Chalky White wrote:QRich3 wrote:What do you expect exactly? defense is not as easy to quantify as offense is, where a turnover or a missed shot are always bad things. Be it RAPM, DRtg, ppp numbers or SportVU charts, every defensive metric is heavily subjected to context, which is what people in here are discussing. therealbig3 just rebutted my point in a very reasonable fashion and xBulletproof just did the same to his. Meanwhile you come in here and disregard all of it without adding anything of value or trying to refute any of the points made, I'm not sure what do you expect of the discussion...
Well, that's great. Because I'm not asking anyone to list off any metrics, but to offer an evaluation/analysis of George and Durant's respective defensive ability. Which, no one has done, therealbig3 and xBilletproof included.
LOL.. OK what do you want to know. Paul George is great off the ball and on the ball with his defense. He has the foot speed and the strength to fight through screens (he challenges the screen before it is set) and he has the length to bother jump shots. When screened effectively he often challenge a shot from behind (Hill does the same thing) and doesn't give up just becuase he screened. He rarely goes for pump fakes and he rarely gets caught in the air for an easy foul.
On fast breaks he rarely gives up and like Lebron he will chase a guy down for a block. The Pacers also lead the league last year in transition defense which is largely the role of PG and Lance. The Pacers don't apply a lot of help defense at all so its sort of hard to evaluate his play on giving help in the post so I won't bother to speculate.
My biggest knock on him is his post defense as he doesn't have the strength to deal with Josh Smith or Lebron and to be fair most sf's don't so he is vulnerable on post ups.
Alot of his defense is a combination of athleticism, intelligence and effort. He has no glaring weakness in all three. He lead the league as the primary intial defender for plays on the NBA best defensive team. He is doing the same this year.
For Durant I won't go nearly in the amount of detail but will allow those who have whatched Durant the majority of last year to explain his defensive prowess. For me what I see is as net postives are the obvious which are the length to play off of dribble drive threats and to bother the jump shots if the opposing player see a gap of daylight to get his shot off. I would say he is vulnerable to be screened and to get caught as he lacks the foot speed to get past the intial screener and challenge the shot from behind. Simply put his recover time. I would say he best defensive prowess is on the post up where his length can bother any sf or pf shot. I think he has active hands much like Paul George but the major knock on him has been consistent effort over the years.
He may have changed that over the long haul but only time will tell. I don't think Durant is a liability on defense unless they play the Heat or a team with a similary make up. Meaning KD can't really slow down James or Wade especially with the high pnr screens they use. The key to most offensive systems is to get you out of postion so you can't make an impact as a defender and I think this is where KD's weakness. With iso's he can stay in postion because he has the length to play off and still bother the jump shot and hedge the driving angle. On picks and screens though that is where effort and intelligence alot of times give weigh his physical limitations. This is where foot speed and strength matter most followed by seeing it before it happens and reacting to it in a timely fashion. KD is a smart player but he knows his limitations physically which is why he doesn't take ownership as the primary defender on his team IMO.
