ESPN Pelton's All Defense team

[Tetsujin]

I think at this point Boogie's development means we do NOT desperately need a shotblocker at PF...but on the other hand can you imagine if we DID have one? Boogie is all alone in there, the team as a whole is still terrible defensively. Why be satisfied with just having enough, when we could become a defensive powerhouse inside?.

And regardless if its a starting PF or not, we desperately DO need a second player capable of anchoring a defense/defending the rim. Despite Boogie's massive progress, the gigantic +/- he carries around as a defender should never happen. He leaves, and our defense completely falls apart everytime. You can't have that sort of complete collapse and be a good team. We need somebody who can step up when the big guy is off the court and hold down that middle until he gets back. Doesn't have to score at all. A pure established defensive anchor with no other skills would be enough.

Well there's a reason our team's defense was so great at the beginning of the season and a lot of it (along with having a defensive guru as a head coach) had to do with Demarcus Cousins and JT holding down the fort inside. While JT's never going to be a goalie or anything, he's developed into one of the better complimentary post defenders in the league, which is pretty evident in situations such as games against the Pelicans in which he pretty much beats down Anthony Davis for four quarters. If we add but one more defensive big man or even a big man capable of feigning rim protection for the non-Boogie stretches of the game, I believe it'll absolutely shore up some of our defensive failings.

In conclusion, JT/Boogie frontcourt defense= good, JT/D-Will frontcourt defense= a crying baby on a transcontinental flight

 

[bajaden]

I think at this point Boogie's development means we do NOT desperately need a shotblocker at PF...but on the other hand can you imagine if we DID have one? Boogie is all alone in there, the team as a whole is still terrible defensively. Why be satisfied with just having enough, when we could become a defensive powerhouse inside?.

And regardless if its a starting PF or not, we desperately DO need a second player capable of anchoring a defense/defending the rim. Despite Boogie's massive progress, the gigantic +/- he carries around as a defender should never happen. He leaves, and our defense completely falls apart everytime. You can't have that sort of complete collapse and be a good team. We need somebody who can step up when the big guy is off the court and hold down that middle until he gets back. Doesn't have to score at all. A pure established defensive anchor with no other skills would be enough.

Sounds like your describing Willie Cauley-Stein.. The perfect fit next to, or filling in for Cousins. Doesn't demand the ball, blocks shots, and defends the pick and roll better than any big man coming out of college since I can remember, and that includes Anthony Davis, who was a very good pick and roll defender in college.

 

[rainmaker]

There's a flip side to those charges. How many of Boogie's attempts to draw a charge resulted in a blocking foul? We do know that Boogie doesn't draw the offensive foul on 100% of his attempts to take a charge. So you're giving the other team FT's and putting yourself in foul trouble.

Not saying it isn't useful, but there's a definite downside as opposed to more traditional rim protectors.

And shotblockers don't get 100% of the blocks they attempt to get, sometimes they get arm and pick up fouls. That's basketball.

On occasion Cuz does pick up a foul attempting to draw a charge but it isn't all that often. I wouldn't even put it at once per game. By and large where Cuz picks up fouls which hurt us its reaching when he shouldn't, which has lessened, and offensive fouls when trying to attack from 20 ft away or running over his defender in the post.

Whether it's perimeter guys going for steals, relying on a shotblocker, attempting to take charges, you're always going to have guys picking up fouls. Spinning that into it having a "definite downside" ignores the nature of sports and competition. Fouls happens. It's a downside if one particular type of foul keeps putting you on the bench and that isn't attempting to take charges from Cuz's perspective. I'd say offensive fouls do more damage to Cuz's time on the floor.