TheOriginalOriginal wrote:Also, you can't build a good team defense without good individual defenders. LOL.
Tell that to Boston. Or San Antonio.
If you dont think they have good individual defenders then I dont know what to tell you.
Yeah, that was a weird response. The Spurs and Boston have a number of good defenders.
None of their best players are known primarily as defenders. They have role players that play good defense and they are incredibly well coached and disciplined.
You would consider Aldridge, Gasol, Gay, Parker, Ginobili, Bertrams good defenders?
Who would you say are Boston's best players? Besides Irving, who is not known as a good defender?
As for the Spurs, of their listed "best" players, only Aldridge is starting and his defense improved a lot since his Portland days. Murray, Green and Anderson are known defenders and are all starting. And while Kawhi is not playing this year, he exists.
specialsauce wrote:
Tell that to Boston. Or San Antonio.
If you dont think they have good individual defenders then I dont know what to tell you.
Yeah, that was a weird response. The Spurs and Boston have a number of good defenders.
None of their best players are known primarily as defenders. They have role players that play good defense and they are incredibly well coached and disciplined.
You would consider Aldridge, Gasol, Gay, Parker, Ginobili, Bertrams good defenders?
Who would you say are Boston's best players? Besides Irving, who is not known as a good defender?
As for the Spurs, of their listed "best" players, only Aldridge is starting and his defense improved a lot since his Portland days. Murray, Green and Anderson are known defenders and are all starting. And while Kawhi is not playing this year, he exists.
Those players all play significant minutes. Aldridge didn’t suddenly become a good defender when he joined the Spurs. He works because he’s within a great system. The Spurs defense has less to do with the individuals 1 on 1 abilities and more to do with the demands of their coaching staff and attention to detail. Nobody can stay in front of Lebron, Durant, or any of the top offensive players with the way refs call the game these days. It takes a unit, and that makes team defense much more important than individual defense.
TheOriginalOriginal wrote:
If you dont think they have good individual defenders then I dont know what to tell you.
Yeah, that was a weird response. The Spurs and Boston have a number of good defenders.
None of their best players are known primarily as defenders. They have role players that play good defense and they are incredibly well coached and disciplined.
You would consider Aldridge, Gasol, Gay, Parker, Ginobili, Bertrams good defenders?
Who would you say are Boston's best players? Besides Irving, who is not known as a good defender?
As for the Spurs, of their listed "best" players, only Aldridge is starting and his defense improved a lot since his Portland days. Murray, Green and Anderson are known defenders and are all starting. And while Kawhi is not playing this year, he exists.
Those players all play significant minutes. Aldridge didn’t suddenly become a good defender when he joined the Spurs. He works because he’s within a great system. The Spurs defense has less to do with the individuals 1 on 1 abilities and more to do with the demands of their coaching staff and attention to detail. Nobody can stay in front of Lebron, Durant, or any of the top offensive players with the way refs call the game these days. It takes a unit, and that makes team defense much more important than individual defense.
You went from San Antonio doesn't have good defenders, to their best players aren't good defenders, to there are players on the Spurs playing significant minutes that aren't good defenders. And left out Boston.
Anyway, I agree that team defense is much more important than 1 on 1 defense. But you still need players that can execute it, and some players can do more on defense than others, even in team context (mobile bigs that can cover the 3pt line, wings quick and strong enough to keep up with players across different positions that you can switch with, etc.). These are the good defenders. Coaching is a big part of it of course, but no coach can do as much on defense with Kaminsky as with Davis.
As for defense vs offense and Gobert that started all this:
An elite offensive player like Curry or Harden enables you to have good offense, but they are not enough on their own. Just a strong foundation that makes it easier for others on offense. But I don't see why elite defenders (especially centers) would not have the same value on the other end. In fact, Gobert seems to prove it this year.
I can totally see a team with Gobert making max money winning the championship. Put him with Harden/Curry and 3&D guys and you're a contender. Whether that would make people consider Gobert a top 10 player or not is hard to say and doesn't really matter.
TheOriginalOriginal wrote:Also, you can't build a good team defense without good individual defenders. LOL.
Tell that to Boston. Or San Antonio.
If you dont think they have good individual defenders then I dont know what to tell you.
Yeah, that was a weird response. The Spurs and Boston have a number of good defenders.
None of their best players are known primarily as defenders. They have role players that play good defense and they are incredibly well coached and disciplined.
You would consider Aldridge, Gasol, Gay, Parker, Ginobili, Bertrams good defenders?
Well first, I think both teams are all role players aside from Aldridge and Irving.
Also, these two teams have the best coaches in the league (Pop is a Hall of Fame coach), essentially. I'm not sure you can reasonably expect the Suns to replicate what those teams are.
specialsauce wrote:
Tell that to Boston. Or San Antonio.
If you dont think they have good individual defenders then I dont know what to tell you.
Yeah, that was a weird response. The Spurs and Boston have a number of good defenders.
None of their best players are known primarily as defenders. They have role players that play good defense and they are incredibly well coached and disciplined.
You would consider Aldridge, Gasol, Gay, Parker, Ginobili, Bertrams good defenders?
Well first, I think both teams are all role players aside from Aldridge and Irving.
Also, these two teams have the best coaches in the league (Pop is a Hall of Fame coach), essentially. I'm not sure you can reasonably expect the Suns to replicate what those teams are.