2013 CB Draft: Eastern Semi Finals: Indiana(1) vs Atlanta(4)

[Rondo2287]

Kevin Durant - average defender
Deron Williams - has the potential to be above-average, but played ZERO defense in NJ
Luis Scola - poor defender
Robin Lopez - mediocre to poor defender
Ray Allen - poor defender
Elton Brand - good to very good defender
Rodney Stuckey - poor defender
Marvin Williams - at this stage, poor defender
Jeff Taylor - despite his reputation, a very poor defender
Andrew Nicholson - poor defender
Shaun Livingston - at this stage, a poor defender, especially against PGs
Markieff Morris - poor defender
Michael Beasley - fails at life

Who brings the playoff grit?  Who makes the tough stops?  Champkind can't defend himself, but that shouldn't matter, because your team couldn't defend Fab Melo and four chairs

I'll take hyperbolic statements for a million alex.

[Rondo2287]

To be honest, I picked Miami to beat Atlanta - but it was so close. In fact, I think I like them in this series. Indiana's depth after the two stars is weak and Atlanta has such a nice roster with stars and productive role players. If Atlanta can explain to me how they intend on stopping Durant, I think I'll pick them to advance.

They can't stop durant.  and as I have already pointed out.  After elevating his game for matchups with Durant Pierce's production tumbled for the next week or so.  Pierce may put in one good game in the series but thats about it.  Especially after already playing a tough series against Miami. 

[Roy H.]

Kevin Durant - average defender
Deron Williams - has the potential to be above-average, but played ZERO defense in NJ
Luis Scola - poor defender
Robin Lopez - mediocre to poor defender
Ray Allen - poor defender
Elton Brand - good to very good defender
Rodney Stuckey - poor defender
Marvin Williams - at this stage, poor defender
Jeff Taylor - despite his reputation, a very poor defender
Andrew Nicholson - poor defender
Shaun Livingston - at this stage, a poor defender, especially against PGs
Markieff Morris - poor defender
Michael Beasley - fails at life

Who brings the playoff grit?  Who makes the tough stops?  Champkind can't defend himself, but that shouldn't matter, because your team couldn't defend Fab Melo and four chairs

I'll take hyperbolic statements for a million alex.

So you're going to punt on answering?

I'm going to have to ask nick if this is the same as not showing up for a playoff matchup.

[Rondo2287]

Kevin Durant - average defender
Deron Williams - has the potential to be above-average, but played ZERO defense in NJ
Luis Scola - poor defender
Robin Lopez - mediocre to poor defender
Ray Allen - poor defender
Elton Brand - good to very good defender
Rodney Stuckey - poor defender
Marvin Williams - at this stage, poor defender
Jeff Taylor - despite his reputation, a very poor defender
Andrew Nicholson - poor defender
Shaun Livingston - at this stage, a poor defender, especially against PGs
Markieff Morris - poor defender
Michael Beasley - fails at life

Who brings the playoff grit?  Who makes the tough stops?  Champkind can't defend himself, but that shouldn't matter, because your team couldn't defend Fab Melo and four chairs

I'll take hyperbolic statements for a million alex.

So you're going to punt on answering?

I'm going to have to ask nick if this is the same as not showing up for a playoff matchup.

The way you ended your post I took it as punting on asking a question.  I have different opinions on the defensive abilities of several players on that list as well as am taking into account the ability to construct a team defensive system by my coach. 

If you would find it meaningfull im more than willing to put my opinions out there regarding where I differ from your evaluations, but I doubt that would make you reconsider your view.  Not that your closed minded but that defensive abilities are largely opinion and eyesight based rather than metrics.  I know there are metrics but I find them to mostly be "Bunk"

And its not just basketball.  I have historically had a vendetta against defensive metrics in all sports, like UZR in baseball and some of the stuff that the football sabremetricians have come up with.

[Roy H.]

Kevin Durant - average defender
Deron Williams - has the potential to be above-average, but played ZERO defense in NJ
Luis Scola - poor defender
Robin Lopez - mediocre to poor defender
Ray Allen - poor defender
Elton Brand - good to very good defender
Rodney Stuckey - poor defender
Marvin Williams - at this stage, poor defender
Jeff Taylor - despite his reputation, a very poor defender
Andrew Nicholson - poor defender
Shaun Livingston - at this stage, a poor defender, especially against PGs
Markieff Morris - poor defender
Michael Beasley - fails at life

Who brings the playoff grit?  Who makes the tough stops?  Champkind can't defend himself, but that shouldn't matter, because your team couldn't defend Fab Melo and four chairs

I'll take hyperbolic statements for a million alex.

So you're going to punt on answering?

I'm going to have to ask nick if this is the same as not showing up for a playoff matchup.

The way you ended your post I took it as punting on asking a question.  I have different opinions on the defensive abilities of several players on that list as well as am taking into account the ability to construct a team defensive system by my coach. 

If you would find it meaningfull im more than willing to put my opinions out there regarding where I differ from your evaluations, but I doubt that would make you reconsider your view.  Not that your closed minded but that defensive abilities are largely opinion and eyesight based rather than metrics.  I know there are metrics but I find them to mostly be "Bunk"

And its not just basketball.  I have historically had a vendetta against defensive metrics in all sports, like UZR in baseball and some of the stuff that the football sabremetricians have come up with.

Who are the players that you consider to be good defenders on your team?

