. the best offenses.
–One thing about watching so many Warriors games this season is that Steve Kerr’s offense put pressure on all 5 defenders and you could always tell when an opponent had a weak defensive link–and the Warriors broke down Portland pretty thoroughly, largely because Lillard couldn’t get a CDA, or if he did (occasionally Harrison Barnes) the Warriors would find a way to force him to switch onto Curry or Klay and… bucket.
A peripheral stat that doesn’t look so good for Lillard: Portland gave up 106 points per 100 possessions when Lillard was on the floor; that number dropped to 100.9 points per 100 when he didn’t play.
Last year, I said Lillard probably was the third-worst overall defensive player, behind only Kyrie Irving and James Harden.
Irving was maybe a little bit improved on D this season; Harden got a lot better.
That leaves Lillard, the Oakland native and favored point guard of many statistical studies. But not this one. He’s a very deserving NDPOY.
* Kyrie Irving, Cleveland. Last season’s NDPOY.
He’s trying. LeBron James’ return to Cleveland did many things, and one of them was to get Kyrie trying to play defense maybe for the first time since his handful of games at Duke. (I’ll give Timofey Mozgov some credit for Cleveland’ improved defense overall after his mid-season acquisition.)
Of course, Kyrie remains a perpetually iffy defensive player, still rarely bothers to fight through screens, still gets lost in rotations and can be counted on to give up a basket or two every game when he just loses track of who he’s supposed to be guarding.
But doing this list every year means I really try to note the intent to improve almost as much as actual on-court improvement, and I’ve definitely accepted that Irving is trying to be a better defender.
The proof:
In 2014, Kyrie recorded a -3.38 DRPM, a pathetic 63rd among league point guards.
In 2015, he finished 39th among PGs at -1.00.
Also, Cleveland gave up 107.7 points per 100 poss’ when Irving was in the game this season… and 107.0 points per 100 when he was out. When you consider that his main back-up was Matthew Dellavedova, a pretty good (not great) defender, that means Kyrie was at least trying out there.
He’s never going to be anything better than mediocre on D, which what gets him on this list, but he avoided becoming the first NDPOY repeat winner because LBJ showed up and that meant Kyrie got a little more active just to prove that he could really care just a little bit about defense this season.
* Blake Griffin, Clippers. When he wants to be, Griffin can be a good and active defensive player. During the playoffs, I thought Blake was very solid–and with DeAndre Jordan alongside, Blake can take a lot of good gambles when he’s being active.
Griffin’s D metrics weren’t terrible this season–he had a +0.38 DRPM, which is respectable, even though it was 45th among power forwards.
So why is Blake a first-teamer? As I have said many times, power forward is a tricky spot to a team to have a defensive weakness and I grade the most talented bigger players the toughest.
And Griffin is incredibly talented; when you see him excel on D, really dig down and refuse to be budged or play the pick-and-roll aggressively and as designed… you wonder about all the other games when you saw him do nothing of the sort.
In my view, Blake is following the Carmelo Anthony career path on D: The very good offensive player who tried a little bit on D early on but decided to shut it down somewhere in the middle of his career to conserve energy for offensive endeavors.
These are the great offensive players who perpetually dive to the hoop, beg for fouls, then lounge around in the back court complaining about the no-call while the opponent races back up court and gets a wide-open shot because Griffin/Carmelo are so late getting back.
Repeat that 4 or 5 times a game and I begin to suspect that you’re doing it just so you don’t have to run back on D and can blame the refs for an easy basket on your end, and that’s how you get on this list.
Carmelo has done that for much of the last four seasons (just about when he turned 27) and now Blake is 26 and I don’t like this trend.
Stat-shot: Though we all know that DeAndre Jordan has most of the rim-protecting responsibilities for the Clippers, for a guy with Blake Griffin’s jumping ability and size to only end up with 35 blocks in 67 games… just seems like defensive disinterest.
