Blazer Defense Love..........

[THE HCP]

Hollinger gives his rankings on Defense. It ESPNInsider, and every time I copy it, somebody takes it down, so i'll copy just the Blazer stuff. He breaks it down by position.

Point Guard-

In the oldies but goodies category, Andre Miller (-3.50), Deron Williams (+1.18) and Raymond Felton (+2.07) continue to warrant mention as tough, no-nonsense guards who keep their man in front and follow the game plan. Miller is the most vulnerable of the three to penetration but also the best at playing off the ball and reading opponents' plays, helping explain yet another sterling on-court versus off-court differential. Williams' size is his greatest asset, letting him deny physical point guards their preferred positions in the paint and allowing him to switch onto wings if needed. As for Felton, his numbers would be better if he didn't moonlight periodically at the 2, where he gives up too many inches. As the starting point guard for the league's No. 1 defense, he's been as steady as they come.

Small Forward-

Honorable mention: Two young Blazers are working their way up this list. Martell Webster handled stopper responsibilities for much of the season and did solid work, especially when matched against bigger players who didn't rely on quickness. He's not quite a natural, but he's put in a lot of effort. Late in the season, after an injury, Nicolas Batum came on and provided an impact. He's likely to be a regular on this list in coming years but doesn't have enough minutes to get more than honorable mention this season.

 

[THE HCP]

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=hollinger_john&page=PERDiem-100406

 

[THE HCP]

Center-

Honorable mention: Two players -- Marcus Camby (-5.00) and Brendan Haywood (-3.26) -- changed teams during the course of the season, making their on-court versus off-court numbers even less reliable than normal. But both players have posted sparkling numbers in this category in other seasons, and in each case their reputations back up the numbers. Each has one weakness that keeps him out of the top three, though: For Camby it's his unwillingness to show against a pick-and-roll, and for Haywood it's his tendency to take nights off.

 

[julius]

Since I don't know, what is a better score? A + or a - number?

 

[THE HCP]

Since I don't know, what is a better score? A + or a - number?

I wish I could post the whole thing but these guys on here don't let me.

 

[THE HCP]

Here are his guidelines...........


As a general rule, we don't pay nearly enough attention to defense. Pick a game, any game, and the first player mentioned in the wrap-up will be the high scorer from the winning team. The game's statistical revolution, to this point, hasn't been particularly helpful in that regard. While we can show you in very precise terms how effective somebody like Kevin Martin is at the offensive end, we have very little ammunition to make similar arguments for his teammates like Chuck Hayes or Shane Battier.

But there are ways to try to rectify such oversights, and with that, it's once again time for me to name my All-Defensive team.

Despite all that's been done with numbers over the past decade or so, this remains an inherently subjective exercise. So let me lay down some ground rules.

First, I named players at the position they guard, not the position they play on offense. For one player below in particular, this is a very important distinction. Second, minutes matter: Somebody who plays great in 1,000 minutes can't match the value of somebody who plays 2,000.

From there, I used three techniques to choose the team. First, I looked at the player's on-court versus off-court point differential at the defensive end, measured per 100 possessions (hat-tip to BasketballValue.com for that one). I've included that measure for every player listed below -- the more negative the number, the better. Second, I looked at a team's defensive efficiency; having an average point differential for the top-ranked defense (Charlotte) is a very different feat than doing the same for the worst defense (Toronto).

And, as always, then there's the subjective component. On this front, I'll at least mention that I've put in the legwork. I saw all these teams play start-to-finish on the tube at least 10 times, and saw all but one of the top 17 defensive teams in person, most of them more than once. (Sorry, Bobcats, the schedule didn't work out for us this season. Maybe in the playoffs.)

At each position, I have players for three teams and a few honorable mention candidates. You can argue differently in several cases and it would be tough for me to offer a convincing retort; as I said, this is an inherently subjective exercise. Regardless, here's one man's opinion on how they should rank: