Neither. I want to mention hustle. You don't have to be super athletic to be a good defender. Look at Bruce Bowen? Is he that athletic? I don't think so. He just hustles his ass off, and doesn't give up bothering his man...So I would say hustle/work ethic is more important than either.
You can hustle as much as you want, and you can have as much athleticism as you want, but if you don't know how to use either then it really doesn't matter. If you don't know how to slide your feet right, then it doesn't really matter how athletic you are, and it doesn't matter how much you hustle. People are going to blow by you all day. If you don't pay attention and realize that the other player likes to use a certain hand, or uses certain moves, your hustle and athleticism isn't going to do much. Look at people like Ron Artest that knows how to bully people, and use his weight to throw people off. That is smarts, he plays physical uses his weight, and gets in their heads. It all goes in hand, but I would say if one is needed the most, then smarts would be number one in my book.
Great post, I guess you are right. I was sort of assuming that the player knew how to play defense to go along with his hustle and work ethic. I can't disagree with you there though...
Smarts are by far and away the most important part of defense. That's why young guys coming into the league who, by genetic lottery victory, are more athletic than God but worse defenders than one would care to admit to. If you don't know when to attempt a steal, you'll commit a foul. If you don't know when to help out on defense, your man will get open for a jumpshot. If you cheat in the gaps, your man will cut off a backdoor. You need to know what you are doing first, you need to want to do it second, and you need to care.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Melo061 @ Apr 11 2007, 07:38 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Athleticism or smarts?</div>having a lot of one or the other will allow you to be successful.Smarts= Larry Bird not a great 1 on 1 defender, but played the passing lanes well with his great sense of timingAthleticism= Dwight Howard, can intimidate and block shots, but it still young in the game getting by on his great athleticism.having both = Scottie Pippen.
Both are very important. You can have all the basketball IQ in the world but not be able to keep up with some of the faster guards. You can also have all the athletecism in the world but your opponent will be able to get an easy shot due to the lack of bball IQ you're bringing to the table. When you watch the best defenders in the NBA such as Ben Wallace, Ron Artest, and Shawn Marion play you see a mixture of both.
Footwork...I dont care if you get blocks or steals...a lockdown defender(bruce bowen) is far better than shotblockers and stealers.I was taught from a very young age how to play defense(and im the best I know at it), and everything has to do with footword and footspeed...this is was seperates Ben Wallace from other centers..
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (valo35 @ Apr 11 2007, 08:04 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>You can hustle as much as you want, and you can have as much athleticism as you want, but if you don't know how to use either then it really doesn't matter. If you don't know how to slide your feet right, then it doesn't really matter how athletic you are, and it doesn't matter how much you hustle. People are going to blow by you all day. If you don't pay attention and realize that the other player likes to use a certain hand, or uses certain moves, your hustle and athleticism isn't going to do much. Look at people like Ron Artest that knows how to bully people, and use his weight to throw people off. That is smarts, he plays physical uses his weight, and gets in their heads. It all goes in hand, but I would say if one is needed the most, then smarts would be number one in my book.</div>You nailed it right here. I'm gonna throw out an example: Every player on the Celtics hustles their asses off, and outside of Scal/Kandi/Perk, everyone is very athletic on the team. However, our defense is downright terrible (excluding a couple guys individually). Then you look at San Antonio. They are most certainly not the most athletic team in the league, but they are arguably the best defensive team in the league because they all know what they are doing and they all have very high basketball IQ's.Smarts is clearly the answer.
I don't feel like making a huge post, so I'll just copy and paste what I wrote in the other topic which answers the question (and more).Defense is the single most important attribute in basketball, especially a playoff series, for 1 simple reason- An offensive player will have bad shooting nights and react much differently to different styles of defenses. A great defensive player, as long as he is out there trying, will always be very consistent and be a great defender as defense never changes from team to team (defensive schemes yes, but the angles and such always remain the same). That is why, in a 7 game series, the great defenses will always be consistent and have that part of the game, while the great offensive teams will be inconsistent.As for what makes a great defensive players, it's pure fundementals and mentality. Defenders don't need to be exceptionally athletic, but it definately can be a huge boost if you have faster speed/greater vertical jump/greater lateral quickness. But, as any coach will tell you, you don't need to be athletic to be a great and effective defender. Defense in its purest form is all about angles, knowing where to be at the right time, being tenacious, and knowing all the little dirty tricks of how to annoy an offensive player whether he is off ball, dribbling the ball, or shooting (Bruce Bowen is the master of this). If you know how to do all of these things, you will be a great defensive player. If you are very athletic, you have a better oppertunity to cheat off ball for a steal and recover in time if it is not there, better oppertunity for blocked shots, and makes things much easier to cut off a player driving to the basket. Post defenders are a bit different and that position requires a bit more vertical athleticism, but as Tim Duncan shows, you do not be exceptionally athletic down on the block either. As for how to improve defense, it is all mental and studying video tape of yourself and other great defenders. Practicing defensive slides also helps, and once you combine it all, you have to do a little trial and error in game situations to see what works on different types of players. The mental factor is also huge. If a player says to himself, "I am going to shut this guy down no matter what," then he will be a far better defender than if he is just going through the motions. That mental factor is what makes a great defender fundementally/athletically into an all time defender (MJ is great example of this). All in all, defense is extremely important and it is hard to understand why most players (especially the exceptionally athletic ones) don't study more tape and learn the very basics of defense. This makes me think of the time I was at basketball camp (Kevin Boyle), and the Villanova head coach was there (name escapes me). He was talking about defense, and talked about how he is great friends with Larry Brown and how they got into a discussion about the 2004 Olympics. The Villanova coach asked why he benched players like Carmelo, and Brown said it was because they couldn't do basic defensive drills that most players learn at the HS level. This amazes me, and shows irresponsibility in top of the line HS coaches and lack of interest in really learning defense in the young NBA players.
I think it has to also be determination. You need to be determined enough to want to stop the offensive player to drive past you. I don't really think it goes if you have quick feet or whatever. You can be quick enough to keep up with the player, but you probably wont be able to stop him from scoring from you, unless you are very determined to block his shot. If you look at some players their, team isn't much of a good defensive team, but when the time comes they can be very determined to make stops during clutch. So I think determination is the most important.
