One of the biggest mistakes for Chris Kaman and Mike Dunleavy, Sr. in years past was to encourage the 7-footer to shoot from the perimeter at the expense of his post defense and offense, where he was of more value to the team. Instead, he fell in love with the idea of being the poor-man's Dirk thus negating the value of having a center out on the floor to the point where he was more of a detriment than a positive contributor.
Similarly, DJ isn't the sharpest of tools, so I don't want him distracted from his more vital task of being a defensive presence. Doc has done a tremendous job of getting DJ to make a leap in his development on D, but there's plenty of work to be done as he's far from a solid defensive presence positionally and with regards to reacting and rotating to what an opponent does on offense despite the highlight blocks and rebounds. The team needs to improve further defensively and is actually mediocre in rebounding overall.
Defense should be the primary focus of the team as a whole, but particularly Jordan's if he truly wants to be more like Bill Russell and win a DPOY. DJ hasn't really accomplished anything yet and the last thing we need is for him to get sidetracked. I'll refer to Doc's previous statements from last preseason as well as early last season:
Eric Patten, Clippers.com (10/2/13)
“I’m asking him to do [the same things] better and more consistently and take ownership of it,” Rivers said. “And not get sidetracked on the other side. If you’re a great defensive player, then you’re a great defensive player 100 percent of the time. You can’t be a great defensive player half the time because you didn’t get the ball once or twice. That can’t sidetrack him. It’s got to be I live for my defense and my offense I’ll get.”
Rivers Wants DeAndre Jordan to Get Defensive
Michael Martinez, Fox Sports (12/20/13)
"He said he wanted me to be the leader and the anchor of our defense and he really meant that," Jordan said. "On offense he wanted me to run, sprint, get easy buckets, set picks for guys and help guys get open shots. That's what I've been doing. Anything he asks of me, I'm going to work my butt off to try and make happen."
...
"I think he's just grown," Rivers said. "It's not me. I don't want to take any of the credit. That's D.J. He had to decide on his own. He had to embrace it. When you look at all the weapons on our team, he had to look at where he would make his biggest impact and his biggest impact is doing all the other stuff."
Clippers center DeAndre Jordan flourishing under Doc Rivers
