Summer Runs and Random Player Sightings

[WaltFrazier]

You'd wonder, Scottie is supposed to be such a smart player, why hasn't he already started to model OGs defense.

I think it comes down what we mean by IQ. Scottie has great feel and instincts on offense and gives great effort of defense, but I don't find him a particularly smart or studious player. There's players that when you hear them speak you can just tell they have a deep understanding of the game. Scottie has never struck me as that kind of player. Enthusiastic and hard working? Yes. Cerebral and analytical? Not really.

Defence is mostly innate defensive instincts, effort and physical gifts. Plus good coaching coming up the AAU circuit.

If basketball worked like Walt is implying it to work, Trae, Luka, Nash etc etc would be some of the best defenders of all time but clearly they're not at all lol.

I said nothing like that. Those guys don't have the defensive instincts, but Scottie is supposed to. Didn't Paul George say he could be all defense someday? I don't think that, but Scottie does have some tools. He'll never be OG but I'm saying if he'd do one simple thing, play off his man more and use his reach, he'd be much better on D.

[hyper316]

I think it comes down what we mean by IQ. Scottie has great feel and instincts on offense and gives great effort of defense, but I don't find him a particularly smart or studious player. There's players that when you hear them speak you can just tell they have a deep understanding of the game. Scottie has never struck me as that kind of player. Enthusiastic and hard working? Yes. Cerebral and analytical? Not really.

Defence is mostly innate defensive instincts, effort and physical gifts. Plus good coaching coming up the AAU circuit.

If basketball worked like Walt is implying it to work, Trae, Luka, Nash etc etc would be some of the best defenders of all time but clearly they're not at all lol.

I said nothing like that. Those guys don't have the defensive instincts, but Scottie is supposed to. Didn't Paul George say he could be all defense someday? I don't think that, but Scottie does have some tools. He'll never be OG but I'm saying if he'd do one simple thing, play off his man more and use his reach, he'd be much better on D.

From what I have seen, Scottie is a much better interior weak side defender than on ball perimeter defender

[WaltFrazier]

Defence is mostly innate defensive instincts, effort and physical gifts. Plus good coaching coming up the AAU circuit.

If basketball worked like Walt is implying it to work, Trae, Luka, Nash etc etc would be some of the best defenders of all time but clearly they're not at all lol.

I said nothing like that. Those guys don't have the defensive instincts, but Scottie is supposed to. Didn't Paul George say he could be all defense someday? I don't think that, but Scottie does have some tools. He'll never be OG but I'm saying if he'd do one simple thing, play off his man more and use his reach, he'd be much better on D.

From what I have seen, Scottie is a much better interior weak side defender than on ball perimeter defender

Agreed. I don't like him guarding quick perimeter guys. But he could be better at it simply by playing another step or two off the man instead of bodying up far from the paint

[mademan]

Scottie can be a great defender, but he's not quick enough to defend guards. He can be a strong big wing defender and strong help defender, but this whole POA defender thing he tries is just laughable sometimes. He's got heavy feet and doest give guards an inch of space. He gets blown by every time

[ItsDanger]

Scottie shut down Trae Young in an early game last season that Fred missed. He can be effective against some matchups. Maybe not a Ja Morant type guard though. Coach can adjust minutes accordingly. As in college, Scottie still plays up on guards and tracks them once they get by. This can work as a style IF the 5 players are cohesive.

[HumbleRen]

I think it comes down what we mean by IQ. Scottie has great feel and instincts on offense and gives great effort of defense, but I don't find him a particularly smart or studious player. There's players that when you hear them speak you can just tell they have a deep understanding of the game. Scottie has never struck me as that kind of player. Enthusiastic and hard working? Yes. Cerebral and analytical? Not really.

Defence is mostly innate defensive instincts, effort and physical gifts. Plus good coaching coming up the AAU circuit.

If basketball worked like Walt is implying it to work, Trae, Luka, Nash etc etc would be some of the best defenders of all time but clearly they're not at all lol.

I said nothing like that. Those guys don't have the defensive instincts, but Scottie is supposed to. Didn't Paul George say he could be all defense someday? I don't think that, but Scottie does have some tools. He'll never be OG but I'm saying if he'd do one simple thing, play off his man more and use his reach, he'd be much better on D.

Then that's just bad coaching and lack of responsibility on Scottie's part.

Hopefully Darko can stop our gimmicky pressure defence.

[Mark_83]

You'd wonder, Scottie is supposed to be such a smart player, why hasn't he already started to model OGs defense.

I think it comes down what we mean by IQ. Scottie has great feel and instincts on offense and gives great effort of defense, but I don't find him a particularly smart or studious player. There's players that when you hear them speak you can just tell they have a deep understanding of the game. Scottie has never struck me as that kind of player. Enthusiastic and hard working? Yes. Cerebral and analytical? Not really.

Defence is mostly innate defensive instincts, effort and physical gifts. Plus good coaching coming up the AAU circuit.

If basketball worked like Walt is implying it to work, Trae, Luka, Nash etc etc would be some of the best defenders of all time but clearly they're not at all lol.

I think like most things it's multivariate. You need a baseline level of physical ability to be a good defender. No amount of bball IQ or IQ in general is going to make up for that. But once you meet the basic physical requirements the question of how good of a defender you can be depends on a combination of instincts and IQ. I look at a guy like Shane Battier as an example. He wasn't the most physically gifted athlete but once he met the baseline athletic requirements he was able to raise his defensive ceiling using his IQ by studying opponents and tendencies, positioning, etc.

[Chalky_White]

Scottie can be a great defender, but he's not quick enough to defend guards. He can be a strong big wing defender and strong help defender, but this whole POA defender thing he tries is just laughable sometimes. He's got heavy feet and doest give guards an inch of space. He gets blown by every time

Hopefully Darko is more sensible than Nurse and stops using Scottie as a POA defender. It was almost comical how easily ball handlers were blowing by him.
His hips seem way too stiff to take on that role. Hopefully team worked with him on improving his flexibility this summer.