Posted by Paladin55:
Posted by BigC:
Yes, I do think Lee lacks the skill to play defense. Just because you jump high does not mean you can play defense or just be taught in the NBA to play defense. The NBA is filled with athletic players, if that was the case then anyone can learn to play defense. Let me ask you this, do you think Lee is not putting in effort to play defense? Because he gives 100% to play defense on the court. It is just that he does not have the defensive skill to guard his man.
Also Al Harrington is known to be a defender. Which goes to my point that he already knew how to play defense before he got to the NBA. He just didn't aquire the skill. All the years that Harrington has played in the NBA he was known as a good defender. Ask anyone.
Why do you think guys like Larry Brown always wants to get,"Their guy?" rather than just teach someone to play defense? The reason is he knows it is a hard task.
Balkman was known as a defender. Check him out in college. He was a big time defender in college. You are just proving my point.
Anyone that has played ball on the court or even kids that I have coached will tell I know a lot about playing defense. The NBA is a time that it is hard for someone to catch up and learn or acquire learning how to play defense.
You think guys like Artest just learned to play defense? Offense is the skill that players improve on because you don't need another person to work on your game with. Traps and learning how to draw charges is complete different from guarding your man. People are not going to be spending major time like in H.S. or go to the park everyday to teach players how to play defense.
[Edited by - BigC on 07-26-2009 11:17 AM]
Why hasn't Harrington been a great defender with us? I have seen nothing special from him as a Knick, and that is my point. People have said that he was known as a defender early on- well what has happened? You think those "skills" have just disappeared?
I would say that Balkman's "skills" are actually somewhat limited on D- he makes up for a lot of his mistakes with pure hustle, desire, and will. That was my point with mentioning Balkman. Take away his hustle and desire and you probably don't have a particularly saavy defender- he is just one of those crazy, athletic, kamikaze type players who will always have an impact on D as long as his legs hold up.
I think that some players have a defensive mindset, and as I said earlier, a good defensive player takes it personally when their man scores on them. I was a wrestler in HS and college, but have always liked basketball. My vertical was negative 3", I think, but I would do my best to stay in front of my man, fight through picks, challenge shots, and help out on D, and could hold my own against guys better than myself on the defensive end of the court. I was never taught by anyone how to do this- it is something you pick up watching the game and playing it. On the other hand, although I could shoot, I was never able to understand where I was supposed to be on offense all the time, and would sometimes get in the way of more experienced players who had played organized ball in some fashion. I've always been able to tell whether a guy played college ball based on how they move on offense, not their D.
I don't know what Lee's issue is, but he is an intelligent guy who should have no trouble giving a better account of himself on the defensive end. Do you really think that Noah, who played with the same team as Lee, has some special defensive "skills" that Lee does not have? I would say that Lee's "BB IQ" is higher than Noah's- why, besides his size, is Noah a better defender?
You are almost making it seem that players can't improve once they get into the NBA- do you really believe that?
I think Harrington did play defense last year. The difference between this year and previous years is, he was also asked to be the main scorer for the Knicks.
As far as Lee and Noah being on the same team, that does not mean anything. Just because you are in the same class with the same teacher does not mean you are getting the same education as the guy sitting right next to you. They both had different high school coach and people that influence them in their lives. Even if someone is a twin they are not going to be just like the other twin because everyone has their own learning style. As far as IQ, just because Lee has good IQ for rebounding, and passing does not mean he has great IQ for playing defense. Defense is a skill, with timing, and instincts. It's like saying because someone scored high on their reading test they should be good in math. And yes I think Noah has a defensive skill that Lee does not. If a player head fakes Lee he is going to jump, whereas a player like Noah will hold his ground. If a player uses his right hand to touch Lee in his back Lee will think that player is going to spin whereas Naoh will not fall for a trick like that because he has learned from his experiences of playing defense on his own or he was taught.
As far to you playing good defense, you also said you wrestled before. That means you had learn to be on your guard and watch out for what your opponent will do next. So you naturally turned what you learned in wrestling and brought it on the court. You learned how to play defense through your experiences and it conditioned you because you were active in wrestling.
Do I feel that a player can get better? I think they can make small improvements like getting stronger so it will not be that easy for players to post them up, but NBA players really do not have the time, and other people around them that are skilled and commit for their defensive improvement. Remember every other night a player is either playing a game or is traveling on the road. Let me not forget that a player can also work on their endurance so they will not get tried at the end of games. Notice that you said, you can always tell if a player went to college base on their offense moves not their defense. That just goes back to my point that defense is something that players might had learned earlier in their lives.
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