Nene Opting Out

[bajaden]

Frankly big man man to man defense, especially at the ceneter positon, is overrated in today's game. Who are these great scoring centers around the league that are going to light you up for not being a great man defender?

Shotblocking/intimidation has always been the thing. Not only are you likely to be an effective man defender with that threat, but you make every single one of your fellow teammates a better defender too. A guy who is a good man defender is just that. He slows his own man. When he plays a position where there is nobody to slow that heads down the lane toward big whoop pretty quick. But now a shotblocker comes along and he plays EVERYBODY'S man. That's extremely valuable. And basically impossible to do without unless you have a whole stack of all world perimeter guys who just are never going to get beat on their own (why Memphis made its run despite lack of interior defense this season, how the Bulls did it it back in the day etc.)

Your preaching to the choir when it comes to shotblockers. I'm certainly not arguing against one. I'am pointing out however that the world doesn't end if you can't aquire one. The Heat were one of the better defensive teams last season, and they didn't have anyone resembling a shotblocker. Now I'll grant you that having Lebron and Wade doesn't hurt. Point is, they didn't have one. Now you could argue that they didn't win either. True, but they came a lot closer than we did. But thats beside the point. My link wasn't just about having a big that can play man to man. It was about how bigs can defend the pick and roll, a play that gave the Kings fits at times last season. It's mostly about about how to play team defense.

You can have a great shotblocker thats not very mobile, and while he can certainly guard the basket, he's not very good at coming out to guard his man, or he's not very good at defending the pick and roll. But were both nit picking here. What we want is someone that can play man defense, team defense, and block shots. There aren't many of them around, and we have a chance at a couple of them this off season. So hopefully luck will be on our side.

 

[Telemachus]

Frankly big man man to man defense, especially at the ceneter positon, is overrated in today's game. Who are these great scoring centers around the league that are going to light you up for not being a great man defender?

Shotblocking/intimidation has always been the thing. Not only are you likely to be an effective man defender with that threat, but you make every single one of your fellow teammates a better defender too. A guy who is a good man defender is just that. He slows his own man. When he plays a position where there is nobody to slow that heads down the lane toward big whoop pretty quick. But now a shotblocker comes along and he plays EVERYBODY'S man. That's extremely valuable. And basically impossible to do without unless you have a whole stack of all world perimeter guys who just are never going to get beat on their own (why Memphis made its run despite lack of interior defense this season, how the Bulls did it it back in the day etc.)

I think you need to be more specific when talking about shot-blockers. There are a lot of players who can block shots, but are poor defenders overall. What you need is a player that can play good team defense, hold his own in man defense, while also helping to clean things up with some blocked shots (or more importantly by changing shots). If you have 2 bigs that aren't shot-blockers, but are good man defenders AND good team defensive players, you can do just fine. Of course, it would be nice if one of them was a shot-blocking threat but you can't always have everything.

That is what I like about Chandler. He is a good man defender, a good team defensive player, and is a shot-blocking threat (changes a lot of shots even though he only blocks about 1 a game).

 

[SacTownKid]

My personal opinion is that the Kings could already have one of the most prolific shot blockers in the NBA in a few years, Hassan Whiteside. I can't say he's going to be a starter but as that Keon Clark or Scot Pollard type it's worth a shot.

 

[bajaden]

My personal opinion is that the Kings could already have one of the most prolific shot blockers in the NBA in a few years, Hassan Whiteside. I can't say he's going to be a starter but as that Keon Clark or Scot Pollard type it's worth a shot.

We can only hope!

 

[KingsCitizen]

That's why I like Nene

 

[Return To Glory]

That's why I like Nene

Awesome vid man! I like Nene too