Draymond Green, who is shorter and far less springy and had Andrew Bogut also gobbling up shots, had 99 blocks in 79 games. Danny Green, a wing playing in front of Tim Duncan, had 87.
James Bleepin’ Harden had 60.
* Enes Kanter, Oklahoma City. I don’t know what the Thunder thought it was getting when it traded for Kanter in February, but… what… a… defensive… disaster.
Kanter can score, no doubt, and he looks like a big man who should be able to play the pick-and-roll. But he can’t. He truly cannot.
He either doesn’t know how or doesn’t want to or just has a supreme talent for doing exactly the wrong thing whenever his man comes over to screen a guard.
Kanter’s so bad that opponents basically just call pick-and-rolls when he’s in the game, and if you can’t guard the pick-and-roll, you are doomed.
Among centers who get regular time in this league, there are several really porous defenders–and Kanter is by far the worst. He’s awful. I don’t think there’s any way he turns into even a half-way mediocre defender at any point in his career, it’s just too far gone.
(Although his one-time Jazz teammate Al Jefferson has turned into a not-terrible defender the last few years. So maybe I shouldn’t be so hasty. What do they teach those big guys in Salt Lake City?)
OKC’s on/off defensive splits: With Kanter on the floor, the Thunder gave up 113.0 points per 100 poss’s. With him off (in the games he was on the team), they gave up only 105.1 per 100.
Utah’s on/off D splits with Kanter this season: 112.1 per 100 when Kanter was on the floor, 103.5 per 100 when he was off (in the games he was on the team).
That’s two teams, one in Utah and one in Oklahoma, with almost identical large improvements precisely when Kanter was NOT in the game vs. when he was.
One more stat: Kanter registered a -3.88 DRPM this season, which ranked him 469th out of 474 total players.
Oh, and that mean point I made about Griffin only collecting 35 blocks in 67 games? Kanter only had 29 in 75 games split between Utah and OKC. And he’s 6-11.
* Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas. At 36, in his 17th NBA season, nursing a bad knee and I presume other ailments, after a whole career of faking it extremely well… it all fell off a cliff for Nowitzki, I am sad to say.
Even Rick Carlisle’s best CDA efforts couldn’t hide it any more, not the way Dirk was moving and not when they also had to cover up for Monta Ellis and Amare Stoudemire and few other potential no-defense Hall of Famers.
So… it was a lot of Nowitzki just hobbling out there with not a lot of help. So…. the stats were horrible (-1.88 in DRPM, 85th among power forwards) and Dallas did him no favors by trading away defensive-bailout Brandan Wright during the season.
I try to avoid putting older players too high on this list because, well, they’re old. I’ve avoided Dirk for a while; I avoided Nash for the longest time (after he won the inaugural NDPOY I don’t think he ever showed up on these lists again).
If you’re younger, you SHOULD play better D; if you’ve put a good decade-plus and you’re wearing down, I’ll only put one of your class on this list.
For the record, Dirk beat out Tony Parker and Dwyane Wade for the one slot; D-Wade’s defense this season might’ve been statistically worse (-1.96 DRPM), and Parker’s was DEFINITELY worse (83rd out of 84 point guards in DRPM, at -3.32.
But the Eye Test for Dirk was the clincher. He didn’t move and he couldn’t move and he was just an awful defender this season.
—-SECOND TEAM/
* No-Defense Sixth Man of the Year: Jamal Crawford, Clippers. A perennial pound-for-pound worst defensive player.
You want a long slice of terrible D? Just watch Crawford (and Griffin and J.J. Redick and even Chris Paul) during the Rockets’ incredible 25-2 run to come back and win Game 6 in LA. Classic epic horrendous defense.
* Rudy Gay, Sacramento. If they had a usage rate for defense–to measure defensive activity–this guy might register the lowest. He just doesn’t do anything when he doesn’t have the ball. Nothing.
When I watch Kings games, I forget Gay is out there sometimes, and that’s even with him chucking up more than 16 shots a game. Because defensively, he’s non-existent.
