Reply With Quote
I guess everyone would assume if Kawhi's defense is worse relative to recent season, then it must be due to the increase in his offensive load; but what would be the other factors?
Kawhi "being our best defender" and Kawhi playing the best defense on the team are two different things. There simply is no argument that Kawhi isn't having a down year defensively. Absolutely none. Not a bit. Not even a half-assed argument. Not even a homer argument. None. This is by far the least-impactful year he's had on that end since he was a rookie, probably ever. That isn't to say that when you need a stop Kawhi isn't your man. It is to say that there is something going on.
This isn't a case of some random stat being used to make a case against reality. This is a case where EVERY ING STAT shows Kawhi hasn't been as good. That's the reality that's being denied. There are plenty of reasons and excuses for it, but none of them start off without accepting the reality that Kawhi hasn't been as good defensively this season.
What you call reality I call an assumption based on expectations. That's the same reason why Moore's article irrationally blamed everyone else for Kawhi's numbers. When you go in assuming a result, you're going to get skewed data or be inclined to jump through hoops to explain away the data you get.
I guess everyone would assume if Kawhi's defense is worse relative to recent season, then it must be due to the increase in his offensive load; but what would be the other factors?
The numbers don't really reflect it, but I feel like he's played more minutes this season. That would have an effect as far as fatigue goes. Also, if he plays his minutes almost exclusively against other teams' starters this year (but didn't really do so last year), then that could explain. A lot of it.
I've said before that the starters don't seem to play very good offense. Kawhi has a good ORtg but I've long hated his shot-selection precisely because it tends to hurt the team's defense. It's not a matter of Kawhi not being good enough to hit those shots. It's more about where he is on the floor when he shoots them and where everyone else is as they watch him shoot. Even if those shots go in, the Spurs aren't in ideal defensive position. Sometimes, Gasol is one of the only two people above the FTLE. That's just not going to work defensively. Wing-led offenses are tricky to run for a lot of reasons, and the Kawhi-led one isn't an exception.
Then there could be other things like if he's complaining about calls or if he's getting easier assignments but straying off them. Or maybe he hasn't adjusted to the new players as fast as everyone else has. I don't know. I bet there is data to examine some of these factors. But I don't know where to get it.
I agree. The HOTS loss would have the biggest impact on the team.
The Spurs would exponentially improve without Enrique in the lineup tbh.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
