Criteria: play at least 15 MPG; highest sums of 4 rankings:
* ESPN defensive real plus/minus
* NBA Math's defensive points saved
* Field-goal percentage differential
* On/off differential
Quote:
No. 3 Shooting Guard: Nick Young, Los Angeles Lakers (1116 Defense Score)
Defensive Real Plus/Minus: minus-1.93 (No. 275)
Defensive Points Saved: minus-104.87 (No. 303)
Field-Goal Percentage Differential: 5.9 (No. 300)
On/Off Differential: 3.2 (No. 238)
"We keep calling him Bruce Bowen, the Glove [Gary Payton], Kawhi [Leonard] and all those guys," Larry Nance said in an NBA.com video after a Los Angeles Lakers preseason practice, as transcribed by Harrison Faigen of Silver Screen and Roll. "In the same breath you can say all those guys and Nick Young. It's kind of a team joke, but it's fun because he's been picking it up, he's really been getting after it and it's fun to see that."
Then games started to count, and reality set in.
Young was solid at the beginning of the season, to the point that head coach Luke Walton said the team would miss his defense in mid-December after the shooting guard suffered a calf strain, per Mark Medina of the Orange County Register.
There's only one issue with that: Los Angeles has been far stingier with Young injured or on the bench. Despite his increased effort, he doesn't impact enough shots and can get lost watching the ball, which frees up his assignments for spot-up triples and backdoor cuts to the hoop.
He may have improved certain aspects of his defensive profile, but Young's primary value still comes from his ability to put the "shooting" in "shooting guard."
Quote:
No. 4 Small Forward: Brandon Ingram, Los Angeles Lakers (1014 Defense Score)
Defensive Real Plus/Minus: minus-2.84 (No. 299)
Defensive Points Saved: minus-30.55 (No. 237)
Field-Goal Percentage Differential: 2.4 (No. 241)
On/Off Differential: 3.2 (No. 237)
To his credit, Brandon Ingram has steadily improved during his rookie season. Over the last few weeks, he's been more of an average defender than a glaring liability, though that's not enough for him to overcome the putrid start to his professional career.
Context also helps his case. What did we expect from a player who entered the NBA as an 18-year-old only one year removed from taking the SAT?
The spindly small forward was immediately thrown into the fire and asked to fill a major role for the Los Angeles Lakers, guarding a set of wings that have become more versatile than ever in the modern Association. He didn't possess the physicality to handle many assignments, much less to do so while adjusting to the professional game.
Ingram will be a good defender one day, so long as he bulks up and proves he can hold his own in the weight room. So take this ranking with a major grain of salt, because the numbers—while accurate—aren't reflective of his career trajectory, especially while he adapts to the learning curve and simultaneously suits up next to other sieves.
Full List:
PG's
HM: Matthew Dellavedova, Kyrie Irving, Cory Joseph, Brandon Knight, Dennis Schroder
5: Damian Lillard
4: Emmanuel Mudiay
3: DJ Augustin
2: Isaiah Thomas
1: Reggie Jackson
SG's
HM: Sean Kilpatrick, Kyle Korver, Anthony Morrow, Marcus Thornton, Zach LaVine
5: Allen Crabbe
4: Gary Harris
3: Nick Young
2: Aaron Afflalo
1: Alex Abrines
SF's
HM: Wilson Chandler, Kelly Oubre, Jabari Parker, Terrence Ross, T.J. Warren
5: Bojan Bogdanovic
4: Brandon Ingram
3: Doug McDermott
2: Carmelo Anthony
1: Andrew Wiggins
PF's
Michael Beasley, Ed Davis, Jeff Green, Dario Saric, Zach Randolph
5: Ryan Anderson
4: Kenneth Faried
3: Derrick Williams
2: Marquese Chriss
1: Anthony Tolliver
C's
Andre Drummond, Frank Kaminsky, Meyers Leonard, Mike Muscala, Jonas Valanciunas
5: Marreese Speights
4: Spencer Hawes
3: Enes Kanter
2: Jahlil Okafor
1: Channing Frye
Ever during the height of the "Nick Young plays defense!" narrative his defensive numbers were atrocious.
He did it for about three games all season long. The point is that we don't have another shooting guard with legit size and ability to provide space without holding the ball too much.
A few things that make this article misleading, if not inaccurate:
1) Ingram's leading all rookies in minutes by a substantial margin. He leads all Lakers in minutes played. The more minutes he spends on the worst defensive team in the league, the more the defensive data sets (DBPM, plus/minus, opp. PPG w/ Ingram on court) will be skewed. Even though he wasn't ready to play heavy minutes earlier in the season, we are still seeing discernible growth on the defensive end from game to game.
2) He's physically outmatched every time he's on the court. I'd argue this is his most glaring weakness right now. Some of the smarter opponents know this and attack him. Ingram weighing less than Calderon would explain A LOT about his early season struggles. When he packs on the pounds necessary to guard some of the stronger, bigger players, his defense should improve.
