He did a great job on Tatum when he was matched up with him (The only one that could slow him down) and against Westbrook and Harden. Stop hiding Dame on the weakest player, his help-defense is poor, put him on the strongest opposing player and have him working one on one
Fine with it for short periods. The issue is the energy expended Ding up the best player reduces his explosiveness on the offensive side of the ball. You can't go all out 100% of the time on both ends of the court....
Dame is improving and it's noticeable. I wonder what factors are most attributed to his improvement? Experience, desire, training, coaching?
I really just think it's a matter of experience and probably a little coaching. He's just sticking with his assignments better. He's still getting hit with a ton of moving screens which should be out of the league all together but definitely shouldn't go uncalled when done to a star of Dame's caliber. He's fighting through those and legal screens better. He's also playing angles better, so his defensive footwork has improved. I don't think I ever questioned Dames desire or intensity and he doesn't seem to be any quicker just a smarter defender.
Dame talked about this on JJ Redicks podcast. Basically he credits it to learning about the little advantages you can get in a game that take no talent, no athletic ability and no skill. Just smarts. Credits Chris Paul for this and says it's no surprise how CP3 is still as good as he is at age 34 because he's so good at creating every little advantage and manipulating the game. You can notice this when you watch Dame play. He just controls the game so well. Everything he does has a reason behind it.
I think one is, when you play against a solid defender in practice, one with lots of fight and toughness, its rubs off on everyone, including star players. I'm referring to GTjr.
https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/pa...cking-nba-all-bubble-team-five-best-stars-far Only 4 points on 28 matchups. That's insane for Dame. The Harden one I'm more skeptical on, since they soft trapped him on every possession.
