Bismack and his subtle improvement

[DY_nasty]

So many people were quick to jump on that trade wagon not to long ago. Hes showing little progress as time goes on and that is all I want. Ive said it before and will say it again, in about 2 years, he will be a top defensive player and will make a run for defensive player of the year.

He barely outplays Adrien and Tyrus.

He'll need to train with Goku to get to that level in just two years. Silas was right about him being 5 years off.

[BrotherDave]

He really does help too much on defense. Last year he didn't know HOW to - this year he's trying to be everywhere. Teams are just jerking him around. (I think a lot of that mindset came from playing next to Mullens.)

A lot of this is b/c as a whole, the 'Cats do a really bad job of stopping the ball.

[DY_nasty]

A lot of this is b/c as a whole, the 'Cats do a really bad job of stopping the ball.

You can only do so much as a perimeter player - bigs are absolutely essential to play defense. If you've got 4 guards and a can playing defense, they'll look like nothing more than 4 guards and a chair playing defense. Avery Bradley is one of the few lockdown guards in the league and he wouldn't have the same effect without KG behind him (Better yet, everyone take this opportunity to look at Boston's D with/without KG. That team is broken without him)

[Woody]

HORRIBLE 4th qtr tonight

[BrotherDave]

You can only do so much as a perimeter player - bigs are absolutely essential to play defense. If you've got 4 guards and a can playing defense, they'll look like nothing more than 4 guards and a chair playing defense. Avery Bradley is one of the few lockdown guards in the league and he wouldn't have the same effect without KG behind him (Better yet, everyone take this opportunity to look at Boston's D with/without KG. That team is broken without him)

That is horseshit. What stupid world of basketball do we live in if only the frontcourt is expected to play capable defense? I remember hearing that Gary Payton would love to have a clinic for perimeter players to learn how to play defense but the reason he won't is b/c nobody would come, today's players just don't care about locking their man down. Back in the day, if you got 30 and your man got 20, you didn't do your job. You did your job if you got 30 and your man was held to 10. Players today don't have that attitude anymore.

So what we have is ball constantly penetrates inside. Biz rotates over to stop ball/alter shot/block shot. Then nobody (especially the PF, Adrien is probably the only one that is competent but he's only 6'7) rotates over to guard Biz's man or boxes out their assignment when the shot goes up. So Biz ends up looking dumb and out of position a lot, losing rebound opportunities and picking up the occasional dumb foul when in reality he is the only one carrying his weight on defense.

/old man rant

[spectre]

back in the day there wasn't a hand check rule.

Rules changes have affected defensive philosophies

You can still have very strong perimeter players but with the P&R and various screens it's almost impossible for a guard to totally lock down his man by himself now.

I loved Gary Payton BTW.

[Chef]

back in the day there wasn't a hand check rule.

Rules changes have affected defensive philosophies

You can still have very strong perimeter players but with the P&R and various screens it's almost impossible for a guard to totally lock down his man by himself now.

I loved Gary Payton BTW.

certainly agree with your post regarding rule changes.

just don't want to gloss over the main point of BD's post which is absolutely correct. back in the day, defense was a source of pride. perimeter players have realized that it doesn't get you paid like offense (difference in pay from an old old steve nash and tony allen) so they don't give a shit about it.

rules or not, the effort just isn't there.

[spectre]

certainly agree with your post regarding rule changes.

just don't want to gloss over the main point of BD's post which is absolutely correct. back in the day, defense was a source of pride. perimeter players have realized that it doesn't get you paid like offense (difference in pay from an old old steve nash and tony allen) so they don't give a shit about it.

rules or not, the effort just isn't there.

That was one of the reasons I was so pissed off at Kemba during the ATL game...thought he half assed it on D. It has to be one helluva chore tho for Dunlap to keep all these young guys motivated thru all the losing, so so long as I see effort most of the time I'm not getting down on him or anyone else for a lapse every once and a while.

Guys like Gordon though...yeah.

Speaking of D RoF had a heckuva good post about a particular play during one defensive set vs. the Bulls:

How not to play defense, part one

Very good read on just that one play and IMO is a great example of a lot of what ails us.

[BrotherDave]

The no handcheck rule is a cop out IMO. You can still get away with it, you just can't stiff arm guys like they used to.

[Ghost Kat]

So what we have is ball constantly penetrates inside. Biz rotates over to stop ball/alter shot/block shot. Then nobody (especially the PF, Adrien is probably the only one that is competent but he's only 6'7) rotates over to guard Biz's man or boxes out their assignment when the shot goes up. So Biz ends up looking dumb and out of position a lot, losing rebound opportunities and picking up the occasional dumb foul when in reality he is the only one carrying his weight on defense.

I have to download the game to watch them but that gives me the benefit of being able to rewind alot of plays. And the above rant is exactly what happens. The PF position is so weak on both ends of the court that it put way more pressure on Biz.