AboveLegit

I expect Bryant to have a monster game, Lakers should be able to win this.

Saw this posted on another forum, thought it was an interesting topic. Would you rather have your team make it to the playoffs as an 8th seed and face the possibility of getting swept, or would you want to make the lottery and have a chance at a top draft pick? An example is a team like Houston who has the chance to make the playoffs in the West, but would you rather see them miss it to get a head start in their rebuilding process?

Like I said, Kirk has the advantage because he's taller and stronger, so there's no doubt that he'd do a better job on the bigger guards. What are you trying to prove here though? We all know Wall isn't close to being the defender that Hinrich is, I've never refuted that. Wall is strictly a good roamer right now, he doesn't have the ability to play good man to man defense. I've said that many times here. He is a good man to man defender, and his opponent per is a great example of this (12.7 at PG, 12.4 at SG). You also added guys like JO and Shaq this year, Rondo was All NBA defensive without them, and had an injured KG some of last year and they year before. And it's not like Noah and Gibson were slouches on defense last year, so let's not act like Hinrich didn't rely on their inside defenders last year. Rondo has played without players around him. Since the Celtics won, injuries have riddled them year after year, yet Rondo has been relatively the same player. When Bostons defense is still relatively the same without Garnett, you have to look at Rondo to be the main reason for that. Perkins wasn't all defensive last year, not first or second, and throughout the year he was the only healthy big they really had (unless you think Glen Davis is a great defensive player too). All defensive second in '09, all defensive first in '10, Rajon Rondo is best defender at the point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG9Bq_mxWTA Crazy.

There's a reason why there's two types of rebounds, defensive and offensive. You don't go on offense till you get the ball away from the other team, and that can only happen with a rebound, steal, or turnover. I just can't wrap my head around the idea that rebounding isn't part of defense. Obviously it doesn't tell the whole story, hence why you see Love being a good rebounder but not a good overall defender...but it's PART of the whole idea surrounding defense. See, but now your just getting way too specific and not looking at this whole topic from an objective standpoint. The fact is, Rondo does more on defense, and in turn, makes him the better defender. Nick Young is the best scorer on the Wizards, but is he the best player on the team?

This. I'm assuming you mean who would you rather have to start your team with, if that's the case, definitely Shaq.

You're setting your standards way too high, you can't seriously use Dwight in this thread. KG and Dwight in my eyes are the two best defenders regardless of their position in this league. After that there is a huge drop off. Is it a coincidence that those two are big men? The fact is, there's not a single guard that can dominate a game defensively right now. Rondo and Dwight were the only locks for the all defensive first team last season, and if I remember correctly, both were the top 2 leading vote getters. Rondo isn't the defensive force that Howard is because no one can change the outlook of a team the way Dwight can (other than probably KG), but Rondo is the best at his position when it comes to help defense and that should cover up his problems with on ball D. Flip trusts Kirk more than he trusts Wall and forces him to cover the opponents best offensive threat every game that he starts. Wall is an average on ball defender right now, he has had a tough time covering Rose, Westbrook, and even Nash. He doesn't roam around as much as you'd think. I saw Wall doing that a lot last night in Miami, but I think that had more to do with the fact that Mario Chalmers isn't viewed as much of a threat on offense. I don't know if I'd agree with that logic. I hate to sound redundant here, but Rondo is just a better all around defender. He does so much more than Kirk on defense, from crashing the boards to playing the passing lanes, something Kirk definitely isn't good at. The Celtics already are a poor rebounding team, take Rondo off of it, and they become terrible. Can the Celtics use a guy like Kirk so Ray doesn't have to cover Kobe in the Finals? Definitely, but he wouldn't be able to do all the things Rondo did on a daily basis.

Great to see you already posting, welcome to the site.

If anything, Joe Johnson is overrated.

lol... the only good defender on the Wizards now is Wall, and even then he's still learning the ropes.

But you're acting as if Kirk has been a great defender this year. I haven't been as impressed with him this year as I have in years past. Rondo has surpassed him in my eyes simply because he does more on defense than any one PG in this league. When you factor in all of that, how can you not say Rondo? Kirk has him beat in man to man defense due to his size, but even then it's pretty close. You're not going to find defenses built around attacking the ball with bulldog defenders like Payton and Pippen, because of the rule changes limiting the effectiveness of guys like that it's all about defending the paint with help defense and rotating. Guys like Rondo and CP3 create extra possessions for their team by forcing turnovers and crashing the boards. And does it matter if Rondo is not as good of an on ball defender? 75% of PG's today can't beat him off the dribble regardless. We can't keep discrediting Rondo because he plays for the Celtics. I see it way too much regarding his offense, but now we see the significance of him in the lineup now. On defense it's the same way, if he's out of that lineup, they aren't the top defense in the league. And let's not use the logic of saying if you want one player guarding Wade... The answer is obviously Kirk because he managed to lock him up before...

