Teams best defender?

Bleacherreport is becoming my favorite place for basketball related comedy...

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1320728-each-teams-best-defensive-player#/articles/1320728-each-teams-best-defensive-player

If CJ Miles is their best defender, the Cavaliers are so screwed.

The Warriors best defender isn't their NBA All-Star Center who is known for his defense, but their #30 overall pick who has never played an NBA game.

Derrick Williams is a better defender than Andre Kirilenko.

and finally, the grand finale....


Al Jefferson is the Jazz best defender.


Thanks Bleacherreport, I needed that today.

Yeah that is a joke. Even if Ibaka blocks tons of shots he is not as good defender as Sefalosha. That man is unbelievable defensive player - every coaches dream.

Interesting.....interestingly bogus of course. Thats pretty bad.

But on that note, I just saw this: Al is a solid one-on-one post defender now, having held opponents to 39 percent shooting on post-up plays last season (per Synergy Sports)
Still spoke about his pick and roll non-existent D, but that first part is pretty good.

Mutangclan wrote:

Interesting.....interestingly bogus of course. Thats pretty bad.

But on that note, I just saw this: Al is a solid one-on-one post defender now, having held opponents to 39 percent shooting on post-up plays last season (per Synergy Sports)
Still spoke about his pick and roll non-existent D, but that first part is pretty good.

Money Ball in action. Is there a hoops site that is all about player-by-player stats like these? The bad thing is the FG % on his pick and roll D probably makes him at best an average defender and against the wrong teams a liability. Can't P&R defense be taught? I mean he learned how to pass out of the post, can't he learn to play better P&R defense? Also, to be fair P&R defense is team defense, one guy is not going to stop it. He has to trust the help D and it needs to be there as well. No doubt the team coaches have dialed in on this hole in Al's game, so I'm optimistic he will be better.

MTJazz wrote:

Mutangclan wrote:

Interesting.....interestingly bogus of course. Thats pretty bad.

But on that note, I just saw this: Al is a solid one-on-one post defender now, having held opponents to 39 percent shooting on post-up plays last season (per Synergy Sports)
Still spoke about his pick and roll non-existent D, but that first part is pretty good.

Money Ball in action. Is there a hoops site that is all about player-by-player stats like these? The bad thing is the FG % on his pick and roll D probably makes him at best an average defender and against the wrong teams a liability. Can't P&R defense be taught? I mean he learned how to pass out of the post, can't he learn to play better P&R defense? Also, to be fair P&R defense is team defense, one guy is not going to stop it. He has to trust the help D and it needs to be there as well. No doubt the team coaches have dialed in on this hole in Al's game, so I'm optimistic he will be better.

Locke posted a breakdown like this for all of the Jazz players last year

Here's the breakdown for Jefferson...



Interestingly enough he doesn't score too badly on the pick-and-roll, but that is just his man scoring and doesn't reflect when he switched or let the ball handler blow right by him for a layup. Where he actually gets killed is in Iso situations where his man faces up and in situations where his guy spots up for jumpers. Pretty much whenever he needs to move quickly, especially laterally, he sucks. But when he's already in position, weather he is helping or playing man up post D, he's very good.

For comparison, here are Millsaps numbers...



Showing what we all already know, Millsap struggles in post up situations, but in pretty much every other area is really solid.

Millsap does struggle with some parts of post defense purley on the fact that he is 6'8, but he does play post defense well and hold his position it's just these 6'10 and above players that can just shoot over him. Also he is the best in the NBA at getting steals against guys trying to post him up 1 on 1. IMO

Zoonie wrote:

Millsap does struggle with some parts of post defense purley on the fact that he is 6'8, but he does play post defense well and hold his position it's just these 6'10 and above players that can just shoot over him. Also he is the best in the NBA at getting steals against guys trying to post him up 1 on 1. IMO

#'s definitely support those statements, he steals the ball almost 20% of the time when guys try to post him up.

Of course one of the best ever in that area was our very own Karl Malone.

