Was Boozer ever any good at defense?

[Stifle Tower]

I would say Kanter is the worst out of the 4 former Jazz bigs. Boozer could steal the ball and Jefferson could block shots and Memo could guard Yao Ming. Kanter really has 0 ability to make plays on the defensive end.

Agree.
I'd rank them Memo, Jefferson, Boozer and Kanter.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Softest defender I have ever witnessed.

Yeah, I would say his lack of defense was the most puzzling.

Al Jefferson was obviously slow as ****, mentally and physically.

Kanter doesn't understand what defense is.

Boozer was athletic, strong, and quick. He wasn't off the charts athletic or anything, but he was a solid athlete. Boozer really has 0 excuse for sucking at defense like he did.

 

[Stifle Tower]

Yeah, I would say his lack of defense was the most puzzling.

Al Jefferson was obviously slow as ****, mentally and physically.

Kanter doesn't understand what defense is.

Boozer was athletic, strong, and quick. He wasn't off the charts athletic or anything, but he was a solid athlete. Boozer really has 0 excuse for sucking at defense like he did.

He was so brittle that any contact would have torn or broken something.

 

[Nate505]

No. He might have had a handful of games where he was in his career, like Kancer, but in general he was horrid.

 

[fishonjazz]

Boozers defense was worse than Kanter? I am curious what you guys think of this. Can someone rank the defense of Memo, Boozer, Al Jefferson, Kanter. I know all were bad at defense but is one especially bad in the group? Also were would someone like Bargnani, David Lee, and Kevin Love rank in that group if any of you watched them play as well.

I go memo > jeffy > kanter > lee > love > boozer > bargnani.

They all suck bad doe. Good choices

 

[dipship31]

I definitely don't think he was ever a good defender, but he wasn't always as terrible as everyone is making him out to be. Thinking back to '06/'07 specifically we were middle of the pack defensively which is pretty crazy to think about seeing as we had Memo, Boozer, and Fisher starting. I look back to that year in particular because Booze was just a beast that year. Yes he still had matador defense every once in a while, but that season he was more active than any other and we need to remember that rebounding is still a big part of defense and he was an absolute monster on the glass that season.

 

[Lakers_Slapper]

Yup, had very quick hands like Malone did. He used it as a crutch though and would opt just to swipe instead of moving his feet. I remember a time when he didn't suck at defense, but not one where he was good.

I have to stop you right here. Quick hands like Malone?? You can't compare the two. If you are comparing then you obviously didn't see Malone play. Malone was much quicker at swiping the ball and was a much better defender. The steals that Malone didn't get credit for, he knocked the ball lose for someone else to steal it.