It also indicated LeBron looking to find his teammates more than looking to score.

RD is a huge Hinrich fan so I'm sure he has seen plenty of his games over the past few years.. And one video does not solidify your argument.

You realize that straight man-to-man defense, for point guards, equates to about 25% of the total possessions over the course of the season? There are maybe 5-6 point guards in the entire league capable of breaking someone down off the dribble without the help of a pick. Being able to disrupt the high Screen-Roll game is so much more important for PGs than straight man-to-man defense, and Rondo is far and away the best in the league at that, with Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook behind him. It's ridiculous to say Rondo's success is based on how good his team is on defense because of all the things Rondo does individually. And Kirk is not a lockdown defender, I don't think I've seen him lockdown anyone this year. But that's a stupid way to look at it because Rondo would never be asked to guard players like that. It's like judging Wade vs. Kobe defensively based on how they would stack up against Dwight Howard.

I used to say Kirk, but I'm going with Rondo now. One of the biggest responsibility for a PG on defense is defending the pick n roll. Rondo is without a shadow of a doubt the best in that regard, and he's considered elite or near elite in a few other defensive categories such as creating turnovers, grabbing rebounds, doubling post players, etc. Kirk has him beat with man to man defense because of his size and versatility, but other than that, Rondo is better.

http://twitter.com/#!/ESPNForsberg/status/41613423842304000

Wow, amazing play there by Horne, I think that's game. Great win for St. Johns.

Big shot by Hardy, he's having a great game so far.

Lol, I'm watching both bruh. Great game from Jimmer. Despite having an off day in terms of shooting, he had 9 assists and constantly attacked the basket looking to score. This kid is a special player, and IMO has the player of the year award locked up.

He's an average rebounder right now and for every blocked shot he has, there's a goaltending violation on him. I don't think anyone is questioning whether or not he will have a job in this league, he's a promising young player, but there are a ton of holes in his game.

Eh, I don't know if JaVale will ever be a star in this league, maybe a reliable starter, but nothing more if you ask me. I think you caught him on one of his good days, he's that inconsistent. He hardly knows what to do on offense, and when he does, rarely do you see him making good decisions. On defense, he's a solid help defender because of his length, but even then he makes poor decisions. Nick is turning into a very reliable scorer, I love his shot selection, and despite what the stats may see, he's far from a chucker. This kid has major potential if he develops other aspects of his game. Right now all he can do is score, hopefully he can turn into another playmaker in this offense. When his shot is off, he doesn't have the talent to contribute to the team like other stars do. As for your comment regarding Flip, I don't know. He's not very good at developing young players, and he makes a lot of questionable decisions. I still don't think he's our coach for the future.

http://www.rotoworld.com/headlines/nba/154194/basketball-headlines?r=1

SDSU is doing an excellent job on Freddette right now, really playing tight D on him an clogging the paint whenever he drives in.

While I agree with this statement (and I'm still against trading Perkins away), the C's and Pierce will benefit from having him guard LeBron, Kobe, etc in the playoffs. That will be a huge plus for them, and it will allow Doc to go with the small line up of Rondo, Allen, Pierce, Green, and KG in the fourth quarter.

Great effort tonight, the guys responded after Wall called them out for being uninterested and giving up early in games. Tonight proves why Blatche is the one that needs to go, he didn't play tonight and it was clear JaVale benefited from Trevor being in the lineup. Wall had a monster game as did Young, if Nick hadn't gone out of the game, I'm sure he would have dropped at least 45 points, he was on fire (as was Wade). It really threw him off his game when he got out, he missed a shot or two when he came back in, and soon we just stopped going to him.. big mistake there. JaVale played good, but he's just so undisciplined on defense. He's really hurting us with his low bball IQ, he had 2 three seconds in the lane calls against him, and had numerous goaltending violations...that's just unacceptable. The coaching staff needs to bring someone in to teach him the ropes, hopefully he works on his game more and more in the offseason. As for the three new guys, I liked what I saw for the most part. Jordan seemed too eager to get in the game and make a good impression, and it didn't serve him well as he ended up air balling his first shot, and missing a shot in the paint on his second attempt. But his game looks promising. Mo seems like the next James Singleton for us, just a hard worker that just wants to play ball. Hopefully he sets an example for the rest of the young guns out there. Bibby had an off game, he had some open shots that he missed and really just seemed out of it. Hopefully he picks it up tomorrow against Dallas.