dantian wrote:JohnVancouver wrote:
--- How many times did we see guys have career games against Stat? Kwame Brown looked like Wilt ....
Were you subconsciously thinking of Nash in this regard, maybe?
--- Actually, no. But since you bring it up - Nash is a decent team defender but
once he gets beat, there is no-one inside who helps. As noted on the Amar'e trade thread, two years ago we were a solid defensive team bust as we traded away our defensive players, Nash and Amar'e weaknesses were exposed terribly.
But Amar'e has given up career numbers to every big man he goes head to head with - and none of them anywhere near his level. What;'s the point of Stat getting 35 if Brown or Oberto get 30? Kind of diminishes his impact.
I'll stick up for Nash on the grounds that with him it's not a lack of effort or desire, he's just physically not made to defend a lot of the guards in this league. Can't do much about that except have guys like Raja and Marion who take up the slack. Nash's defense was never the hot button topic in the prime SSOL years that it is now. The only that's changed is the supporting cast.
Amar'e though - damn, if he'd just learn a couple of the things we all learned around the eight grade, he'd be a solid defender. He just has never needed to, no-one has ever pushed him to play defense and frankly, it's hard, unglamorous work.
"Deng and Mozgov was some 1980s Clippers sh*t. So, so dumb" - Sedale Threatt
"If you can't get banned for threatening to rape a mod, what can you get banned for?" Jigga_Man/2013
"Everybody love Everybody." - Jackie Moon
. So according to that whoever Amare is guarding, is having VERY little production. That would usually mean Amare is an awesome defender. In fact he holds his opponent to a lower PER rating than Okafor, Howard, Yao, Duncan, etc. He's tied with Chandler and is just a hair behind Garnett. What gives? If his defense really was that good he'd be in the conversation among the NBA's best defenders. 