I know we disagree on Jeff Taylor, who almost all defensive metrics consider to be a very poor defender.  Anybody else that you think I'm underrating?

[Rondo2287]

Kevin Durant - average defender
Deron Williams - has the potential to be above-average, but played ZERO defense in NJ
Luis Scola - poor defender
Robin Lopez - mediocre to poor defender
Ray Allen - poor defender
Elton Brand - good to very good defender
Rodney Stuckey - poor defender
Marvin Williams - at this stage, poor defender
Jeff Taylor - despite his reputation, a very poor defender
Andrew Nicholson - poor defender
Shaun Livingston - at this stage, a poor defender, especially against PGs
Markieff Morris - poor defender
Michael Beasley - fails at life

Who brings the playoff grit?  Who makes the tough stops?  Champkind can't defend himself, but that shouldn't matter, because your team couldn't defend Fab Melo and four chairs

I'll take hyperbolic statements for a million alex.

So you're going to punt on answering?

I'm going to have to ask nick if this is the same as not showing up for a playoff matchup.

The way you ended your post I took it as punting on asking a question.  I have different opinions on the defensive abilities of several players on that list as well as am taking into account the ability to construct a team defensive system by my coach. 

If you would find it meaningfull im more than willing to put my opinions out there regarding where I differ from your evaluations, but I doubt that would make you reconsider your view.  Not that your closed minded but that defensive abilities are largely opinion and eyesight based rather than metrics.  I know there are metrics but I find them to mostly be "Bunk"

And its not just basketball.  I have historically had a vendetta against defensive metrics in all sports, like UZR in baseball and some of the stuff that the football sabremetricians have come up with.

Who are the players that you consider to be good defenders on your team?

I know we disagree on Jeff Taylor, who almost all defensive metrics consider to be a very poor defender.  Anybody else that you think I'm underrating?

I consider durant, Lopez to be good defenders and Scola to be average against other standard pf's.  he would struggle against guys like Lebron, dirk, josh smith etc.  for instance I think he will do fine against boozer

[KGs Knee]

Once again, getting murdered with other commitments this morning. I completely understand everyone's frustration and I will completely understand if you hold that against me. I will try to get to arguments later in the day. I apologize for not putting up a better fight, especially against a guy who loves to argue (and does it well) like Rondo. Good luck, 2287.

Hopefully I can address some of these questions later, so if you can hold off on your vote until tonight that may be helpful. Thanks.

This is understandable, and I will wait as long as I can.  I am interested to hear your thoughts on how this series might go.  While I already have a pretty good idea how I think it will go, I think it's only fair to give you an opportunity to either re-enforce that opinion or blow it out of the water.

Voting closes at midnight, right?

[dark_lord]

I voted....Indy

[nickagneta]

Voting closes at midnight, right?

Yes

[Rondo2287]

I voted....Indy

Me too haha

[Lucky17]

I keep going back and forth on this one. Ugh.

[ChampKind]

Stellar. Still got 90 minutes to go. Thanks to anyone that stayed with me for this long.

How do we stop Durant? We beat him up. We play him physical. We put every ounce of his 135 pound body to the test with our old man strength. We send Pierce to body him up and (either Boozer to provide physical defense or John Henson to patrol the weakside where he's an above grade shot blocker with a similar build and more hops than Durant (for real)). If he gets to the middle, he's got to deal with a 255 pound Brazilian with one testicle who plays mean. I'll take my chances with him finding Robin Lopez or Brand to finish around him - and quickly enough for a young, springy guy like Henson not to erase it.

The biggest problem with Rondo's very well constructed team is that they lack a physical presence up front. They don't have the bodies to protect or defend Durant when he takes a hard foul or gets bodied up inside the arc. Who leads that team if Durant gets rattled? Williams is a great player, but he's flaky. Brand is their best leader, but he's old. Allen is a shooting specialist at this point.

Meanwhile, the Hawks have a number of cool handed vets who have been there before. Pierce and Wade may be on the downside of their careers, but they're effective players and Finals MVPs. Nene and Boozer are both (or have been) complementary players on playoff teams. Same with Jameer Nelson. Lin is a microwave scoring X-factor who can swing a playoff game on his own (seriously!). The rest of the bench is filled with young, athletic playmakers who may not have great stats, but who take on valuable roles and fit seamlessly with the rest of this team's lineup. The whole is greater than the parts - and these are some pretty OK parts.

So, I think the Hawks take this one, and it's tough. Anyway, thanks again for bearing with me. I totally understand if my inaction (or coach choice) swings your vote. But, if we're going by talent/fit alone, I like my chances. Cheers.

p.s. I really like that Taylor kid, but he's a three-and-D guy at SF who could be overwhelmed by starting at SG. But, seriously, look at his performance in this week's Eurobasket. I say the Hawks limit him to 35 points and six steals per game.

[indeedproceed]

Quick, give me Mirza Teletovic's stat line.

Honest to goodness: I think that if NJ hadn't traded for KG or even hasn't signed Ak-47, Teletovic is a rich mans Steve Novak, in a really good way.

[Fafnir]

I still am up in the air on this one, and the other Eastern series.

[ChampKind]

Quick, give me Mirza Teletovic's stat line.

Honest to goodness: I think that if NJ hadn't traded for KG or even hasn't signed Ak-47, Teletovic is a rich mans Steve Novak, in a really good way.

Not great in his 1st year: 3.5/1.8rpg/34% from range. Better as the season went on, though: 38% from 3pt after February (and 48% in January!)