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I have said since the beginning of this off-season that DeMarr Johnson is a gamble, but that the Spurs should give him a look. He is long and quick. He would come cheap too.
Rosenbaums best and worst defenders from 82games.com. A few surprises like Rasho vs Nazr and Beno. Demar Johnson and James Jones score well.
Last edited by picnroll; 08-05-2005 at 01:01 PM.
I have said since the beginning of this off-season that DeMarr Johnson is a gamble, but that the Spurs should give him a look. He is long and quick. He would come cheap too.
Apparently Kenyon Martin is upset that the Nuggets aren't already locking up Johnson.
no tony parker?
I wouldn't say Rasho is a surprise.
Beno, on the other hand....
Bruce as #8? That's not right...
Rasho no but I'm a lttle surprised at the disparity between Rasho and Nazr. Too bad Rsho offense stinks and his rebounding is mediocre at best.
Would be nice to see Nazr's Spurs' days figures alone. Devin didn't come out to be quite the defensive stopper in Rosenbaum's analysis either.
No surprises really other than maybe Paul Pierce rated 5th or Dirk Nowitzki listed 10th in PFs. Raja Bell's poor listing also seemed odd.
The ratings cannot take into consideration the true on-ball defensive abilities a defender has.
Shane Battier at SF and Tony Allen at SG are absolutely no surprise to me. They have been favorite defenders of mine (no secret to the regulars in here) since they came out of college.
Tim is and should be #1. Manu at #7 is fine. Beno at #6 10 for PGs makes some sense in that he does have a knack for anticipation and is somewhat crafty. It's just hard to prove defensive prowess on stats alone.
He acknowledged Bowen being a better defender than his numbers look at first glance, and explained statistically why he's only #8.
Beno Udrih one of the top PGs defensively? Wow. And I though TP was pretty good defensively, and he didn't even rank.
The stats are pretty telling re: the Rasho versus NAzr debate. Rasho is better defensively, by a long shot. We will regret it if we let him go without someone equally good defensively in the C position. Right now, Nazr is not that person, and we don't know that Oberto will be, and both are shorter.
Manu shows up as an elite defender among shooting guards - and he should. Not only is Duncan the best defender among PFs, but Horry is also in the top ten.
I was surprised to see Devin Brown in the bottom 10 defenders for his position...
I always thought Beno did a good job defensively, better than Parker. If he could deal with pressure on the ball I think he's be a good backup. Don't know why the Spurs have soured on him, if they have, maybe his lack of willingness to stay conditioned, his apparent low pain threshold, who knows. He had the reputation out of Europe of not working hard and having constant minor injuries. Maybe he got his act together just long enough to get drafted.
Shane Battier being number one on the small forward list pretty much makes me discount the whole thing
It's interesting however.
Don't sell Battier short. He was the National Defenisive Player of the Year his Soph. Junior and Seniior years while at Duke. He can defend three positions well and he has been used frequently to do that, both in college and in the NBA.Shane Battier being number one on the small forward list pretty much makes me discount the whole thing
It's interesting however.
I know Bruce Bowen is the best, but seeing Battier rated highly isn't a laughing matter in my view.
I know he was a great defender in college and I like him as a player. But, to me, he's way too slow defensively to be considered one of the top defenders in the NBA.
I guess we just disagree on that one.
Only thing beno has over parker is picking the pic n rolls, him n gino do it occassionally
Interesting work. On a whole, it's relatively accurate. But as Solid D said, you can't base defense just off of stats.
On the centers, you can't really argue with the top ten. All are good defenders. Rasho knows how to play Spurs defense and that got him in the top ten. However if Rasho goes to another team, I don't think he'd continue being a top ten defensive center. Nazr being a bad defensive center at this point isn't too surprising either. He plays defense like he doesn't know what he's doing. His pick-and-roll defense is horrible and he rarely rotates correctly to the perimeter.
The PFs top ten is decent. Duncan and Horry are both very good defenders, however Dirk shouldn't be anywhere close to top ten. He got better defensively this season, but still has a long ways to go. Reggie Evans in the top ten is just as bad. The Sonics know he's a great rebounder and an average to below average defender. The bottom ten isn't too bad, but Donyell Marshall and Cliff Robinson are surprises. Both are thought of as defensive players. Antoine Walker low on the list shocks no one.
Paul Pierce and Vince Carter shouldn't be in any list of best defensive small forwards. Take out those two names and the list is pretty decent. No way that Battier is the best though. He's a good defender, but he can be beat off the dribble and sometimes looks slow out there. Josh Smith is interesting, but he can block shots and has the tools to be a great defender. The bottom ten is realistic. Nocioni, Peja and Harpring being the bottom three is right on.
The top ten for shooting guards starts off pretty weak. I like Tony Allen as a hustle defender who can create a lot of havoc, but I don't see him as your standard lockdown defender. His defense last year was much like Manu's defense as a rookie. Ben Gordon has never been mistaken as a defender. In fact, they usually try to hide him on the court. Selections five through ten are all good defenders. The bottom ten is alright, except Devin is actually a pretty good defender and so is Raja Bell.@ Suns fans when they see that their defensive stopper is actually not that good at D.
The point guard top ten is pretty weak. The only good defenders in the top ten are Duhon, Watson and Kidd. The rest are average to below average. Beno is a decent defender but a top ten ranking is laughable. However, he did improve as the season went on. The bottom ten is right on the money.
There are probably anomalies and the exact ranking can certainly be quibbled about but there are enough players that fit their upper and lower half rankings to make you wonder and think about the ones you believe are anomalous. Raja for instance, how much of the impression that's he's a good defender is from his aggressive, rough play versus truly being effective. We saw his numbers on Manu certainly don't shine. I remember Parker giving him a hard time when Dallas tried to use him to cover TP in the '03 Mavs - Spurs series.
The point guard list is quizzical too. I thought Chauncey Billups would rank highly there. I like the list though.. some decent analysis from an interesting perspective...
Don't know if this was posted already.
http://www.82games.com/rosenbaum3.htm
Take a look at the best/worst centers.
He has this writeup.
The big drop in defensive effectiveness between Nazr Mohammed and Rasho Nesterovic is interesting.
I'm sure it has a lot to do with Nazr coming from NY but its interesting.
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