AboveLegit Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 Normally when looking at draft prospects and rookies, we look at their potential and how they may or may not grow into the players they expect to become in a certain time span. It's very rare seeing balanced, two way players (can play both offense and defense), we are more accustomed to seeing one sided players, great defender or great scorers. My question to you is this, which is a more difficult task: Improving your offense game, or improving your defensive game? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWaLL Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 Offense. Defense is more teachable, just learn the proper stances and know what parts of the body of the offensive player to watch. Offense is sort of a given ability through natural finesse and coordination, and therefore is harder to teach. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Make It Naaaashty Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 Definitley defense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWaLL Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 Definitley defense. ....Care to explain? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Make It Naaaashty Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 ....Care to explain? Because if you have offense and no defense at all, that means that however many points you score doesn't really matter because on the defensive side you're going to allow the same amount of points because of your lacking defense. Looking at guys like Battier, Artest and other great defenders around the league you know how much those guys are worth these days to their franchise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
His Greatness Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 Offense. Defense is more teachable, just learn the proper stances and know what parts of the body of the offensive player to watch. Offense is sort of a given ability through natural finesse and coordination, and therefore is harder to teach.I also think, for defense, one of the hardest things to gauge is the work ethic and desire to become a good defender and the willingness to play it. That's why you always see these prospects marked with "good defensive potential (or tools)" but none of them ever materializing. Good post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erick Blasco Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 Offense requires more learned skills while defense is mostly work ethic. And working on offense is more enjoyable because you see rewards when the ball goes in the hoop. It's hard to get that kind of reward on defense. It's probably easier to work on your defense than your offense, because offense is very complicated and you need a lot of moves. The trick is finding players who want to sacrifice themselves to work on their defense when they probably won't be seeing any immediate rewards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HornyWetPenguin Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 Offense. Lots of things you gotta perfect, and the skills required to be good at offense is harder than defense. Like shooting, or when to attack the rim, fadeaways, etc. Defense is alot of about work ethic, how dedicated you are to stop the person you're guarding from scoring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JWaLL Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 Because if you have offense and no defense at all, that means that however many points you score doesn't really matter because on the defensive side you're going to allow the same amount of points because of your lacking defense. Looking at guys like Battier, Artest and other great defenders around the league you know how much those guys are worth these days to their franchise. That didn't at all show why defense is harder to learn. All you said is that there is no point in having a good offense if you don't have defense, which isn't even true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deestillballin Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 Offense by far. With Defense its all about watching the ball handler setting your feet and timing the steal, and jumping at the right time to get the block, IMO. With offense, you have to get a jumper timed right, set your arm certian way, let the shot go a certain way etc.. I learned to play D first im still not that well on the offensive end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcstarheel Posted July 2, 2009 Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 It's more difficult to improve defense, especially in this day and age. Like Erick said, people want to see results. It isn't hard skill-wise to improve defense, but the effort, intensity, and willingness to play defense is what holds players back. Since that part of it is very hard to break in a player, that is when the difficulty in improvement comes. Don't forget, though, that there are certain tools you need to play defense outside of just heart. Lateral movement is probably the main one that is overlooked. That is something that is hard to teach because a lot of guys are born with it and a lot aren't. You look at guys like T-Mac who could be a great defender if he actually gave the effort. His lateral quickness is at or above average, his length on the court would be hard to get around, and he's athletic. But when you look at when he came into the league up to now, his offensive game is what improved the most. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owner Real Deal Posted July 2, 2009 Owner Report Share Posted July 2, 2009 Defense. If defense was just about effort, a lot of professional athletes would be good defenders, more than there would be good scorers. You rely on many other things for scoring. If you have someone like Steve Nash on your team, you find it easier to score because of his ability to find you on the court. If you have someone like Bryant, you can lose your man off of a double because Kobe draws more attention. On defense, you can be left out on an island plenty of times, or even screened off of your own man, or forced to rotate. There are too many aspects of defense that you have to learn, including mismatches. It's very difficult to become an exceptional defensive player. