I know that's the concern. I do wonder if it's accurate, though. We started with Favors and I believe the duplication between him and Gobert were giving diminishing defensive returns. I believe the question is the backup center spot where we'll have those 18 minutes of Davis instead of Favors. It does appear that Favors' largest impact was offensive in addition to his offensive boards. Davis is grabbing a lot more offensive and defensive boards than Favors. Davis still athletic. I'm not sure there's any drop off. If so, I don't think it's noticeable.
There's always been mixed opinions on Ricky's D. He's bigger, for sure. And I know some argue the idea is to funnel people into Gobert, but I'm not sure I buy it. With Conley staying in front of his man and picking up some steals, I think this is a net plus. Then there's the argument of less turnovers and transition baskets. However, I don't know how much that really impacts things because the difference in turnovers per game between the two is 0.7, so if the other team is converting on even 75%, it's only about a point per game.
With Bojan, he's essentially sliding into a lot of Jae's minutes. Jae's D was more about intensity and hustle than simply defense, so while there's some drop off there, I don't know that it's significant.
Hopefully with less offensive load, Donovan can play more D. I think Green matching up on more of these small ball fours may be a bit more effective. And if Exum actually plays this year, you've got that.
Overall, I don't believe we're any worse on D. If we are, I believe that it's negligible, while our offense has really shot up.
There's always been mixed opinions on Ricky's D. He's bigger, for sure. And I know some argue the idea is to funnel people into Gobert, but I'm not sure I buy it. With Conley staying in front of his man and picking up some steals, I think this is a net plus. Then there's the argument of less turnovers and transition baskets. However, I don't know how much that really impacts things because the difference in turnovers per game between the two is 0.7, so if the other team is converting on even 75%, it's only about a point per game.
With Bojan, he's essentially sliding into a lot of Jae's minutes. Jae's D was more about intensity and hustle than simply defense, so while there's some drop off there, I don't know that it's significant.
Hopefully with less offensive load, Donovan can play more D. I think Green matching up on more of these small ball fours may be a bit more effective. And if Exum actually plays this year, you've got that.
Overall, I don't believe we're any worse on D. If we are, I believe that it's negligible, while our offense has really shot up.