RealGM

I've been thinking a lot about the Nuggets' defense and something's beginning to bother me about it. So I'm looking for some feedback to see if I'm out of perspective.

1. The Nuggets appear to be poor on defense.
2. Harris appears to be a top wing defender.
3. Murray doesn't back off from any challenge, even the bigs.
4. Jokic's head is always on a swivel and he's always offering help.
5. Beasley's supposed to be a pretty good defender.
6. Craig appears to be a pretty good defender.
7. Lyles & Hernandez seem to hustle and show promise.
8. Millsap is definitely good on defense.
9. Plumlee hustles and is a fair rim-protector.

No, I'm not saying they are all great defenders but that sure seems like a lot of players that are either at least average or better (or trying to be).

I've said all along that I don't like Malone's defensive scheme. Is this enough to convince you?

I don't know what you are looking for with this thread? You are mentioning what you see, are you looking for people to argue with you about how these guys are on defense?

I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to see that the Nuggets are using an outdated man to man system with the perimeter players being asked to fight over screens and the big asked to hedge on the guard and still get back to stop the roll man. It is a system that good coaches figured out doesn't work against pick and roll offenses 20+ years ago. No team with a good team defense runs that on a constant basis, as it is no longer effective especially with the moving screens that are allowed on a consistent basis these days.

The thing that shocks me with Malone and his defense is that his system and he are immune to criticism. Shaw was running the same defense and was roasted all the time. They had the same defensive style, system, and philosophies, yet one was constantly attacked for not figuring out a system that worked, the other has the media and some fans blaming the players. I know that Malone is more liked by our media, but the double standard is just stupid.

We really don't know what we have in our players defensively, and we will not know until Malone can come up with a system that actually works against the pick and roll such as switching or partial zone defenses.