RealGM

How would you rate his defense? Any thoughts?

Not good enough to warrant a thread about his defense.

Colbinii wrote:Not good enough to warrant a thread about his defense.

hmm hope your day is well

TroubleS0me wrote:

Colbinii wrote:Not good enough to warrant a thread about his defense.

hmm hope your day is well

His size allowed him to guard most wings from 2009-2017, though he wasn't quick enough to switch onto smaller players or stay in front of them. His size and strength allowed him to be a good rebounder and good at boxing-out, a real modern-day 4. He had good lateral movement for his size and was poised and positioned well defensively, which led to him getting a lot of steals without gambling [His 1.7 Steals per game from 2009-2017 is impressive given his defensive role and identity].

As a current comparison, Herb Jones comes to mind, though Ariza was a bit longer but both you really like as the strong 3/4 defender. Don't think of someone like Covington who is more of a roamer as his impact comes mostly off-ball. OG is a bit quicker than Ariza, but there are definitely some similarities [similar Wingspan].

Went with B+, but an outright B seems more appropriate. Great complementary defensive piece.

Yea I gave him a B+ as well
Always thought he was solid defensively not elite

Agreeing with others that B+ feels a tad generous, but is easily the best answer in the poll.

Colbinii wrote:

TroubleS0me wrote:

Colbinii wrote:Not good enough to warrant a thread about his defense.

hmm hope your day is well

His size allowed him to guard most wings from 2009-2017, though he wasn't quick enough to switch onto smaller players or stay in front of them. His size and strength allowed him to be a good rebounder and good at boxing-out, a real modern-day 4. He had good lateral movement for his size and was poised and positioned well defensively, which led to him getting a lot of steals without gambling [His 1.7 Steals per game from 2009-2017 is impressive given his defensive role and identity].

As a current comparison, Herb Jones comes to mind, though Ariza was a bit longer but both you really like as the strong 3/4 defender. Don't think of someone like Covington who is more of a roamer as his impact comes mostly off-ball. OG is a bit quicker than Ariza, but there are definitely some similarities [similar Wingspan].

Always reminded me of a poor mans Ron Artest on defense.

Ask me straight up, I would have said a B at his best. He was good, and had some flexibility. But his shooting was generally good enough that you could keep him on the floor to play defence in a variety of situations.
Not more than that though, imho.