Moderators: paulpressey25, MickeyDavis
theFireBlanket wrote:AD can't hold a candle to GA.
midranger wrote:I don’t think Giannis has been an incredibly impactful defender the past couple years. He’s asleep at the switch a lot of the time. He is, however, the only guy on the team who will grab a rebound so he’s incredibly important there.
I’d love it if he had a renewed focus on the end and lowered his offensive usage a bit.
soxperry wrote:midranger wrote:I don’t think Giannis has been an incredibly impactful defender the past couple years. He’s asleep at the switch a lot of the time. He is, however, the only guy on the team who will grab a rebound so he’s incredibly important there.
I’d love it if he had a renewed focus on the end and lowered his offensive usage a bit.
He is still very much elite, just not playing all time great defense anymore at least in the RS
The hidden part of Giannis defense is that guys just dont drive near him very much. He is like a shut down corner where you dont throw to his side.
midranger wrote:I don’t think Giannis is great on the perimeter. He gets beat off the dribble a lot. He has the length and speed to recover well, but anyone with a good first step can get by him causing rotation. Additionally, he falls asleep off ball. All. The. Time. Just leaving dudes with wide open shots in the corner. As the league has transitioned big wings into PFs, I think that has reduced his impact on that end.
It’s pretty clear to me he’s a center in the modern NBA. I know he doesn’t want to accept it, but it would maximize his impact on both ends, imo.
Ron Swanson wrote:soxperry wrote:midranger wrote:I don’t think Giannis has been an incredibly impactful defender the past couple years. He’s asleep at the switch a lot of the time. He is, however, the only guy on the team who will grab a rebound so he’s incredibly important there.
I’d love it if he had a renewed focus on the end and lowered his offensive usage a bit.
He is still very much elite, just not playing all time great defense anymore at least in the RS
The hidden part of Giannis defense is that guys just dont drive near him very much. He is like a shut down corner where you dont throw to his side.
This. It's precisely why AD has been overrated as a defender for much of his career cuz "blocks" is the defensive version of "PPGzzz". Now, Giannis coasting the past couple seasons combined with AD taking on less offensive usage resulting in him being able to expend more energy on defense has closed that gap. But it's insulting that they've left Giannis off both All-Defense teams for the past two years despite finishing Top-10 in DPOTY voting. Like, what the hell is the excuse now that they've gotten rid of positional requirements?
Brewhoopfan wrote:Ron Swanson wrote:soxperry wrote:
He is still very much elite, just not playing all time great defense anymore at least in the RS
The hidden part of Giannis defense is that guys just dont drive near him very much. He is like a shut down corner where you dont throw to his side.
This. It's precisely why AD has been overrated as a defender for much of his career cuz "blocks" is the defensive version of "PPGzzz". Now, Giannis coasting the past couple seasons combined with AD taking on less offensive usage resulting in him being able to expend more energy on defense has closed that gap. But it's insulting that they've left Giannis off both All-Defense teams for the past two years despite finishing Top-10 in DPOTY voting. Like, what the hell is the excuse now that they've gotten rid of positional requirements?
In 2024, Giannis received one 2nd place vote for DPOY for a total of 3 points which put him in 9th place. The winner, Rudy Gobert, received a total of 433 points. Giannis's defense has fallen way off, and most of the NBA has noticed (except for one person). But, yeah.....Top 10, LOL.
Brewhoopfan wrote:Ron Swanson wrote:soxperry wrote:
He is still very much elite, just not playing all time great defense anymore at least in the RS
The hidden part of Giannis defense is that guys just dont drive near him very much. He is like a shut down corner where you dont throw to his side.
This. It's precisely why AD has been overrated as a defender for much of his career cuz "blocks" is the defensive version of "PPGzzz". Now, Giannis coasting the past couple seasons combined with AD taking on less offensive usage resulting in him being able to expend more energy on defense has closed that gap. But it's insulting that they've left Giannis off both All-Defense teams for the past two years despite finishing Top-10 in DPOTY voting. Like, what the hell is the excuse now that they've gotten rid of positional requirements?
In 2024, Giannis received one 2nd place vote for DPOY for a total of 3 points which put him in 9th place. The winner, Rudy Gobert, received a total of 433 points. Giannis's defense has fallen way off, and most of the NBA has noticed (except for one person). But, yeah.....Top 10, LOL.
emunney wrote:midranger wrote:I don’t think Giannis is great on the perimeter. He gets beat off the dribble a lot. He has the length and speed to recover well, but anyone with a good first step can get by him causing rotation. Additionally, he falls asleep off ball. All. The. Time. Just leaving dudes with wide open shots in the corner. As the league has transitioned big wings into PFs, I think that has reduced his impact on that end.
It’s pretty clear to me he’s a center in the modern NBA. I know he doesn’t want to accept it, but it would maximize his impact on both ends, imo.
Don't disagree with the character of any of this, but I think more specifically, he actually is very good against those big wings. It's smaller players he struggles with containing off the dribble. Put him on a Tatum, Luka, Jimmy and they don't like the looks they get. Even if they can get to their spots, he can give a good contest and make the shot really difficult.
fansinceforever wrote:Yeah agreed, we're not a good defensive team and neither are the Lakers. It's pretty obvious that they'd be much worse without AD covering for a lot of legitimately bad defenders. Btw, They were still better than we were - albeit slightly.
So, to swim all the way back up stream, I'm not sure why we would expect much of a different output defensively from Prince playing here this season.
Ron Swanson wrote:fansinceforever wrote:Yeah agreed, we're not a good defensive team and neither are the Lakers. It's pretty obvious that they'd be much worse without AD covering for a lot of legitimately bad defenders. Btw, They were still better than we were - albeit slightly.
So, to swim all the way back up stream, I'm not sure why we would expect much of a different output defensively from Prince playing here this season.
I'm guessing we'll see the narrative quickly shift now that we're not gonna spend a half season playing defense under Griffin and looking like a bunch of chickens running around with our heads cut off. Giannis is basically getting the anti-Kobe treatment right now. For some reason he's one of the few superstars who doesn't get the "reputation/legacy" All-Defense nods. Even Bill Simmons basically said that Giannis is a guy who should be an automatic All-Defense dude for pretty much the duration of his prime/until proven otherwise.
BroncoBuck wrote:yb90 wrote:I still put Prince over P.J. Washington and everyone gushed over him. Prince has similar size strength defensively but is a high quality shooter.
That’s a pretty hot take. Prince is a lot closer to Semi Ojeleye than he is PJ Washington.
El Pooch Grande wrote:I still think the most realistic best case Bucks scenario right now would be getting Trent, Jr. on the minimum.
Dame
Trent, Jr.
Middleton
Giannis
Lopez
I can get behind that starting 5.