Gay checked in with a -2.46 DRPM, 428th ranked in the league, and apparently I’ve lost a few friends in the league who (used to) swear by this guy (the argument a year ago was Gay vs. Andre Iguodala and I’ve always taken Iguodala) and oh well that happens.
* J.J. Hickson, Denver. Probably pound for pound the worst defensive player who gets regular rotation minutes.
I say this almost every year, and every year he still gets minutes. But now that his offense is getting wobbly, I don’t know if Hickson is long for this league.
* Tim Hardaway, Jr., Knicks (since traded to Atlanta). Headed towards replacing Hickson as the worst defensive player who gets regular minutes.
Among all the bad Knicks defensive performances last season, Hardaway’s might’ve been the standout–the Knicks gave up 113.2 points per 100 poss’s when he was on the floor. That wasn’t much worse than when he was out (110.4 per 100 poss’s) but it’s very, very bad.
It’s not quite Bargnani bad, but it’s still Carmelo bad. Which is bad.
-Other up-and-coming contender for the worst pound-for-pound: Phoenix’s Kendall Marshall..
*2015 No-Defense Rookie of the year: Zach LaVine, Minnesota.
This was a good race with Sacramento’s Nik Stauskas, but I’m going to give it to LaVine because A) he played more and B) I had no idea what he was trying to on defense this season. (-4.34 DRPM, 84th out of 84 point guards? Yikes.)
Some of that probably was because the Timberwolves were trying to squeeze LaVine into the point guard position while Ricky Rubio was hurt, and that’s a position LaVine proved he is not naturally inclined to defend. Because it involves moving laterally not jumping high into the air.
We know what Minnesota thought of that by the drafting of pure PG (and Minnesota native) Tyus Jones last week.
I didn’t look at every player in the league, but among those I did check, LaVine had the worst on-the-floor defensive total (non-Lakers division)–Minnesota gave up 116 points per 100 poss’s when he played, which was more than even when Kevin Martin was on the floor.
* No-Defense Coach AND Executive of the Year: Doc Rivers, Clippers.
Doc is a very good coach who had a very bad run of personnel moves, which left himself with almost nowhere to go defensively after DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul.
Austin Rivers? Big Baby Davis? Hedo Turkoglu? Crawford? That’s the heart of your second unit? Well, that’s how a team even with Paul and Jordan could fall to the middle of the pack in defensive efficiency this season and go belly up at home to Houston in Game 6, and lose the series in Game 7.
Yeah, Doc got this nod mostly for Game 6. He really deserved it.
The landscape of the NBA just changed. DeAndre Jordan leaves the Clippers for Dallas. Lopez and Matthews left the Blazers and Aldridge is probably going as well meaning Portland is in complete re-build phase.
I’m also giving coach Terry Stotts a ton of credit for maneuvering his defensive scheme so deftly to cover up Lillard’s glaring weaknesses.
This is true.
I doubt DL is the worst defensive point guard, but it is not his strength.
By a long shot.
Big_Stacks"I don't worry about hittin' power, cause I don't give 'em nuttin' to hit." 4,670 Posts
motown67 said:
The landscape of the NBA just changed. DeAndre Jordan leaves the Clippers for Dallas. Lopez and Matthews left the Blazers and Aldridge is probably going as well meaning Portland is in complete re-build phase.
Hey Motown,
I find DeAndre Jordan to be such an underachiever given his physical prowess. He's like a bargain-brand Dwight Howard with even less offensive talent. I don't understand why the Clippers failed to diversify his offensive game a little more. I love LaMarcus Aldridge's game (probably the chap most deserving of a max contract in this year's free agency), but he could use a trip to see the Wizard and get some killer instinct. I am boggled by how much loot some of these teams are throwing behind guys that aren't that great (e.g., Jordan, Monta Ellis, Wesley Matthews, etc.). Wow!!! In other news, the Sacramento Kings and LA Lakers are fucked!
