Shooting guard defensive impact graph

[206Fan]

These are analytics

 

[Bricklayer]

I still think there must be a fairly significant teammates/lineups type impact on these graphs, but overall they remain quite interesting and for every 1 dot that makes you go hmmm (Mayo an ace defender, Evan Turner better than Avery Bradley on defense etc.) there seem to be 3 more that track nicely with what is generally known about the player.

 

[William Blake]

First missing part that comes to mind is frequency of contention, which is also something that is rarely taken into account when looking at similar stats for big men rim protection. If a player is lousy at fighting through screens or at recovering on the perimeter he doesn´t even get to contest the shot. Anyway, the defensive impact of guards is something that is still without a remotely reliable measure.

 

[hrdboild]

I still think there must be a fairly significant teammates/lineups type impact on these graphs, but overall they remain quite interesting and for every 1 dot that makes you go hmmm (Mayo an ace defender, Evan Turner better than Avery Bradley on defense etc.) there seem to be 3 more that track nicely with what is generally known about the player.

I'll admit I haven't watched him play a lot in the NBA, but OJ Mayo was actually a really good man-to-man defender in college. I watched him play about 10 times (twice in person) when he was here at USC and I was always impressed by how hard he worked on defense. I don't think the graph accounts much for team defense though. Individual players with elite team defenses around them can stick to their man more often and/or send them into help defenders who are in the right position to force difficult shots. Oladipo and Butler among the worst in the league at individual defense is surprising though. Oladipo had a similar dichotomy in college -- the eye test says great defender, statistical models say mediocre. I wonder why that is.

 

[Section 101]

I still think there must be a fairly significant teammates/lineups type impact on these graphs, but overall they remain quite interesting and for every 1 dot that makes you go hmmm (Mayo an ace defender, Evan Turner better than Avery Bradley on defense etc.) there seem to be 3 more that track nicely with what is generally known about the player.

What your not seeing is the East vs West. Look at the East SG compared to the West. It's easier to get better defensive numbers when the majority of the guys you are guarding suck.