hugepatsfan wrote:This is a story that's been told many times... talented volume scorer that's bad on defense but fans fall in love with the idea that in a lower volume role his efficiency and defensive effort will go up and team will reap the reward. It fails to materialize most of the time.
Could you share some examples?
I can't really think of any situations off the top of my head where it's an exact apples to apples scenario.
But no one really said SGA was a good defender until OKC started trying to win and they got better players around him like Chet, J-dub, etc. I could be wrong but I don't ever recall him being considered a good defender when they were tanking or when he was with the Clippers.
MJ wasn't considered a good defender early in his career. It wasn't until he got better teammates and got older, more developed, got better coaching - then he got to be a better defender, got more efficient, became more of a winner.
Kobe wasn't considered a good defender early in his career either.
Steph got much better defensively later in his career - like around age 27 or so..it also helped Steph's efficiency and defense when the Warriors got other good players like KD to help take the offensive load off him so he was able to use more of his energy/effort on D.
Pierce wasn't considered a very good defender early in his career. Was on bad teams, had bad coaching. Then got Coach O'Brien who was more of a defensive coach and that helped his defense - along with getting older and more developed as a player. As we added better players around him like KG and Ray, Pierce didn't have to carry the offense as much so his D got better and his efficiency, plus being around a guy like KG - that forced everyone to step up on D.
Iverson was a bad defender early in his career. He got better defensively and became more of a winning player when a) the sixers surrounded him with better teammates b) he got a better coach - Larry Brown and c) he got older, more developed as a player
Earlier in their careers, Mike Bibby and Damon Stoudemire just looked to score and rack up assist numbers. But then as they got older and more developed, plus they went to teams with more talent and better coaching, both got better on D.
Similar story with Jason Williams.
Sprewell was just a scorer in GS because he was a young player, had high usage, had to carry more of the offensive load..think one season he averaged like 25 PPG. But then on Knicks he had better coaching, Knicks were a team that really stressed defense and toughness..and had more offensive weapons so he became a better defender..similar story with Larry Johnson..more of a volume scorer on the hornets, goes to knicks with more offensive weapons, better coaching and more of a defensive mentality and he became a better defender too.
Ron Harper. Volume scorer in Cleveland. Then goes to the Bulls..who had more offensive weapons, much better coaching and he becomes an elite defender.
Hornacek in Phoenix, more of a volume scorer. Goes to Utah where he'd just the 3rd option behind 3 hall of famers and an all-time great coach, a team that really stressed defense and he became a better defender.
Ray Allen seemed to pick his defense up when he got here to Boston - when he got to a team that emphasized defense more than his previous stops in Seattle and Milwaukee..plus in Boston he had a lower usage role so he was able to use more of his energy for the defensive end.
Just a few examples that are somewhat similar off the top of my head. There's probably others.