As expected Aldridge is going to sign with the Spurs. That means the Blazers have lost him, Lopez, Matthews, and Batum. That team is now officially in rebuild.
The Kings traded away 3 players to sign Rondo to a one year deal probably knowing that he will be going after one year. That team remains a basket case.
The Knicks and Lakers struck out with free agents.
Deandre Jordan left the Clippers probably making them a first round and out playoff team, maybe second round depending upon their opponent but their title hopes just walked out the door. One article claimed that Jordan felt disrespected by Paul and the ownership. Jordan felt like Paul did not include him in the team while the ownership didn't promote him as much as Griffin and Paul. Dysfunction at its best shown by the fact that Jordan was willing to go to a worse team and for less money.
I was at first worried that the Blazers were letting all their best players walk.
But then I found out they signed; Vonleh, Plumlee and Henderson.
:whymusticry:
Deandre Jordan left the Clippers probably making them a first round and out playoff team, maybe second round depending upon their opponent but their title hopes just walked out the door. One article claimed that Jordan felt disrespected by Paul and the ownership. Jordan felt like Paul did not include him in the team while the ownership didn't promote him as much as Griffin and Paul. Dysfunction at its best shown by the fact that Jordan was willing to go to a worse team and for less money.
In other news. This is probably not something new, and I bet players like Kobe did this sort of stuff behind the scenes, but this is leveraging your value as the best player on Earf.
"[em]LeBron James' agent, Rich Paul, has made it known to the Cavs that serious talks on a new deal for James will not take place until a new contract for restricted free agent Tristan Thompson is in place, sources tell ESPN's Brian Windhorst. Paul also represents Thompson.[/em]"
Dallas is going to give Jordan a chance to be more offensive. He was 7th on the Clippers in shots taken and is a 70% FG shooter. He is either going to take the next step and become a 15pt/15rb dude or prove to be a much lesser player w/o a top PG.
Mathews is coming off a nasty injury.....and we are ridiculously weak at the Point.
That being said, I'm looking forward to see what they put out on the court this coming season.
Given the fact that Jordan only has two moves fast break lob and pick and roll lob I'm not sure how much he's going to add offensively. Plus like Rock said who is going to be throwing him these passes?
Given the fact that Jordan only has two moves fast break lob and pick and roll lob I'm not sure how much he's going to add offensively. Plus like Rock said who is going to be throwing him these passes?
Guys play with great point guards and start thinking that they get all of these easy buckets because of their prowess, not their point guard's. The game ain't so easy without somebody setting the table for you.
hibbert to the lakers, lakers likely trading away the future (in draft picks) for him.
i guess it doesn't matter to them w/ kobe's deal finally done after next season, they'll be able to make some big money offers to FA's, I suppose.
hibbert to the lakers, lakers likely trading away the future (in draft picks) for him.
i guess it doesn't matter to them w/ kobe's deal finally done after next season, they'll be able to make some big money offers to FA's, I suppose.
They're gonna go after Durant with everything they can muster.
Is Hibbert really going to make a difference for the Lakers? That team is so lacking in talent and they can't even depend upon Kobe playing a full season.
Is Hibbert really going to make a difference for the Lakers? That team is so lacking in talent and they can't even depend upon Kobe playing a full season.
Dumb ass poast. No one is depending on Kobe to do anything. Funny shit.
Comments
No one with half a brain in their head wants to play with that washed-up, egomaniacal, asshole Kobe Bryant. One day, the Lakers management might realize what a deterrent he is to them signing top-notch free agents (the Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol situations did NOT help). He must have dirt on Mitch Kupchak or something, geez! As I said years ago, the Lakers should have let his contract expire (instead of making the 2-year extension) and dealt him away like they did with Shaq back in 2004. My prediction was that his body would never hold up to play out the contract. Oh well...
