More important: Man Defense or Help Defense?

[Undrafted Rook]

Defensive system - when to help, where to help, and who helps. That separates good and bad defensive teams.

Of course responsibility about your own check is fundamental.

[a-rod]

Help down low, man on the perimeter... not that help defense on the perimeter really happens much anyway.

Guys who cheat on the perimeter and pick up steals but let their man into the paint easily (I'm talkin' about you, AI) can kill your defense, but if you have a quick big guy that can rotate over (I'm talkin' about you, Camby), that can ameliorate the issue.

Ben Wallace was the ulitmate help defender, but he's lost enough of his quickness (dropping from unreal to just signficantly better than average) to downgrade his status to just "good". Rasheed Wallace is a good help defender, but he's never been that quick; his wingspan and smarts make him an elite man defender down low. Together, back in 04 and 05, those two were ridiculously effective.

Exactly, i agree....

[GreenWithEnvy]

its on ball defense by a wide margin. example is the nuggets. look at how having the best off ball help defender in the league has done for them? they surrender like 110 points a game.

logically wouldn't u want guys to protect the alley to the rim as opposed to the rim. i mean a contested 20 footer is a hell of a lot harder to make than a contested layup. we can all agree on that?

[kodo]

On ball defense.

Help defense is a last ditch effort to protect the basket and it usually results in a foul, even the very best help defenders in the very best system like Tim Duncan average more fouls (2.4) than blocks (1.9).

If you rely purely on help defense to be your only defense, the Nuggets are a great example of what happens. Bulls are another example of a team that does way too much help defense and struggle to win, mainly because their help defense leaves shooters wide open. Statistically they should be a good defensive team, 8th best in the league in opponent FG%, but because their help defense makes them the 6th worst team in the league for opponent 3 point %, they lose most of their games.

Good on-ball defenders in the league like Shane Battier & Bruce Bowen are under-rated and don't have impressive steal/block stats, but their teams win.

[Undrafted Rook]

Helping isn't just blocking or taking charges. It is much more than that, altering shots, rotating, positioning. If you leave shooters wide open your system isn't very good. Trey with a guy running at you, that's what good teams give you. Your example Nuggets are lazy to rotate and contest.

Defense is a team effort.

[RockTHECasbah]

In Philips Arena, a combination of referees, scorekeepers and timekeepers can guarantee victories.

[pillwenney]

Relying on great man defense is to rely on great perimeter D (since your bigs wouldn't be great help defenders, presumably) which is a bad idea. No great perimeter player can be stopped one on one, so help great help D is down right necessary.