3) A metric like DPBM is predicated on stuffing the box score (rebounds, steals, blocks, etc). For example, Randle is in the positive DPBM because he racks up defensive rebounds. Even despite that, I'd argue he's been the most questionable defender on the team. If the metric expanded to paint points allowed and DFG%, a lot of our interior defenders would be on that list.
4) Field-goal percentage differential doesn't take switching or defensive coverage into account. With the game being predicated more on PnR, screening, it's such an unreliable metric for measuring defense that I'm surprised BR is using it. For more on this, please refer to my defensive rankings thread here. For example, David Lee's FG% differential is much higher than Kawhi's but that says nothing about Kawhi's defensive impact. There are good defenders who have a positive differential.
5) I don't think Ingram's defense is bad or even below average. A lot of his issues stem from inexperience, lack of strength -- not awareness or feel for the game. I'll make the argument later that he's actually been one of the best perimeter defenders on the team.
6) Here were the positional DRPM rankings for the Wolves two months ago:
Rubio 3/85
LaVine 82/85
Wiggins 80/80
Dieng 3/93
Towns 69/69
What do 3 out of those 5 players have in common? Why are the rankings different now? There are times when certain metrics need to be put in the proper context.
7) As far as Nick Young's defense, I'd say some of the above points apply to him. He was pretty damn lazy last month, but his defense isn't nearly as bad as the article suggests.
8) I expected much, much better from Bleacher Report. I don't think much thought went into the article outside of looking at stats at face value. This article did a better job of explaining the amount of guess work that goes into evaluating a player's defense:
Quote:
Defense is a lot of guess work. On offense it’s pretty clear whether the player was looking to shoot, pass, or run some off-ball action. However, on defense things are nowhere near as transparent. There was a great piece a couple weeks back talking about the next frontier and the obsession with an all-in-one defensive stat you should also take a gander at.
Essentially, there is no true hook in which one can rest their hat in the search for who stands out defensively amongst their peers. This is important to register because if you’ve ever tried to talk defense with fans of a different team your forehead is likely still sore from banging it against the wall.
But but "Ingram is the only young guy that plays defense" _________________ "He's a Zen master, so he can speak to you, and he doesn't need a microphone; you can hear him in your head, 'Ron, don't shoot, don't shoot.' Whatever, pow, three. I love the Zen, though."
A few things that make this article misleading, if not inaccurate:
1) Ingram's leading all rookies in minutes by a substantial margin. He leads all Lakers in minutes played. The more minutes he spends on the worst defensive team in the league, the more the defensive data sets (DBPM, plus/minus, opp. PPG w/ Ingram on court) will be skewed. Even though he wasn't ready to play heavy minutes earlier in the season, we are still seeing discernible growth on the defensive end from game to game.
2) He's physically outmatched every time he's on the court. I'd argue this is his most glaring weakness right now. Some of the smarter opponents know this and attack him. Ingram weighing less than Calderon would explain A LOT about his early season struggles. When he packs on the pounds necessary to guard some of the stronger, bigger players, his defense should improve.
3) A metric like DPBM is predicated on stuffing the box score (rebounds, steals, blocks, etc). For example, Randle is in the positive DPBM because he racks up defensive rebounds. Even despite that, I'd argue he's been the most questionable defender on the team. If the metric expanded to paint points allowed and DFG%, a lot of our interior defenders would be on that list.
4) Field-goal percentage differential doesn't take switching or defensive coverage into account. With the game being predicated more on PnR, screening, it's such an unreliable metric for measuring defense that I'm surprised BR is using it. For more on this, please refer to my defensive rankings thread here. For example, David Lee's FG% differential is much higher than Kawhi's but that says nothing about Kawhi's defensive impact. There are good defenders who have a positive differential.
5) I don't think Ingram's defense is bad or even below average. A lot of his issues stem from inexperience, lack of strength -- not awareness or feel for the game. I'll make the argument later that he's actually been one of the best perimeter defenders on the team.
6) Here were the positional DRPM rankings for the Wolves two months ago:
Rubio 3/85
LaVine 82/85
Wiggins 80/80
Dieng 3/93
Towns 69/69
What do 3 out of those 5 players have in common? Why are the rankings different now? There are times when certain metrics need to be put in the proper context.
7) As far as Nick Young's defense, I'd say some of the above points apply to him. He was pretty damn lazy last month, but his defense isn't nearly as bad as the article suggests.
8) I expected much, much better from Bleacher Report. I don't think much thought went into the article outside of looking at stats at face value. This article did a better job of explaining the amount of guess work that goes into evaluating a player's defense:
Quote:
Defense is a lot of guess work. On offense it’s pretty clear whether the player was looking to shoot, pass, or run some off-ball action. However, on defense things are nowhere near as transparent. There was a great piece a couple weeks back talking about the next frontier and the obsession with an all-in-one defensive stat you should also take a gander at.
Essentially, there is no true hook in which one can rest their hat in the search for who stands out defensively amongst their peers. This is important to register because if you’ve ever tried to talk defense with fans of a different team your forehead is likely still sore from banging it against the wall.
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