Texas Chuck wrote:shrink wrote:So how short is the list of players in today’s NBA that fit these criteria: Starting PF 6-9, 240 lbs or bigger?
How important to you is mobility? Because if not, then just go get a center. Guys like Pau and Dirk who were skilled, but center-sized played next to traditional centers much of their careers.
My concern is what it was with Dirk. Dirk was best at defending bigger players close to the basket, but certainly wasn't a guy you wanted anchoring your defense so Dallas found their best success pairing with defensive centers -- Bradley then Damp/Diop then Haywood, and of course ultimately with Tyson.
But Dirk while weak defensively in space, never wavered on effort. Is that Towns yet? And if he can't defend a position other than center, than I think you are going to need to accept maybe an undersized guy but who plays big. PJ Tucker or Chuck Hayes before him. Obviously Draymond is off the table, but a guy like him.
I just don't know enough about Towns's specific defensive shortcomings to know what's best. But if you trust him out in space at all, I'd go get a center who can rim run on offense and protect the paint on defense. If he can't then I want a mobile PF much more than a bruiser. And I'd tell my guards you gotta help rebound.
Good post. And it is especially rare to find a poster that asks about specifics on Towns’ defensive issues, rather than just proclaim Towns is just lazy.
Towns’ problem on defense has been the opposite. Towns has a good defensive rookie year with Garnett in his ear, but Years 2-4 he was pretty bad. It was never from a lack of effort, but rather he would be too aggressive in defensive assignments, and break team coverage. MIN has always struggled to stop the point of attack, and when a guard comes rolling towards the rim, KAT would come out of the drop coverage and try to make a stop himself. This often ended in fouls, or the player making a pass to a guy underneath in the area that Towns just vacated. Surprisingly, Towns had consistently good numbers defending players 1-on-1 down low, he was always just too aggressive and a bad decision-maker in team defense.
The other thing that doesn’t get mentioned about Towns is that his defense has improved. Year 5 was an improvement, but Year 6 he made a significant leap. The numbers don’t necessarily show it, since he was saddled with some very poor defenders in DLo, Ant and Beasley, but the difference was very clear. Towns listens to everything that is said about him, and his defense (and body) are even better this year, and MIN’s defense has been surprisingly good this year.
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I like the Dirk analogy. And you may be right that the guy I’m looking for is a center (or those classic bruiser PF’s from 10-20 years ago are mostly classified as centers in today’s NBA. Unfortunately, Towns sees himself as a center, and I’m not sure MIN can tell their best player to change his position. I am encouraged by the defensive leap that Jokic made from horrible-to-only-somewhat-bad, and that came from asking him how HE wanted to play defense. That may be the answer for Towns though, because he clearly seems more engaged when he’s out challenging players, rather than waiting under the rim. So maybe a center is what they need, if they can convince Towns that is the answer,