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
Here's link to full story:
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/2015/06/29/2015-defense/
My 2015 NBA No-Defense Team: Starring Damian Lillard, Enes Kanter, Rudy Gay and many, many others
Tim Kawakami
* 2015 No-Defense PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Damian Lillard, Portland.
OK, I believe I’m going to get some criticism for this selection, and maybe some counter-attacking analysis, because Lillard has many fans (statistically-inclined and regular) and that’s fine.
Lillard has been a great offensive player since he stepped into the league… and actually the defensive metrics point to an up-tick in Lillard’s play (his -0.37 DRPM this season wasn’t horrible–but still 30th among point guards–and much better than his -1.97 last season) and his steal rate was much higher.
However… On this one, I’m just going to go with what I saw in many, many Trail Blazers games. I’m also giving coach Terry Stotts a ton of credit for maneuvering his defensive scheme so deftly to cover up Lillard’s glaring weaknesses.
In some ways, it’s very similar to everything Steve Nash’s coaches used to do to cover for his inability to stay in front of quick offensive players or work through screens. Yes, Lillard currently is the primary benefactor of the star-player Courtesy Defensive Assignment strategy.
Flat out: Stotts tries to avoid putting Lillard on anybody who is any good.
When Portland played (and lost to) Memphis in the first round of the playoffs, who did Lillard cover? Tony Allen, of course. Who almost never does and never should shoot.
That was just one of the very frequent times Arron Afflalo and Nic Batum (and of course, before he was hurt, Wesley Matthews) had to lock into the dangerous perimeter scorers and stay locked on them, and from what I saw, even when they were screened by Lillard’s man or even when Lillard should’ve given them some help, they had to keep chasing their dangerous scorer.
Because Lillard wasn’t going to. He had the CDA. He wasn’t going to be playing D, nope.
Nobody dies easier on screens that Lillard, that’s just a fact.
Most of the time, it’s almost as if Lillard just stops playing when he’s screened–he doesn’t work through it, he doesn’t switch hard, he doesn’t rotate. It’s just… in his mind, once somebody makes contact with him, the defensive possession is over, time to play offense now! (Except the opponent still has the ball.)
Lillard also has a habit of getting back late in transition, trotting to one spot, then staying anchored there and refusing to rush out to defend a shooter at the three-point line even when he actually should be… rushing out to the three-point line.
That kind of stuff just kills a defense because so much pressure is heaped on the four guys (if you’re lucky) who ARE playing defense that eventually they have to break down vs. the best offenses.
–One thing about watching so many Warriors games this season is that Steve Kerr’s offense put pressure on all 5 defenders and you could always tell when an opponent had a weak defensive link–and the Warriors broke down Portland pretty thoroughly, largely because Lillard couldn’t get a CDA, or if he did (occasionally Harrison Barnes) the Warriors would find a way to force him to switch onto Curry or Klay and… bucket.
A peripheral stat that doesn’t look so good for Lillard: Portland gave up 106 points per 100 possessions when Lillard was on the floor; that number dropped to 100.9 points per 100 when he didn’t play.
Last year, I said Lillard probably was the third-worst overall defensive player, behind only Kyrie Irving and James Harden.
Irving was maybe a little bit improved on D this season; Harden got a lot better.
That leaves Lillard, the Oakland native and favored point guard of many statistical studies. But not this one. He’s a very deserving NDPOY.
* Kyrie Irving, Cleveland. Last season’s NDPOY.
He’s trying. LeBron James’ return to Cleveland did many things, and one of them was to get Kyrie trying to play defense maybe for the first time since his handful of games at Duke. (I’ll give Timofey Mozgov some credit for Cleveland’ improved defense overall after his mid-season acquisition.)
Of course, Kyrie remains a perpetually iffy defensive player, still rarely bothers to fight through screens, still gets lost in rotations and can be counted on to give up a basket or two every game when he just loses track of who he’s supposed to be guarding.
