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Better Defensively: Jrue Holiday or Marcus Smart?

Bam

Very close, I think Jrue was a bit better man defender due to his length and speed. Smart was more of a defensive leader, who thrives in more roles and his help defense is top notch.

I'm not sure, would like to hear other opinions before deciding.

Personally think Jrue is clearly better even if I don't think the gap is necessarily big.

His bigger size excels at being a POA defender, and I see him as a better man-to-man defender too. He's more gifted athletically and has better lateral quickness for me. I don't think there's much between their help defense either.

Smart's a very good defender though. Nothing against him.

Eddy_JukeZ wrote:Personally think Jrue is clearly better even if I don't think the gap is necessarily big.

His bigger size excels at being a POA defender, and I see him as a better man-to-man defender too. He's more gifted athletically and has better lateral quickness for me. I don't think there's much between their help defense either.

Smart's a very good defender though. Nothing against him.

How do you differentiate between man-to-man defense and POA defense? Is the former more about isolation defense and the latter more about defending screens, dho's and such?

Max123 wrote:

Eddy_JukeZ wrote:Personally think Jrue is clearly better even if I don't think the gap is necessarily big.

His bigger size excels at being a POA defender, and I see him as a better man-to-man defender too. He's more gifted athletically and has better lateral quickness for me. I don't think there's much between their help defense either.

Smart's a very good defender though. Nothing against him.

How do you differentiate between man-to-man defense and POA defense? Is the former more about isolation defense and the latter more about defending screens, dho's and such?

I would consider POA defense someone who's good at blowing up screens/hand-offs in various ways. Also, I think you could throw in pressing up on the player in possession as POA defense. Whereas man-to-man defense is isolation situations on the perimeter or on the post for me.

I mean it's all semantics and how you perceive it personally.

They are so different that they're almost impossible to compare.

It seems like Smart is more active off-ball, but I don't know how much of that is role vs ability

Holiday is better, the Bucks just coasted this year & were missing Lopez so their defensive rating suffered.

The Celtics on the other hand were playing with much more purpose after a mediocre start, which contributed to their league best defense. Tatum (-4.8), Williams (-3.7), Brown (-3.7) & Horford (-2.3) all had better defensive on/off splits than Smart (-1.5) out of the Celtics starters, so he Marcus might not have even been the best defender on his own team.

If Smart was as gifted defensively as Jrue he wouldn't need to flop all the time.

Eddy_JukeZ wrote:Personally think Jrue is clearly better even if I don't think the gap is necessarily big.

His bigger size excels at being a POA defender, and I see him as a better man-to-man defender too. He's more gifted athletically and has better lateral quickness for me. I don't think there's much between their help defense either.

Smart's a very good defender though. Nothing against him.

Jrue Holiday isn't bigger.


Also, I have to say that in these comparisons - Marcus Smart is usually almost always the less athletic guy and is donned as the "worse man to man defender". Which may be true...


But on average man to man defense isn't as important as overall team defense, and I don't really see how Holiday is a better team defender than Smart. It seems rather unlikely. And yes, this goes true even for "point guards" (they're combo guards really).