* Enes Kanter, Oklahoma City. I don’t know what the Thunder thought it was getting when it traded for Kanter in February, but… what… a… defensive… disaster.
Kanter can score, no doubt, and he looks like a big man who should be able to play the pick-and-roll. But he can’t. He truly cannot.
He either doesn’t know how or doesn’t want to or just has a supreme talent for doing exactly the wrong thing whenever his man covers over to screen a guard.
Kanter’s so bad that opponents basically just call pick-and-rolls when he’s in the game, and if you can’t guard the pick-and-roll, you are doomed.
Among centers who get regular time in this league, there are several really porous defenders–and Kanter is by far the worst. He’s awful. I don’t think there’s any way he turns into even a half-way mediocre defender at any point in his career, it’s just too far gone.
(Although his one-time Jazz teammate Al Jefferson has turned into a not-terrible defender the last few years. So maybe I shouldn’t be so hasty. What do they teach those big guys in Salt Lake City?)
OKC’s on/off defensive splits: With Kanter on the floor, the Thunder gave up 113.0 points per 100 poss’s. With him off (in the games he was on the team), they gave up only 105.1 per 100.
Utah’s on/off D splits with Kanter this season: 112.1 per 100 when Kanter was on the floor, 103.5 per 100 when he was off (in the games he was on the team).
That’s two teams, one in Utah and one in Oklahoma, with almost identical large improvements precisely when Kanter was NOT in the game vs. when he was.
One more stat: Kanter registered a -3.88 DRPM this season, which ranked him 469th out of 474 total players.
Kanter only had 29 {blocks] in 75 games split between Utah and OKC. And he’s 6-11.
