My View of Monta's D

Here it is:

I've seen him simply be awful on D. Not even NBA bad, Really bad. He goes for the steals (glory); wanders around with no clue losing his man; fails to hustle back in transition; and will hedge so bad he gives up an uncontested layup. I've had the benefit of sitting 10 rows off the floor for the past 4 years and watch fairly regularly at home. Its depressing watching that lack of effort. One shining example, he will be in front of his man, the guy goes by on Monta's left and he reaches out with his RIGHT hand trying for the steal. Almost by definition, that's a giveaway foul.

One local sportswriter has said to me he sees the same things I see. Do you see better defense from him than what I'm describing?

 

I don't think he's an attrocious defender, but I do see what you see. I think he's been coached to leak out and gamble because this team is built on transition, the same way Mully used to. (Who was much worse on the defensive side than Monta). I think the frustrating part of it is that he has the quickness to play D. I'm not sure that his body could take the beating it would take to play solid D and play the way he does on the offensive side of the court though.

 

I think you both offer good insight. It's tough. On the one hand, look at the kid. 2nd round draft pick. Who was he, to us, that rookie year? No one had a clue. Suddenly this young, shy kid with a 40" vert is dunking on fools and getting hugs from Baron.

Now, he's on the level of all-star. And each year, he's gotten better. Improved something. Taken every challenge. Barely complained. Played the most minutes in the league. Gotten hammered to the floor night in, night out. Been on a perpetually average/sub-par team.

So it's tough. But at the same time, yes. I see the same things, phil. Conversely, it's one of the main reasons he is in the top in steals in the NBA. But do steals = defense? Obviously no. But one has to ask, what is he really supposed to do? He's in a point guard body, being asked to usually guard guys that weigh 30+ pounds more than him, 3-4 inches taller than him. And athletic. I mean, yes, he can guard them, but how well, and for how long? This isn't college. This is the NBA. The sharks will find your weakness...

I just don't know what there is to do. It's a definite conundrum. Could he platy fundamentally better? Yes. Of course. But will he ever lock down opposing SGs. I don't think so.

As long as GS decides to go Curry/Monta, that's going to be a problem. The Clips go Baron/Gordon... but it's just so different. Both Baron/Gordon are stronger/tougher than either Monta/Curry. Night and day there.

Curry/Monta has its upside, but as long as its in place, fans will need to get used to the gambling, overplaying, undersized style of perimeter defense that we've been seeing.

Personally, I think it sucks. That's why I go Iggy/Equalizer for Monta. I'll miss Monta dearly, but personally I was raised on defense and I just can't take it anymore. lol

 

I am running out the door right now, so not a lot of time to write a lengthy response, but...I think the team needs to really address 'team defense.' Look at teams like the Spurs, and Papavich always has a solid defensive squad regardless of the interchangeable pieces. Yeah, Monta lets his man past him wayyyy more than he should, but that doesn't mean that his man should then have a uncontested layup. The TEAM needs to step up their D, and yes, Monta specifically. But I am a believer that good defense is a result of TEAM mentality and execution, first and foremost. So our 1 and 2 gamble a lot and take chances, we should have a frontline to help them out. If we got a beefy defensive center, I think we'd be worrying a lot less about Monta's defensive shortcomings. We really only have 1 good defender in our starting lineup. I know it's kind of a cop out, but Monta outscores his counterpart damn near nightly, and if everybody does that, we win. Monta is a poor defender...in fact i'll say he's an underachiever on D, but so is Curry, Lee and (most of the times) Biedrins.

Anyway, point being, we need to address team defense and THEN we can start trying to identify the weakest link in the chain.

 

I think AO has it spot on...what do you want the guy to do? At least he tries to improvise by getting steals. His steal/letting his man by and score ratio is probably bad but then again, if he just stood there and held his ground, most bigger players will be able to score on him anyway.

Look at David Lee...IMO, he's pretty fundamental when it comes to defense. He doesn't reach much, he holds his ground, he puts his hand up...he just has no ability to be a difference maker on defense. So he may do all the right things but he still lets his man score at will.

So, i hate the warriors is right...our only hope is team defense. I think that hope is pretty slim given our talent. There's only a handful of guys that make a difference on D and that's D. Wright, Udoh, Biedrins, Lin, and maybe Lou. But the latter two don't really have a big enough role for that to matter.

What do you guys think?

 

One of the fundamental problems with the NBA I believe is that there is this assumption that any mismatch automatically leads to a bucket; this leads to the automatic double team in the post, even if its JKidd, who is now averaging 9 ppg, or Bynum who has never averaged more than 15 ppg; which also leads to the "bailout" hack on nearly any shot that goes up or any drive. Fact is, no one is going to abuse you to the tune of 40 pts, which means 20 made FGs. Make someone make a few shots before you overreact.

