Think it will be improved? Dame mentioned how many shots were getting blocked in pickup and how tough he had to work to get to the rim.
They are certainly quicker and more athletic this year but while that can contest more shots, lack of experience often leads to being so far out of position as to have no chance at a rejection. I think they will get better as time goes on and there will be a highlight stuff here and there but it will likely be rough at first.
I think it will be improved, but different. Instead of funneling everything to Lopez I think there will be more teamwork. Assuming you start Plumlee, the center position will likely be only so-so for shot blocking. But, he will get a lot more help from the PF and SF position, both of which will have very tall or long players helping. Imagine the collapsing of any two of Leonard/Davis/Vonleh/Harkless/Aminu--all of who have a wing span of at least 7 feet.
2014 // 2015 Dame < Dame Wes > Henderson Nic = Aminu LMA < Whoever starts at PF Rolo < Plumlee (I'm guessing here.) CJ < CJ Leonard < Whoever the back-up PF is. The rest of last season's roster < The rest of this season's roster. Yeah, we should be better. But it's still up to Stotts to implement a competent defensive system.
Mostly agree, but I think you are underestimating LMA's defense and overvaluing Nic's. Nic has his moments, but his overall defensive stats seem to show that outside of those moments, he was just okay.
I think nic was a average defender but really how many good defender are there in the league. The good defense teams are just that they team defense.
LMA was only good when guarding his man - he was an awful help defender. And since defense is a team sport, LMA was a terrible defender. Whoever starts in his place will be better simply because they'll put effort into it.
We're going to be better across the board defensively, and our bench is going to be much, much better at holding or building a lead
I would say that most people remember the lapses more than the good defense because it was always popular to hate on Nic. And people are also selectively remembering last season, rather than his entire body of work. He was good more often than he was bad, and defense isn't something that can be measured in statistics. Nic, more than any other player, made jump-shooters out of guys like LBJ/Durant/etc, and while they may have made those jumpers that's still exactly what you want to do with those sorts of players.
I think Aminu will provide great defense in place of Nico.. very few players have Nic's skillset so it won't be the same at all.
So good at guarding his man...poor at covering up for the shitty perimeter defenders....equals he is a bad defender....got it
Yup. Because team defense is more important than individual defense. Nobody can effectively guard the perimeter one-on-one, so you need the rest of the team - especially the PF and C - to rotate on defense. LMA never left his man, and would instead concede uncontested lay-ups while sticking like glue to someone who wasn't a threat to score.
If we're specifically talking about interior defense, rim protection, etc., I definitely think we'll be better this year. I think Plumlee is comparable to Rolo defensively (although probably not as cerebral a team defender), but Ed Davis is absolutely superior defensively to anyone else we had, and I think Aminu is going to provide an added interior defensive presence that was lacking last year (as will Harkless, to a lesser degree). The only caveat to that is that if these guys don't figure out how to work together well on the defensive end, their individual prowess will be pretty irrelevant.
