Fair enough. But we could still try. If I'm a role player on this team and coach tells me I'm only going to play if I bust my but on defense and then I see the worst defender on the team playing 38 minutes a night how long will it be before I check out mentally and start thinking about my next job? Everyone wants to talk about culture at the start of the season but without reinforcing action those are just empty words. Our culture will continue to be the team players look at as "just a job" until proven otherwise.
Busting your butt on defense and being a poor defender are not mutually exclusive.
As a coach, you want your players to be the best defenders they can be (effort) but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are going to be a good or even okay defender when it’s all said and done. Some players don’t have the instincts, reaction, anticipation, awareness, physical abilities, etc. to be an okay defender (even with effort).
Considering the type of offensive player LaVine is, I don’t see why Doug couldn’t instill that culture you reference
IF LaVine is putting in the effort on the defensive end. It’s about everyone on the team buying in and putting in the effort on the defensive end (not necessarily about you personally being a good defender). If LaVine doesn’t do that and just coasts and slacks off on that end of the floor, then I agree that could impact the culture they’re trying to instill if Doug doesn’t address it with LaVine.
As for LaVine in general, I agree that he’s not a good defender. His defense is on par with guys like Jalen Brunson and Devin Booker. But you don’t see those teams throwing up their hands and saying “his defense is too weak. We have no shot of winning with him on the team.” No, instead they built their teams around them to become a serious contender.
When the Suns were at the top of the standings, Booker had Paul, Bridges, Crowder, and Ayton starting around him. 3 very good defenders and an average/below average defending C. Brunson had Bridges, Hart, Anunoby, & Towns around him. 3 very good defenders and an average/below average defending C.
As you can see, it’s not impossible to build a good team with a player whose defense is as bad as LaVine’s is. The issue with this comparison is that LaVine is not as good offensively as Brunson or Booker.
I’ve stated this before but LaVine is not good enough to be a #1 option and be the highest paid player on a team. To be that top paid player, you need to be an efficient, volume scorer (which LaVine is) but you also need to be at least one of two things…1) a good defender or 2) a good playmaker. LaVine is neither of these things which is why he shouldn’t be viewed as a max player and should be a #2 option at most on a serious contender.
I think it’s pretty clear as to why LaVine is not a good defender, but in terms of playmaking, you ideally want someone with a AST:TO of 2 or higher. Unfortunately, that’s not LaVine. He doesn’t post very high ASTs and he turns the ball over a fair amount. That’s not something you want as your #1 option.
So knowing that LaVine is not good enough to be a #1 option, I think he gets a bad reputation in terms of his impact on winning because he has largely been cast as the #1 option on his teams. Some fans look at his career and say “he doesn’t get you to the playoffs so he’s not a winning player.” I disagree. He does impact winning in a positive way, but thrusting him into a #1 role and paying him close to $50 mil does not justify the impact he brings. LaVine on a smaller contract next to a true #1 would find much more success.
Now for our sake, we’re likely saying if we can get a true #1 next to LaVine & Sabonis, we’d be looking really good. However, considering LaVine & Sabonis are both below average defenders, you’d also likely need that #1 to be a good defender which means you’re really looking for the elite of the elite (SGA, Giannis, Tatum, Wemby, etc.).
This is why I largely think the LaVine & Sabonis pairing will be short lived. You already need a special type of PF next to Sabonis to complement his game but now we’re needing a special type of #1 option which are virtually untradeable.
If Sabonis is staying here, we’re likely going to trade LaVine when he’s an expiring, let him fall off the books for cap space, or resign him for 3rd option type of money ($20-25 mil). Now he may want more money than that (and I wouldn’t necessarily blame him), but considering our roster construction, we’d need him to take a big pay cut or his Kings career will likely be limited.
