Yes, the OP just believes a myth that KD is a bad defender. He might have problems rotating due to age but his DFG% is great. It's at 41.7% right now. Udoka needs to figure out how to make this work, he's supposed to be a defensive genius.
I am not saying KD does not have good defensive tools. He just does not have the stamina and food speed to cover up the mistakes of others consistently. At his age, it is unrealistic to expect him to. We are not putting KD on a scoring threat in the playoffs with the expectation that he is locking anyone up. I appreciate the different points of view, even if I don't agree.
KD is a good on ball defender, but he is a TERRIBLE help defender, he never moves into pickup the ball on a break or when someone is beat he just stands here and watches layup after layup, he is one of the laziest defensive players I have ever seen. DD
Kevin Durant shouldn’t have to cover up the defensive mistakes of his teammates and be the Rockets’ offensive engine. That’s a ridiculous ask of him at 37 years old. The fact he is holding his matchups to a DFG% under 42% with his offensive workload is outstanding. Alperen Sengun and Reed Sheppard need to figure out how to hold up their end defensively.
I guess one way to sku the stats is to just not contest anyone else's man so your stats look good but overall people can see he is a lazy clown on help Defense....he just doesn't do it. DD
Theres a difference between locking up someone and being a plus defender. If you dont think KD is a plus defender then you are just wrong based on the stats. Its not about agreeing or disagreeing, its about what is reality and what isnt.
It's one thing to get a defensive stance in front of Kevin Huerter and he takes contested shot and misses. What are you going to do when Dylan Harper, Fox, and Castle are all on the floor. Who of those three is Kd stoping from going to the basket. Against average teams we are decent if not good. Against elite teams with multiple threats we are flawed on defense.
Lets' see if we can hide Albatross Sengun in Brooklyn, Chicago, Atlanta or Milwaukee. Everybody yelling about Durant defense, I don't think it's that bad but regardless he is still an elite offensive player even with the turnovers. Sengun is approaching Enes Freedom levels on defense lately and his offense has slipped badly. A lot of problems work themselves out without having to accomodate his various weaknesses which are getting weaker and haven't been mirrored by any progress to compensate. Like I have posted before, the amount of support system you need to have him on the floor is ridiculous and not sustainable for an nba team with the salary aprons, the guy ain't jokic or baby jokic. I'd take Mehmet Okur over him at this point.
Correct. The only defensive stat that is important is team defense. In the case of individual defense, eye test is best.
KD is a PF for defensive purposes and we play a team with 4 PFs and a C. It was never going to work defensively. Van Vleet likely wouldn't help at all because he's an undersized fat player coming off a bad injury for athleticism. The Rockets need legitimate NBA caliber guards.
Most eye tests suck for evaluating defense except POA defense, steals, and blocks. Most eye tests don't notice pre-switching, the subtlety of guarding someone off ball while simultaneously being lined up between the ball and the guy in the corner, seeing guys call out plays or communicate, seeing a guy perfectly at the nail denying the drive, but close enough to contest a pass to his man. Very hard to assess one player unless that is the only player a person is watching. Stats suck too. Stuff like EPM just looks at correlation and tries to assign causation. EPM is generally really good in large samples, but has issues with the Rockets, who have some weird fit issues. I think EPM does a decent job in the total value, but has a hard time figuring out who's providing the D and who's providing the offense.
Personally, I trust EPM for the total value of a player over a random fan and almost all media for total value. I'd look at def EPM and def rating for defensive evaluation using eyeballs to adjust def epm some with a corresponding cahnge to offensive EPM. For instance, if one thinks Reed is a worse defender than EPM susggest, one should mentally lower his defensive epm by as much as the offensive epm is raised while making countering moves for his teammates.
