Boozer's defense

[triplet1984]

An outsider who doesn't get a chance to see the Jazz much so I was hoping for some native opinions:

What's Boozer's defense like?

I know he isn't a particularly great defender, or so I heard but I'm interested in more details. Would you guys rate him as an average defender, mediocre, a bad defender, or just a pure defensive black hole (a la Amare or Iverson)? Also any insights on the quality of his man to man vs help defense would be appreciated?

[MeestR]

i would say you cant really rely on him much for help defense, or staying in front of his man. his footwork is what he is lacking. his upper body control is where he excells (which is why he can get to the hoop so easily on offense) so he'll occassionally get a steal or a block just by moving and being aggressive with his arms.

so i would call him just under average. has a lot to work on, is even a liability sometimes but not a black hole.

[Hikari]

He is much more likely to swip at the ball on the way up than go up and block a shot.

I just I would see more of this effort from him..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl3a239B5fY

I think it shows he can do it if it became a focus.

This one too but he got called for the foul. both are on help D situations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4JQq9vb ... re=related

[seejaydeja]

Boozer doesn't play defense, he just fouls and yells really loud.

[drivewayball]

However, it should be pointed out that the Jazz were worse defensively while Boozer was gone than not ... therefore ... someone on the Jazz is even worse defensively than Carlos. If you look at the numbers, the Jazz were conistently outrebounded while Carlos was out of the lineup ... resulting in more opportunities for the opponent to score. The Jazz are almost never outrebounded when Carlos is playing his regular minutes.

[erudite23]

As with anything, it sort of depends on your perspective. What do you count as defense and what priority do you place on the various skills?

Boozer is a really bad team defender. He misses rotations frequently, and rarely bails out a teammate that has been beaten. He is also a huge liability against face up 4s that can put the ball on the floor (Lamar Odom regularly crucifies him).

However, he is pretty good against power players who rely on bullying their way inside to score. He also excels at stripping the ball as a player brings it up to shoot. Amongst the best in the league at that.

And, as we have learned the hard way this season, rebounding the ball is part of defense. You can force all the misses in the world, but if you can't get the ball it doesn't mean ****. Boozer is amongst the elite handful of defensive rebounders in the league. Probably the best from the PF position. From that perspective, his addition will be massive in helping our Defensive Rating.

A lot of people on this board kill him for his D, mainly because he doesn't guard the pick and roll well and he is horrible at helping on penetration. But given his strengths, he is actually a mediocre defender. If you include defensive rebounding, he is a positive force on that end of the floor. Next to a guy like Camby, Howard, Chandler or KG, he would be easy to hide. Next to Mehmet Okur, his limitations really stand out. Its too bad, because he is an exquisite player otherwise. Or will be, if/when his knee lets him play like he used to.

[Jig-Saw Puzzle]

Boozer is all about himself. He is a selfish baby who only cares about his personal stats. If he wanted he could play half way decent defense but then he could get into foul trouble and/or get tired and not have enough at the offensive end to get his. The Jazz should get rid of him.

[carrottop12]

Actually Jig-Saw I really don't want Booze in foul trouble either, and it does seem that when he really tries to defend he gets into foul trouble.

With that said he isn't bad defending someone posting up on him, yeah people can shoot over him but he still get a hand in their face, and he is rarely beaten on spin moves in the low post.

However he can't block shots, he doesn't draw charges, he doesn't rotate well, and he's only have decent at showing off of the pick and roll.

[GP]

A lot of people on this board kill him for his D, mainly because he doesn't guard the pick and roll well and he is horrible at helping on penetration. But given his strengths, he is actually a mediocre defender. If you include defensive rebounding, he is a positive force on that end of the floor. Next to a guy like Camby, Howard, Chandler or KG, he would be easy to hide. Next to Mehmet Okur, his limitations really stand out. Its too bad, because he is an exquisite player otherwise. Or will be, if/when his knee lets him play like he used to.

Good point, also as someone pointed out, we didn't exactly look like a defensive powerhouse with Millsap in at PF.