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AboveLegit Posted July 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2009 I'm not fully sold yet on which is more difficult. I've seen a lot of great answers, maybe it's just how I'm looking at the whole topic in general. Offense requires work ethic as well, you're not naturally gifted as a scorer, you have to put in time and dedication in order to become a scorer, just like on defense. Offense requires a larger skill set as well, unless you're a one dimensional player. If you want to be a successful offensive player, you must develop a consistent jump shot, and the ability to drive in the lane. As for defense, it's all about desire and heart, and of course, work ethic. It's hard developing a defensive mentality, in my opinion, the way you approach the game is the type of defender you are, I don't think you can say the same thing about offense. An offensive skillset has more assets to it, while defense requires you to focus more on your intelligence and desire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleveland's Finest Posted July 3, 2009 Report Share Posted July 3, 2009 Improving your defensive game. Look at Mo on the Cavs. Whereas Ben Wallace will never be able to play offense. If you are in the NBA you should be able to learn to play defense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JYD Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 It's far more difficult to improve your OFFENSE. Considering how good of athletes most of the NBA players are, defense is about 95% heart, dedication, and hustle. The other 5% is technique. A lot of guys, ex. Ben Wallace (as mentioned by another poster), is limited offensively, making offense much harder to improve upon. Most guys that are great scorers that play no defense, a guy like Marbury, or Eddy Curry just simply have no heart or dedication - they prefer their stat line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KurbyFX Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 Improving your defensive game. Look at Mo on the Cavs. Whereas Ben Wallace will never be able to play offense. If you are in the NBA you should be able to learn to play defense. This statement contradicts your point of view. If you think improving defense is more difficult to do, why is Ben Wallace such a great defender? He lacks offensive skill and as much as he works on it, it won't improve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moeroadkill Posted July 4, 2009 Report Share Posted July 4, 2009 defense some guys arnt quick on their feet, that takes alot more time and effort into becoming better at it. unlike improving ur opposite hand lts hand a lot easier to do and accomplish. but there is also team defense and individual defense1st name comes to mind is ray Allen not the best defender in the league but put him on a team like the Celtics and he doesn't look half bad when i play nothing beats the feeling of locking someone down and if iv never played that person before i learn during the game and take away his strengths.. i think you can become a good defender if u have a High Basketball IQ or just IQ altogether Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheriff Shaq Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 Defense is for sure harder. The simpliest way to put it is, you can pracitce your dribbling moves and shots all you want but you need help (a guy to guard) to truly improve your defense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueDevil Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 Defence for sure because everyone likes to be the star by scoring all the points. Only certain people can put that aside and pride themselves on not letting the other team score. While you can hide a weak defender by placing him on a player with a weak offensive game, I think it's easier for a player to develop an offensive game rather then defensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
His Greatness Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 Defensively, a lack of lateral quickness and athleticism can be compensated for with smarts and defensive IQ. You look at a guy like Battier who was not blessed with much, but is the league's marquee defender. Playing defense is not a walk in a park, but offense is just more of a natural talent, that's why I'm a bit surprised by some of these answers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Multi-Billionaire Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 Yes I agree with you man^ although defense is hard it is obtainable through hard work and the diligence to find out the know how... Defense is commitment, hard work and just knowing what to know to do and not do to execute perfect defense. But offensively, if you're not blessed with natural talent, no matter how hard you work, it's not going to be there... You can get there, but you won't be as offensively talented as those guys who are born to score. Defense is very hard but at least you can be a very good defender if you hard on it... but there's no guarantee you can be a good scorer even if you work hard at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheriff Shaq Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 Defensively, a lack of lateral quickness and athleticism can be compensated for with smarts and defensive IQ. You look at a guy like Battier who was not blessed with much, but is the league's marquee defender. Playing defense is not a walk in a park, but offense is just more of a natural talent, that's why I'm a bit surprised by some of these answers. And shooting for hours on end and dribbling a basketball every chance you get doesn't do anything? There's a lot of natural talent that goes into both sides to be able to be a good player, but you can be a great shooter and a good ball handler without all of the natural born talent, hard work wins there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Multi-Billionaire Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 ^Ben Wallace's hard work got him to NBA but he still airballed free throws... if it's not there, it's not going to be there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
His Greatness Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 And shooting for hours on end and dribbling a basketball every chance you get doesn't do anything? There's a lot of natural talent that goes into both sides to be able to be a good player, but you can be a great shooter and a good ball handler without all of the natural born talent, hard work wins there.But offense extends way beyond just shooting and ball-handling, it's a very complex system where you just have to 'have it', or you don't. If you weren't born LeBron James, then you probably aren't going to sniff his offensive talent, but I wouldn't be surprised if you were able to match him defensively. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owner Real Deal Posted July 6, 2009 Owner Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 There is always someone who can completely destroy the best defensive player in the league. But there isn't always someone who can stop the best offensive player in the NBA. Defense is harder to play. That makes it tougher to learn. There's a reason more people can score 20+ in a game, versus those having the ability to hold a 20+ scorer to single digits and below 40% FG. In addition to that, simple screens can put small guards on big men, and mismatches are tougher on the defense. There are very, very few small guards in NBA history that can defend a talented power forward or center, but there are multiple small guards that can score on them...and ironically, the same goes for the bigs that can't defend the small guards out by the perimeter, but can back them into the post and score on them at will 30-40 times a game. Scottie Pippen would drop 30+ on Shaq if, for some crazy reason, they kept finding themselves defending each other on switches. Shaq would also drop 50 on him. Better pray for help defense. Defense is much more difficult to play and much more difficult to learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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