Seeing the way OKC is dominating with defenders, how much better the Pacers are when defending well, and how good the Celtics were defensively to win the title last year has me reevaluating the ideal offensive defensive balance of an NBA contender. On the flip side the Knicks seem like they really struggle with KAT/Brunson defense and how to set their lineups to be balanced on both ends. Do you think the Blazers should build a roster to have all the starters be good defenders?
Absolutely. My theory has always been play the best defenders and then figure out an offense they can play in. If you have a superstar offensive player who isn't a great defender then you count your blessings that you are lucky enough to have a player like that and you make sure you play good enough defenders around them that your talented offensive player can play their best defense as long as they're in the game. We haven't had a player like that since Dame. Nobody else is even close.
Not to be rude, but yes, you would love to have the best defensive player at every position if you could, but you still have to put the ball in the hoop. I believe the same as many here do, you can't have your best player be your worst defender. I find it interesting that many here are looking for the next Draymond Green in this draft. If you find him that makes Camara redundant. And both are pretty equivalent offensively. Portland needs talent, period. Scoring, rebounding, assisting and defending. Just make sure the best player is also a decent, willing defender. They have to set the bar. Teams have specialists, microwaves, lock down defenders and what not. Gotta get lucky finding the right balance, but nobody wants to see a starting five winning games 78-76 like years past.
I think most will say no. We could have drafted Amen over Scoot and Dyson over Sharpe. Making 4 out of our 5 starters elite level defensive players. Our offense might suck but that defense would be interesting. Mention that and people bring out pitchforks.
completely disagree. Camara is a top on ball defender doggedly chasing the oppositions top threat around. Green is a top back line & help defender who is excellent at team D. They play very different roles on that end of the court and would be excellent together. During the W's peak, Klay was their version of Camara on D Green has been W's Assists leader for much of his career & I don't think anyone sees that in Camara's future. However, he is a better perimeter shooter and slasher. STOMP
I suppose another way to think of the question is going forward should the Blazers avoid great offensive players that are defensive liabilities? In that case we never would've had Dame. But we also wouldn't have had CJ/Ant/Melo/etc. it's probably an argument for the anti Jase crowd. I'm not sure how well even a Dame team could have ever been built to contend in today's NBA. I wonder if Jrue or to a lesser extent Brogdon/Norm Powell types are just a better way to build a roster. Obviously they don't have the elite offense. But they are so much better defensively, and also allow a more balanced unselfish offense that isn't setup for one individual. Some of the elite teams have had such good two way play in OKC, Indy, GS, Boston, Houston. Likely next year San Antonio and Orlando join that group. Just seems like we might be transitioning to an NBA where a contender needs an elite defense without any major liability in their starting lineup to contend.