But doing this list every year means I really try to note the intent to improve almost as much as actual on-court improvement, and I’ve definitely accepted that Irving is trying to be a better defender.
The proof:
In 2014, Kyrie recorded a -3.38 DRPM, a pathetic 63rd among league point guards.
In 2015, he finished 39th among PGs at -1.00.
Also, Cleveland gave up 107.7 points per 100 poss’ when Irving was in the game this season… and 107.0 points per 100 when he was out. When you consider that his main back-up was Matthew Dellavedova, a pretty good (not great) defender, that means Kyrie was at least trying out there.
He’s never going to be anything better than mediocre on D, which what gets him on this list, but he avoided becoming the first NDPOY repeat winner because LBJ showed up and that meant Kyrie got a little more active just to prove that he could really care just a little bit about defense this season.
* Blake Griffin, Clippers. When he wants to be, Griffin can be a good and active defensive player. During the playoffs, I thought Blake was very solid–and with DeAndre Jordan alongside, Blake can take a lot of good gambles when he’s being active.
Griffin’s D metrics weren’t terrible this season–he had a +0.38 DRPM, which is respectable, even though it was 45th among power forwards.
So why is Blake a first-teamer? As I have said many times, power forward is a tricky spot to a team to have a defensive weakness and I grade the most talented bigger players the toughest.
And Griffin is incredibly talented; when you see him excel on D, really dig down and refuse to be budged or play the pick-and-roll aggressively and as designed… you wonder about all the other games when you saw him do nothing of the sort.
In my view, Blake is following the Carmelo Anthony career path on D: The very good offensive player who tried a little bit on D early on but decided to shut it down somewhere in the middle of his career to conserve energy for offensive endeavors.
These are the great offensive players who perpetually dive to the hoop, beg for fouls, then lounge around in the back court complaining about the no-call while the opponent races back up court and gets a wide-open shot because Griffin/Carmelo are so late getting back.
Repeat that 4 or 5 times a game and I begin to suspect that you’re doing it just so you don’t have to run back on D and can blame the refs for an easy basket on your end, and that’s how you get on this list.
Carmelo has done that for much of the last four seasons (just about when he turned 27) and now Blake is 26 and I don’t like this trend.
Stat-shot: Though we all know that DeAndre Jordan has most of the rim-protecting responsibilities for the Clippers, for a guy with Blake Griffin’s jumping ability and size to only end up with 35 blocks in 67 games… just seems like defensive disinterest.
Draymond Green, who is shorter and far less springy and had Andrew Bogut also gobbling up shots, had 99 blocks in 79 games. Danny Green, a wing playing in front of Tim Duncan, had 87.
James Bleepin’ Harden had 60.
* Enes Kanter, Oklahoma City. I don’t know what the Thunder thought it was getting when it traded for Kanter in February, but… what… a… defensive… disaster.
Kanter can score, no doubt, and he looks like a big man who should be able to play the pick-and-roll. But he can’t. He truly cannot.
He either doesn’t know how or doesn’t want to or just has a supreme talent for doing exactly the wrong thing whenever his man comes over to screen a guard.
Kanter’s so bad that opponents basically just call pick-and-rolls when he’s in the game, and if you can’t guard the pick-and-roll, you are doomed.
Among centers who get regular time in this league, there are several really porous defenders–and Kanter is by far the worst. He’s awful. I don’t think there’s any way he turns into even a half-way mediocre defender at any point in his career, it’s just too far gone.
(Although his one-time Jazz teammate Al Jefferson has turned into a not-terrible defender the last few years. So maybe I shouldn’t be so hasty. What do they teach those big guys in Salt Lake City?)
OKC’s on/off defensive splits: With Kanter on the floor, the Thunder gave up 113.0 points per 100 poss’s. With him off (in the games he was on the team), they gave up only 105.1 per 100.
Utah’s on/off D splits with Kanter this season: 112.1 per 100 when Kanter was on the floor, 103.5 per 100 when he was off (in the games he was on the team).
