nixluva wrote:Vmart wrote:Hopefully Anthony is gone and the Knicks can add a athletic sf that can defend as well as score. Durant once struggled on the defensive end and got better and better. I believe he led the league in shooting percentage allowed at 33%. He himself said he would get over powered. Same with KP he is going to get better. Willie is pretty athletic and similar to what the Warriors have in Zaza. One thing is Willie is a lot more skilled offensively. His defense will get better. To me the real culprits of last years defense were Rose and Melo. KP took a step back defensively he should be much better he does struggle with small ball lineups. He is not quick enough to guard small players. His positioning sucked all year long. He should get better with better positioning vansmaller players.
To me it's beyond annoying how some keep picking on Willy and KP who are both YOUNG players still maturing. Willy was a ROOKIE! Now that said KP and Willy weren't great but also not our worst defenders.
Rk Age G GS ORtg DRtg
1 Kyle O'Quinn 26 79 8 114 105
2 Joakim Noah 31 46 46 111 108
3 Willy Hernangomez 22 72 22 111 108
4 Kristaps Porzingis 21 66 65 108 109
5 Maurice Ndour 24 32 4 104 110
6 Marshall Plumlee 24 21 1 103 111
7 Justin Holiday 27 82 4 108 111
8 Sasha Vujacic 32 42 4 98 113
9 Ron Baker 23 52 13 92 113
10 Brandon Jennings 27 58 11 105 113
11 Carmelo Anthony 32 74 74 108 113
12 Chasson Randle 23 18 0 110 114
13 Lance Thomas 28 46 15 108 114
14 Mindaugas Kuzminskas 27 68 5 107 114
15 Courtney Lee 31 77 74 115 114
16 Derrick Rose 28 64 64 108 115
If Melo, Rose, BJ, CLee and LT had better defensive seasons this team would've been able to win games. Willy and KP were made to look worse due to covering for the PUTRID Defense from the other main players. This is why it's imperative that Phil bring in PLUS defenders on the perimeter. Phil said that he's instructed his scouts to prioritize On Ball Defense with the prospects.
I think if you look at the Spurs, they have two pretty slow footed bigs in LMA and Pau, and when they were fully healthy they were one of the best teams in the league.
The key is to have a couple of perimeter defenders that are lock down like Spurs have in Kawahi and Simmons. They have great defensive wings.
We need better defense at the perimeter, we need our young bigs to develop into better help and recover guys,
Even the Cavs won a championship with KLove at 4. Klove is a slow footed 4 in today's league by BRiggs standards.
It can be done, but you need better effort from the team, you need the wings and perimeter defenders to be better at staying with their man.
Can anyone who watches DRose or Melo last year really say they could stay with their man? it's about team effort. We don't see that collective team effort.
Just a year ago, with lesser talent and same "speed" we defended better with the likes of jose, affalo, melo, KP, Rolo.
The team under Fisher last year had better commitment to defense. I give Hornachek some criticism here, he did not get the team to defend or do enough work on it during training camp.
But what we really need are active, defensive minded players. Players like Ron Baker and Lance Thomas are limited on offense, but they play with an effort and focus on defense that engages the team and is infectious.
I also like Noah as a mentor for KP/Willy. They will learn defensive tactics and angles from him. That should be Noah's number one contribution to become a mentor and leader for the young bigs.
every year I name 3-4 guys at the end(yes I point out others during the 5 month CB season)--and 90% of the time Im focusing on the 2nd rd. I can go back Y-Y and I have a slew of high end picks--just last year Malcolm Brogdon Derrick Jones JR Bryn Forbes. I hate to say this but if a guy simply makes an NBA roster from rd 2 its a good pick.
6/7/2017 12:36 PM
