Synergy's top 5 worst defenders in the NBA

[j_n]

You can't base defense on stats. You watch the player. Your eyes can tell you more about a player's defense than stats.

To me, the worst defenders are the lazy players who don't give a ****.
Players like Melo, or Rose, or Durant.

+1,you have guys like jason richardson and brandon bass who are two of the worst defenders in the league but their defensive stats probably look better because they play on a good defensive team, besides a lot of time players make easy buckets because of miscomunication and help on other players so the stats probably say more about team defense than anything else,

p.s I dont think rose is a bad defender at all, I didnt watch him all that much but other than that one game against the magic he looked at least decent and at times(the recent game against utah) even very good.

[suns32]

From effort and skill combined, my lineup:
Calderon
Martin
Melo
Bass
Amare

[mcfly1204]

So does this raise Jamison's trade value?

[BR0D1E86]

You can't "minimize" it because it happens all the time. It's the nature of the game. There's truth to the statement, "good offense beats good defense." How else do you think teams score 100 points against other teams who are intent on stopping them?

The point is, with a large enough sample size it happens to all defenders. So it isn’t an issue.

[BR0D1E86]

Where is..

…Derrick Rose

I haven’t finished reading through, so you’ve likely already gotten a number of sarcastic comments.. but Derrick Rose is not a poor defender and has not been in some time. He’s actually been quite good this year.

[BR0D1E86]

To me, the worst defenders are the lazy players who don't give a ****.
Players like Melo, or Rose, or Durant.

Melo is an inconsistent defender, and overall not very good. But he’s not terrible.

Rose is certainly not a bad defender.

Haven’t seen enough of Durant to comment.

[CoffeeJanitor]

Love often doesn't put his hand up on defense

Flynn excels at the "matador" style of defense.

[Sothron]

I'm shocked Mike Bibby is not on that list. He can't stay in front of a statue let alone another point guard.

[Tave]

You can't "minimize" it because it happens all the time. It's the nature of the game. There's truth to the statement, "good offense beats good defense." How else do you think teams score 100 points against other teams who are intent on stopping them?

The point is, with a large enough sample size it happens to all defenders. So it isn’t an issue.

No it won't, again, because the best defenders tend to guard the best offensive players. It is entirely possible that the best defenders will have significantly MORE possessions where they played good defense but were not able to prevent their man from scoring. And that's just part of the problem, other posters have mentioned that the stats can't really adjust for team defense.

The issue is whether or not a weaker defender would have allowed the opponent to score even more points, which is something these stats just can't prove.

Simply put, just because your man scored, doesn't mean you played bad defense. As I understand it, that fallacy is the premise behind these stats.

[Spurtatcus]

defensive ranking based on stats are meaningless

Synergy employs people who watch the games and catalogue every single possession. Subscribers to its service have access to the data and videos showing these possessions. It's not a boxscore-based stat.

yeah i know that but its still based on stats, theres too much that goes into defense based on teammates etc..i mean tony parker isnt a good defender but that spurs D makes him look good. Jrue Holiday is a good defender but other PGs have big nights against the sixers because he has no defensive bigmen behind him.

And too much is based on pure conjecture - because if you've watched any Spurs game this year you'd know Parker has been playing some elite defense.

[BR0D1E86]

No it won't, again, because the best defenders tend to guard the best offensive players. It is entirely possible that the best defenders will have significantly MORE possessions where they played good defense but were not able to prevent their man from scoring. And that's just part of the problem, other posters have mentioned that the stats can't really adjust for team defense.

The issue is whether or not a weaker defender would have allowed the opponent to score even more points, which is something these stats just can't prove.

Simply put, just because your man scored, doesn't mean you played bad defense. As I understand it, that fallacy is the premise behind these stats.

NBA defense is probably harder to measure than anything else in sports. Your flaw is a good one to point out. Still, it’s as good a measurement as any in existence right now. It should never solely replace the eye test, but be used in conjunction with it.

Synergy has a lot of good stuff, you just can’t treat it like gospel (much like any stat).

[boogie-reke]

Honestly wheres Kevin Martin, lol.

[droponov]

I'm shocked Mike Bibby is not on that list. He can't stay in front of a statue let alone another point guard.

That's why they often put him defending the least potent opponent guard and it's also a contributing factor for Atlanta switching more than any other team in the league. Those 2 things strongly boost Bibby's numbers.

[Bullsfan87]

About batum, while it's true he will gaurd the opponents best wing every night, it's also true a lot of teams have a guy to fill that role, what this might show then is that of the specialist superstar defenders, he might be the worst.. It would be interesting to see some other guys stats who take these assignments for comparison. Just looking at what guys like lebron and durant are averaging against the blazers this year suggests Batum's had some rough nights.. And I remember Deng dropped 40 on him.. (this is not remotely scientific I know)

[Edrees]

I think Batum's major problem is he doesn't make the opponent work too hard when THEY are on defense so they can save that energy when he's being guarded. lots of players have their defense affected by their lack of offense ,at least at the wing position. i think batum's actual defensive skills and effort are above average

[soadxzx]

where's kevin martin?

[NO-KG-AI]

Bellinelli managed to land in the bottom 5, on a top defensive team? Epic.

[JoseRizal]

Surprised to see Batum in there...

[12D12]

Gayson richardson. definitely one of the worst in the leauge.

[Macho]

No Calderon? no Kevin Love? no Al Jefferson?