That’s two teams, one in Utah and one in Oklahoma, with almost identical large improvements precisely when Kanter was NOT in the game vs. when he was.
One more stat: Kanter registered a -3.88 DRPM this season, which ranked him 469th out of 474 total players.
Oh, and that mean point I made about Griffin only collecting 35 blocks in 67 games? Kanter only had 29 in 75 games split between Utah and OKC. And he’s 6-11.
* Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas. At 36, in his 17th NBA season, nursing a bad knee and I presume other ailments, after a whole career of faking it extremely well… it all fell off a cliff for Nowitzki, I am sad to say.
Even Rick Carlisle’s best CDA efforts couldn’t hide it any more, not the way Dirk was moving and not when they also had to cover up for Monta Ellis and Amare Stoudemire and few other potential no-defense Hall of Famers.
So… it was a lot of Nowitzki just hobbling out there with not a lot of help. So…. the stats were horrible (-1.88 in DRPM, 85th among power forwards) and Dallas did him no favors by trading away defensive-bailout Brandan Wright during the season.
I try to avoid putting older players too high on this list because, well, they’re old. I’ve avoided Dirk for a while; I avoided Nash for the longest time (after he won the inaugural NDPOY I don’t think he ever showed up on these lists again).
If you’re younger, you SHOULD play better D; if you’ve put a good decade-plus and you’re wearing down, I’ll only put one of your class on this list.
For the record, Dirk beat out Tony Parker and Dwyane Wade for the one slot; D-Wade’s defense this season might’ve been statistically worse (-1.96 DRPM), and Parker’s was DEFINITELY worse (83rd out of 84 point guards in DRPM, at -3.32.
But the Eye Test for Dirk was the clincher. He didn’t move and he couldn’t move and he was just an awful defender this season.
—-SECOND TEAM/
* No-Defense Sixth Man of the Year: Jamal Crawford, Clippers. A perennial pound-for-pound worst defensive player.
You want a long slice of terrible D? Just watch Crawford (and Griffin and J.J. Redick and even Chris Paul) during the Rockets’ incredible 25-2 run to come back and win Game 6 in LA. Classic epic horrendous defense.
* Rudy Gay, Sacramento. If they had a usage rate for defense–to measure defensive activity–this guy might register the lowest. He just doesn’t do anything when he doesn’t have the ball. Nothing.
When I watch Kings games, I forget Gay is out there sometimes, and that’s even with him chucking up more than 16 shots a game. Because defensively, he’s non-existent.
Gay checked in with a -2.46 DRPM, 428th ranked in the league, and apparently I’ve lost a few friends in the league who (used to) swear by this guy (the argument a year ago was Gay vs. Andre Iguodala and I’ve always taken Iguodala) and oh well that happens.
* J.J. Hickson, Denver. Probably pound for pound the worst defensive player who gets regular rotation minutes.
I say this almost every year, and every year he still gets minutes. But now that his offense is getting wobbly, I don’t know if Hickson is long for this league.
* Tim Hardaway, Jr., Knicks (since traded to Atlanta). Headed towards replacing Hickson as the worst defensive player who gets regular minutes.
Among all the bad Knicks defensive performances last season, Hardaway’s might’ve been the standout–the Knicks gave up 113.2 points per 100 poss’s when he was on the floor. That wasn’t much worse than when he was out (110.4 per 100 poss’s) but it’s very, very bad.
It’s not quite Bargnani bad, but it’s still Carmelo bad. Which is bad.
-Other up-and-coming contender for the worst pound-for-pound: Phoenix’s Kendall Marshall..
*2015 No-Defense Rookie of the year: Zach LaVine, Minnesota.
This was a good race with Sacramento’s Nik Stauskas, but I’m going to give it to LaVine because A) he played more and B) I had no idea what he was trying to on defense this season. (-4.34 DRPM, 84th out of 84 point guards? Yikes.)
