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The Defense Thread

NAOS_pt2 said:
He’s young.

I’ll buy all your Davion stock right now.
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If I had any, I would sell no problem. He does the most visible thing on defense well, but he’s a detriment in other ways defensively.

He’s only one year younger than Collins btw. Older than one might think.
 
KqWIN said:
If I had any, I would sell no problem. He does the most visible thing on defense well, but he’s a detriment in other ways defensively.

He’s only one year younger than Collins btw. Older than one might think.
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young = prime productive years lay ahead

Glad to hear the acquisition cost of this stock is low. I'll take it.
 
KqWIN said:
I don’t think it’s time to trade Kessler, but we gotta realize Kessler isn’t Gobert (even Gobert isn’t Gobert anymore). We can’t just stroll out 4 bad defenders and perform at a top 5 level around a dominant big. That doesn’t mean trade Kessler, it means we need to trade/acquire more defense around Kessler.

But honestly, I think right now it’s more that we don’t have a plan. I can’t even tell what we’re trying to do on defense, it goes beyond talent. As awesome as Hardy has been, he still needs to prove that he can put together an effective defensive game plan.
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Yeah I don’t think he’s out there with 4 bad defenders though… it’s a mix of good, average, and dumpster fire. I don’t expect him or Lively to be Rudy but I think Kessler is/can be a worthy building block. He isn’t as good as Rudy on defense but he has some other strengths. If he is a better version of Jakob Poeltl that’s okay too.

Hardly anyone is truly untradeable but I wouldn’t move Walker for Lively… which was the question.
 
HermanG said:
I think Kessler is in a bad mindset more than anything. Could be higher expecations, failed team USA stint eating his confidence or the fact that more is being pushed to his plate.

He did play rather simple drop big game last year and didn't even get involved much offensively outside of rebounds and putbacks. Maybe he is now asked to do more and that is simply distracting him from the things he excelled in last year.
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His mindset is definitely part of the problem. Recently Kessler was quoted as saying something like "I can't even catch the ****ing ball". He sounds super frustrated with himself.

Still, an NBA pro can't wallow in despair. There's always another game.

For whatever reason Walker has lost a lot of his confidence, and it shows in every facet of his game. He's even biting on shot fakes now. He rarely did that as a rookie.
 
Tremendous Upside said:
His mindset is definitely part of the problem. Recently Kessler was quoted as saying something like "I can't even catch the ****ing ball". He sounds super frustrated with himself.

Still, an NBA pro can't wallow in despair. There's always another game.

For whatever reason Walker has lost a lot of his confidence, and it shows in every facet of his game. He's even biting on shot fakes now. He rarely did that as a rookie.
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Is this gonna be like the 3rd or 4th year (can't remember) Gordon Hayward season where he was the king of negative body language and struggled mightily?
 
Could it be partly from all the assistant coaching changes, and mainly losing Alex Jensen in relation Kessler?

Coaching staff still learning and adjusting to each other same as the players... who knows. And I don't hate the zone as much as you guys, but if the players aren't bought into running it then the coaches need to do better in getting them to buy in or run it less. And the PHX game not withstanding Hardy showed the numbers for the zone has been better then their regular D, which is absolutely not saying much.
 
Overall team defense is one thing, and I can't really comment much.

More related to Kessler though: I mean, it's one on one you are the only thing standing between the guy with the ball and the rim. Defensive scheme doesn't really matter at that point, he can't even make his presence felt in any way. I don't get it. I know there's a ton of nuance going on that I can't see, but usually a player doesn't jump off the screen because of how bad they are.

I'm setting myself for an all time crow eating and I would welcome it. Nothing could look demonstrably different tonight, yet he puts up a 20-15 game. I understand sports well enough to know that I don't understand sports. So call it a major jinx, and I defer to all of you who watched him last year. But he looks like the one hundred other tall white stiffs out there who bounce between a dozen+ teams for super cheap their whole career and can't sniff a court in a playoff series, or even regular crunch time minutes.
 
Bawse Dawg said:
I was excited to watch Kessler and he's been completely invisible. I don't even know what 'good Kessler' from last year even looks like because I've seen basically nothing from the dude this year. What are his skills and talents when he is playing well?
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Think of what rudy gobert looked like when he was playing well. Then make him more efficient and have him block more shots. It looks like that. His per 36 last year was 14 points on 8 shots (72% from the field), 13 rebounds and almost 4 blocks (3.7)
 
Bawse Dawg said:
Overall team defense is one thing, and I can't really comment much.

More related to Kessler though: I mean, it's one on one you are the only thing standing between the guy with the ball and the rim. Defensive scheme doesn't really matter at that point, he can't even make his presence felt in any way. I don't get it. I know there's a ton of nuance going on that I can't see, but usually a player doesn't jump off the screen because of how bad they are.

I'm setting myself for an all time crow eating and I would welcome it. Nothing could look demonstrably different tonight, yet he puts up a 20-15 game. I understand sports well enough to know that I don't understand sports. So call it a major jinx, and I defer to all of you who watched him last year. But he looks like the one hundred other tall white stiffs out there who bounce between a dozen+ teams for super cheap their whole career and can't sniff a court in a playoff series, or even regular crunch time minutes.
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Ya he has sucked in his 3 game and lower minutes than last year sample size this season. Last year if he was the only thing standing between the guy with the ball and the rim and that guy decided to try to score then they were getting their shot blocked. Hasn't been the case so far this year. I think that will change
 
I mean it's 3 games against 3 of the best teams in the NBA. Last year, Hardy would protect Kessler from games like these early in the season, by limiting his minutes and matching him against bench bags. Kessler is going to need to learn about the other players and watch film, because the other starters have seen his film now. . .
 
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