TheMagnus wrote:

Zoonie wrote:

Millsap does struggle with some parts of post defense purley on the fact that he is 6'8, but he does play post defense well and hold his position it's just these 6'10 and above players that can just shoot over him. Also he is the best in the NBA at getting steals against guys trying to post him up 1 on 1. IMO

#'s definitely support those statements, he steals the ball almost 20% of the time when guys try to post him up.

Of course one of the best ever in that area was our very own Karl Malone.

yessir can't argue with that one. I can't wait to see the first time someone trys to back down millsap and he just pokes the ball out sneakily and starts a fast break. That's another valuable thing with millsap, he can run the fast break and is an underrated ball handler IMO. It's valuable to have that fourth man that can run the fast break.

Zoonie wrote:

TheMagnus wrote:

Zoonie wrote:

Millsap does struggle with some parts of post defense purley on the fact that he is 6'8, but he does play post defense well and hold his position it's just these 6'10 and above players that can just shoot over him. Also he is the best in the NBA at getting steals against guys trying to post him up 1 on 1. IMO

#'s definitely support those statements, he steals the ball almost 20% of the time when guys try to post him up.

Of course one of the best ever in that area was our very own Karl Malone.

yessir can't argue with that one. I can't wait to see the first time someone trys to back down millsap and he just pokes the ball out sneakily and starts a fast break. That's another valuable thing with millsap, he can run the fast break and is an underrated ball handler IMO. It's valuable to have that fourth man that can run the fast break.

Is Sap too slow to defend the opponent SF in your opinions? The reason being asked is the Big Three line-up scenarios. Seems like if he could even play average defense on the opposing 3 the big line-up could spend a lot more time on the floor, moving GH to the 2. Those 4 guys combined is a pretty tough defensive line-up. Also think Burks has the tools to become a good wing defender - saw it in flashes and he is certainly athletic enough. The more I think of the team resources I'm wondering if focused coaching can't notch the team defense ratings up quite a bit to squeeze out a few more wins. The Jazz O is going to be well above average.

MTJazz wrote:

Zoonie wrote:

TheMagnus wrote:

Zoonie wrote:

Millsap does struggle with some parts of post defense purley on the fact that he is 6'8, but he does play post defense well and hold his position it's just these 6'10 and above players that can just shoot over him. Also he is the best in the NBA at getting steals against guys trying to post him up 1 on 1. IMO

#'s definitely support those statements, he steals the ball almost 20% of the time when guys try to post him up.

Of course one of the best ever in that area was our very own Karl Malone.

yessir can't argue with that one. I can't wait to see the first time someone trys to back down millsap and he just pokes the ball out sneakily and starts a fast break. That's another valuable thing with millsap, he can run the fast break and is an underrated ball handler IMO. It's valuable to have that fourth man that can run the fast break.

Is Sap too slow to defend the opponent SF in your opinions? The reason being asked is the Big Three line-up scenarios. Seems like if he could even play average defense on the opposing 3 the big line-up could spend a lot more time on the floor, moving GH to the 2. Those 4 guys combined is a pretty tough defensive line-up. Also think Burks has the tools to become a good wing defender - saw it in flashes and he is certainly athletic enough. The more I think of the team resources I'm wondering if focused coaching can't notch the team defense ratings up quite a bit to squeeze out a few more wins. The Jazz O is going to be well above average.

I'd say he's definitely not too slow. He was outstanding in ISO situations, and he did very well in the big 3 lineup last year. He's also stated last season that gaining lateral quickness and skills to play more on the wing has been the focus of his off-season workouts.

One thing that I have been wondering is if the big three lineup could be very effective playing more zone. With the length and mobility of that group, I would think that a scheme where you kept Jefferson in the middle and forced people to come to him rather than making him chase somebody and let Millsap use his mobility and hustle and not get pinned down on a bigger guy, could really be effective. Playing zone well is tough though, you really have to have 5 guys tuned in and communicating, so while it looks like it should work on paper you just never know.