mitchweber wrote:OGSactownballer wrote:I completely disagree with you here. Any big man with good fundamental positioning skills and even decent speed can be taught to use his LENGTH and footwork to maintain reasonable position against a perimeter player on the pick and roll and force at the worst a bad shot selection and at best funnel him into the weakside defender/shotblocker if he makes that perimeter guy (guard/SF) attempt to go inside.
A prime and classic example is Karl Malone. Slow as molasses, but one of the best perimeter big man defenders ever. Why? Watch film of him and you will see that when he would get switched onto the guard/SF on the P and R he would IMMEDIATELY get himself into ideal position to use his footwork to stay with his man enough laterally to be able to get his hands/arms in front. This IS a teachable ability, but if the big has natural quickness like Jason appears to, then it becomes so much easier.
I am not saying that he is or is not going to be that level of player, but I am saying that big long guys can get by in limited need on the perimeter if they have the tools and are properly coached.
Robert Horry is another good example of a guy who is primarily an inside defender who can swing out when needed.
Oh I'm not arguing this--I agree that Jason would be effective in certain situations in this regard. I'm talking about starting at SF, like as his main position. I agree that he can do fine there in stretches and he can be a fine PnR defender in that respect. I just don't want to put him in a position where he constantly has to guard guys like Lebron, Pierce, Butler, etc. I think he can actually be a very good perimeter defender for a PF--but there's a big difference between the two positions.
I guess that we are more on the same page then I thought from earlier in the thread. i don't argue for a second that he should not START nor play extensive minutes at the three. What I had in mind is what Pop did when he had Robinson/Duncan/Perdue back when the Spurs won their first title. He would go for short to medium (5 - 12) minutes where he would actually have all three in the game together with the matchups essentially putting Perdue at the 5, Duncan at the 4 and Robinson (who it was often said was a 3 in a 5/4 body) at the 3. Even though Sean Elliot started at the 3, this lineup was the one that most opponents feared because it was virtually impopssible to match up against defensively AND gave up only deeper perimeter looks on the other end.
This is the kind of thing that I like about having a bigger team overall (as I have said in many threads before). It vastly improves the versatility of your lineup so that you Reggie) can CREATE the mismatches instead of having to respond to them. Of course you need a couple of smaller points to guard the jets of the league, but I would never have more than one guy under 6'2" and two under 6'4" on my final roster now matter HOW GOOD they are. Even if it's an Iverson or a Chris Paul, those guys are a one trick pony (like Bibby was) on D - steal it in the passing lanes with reliance on a high level perimeter defender 9a la Doug Christie) next to him to pick up all the misses and mismatches. I would a million times rather bring in a bigger backup (i.e. - John or Cisco at point or Thompson at the 3) to force a nasty mismatch for the other team than a smaller guy who might keep it even if he's got a hot hand, but also can get destroyed when he doesn't and is unable to stop his bigger opponent.
