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I haven't checked advanced stats to support the following but my opinion is:
Transition D. Davis usually refuses to fight for the offensive rebound, instead, he secures the transition D as fast as possible and quickly matching up with a big or a guard regardlessly. He shines when he becomes the second defender, coming to the rescue of our first defender when he's under attack.
Closeouts. Bertans combination of size and agility helps him to contest 3pt shooters on long rotations.
Off the ball. He's disciplined and smart positioning and helping out in the paint. He fails when he goes for the block, bites on the fakes, but he's quite good when he manages to stay in the floor.
On screens. His thin body allows him to run through screens. Not saying he can follow the classic SG but he has no problem following 4s or even 5s who take a screen looking for an open shot. Thanks to his quickness, he can show and recover or jump to the trap/aggressive switch when he's paired with the man setting the screen. He can switch in the last screen a shooter receives approaching to his shooting spot and sometimes he even denies this pass.
Ball-defender. He can play correct 1on1 D against good/great players at the SF position or shooting PFs (of course he won't lock Durant, James, etc, but who can do it?)
It looks like I'm saying Bertans is the best defensive player of the league and obviously, he isn't. I believe he'd be a much better defender at SF than what he is as PF, though. I'm just bringing up some of his defensive abilities trying to understand the reasons for those stats.
Here is another one thinking Bertans could be a good fit on a hypothetical fast speed unit around DeJounte, also helping to fit Aldridge and DeRozan.
Let's say Pop wants to go big yet and starts Murray, DeRozan, Bertans, Aldridge, and Poetl. That unit can play good defense, the risk of being beaten far from the basket is minimalized by the number and size of the helpers protecting the rim. Sure that group can rebound and run aggressively, letting Aldridge arrive to the 5on5 as he wants and be the focal point then. Don't forget L.A. has shown repeatedly on his time in San Antonio how good he is running the middle lane as a trailer. And he likes to do it. Bertans would help DeRozan, Murray and Aldridge to space the court, not hurting the team in other areas and helping the team to come strong with the second unit.
Our second unit would still be balanced as well: Gasol, Gay, Belinelli, White, Mills. Leaving minor minutes to Forbes, Metu, etc.
However, Davis problem has been inconsistency so if he's not playing solid already, he doesn't deserve that role. Let's see what happens in the next weeks.
