Anfernee Simons also has the athleticism to be a good defender. Is he a good defender? BTW - playing poor defense when you have the ability to not play poor defense is a bigger knock than just sucking on defense.
Scoot Henderson is one of the few players from the 2023 NBA Draft who has all the tools to reach NBA superstardom. "When it comes to playmaking, there isn’t anyone better in the 2023 NBA Draft class than Henderson. This year, Henderson averaged 6.8 assists and 3.4 turnovers. Henderson has been regularly ridiculed for his turnovers, and some have gone as far to say he hasn’t improved as a playmaker at all, which makes me question what games I was watching. This season, Henderson had an assist rate of 29.8 and an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.98. Obviously, it isn’t a one-to-one comparison, but looking at the league can give us a decent benchmark of who those numbers compare to. His assist rate was higher than that of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, De’Aaron Fox, and Jalen Brunson, while his assist-to-turnover ratio was higher than that of Gilgeous-Alexander, Bradley Beal, and Steph Curry. Even among his peers in the G-League, Henderson had the seventh-best assist rate among players with a usage rate of at least 20 who had played at least 15 games. Oh, and he’s a teenager going against pros. Are we really going to underestimate what these Ignite prospects have done against grown men again? Even ignoring the numbers, Henderson’s playmaking tape is absurd, which again makes me question where the disconnect comes in those who view it as a skill that hasn’t progressed. My hypothesis is that it is due to Henderson reining back the flashy, out-of-control assists we saw in year one in favor of further developing the more nuanced aspects of his playmaking. In year one, Henderson’s overall possessions and assists generated 1.134 points per possession (PPP), which ranked in the 28th percentile, per Synergy. In the halfcourt, this number was 1.090 PPP (23rd percentile. In year two, though, Henderson overall generated 1.178 PPP (60th percentile) and 1.123 PPP (55th percentile) in the halfcourt. Year one’s assists may have been more prone to the highlight mix, but year two’s assists were much more effective."
that makes no sense...at all, at least not to me. He's not a terrible defender because his guys are bigger; he's a terrible defender because he has poor lateral mobility, and even worse reaction and reflex. He's constantly beat off the dribble and he's too easily re-directed by screens and picks. That won't change if he's guarding Ja Morant rather than Desmond Bane; or De'Aaron Fox rather than Kevin Heuter; or Jamal Murray rather than KCP. He'd actually get beat worse and more often than he already does
We agree that he's bad either way. Point guards aren't usually known for their defense. If he was a 1, he wouldn't be regarded as being so bad on D.
but he's horrible at defending speed and change of direction, and PG's are faster and shiftier. He'd get beat even more often defending PG's... ...unless you're saying the standards for gauging PG defense are lower?...which actually might be true after PG's like Archibald, Steve Nash, Harden, Curry, Westbrook, Dame, etc on the other hand: Chris Paul, Isiah Thomas, Gary Payton, Don Buse, John Stockton, Oscar, Rondo, Terry Porter, Lowry....a lot of PG's have been pretty good at defense. Of course, dynamic scoring and solid play-making in a PG covers a lot of sins
when it comes to if Dame & Scoot can co-exist, it's debatable. If Scoot has the other-worldly talent his advocates are claiming I'd think coexistence would be possible, especially if Scoot is a good enough passer to find Dame in good scoring opportunities. can't have Dame + Ant + Scoot on the same team though and it's laughable to choose Ant over Dame, IMO
Ant gets torched by PGs too. Conveniently forgetting when he played PG? Love how people use his stats when Dame is out, but all of a sudden don’t remember he was a ghost on defense. Also, just because you’re playing against a bigger guy or whatever doesn’t automatically make your defense bad. What makes your defense bad is providing little-to-no resistance allowing people straight line drives to the hoop OR failing to contest shots OR getting killed on screens. A bigger guy can back you down or shoot over the top, that’s not “bad defense” nor is it Ants problem. So, no, not apples to oranges.
Most PGs aren't expected to be stellar on defense. If he was a 1, he wouldn't have the reputation he does now. So, yeah, apples and oranges.
I can't wait for the leaks to come out on how the workout was perceived. Scoot looked happy to be in the building. That in and of itself is important.