I believe in standing your ground and make that guy prove he can make the 5 foot baby hook, even if its Curry on Aldridge. Don't just give away the foul or go for the steal. Some of the best defenders are guys who just play you straight up and force you to go somewhere other than your favorite place. The NY Times had an article on Battier about a year ago and Battier described just doing little things to defend Kobe, making him go left and take that jumper, which Kobe will make but at a much lower rate than going right. That's something I believe everyone can do, just do a little something to take someone out of their comfort zone.

I do agree with the team defense concept, the W's have been horrible about that for at least 5 years and Smart has not been much better. And I can see how Monta was probably encouraged by Nellie to simply forget about it. But someone needs to change as well. Look at Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, they are not quick guys nor outstanding individual defenders but they are not out of position, they play within the concept. The Warriors need to make that same commitment.

 

Larry Brown is available

 

Good points, phil. Well, 40pts doesn't always equal 20 made FG's. It can be getting to the line or taking a bunch of 3's. I think Monta's resulting lack of D is probably a combination of not wanting to even give his man a chance to shoot and the opposition knowing he has the size advantage. The combination can be a psychological disadvantage to Monta and an advantage to the opposition. But, I don't think Monta has completely given up on the idea of standing his ground on defense. It might just be that he's physically incapable of it and the risk of going for the steal nets a better result. Maybe the net result is still negative, but not as bad? I don't know...maybe there are stats the staff keeps on this kind of thing.

 

The best "stealer" gets about 2-2.5 per game. There are approx. 100 possessions per game. What do you do the other 98% of the time? To me the steals are a very overrated stat. The only good defender I've ever noticed with good steals numbers was Alvin Robertson.

 

Jordan averaged 2.4spg for his career.

 

I think one thing that may prevent Monta from putting full effort on defense is the fact that he is expected to play 40+ minutes per game. So the mind set for him is that if he is too aggressive on defense he may pick up too many quick fouls and put him on the bench - I don't think fatigue has much to it because he seems like an iron horse, but more the mental perspective. So if this happens where he gets in foul trouble then the whole team is at a disadvantage. But I will focus more on Monta's defense in games coming up.

What I get upset with more sometimes is the lack of rebounding effort from him and the perimeter players. The team defense is ultra-quick to help defense, and this leaves the bigs and forwards out of position at times that lead to easier rebounds for the opponent because the perimeter guys do not put the effort to help their bigs who helped and are now out of position on the boards. In general though I think there's too much rotating especially early that leaves the defenders in no-man's land where he's in the middle of helping someone and sticking to his guy, so basically doing nothing, that let's opponents pick this team apart and leads to uncontested perimeter shots or backdoor cuts. But of course this is a different topic.

 

Absolutely, but I do think that teams turn the ball over more when you have a pesky guy up front. Obviously, it's not ideal. The better stat to measure when it comes to "steals" would be change in turnovers of the player he guards vs change in points. Something tells me it's probably a wash, but it gets the other team out and running, which isn't necessarily their strong suit. The overall change may be that the team is in a better position because of that (assuming that Oop is right in saying that people are going to score on him anyway).

Monta's D used to really drive me nuts. This season, however, he's jumped into the upper tier of scorers, so I can live with it. Especially considering that the rest of the team is horribly constructed and poorly coached, IMO.

The scenario I would introduce is: Assume he were playing with Houston in KevMart's place. Would the rest of the team mask his aggressive overplay? I think so. But it's a hypothetical, so who knows.

 

I concluded that MJ was a great defender from the 98% of the time he did not make a steal, not the steals. The steals he got was an afterthought.

 

To be fair, in a way a steal equates to two possessions. You take one away from the defense, and you give an extra one to your team.

With Monta, it's often a steal-then-a-dunk. Thus the term 4-point swing.

So, if you get 2 steals in a game, that can mean you are giving an 8 point swing to your team. That's a considerable factor.

With that said, I am not trying to glorify the steal. But it is a big part of the game. It can also be the biggest "momentum" changer. A 4 point swing can drastically affect the energy level of a team, in certain situations.

A steal at the end of the game can mean the difference between a win and a loss.

Still, I'd rather GS play more like Battier and less like CJ Watson. Often times the "steal" approach to defense is simply to mask deficiencies. It's like, "okay, I can't stay in front of my man, he's going to embarrass me like this, so I'll just go for steals every time so when he beats me I have an excuse."


As far as the "team defense" concept, I have two things: Yes, defense is a team-effort, of course. But in the NBA, the league is all about match-ups. This is the best of the best. If you are a poor defensive matchup on a guy, the opposing team will most assuredly sniff you out, and locate that matchup. These players are the elite... one small advantage/disadvantage can tip the scales.

Yes Monta would benefit from the team buckling down together. Of course. But it will not change one simple fact. He is out-matched physically on defense. Will effort help this? yes. Will team-defensive help this? Yes. Will it ever go away? No. This is the NBA. If you are 6'3, a buck ninety, and you are trying to guard the Western Conference SGs... well, the whole league knows it, and they will definitely target it.