Zach Lowe recognizes the facts: DG is the best fastbreak defender in the league

[Juggity]

The Little Things: Danny Green’s Secret Superpower


There are lots of role players who are in the league because they are really good at one discrete thing. Many of them are spot-up shooters — Steve Kerr and Steve Novak types. Kendrick Perkins sets wonderful screens in between traveling and dropping the ball. Reggie Evans destroys the offensive glass, which he should, since he’s a great rebounder and nobody guards him.

But most of those little things manifest themselves dozens of times in each game. Even a spot-up guy who jacks only three or four shots can influence every possession by bending the defense an extra step toward him. Evans might nab 15 rebounds. Perkins could set two dozen scowling picks for Oklahoma City’s stars.

Danny Green is more than a role player some nights, including in San Antonio’s ridiculous Game 3 win, when he shot 7-of-8 and attacked off the dribble more than usual. He’s a good defender capable of hitting contested 3s, especially in transition, when he likes to pull up even with a defender in his face.

On these Spurs, he’s still mostly a role player, the fifth option in San Antonio’s starting lineup — an elite spot-up guy whose dribble drives can veer into dicey territory. He is a perfectly average NBA wing starter.

Except Green is randomly sensational at one skill-within-a-skill: working as the last line of defense in transition. He is plain old Danny Green 99 percent of the time, but on maybe 50 plays per season, he turns into LeBron James.

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[Seventyniner]

The most interesting takeaway for me from this article was about Green almost never crashing the offensive glass. There have been numerous debates on ST about Pop's decision to prioritize transition D over offensive rebounds, but the Pacers last year managed to lead the league in both defensive fastbreak efficiency and offensive rebounding percentage.

Obviously there is a tradeoff between offensive boards and transition D because the places a player has to occupy for each one are literally at opposite ends of the floor. But I think we have been looking at it wrong. The tradeoff should not be looked at on a team level but instead on an individual level. If you have one or two really good transition defenders, you can have the rest crash the offensive glass because most fastbreaks are over before the 4th defender can make it down the court.

This was probably the key to Indiana's dual success. Hibbert can never make it back on D quickly anyway so he prioritized offensive rebounding. A strong offensive rebounding presence can even deter fastbreaks as more defenders are needed to box out.

Incidentally the Spurs, while a poor offensive rebounding team in the regular season, have done some damage in that area against the Thunder and Heat. Danny being able to stop 1v1 breaks gives the Spurs bigs some leeway in getting their own misses.

[Spur|n|Austin]

Damn I just posted too; Mods delete my thread please.

[suitedkings]

he's the best fast break defender cause they throws passes to the other team that leads to fast breaks.

[Seventyniner]

Damn I just posted too; Mods delete my thread please.

Mods? What are those?

[Spur|n|Austin]

Mods? What are those?

good point.

[bob bass sucks]

lol

[bob bass sucks]

lol suited kings

[21209]

Two more wins and we can somewhat forget his cherry-picking down the court in 6 which allowed LeBron a second chance open look three that kept Miami alive before Allen's heroics.

[mercos]

I've noticed this the past 2 years. It is uncanny how good Green is defending the fast break. Its not all highlight reel blocks either. Most times he just makes people miss. The guy is seriously underrated defensively, its laughable he was left off the All NBA Defensive Team. Easily one of the top 5 defenders in the league.

[spurraider21]

Chinook

[spurraider21]

i'd still personally rather have lebron defending my fastbreaks, but Green is pretty freakin awesome too

[poop]

Hes one of the best shot blocking guards in the league..i like how he seems to never give up on a defensive play, at the point where most guys concede the basket, danny continues to contest and always goes for the block.

[Chinook]

The reliability of that stat is unclear; Green is a starter, which means he plays a lot of minutes with San Antonio’s two best defenders in Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard.

This is why Green will never get the credit he deserves. "Green has the best defensive numbers because he plays with superior defenders like Leonard and Duncan, who have worse numbers since they play with inferior defenders like Green and Splitter."

[tholdren]

The most interesting takeaway for me from this article was about Green almost never crashing the offensive glass. There have been numerous debates on ST about Pop's decision to prioritize transition D over offensive rebounds, but the Pacers last year managed to lead the league in both defensive fastbreak efficiency and offensive rebounding percentage.

Obviously there is a tradeoff between offensive boards and transition D because the places a player has to occupy for each one are literally at opposite ends of the floor. But I think we have been looking at it wrong. The tradeoff should not be looked at on a team level but instead on an individual level. If you have one or two really good transition defenders, you can have the rest crash the offensive glass because most fastbreaks are over before the 4th defender can make it down the court.

This was probably the key to Indiana's dual success. Hibbert can never make it back on D quickly anyway so he prioritized offensive rebounding. A strong offensive rebounding presence can even deter fastbreaks as more defenders are needed to box out.

Incidentally the Spurs, while a poor offensive rebounding team in the regular season, have done some damage in that area against the Thunder and Heat. Danny being able to stop 1v1 breaks gives the Spurs bigs some leeway in getting their own misses.

first decent basketball post i have ever read on here. holy , we are winning a ring.

[BillMc]

Zach Lowe has got to be the best writer on Grantland. Simmons is crap since he got the TV gig.

DG really deserves props. The guy's a major key for us, and we got him off the scrap heap.