Some of that probably was because the Timberwolves were trying to squeeze LaVine into the point guard position while Ricky Rubio was hurt, and that’s a position LaVine proved he is not naturally inclined to defend. Because it involves moving laterally not jumping high into the air.
We know what Minnesota thought of that by the drafting of pure PG (and Minnesota native) Tyus Jones last week.
I didn’t look at every player in the league, but among those I did check, LaVine had the worst on-the-floor defensive total (non-Lakers division)–Minnesota gave up 116 points per 100 poss’s when he played, which was more than even when Kevin Martin was on the floor.
* No-Defense Coach AND Executive of the Year: Doc Rivers, Clippers.
Doc is a very good coach who had a very bad run of personnel moves, which left himself with almost nowhere to go defensively after DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul.
Austin Rivers? Big Baby Davis? Hedo Turkoglu? Crawford? That’s the heart of your second unit? Well, that’s how a team even with Paul and Jordan could fall to the middle of the pack in defensive efficiency this season and go belly up at home to Houston in Game 6, and lose the series in Game 7.
Yeah, Doc got this nod mostly for Game 6. He really deserved it.
This is true.
I doubt DL is the worst defensive point guard, but it is not his strength.
By a long shot.
Hey Motown,
I find DeAndre Jordan to be such an underachiever given his physical prowess. He's like a bargain-brand Dwight Howard with even less offensive talent. I don't understand why the Clippers failed to diversify his offensive game a little more. I love LaMarcus Aldridge's game (probably the chap most deserving of a max contract in this year's free agency), but he could use a trip to see the Wizard and get some killer instinct. I am boggled by how much loot some of these teams are throwing behind guys that aren't that great (e.g., Jordan, Monta Ellis, Wesley Matthews, etc.). Wow!!! In other news, the Sacramento Kings and LA Lakers are fucked!
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
Teams have more to spend, players make more.
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
The Kings traded away 3 players to sign Rondo to a one year deal probably knowing that he will be going after one year. That team remains a basket case.
The Knicks and Lakers struck out with free agents.
Deandre Jordan left the Clippers probably making them a first round and out playoff team, maybe second round depending upon their opponent but their title hopes just walked out the door. One article claimed that Jordan felt disrespected by Paul and the ownership. Jordan felt like Paul did not include him in the team while the ownership didn't promote him as much as Griffin and Paul. Dysfunction at its best shown by the fact that Jordan was willing to go to a worse team and for less money.
pretty undeniable.
twin towers 2.0 is gonna be wild
I was at first worried that the Blazers were letting all their best players walk.
But then I found out they signed; Vonleh, Plumlee and Henderson.
:whymusticry:
smdh.
How about some humor or positivity eh?
ONE win (with substantial lucky breaks in every round) in 40 years, and this is the bullshit we have to deal with. lol
"[em]LeBron James' agent, Rich Paul, has made it known to the Cavs that serious talks on a new deal for James will not take place until a new contract for restricted free agent Tristan Thompson is in place, sources tell ESPN's Brian Windhorst. Paul also represents Thompson.[/em]"
#blockbuster #bluechip
Mathews is coming off a nasty injury.....and we are ridiculously weak at the Point.
That being said, I'm looking forward to see what they put out on the court this coming season.
Guys play with great point guards and start thinking that they get all of these easy buckets because of their prowess, not their point guard's. The game ain't so easy without somebody setting the table for you.
What they're missing is 3 point shooting. They have a great young corps and some smothering defense. The lack of shooting through really hurts them.
i guess it doesn't matter to them w/ kobe's deal finally done after next season, they'll be able to make some big money offers to FA's, I suppose.
They're gonna go after Durant with everything they can muster.
I love dude but he has confidence issues.
They hope Kareem can get in his head and bring back that dude who mashed the Heat.
I cant wait to see him play against the Pacers on some revenge shit.....or some it aint happenen shit.
Dumb ass poast. No one is depending on Kobe to do anything. Funny shit.