Is Nene the center with the best PnR defense in the league?

DrewBynum77 · Post #1 » by **DrewBynum77** » Fri Mar 4, 2011 12:45 am

Iwatched most of nuggets games this year since raptors decide to tank... I'm saying this based basically on what I saw this year alone. I'm not sure about his reputation. I know people consider him soft for a center but don't remember anyone talking about his PNR, so I'm asking the nuggets fans: Do you agree with me? Was he always this good at PNR defense? Do you think he's elite on that? No? Why?

Every part of his PNR defense is very good. but I'm most impressed when they switch and Nene stays one-on-one with the Guard... The big fella can hold his own when guards put him to dance, seriously. He's not afraid of getting an "ankle-break" so he defends the guards very well, or as well as a center can do, for that limited time.

Also, without Billups it seems to me they're looking to trap the PG every time after the PnR and they are having a great success rate with the trap. They did this at least 10 times last game and only conceded one easy basket when the Bcats triangulated and the center got an easy layup.

They are going to play today against a team very good with a great PnR and arguably the fastest PG in the league in Harris so gonna be hard for them, but I suspect they'll defend the Pick 'n' Roll very well.

Your thoughts?

Edit: Do you know where/if I can find any stats regarding pnr defense? Defensive stats are hard to find.... Thanks in advance!

Post #2 » by **The Rebel** » Fri Mar 4, 2011 1:53 am

Nene has always had the talent and skill to be among the best bigman defenders in the league, just like many of the Nuggets in years past the effort has not always been there.

Post #3 » by **el loco** » Fri Mar 4, 2011 6:19 am

The Rebel wrote:Nene has always had the talent and skill to be among the best bigman defenders in the league, just like many of the Nuggets in years past the effort has not always been there.

I agree, he can be pretty solid on the defensive end of the floor when he gives it one of his better efforts.

DrewBynum77 · Post #4 » by **DrewBynum77** » Fri Mar 4, 2011 7:02 am

Nah peepz, I know bout him being called a "softie" or not hustling enough, etc.

I wanted to know what you think about the PnR defense specifically, if he has a reputation on that, if Coach Karl ever said anything about that, etc.

I bet there's a site out there that have defensive stats like points allowed per PnR or some **** like that. I'm not going to post on the GB because peepz there only care about the Heat... so... I'm stuck with my friends fans of the Nuggets

PnR D have very little to do with being tuff and hustling... You know what I'm saying?

Btw, he defended the PnR very well tonight. No trapping/switch on the PG, tho... Jazz have much scoring power inside so apparently the Plan was to give a bit of help and switch right back to the bigman... He did it perfectly. In today's NBA(more and more pg oriented) having a skill like that is very important.

Oh, he made a steal after the PnR later in the game that resulted in a Offensive foul. Gonna upload the video as soon as I get a link!

See ya tomorrow.

DaFan334 · Post #5 » by **DaFan334** » Fri Mar 4, 2011 7:13 am

I think offensively is the only area really that you can call Nene soft. He tries to layup far too often. Defensively he plays fairly physical. I still feel that all of his shortcomings as a center would be eliminated if he were to move to the 4 with a decent center (mozgov), but only time will tell on if that will ever actually happen.

DrewBynum77 · Post #6 » by **DrewBynum77** » Fri Mar 4, 2011 7:31 am

DaFan334 wrote:I think offensively is the only area really that you can call Nene soft. He tries to layup far too often. Defensively he plays fairly physical. I still feel that all of his shortcomings as a center would be eliminated if he were to move to the 4 with a decent center (mozgov), but only time will tell on if that will ever actually happen.

Yep. Hit the nerve on nene moving to the PF position... and there is no excuse for not doing this since they already play with Martin-Nene. Basically two PFs with little range... I hope they don't resign Martin so they can develop Mozgov and start him at the C spot...

Nene is not a true center despite having monkey-like arms.

If you Nuggs fans call him soft I wonder what you would call Gasol when he Plays Center. He's a complete different player when he guards and is guarded by PFs... I think the same would happen to nene if he was playing alongside with a 7 footer.

Here's what I said prior to this trade when there were (bs) rumours that Lakers would trade Bynum for Melo:

MiamiSheet wrote:
eslr wrote:
If we get Bynum, Nuggets fans think (perhaps over optimistically) that we would still make the playoffs this year as a 6-7 seed, and then would just be back to competing next season if we land Jeff Green or Jrich or any decent SF in free agency.

I can't see why Nuggets wouldn't make the playoffs. Denver frontcourt would scare the **** out of most teams. Nene+Bynum = beastly front court. Nene added a bit of range to his game but it doesn't matter tho, you could even start Jr "blackhole" Smith so you have plenty of 3-point threats.

Billups, Affalo, Smith
Nene - Bynum

Nene would shine even more guarding and being guarded by PFs, just like Pau. (Who looks like **** playing C). He would beast his way to the rim against most PFs lol... and he's a great passer too. He would work with Bynum very well.

If somehow the responsability of being a starter gave Smith some kind of maturity then I see this line up as a better team than the Nuggets have today. Maybe I underrate Melo, dunno... But the instantly defensive upgrade that a team with such a beastly FrontCourt would gain out-weights any offensive loss by not having Melo on the team... and defense wins championships.

And yeh, as I laker fan would not trade Bynum for Melo, mainly because he would not work with Kobe and also because I would kill myself due the frustation of watching Pau Gasol playing C for 82-100 games every season.

Solid · Post #7 » by **Solid** » Thu Mar 31, 2011 1:56 am

I would love to have Nene next to Roy Hibbert in Indiana.
He'd get time in the post with Hansbourgh coming in as the 6th man, so all three get good minutes, and we'd finish with who ever had it goin'.

If the big fella wants to walk this summer we'll have some cash for him.

inquisitive · Post #8 » by **inquisitive** » Fri Apr 1, 2011 5:48 am

Lots of teams would love to have Nene...i agree with his PnR defense.

DrewBynum77 · Post #9 » by **DrewBynum77** » Fri Apr 1, 2011 6:35 pm

hey peepz, synnergystats is open for everyone until the end of the season...

I see Nene is ranked 34th overall in defending the man on PnR situations. But I don't know how to see the full list to rank him only among centers...

Does anyone know where I can see the full ranking instead of only his stats?

here's the site: http://mysynergysports.com/