RealGM

http://www.detroitbadboys.com/2015/1/30/7913159/pistons-news-roundup-greg-monroe-defense-trade-rumors

I've been saying this below for some time-

"I think Greg's actually pretty good defensively," Van Gundy said. "I've thought that all year. He's a very good low post defender, in my opinion. And he's a smart defender. He doesn't make a lot of mistakes [...] His mental approach and ability makes him a solid defender."

Grantland's Zach Lowe, like Van Gundy, also praised the bigman's defensive energy, pointing out that Monroe is an especially good pick-and-roll defender. Greg has a career 106 Defensive Rating. For comparison, fellow Pistons Andre Drummond and Joel Anthony boast ratings of 102 and 104 respectively, while last year's Defensive Player of the Year, Joakim Noah defended his way to a 96 rating. If those numbers prove anything, it is that Monroe isn't a total defensive liability as some would lead you to believe, but an unheralded defender who knows how to hold his ground.

If he sheds a bit more weight to be more flexible, I think he can be even adequate to good on defense. Right now he's built like a PF/C hybrid that he is. I don't know if losing that flexibility is good though since he is our number 1 backup center when Dre gets into foul trouble/mental funk.

Otherwise, synergy has been pretty generous on his defensive effort which is surprising to see this year. Yay.

I think the shortcomings defensively that he has have more to do with his athleticism and lateral quickness. Which is better than lack of effort or basketball IQ.

He'll never be a great help side defender, but that's ok. Andre's athleticism and lateral quickness are terrific and eventually the hope is that with experience he can consistently make up for that as an elite help side defender. I think if anything adding a little bit of muscle (while still being able to take people off the dribble in the high post) may help him in defending the low post and absorbing contact and finishing some of the shots near the rim that he misses sometimes.

^^^^what he said

Monroe has the potential to get better if he can react sooner on rotations, but his lack of athleticism will keep him from being an elite defender. Although I do believe that he does slip on the effort part from time to time.

Sounds to me like he can guard centers but not PFs, something I've been saying for a couple years.

Greg has been good defensively guarding both PFs and C's, what he fails at is being this team's last line of defense- which he is asked to do at center but not PF. Glad to see more people coming around to Monroe instead of just repeating the BS that Greg is a defensive pylon, or that he cannot guard PFs and especially not the stretch PFs people love to talk about.

I've always felt that Monroe was known as a bad defender just because it was the popular thing to say. He has always been solid defending in the low post but his rim protection is flat out putrid, which is probably why people think he sucks defensively. Closing out on stretch 4's is a weakness of his too but he isn't as terrible of a defender as people think, just not great at it either. This is also why I've always wanted Monroe at PF instead of C. At C he gives up layup after layup but when you put him at PF along with Dre then he doesn't have to worry so much about rim protection.

monroe is good post defender and terrible pick and roll defender.
drummond is terrible post defender and terrible pick and roll defender.

pistontr wrote:momroe is good post defender and terrible pick and roll defender.
drummond is terrible post defender and terrible pick and roll defender.

You must be fun at parties!

DetroitPistons wrote:I've always felt that Monroe was known as a bad defender just because it was the popular thing to say. He has always been solid defending in the low post but his rim protection is flat out putrid, which is probably why people think he sucks defensively. Closing out on stretch 4's is a weakness of his too but he isn't as terrible of a defender as people think, just not great at it either. This is also why I've always wanted Monroe at PF instead of C. At C he gives up layup after layup but when you put him at PF along with Dre then he doesn't have to worry so much about rim protection.

If we had perimeter players who could actually guard their man then by all means Greg would be very good defensively at center but because our guards are routinely beat and Monroe cannot block shots or rotate quick enough to play help defense, there is usually an open lane to the hoop with Monroe at center. Monroe's defensive woes at C are excasperated because we have putrid perimeter defenders aside from KCP. We've gotta add some more perimeter defenders to this team- do that and the complaints about Greg's defense at center would decline dramatically.

princeofpalace wrote:

DetroitPistons wrote:I've always felt that Monroe was known as a bad defender just because it was the popular thing to say. He has always been solid defending in the low post but his rim protection is flat out putrid, which is probably why people think he sucks defensively. Closing out on stretch 4's is a weakness of his too but he isn't as terrible of a defender as people think, just not great at it either. This is also why I've always wanted Monroe at PF instead of C. At C he gives up layup after layup but when you put him at PF along with Dre then he doesn't have to worry so much about rim protection.

If we had perimeter players who could actually guard their man then by all means Greg would be very good defensively at center but because our guards are routinely beat and Monroe cannot block shots or rotate quick enough to play help defense, there is usually an open lane to the hoop with Monroe at center. Monroe's defensive woes at C are excasperated because we have putrid perimeter defenders aside from KCP. We've gotta add some more perimeter defenders to this team- do that and the complaints about Greg's defense at center would decline dramatically.

I agree very much with the gist of this post. Monroe often seems reluctant to rotate, but does seem to be doing better there. The only thing I'd add is that the defensive difficulties of all our bigs are exacerbated by the poor perimeter defense leading to penetration. It's maddening at times. You watch some teams where it's so very hard to get penetration, and then watch guards waltz into the lane against the Pistons almost at will. I think it's a little better than last year, but not a whole lot. Monroe will never be a great shot blocker, but that doesn't preclude him from being an effective defender.

Monroe isn't athletic enough to be a good weak side defender, however he is solid in the low post and seems to be improving.

Dre needs to work on his post D, he basically plays dummy D.