How can someone move well on offence

[rollie mass]

Jabari -did a good job but how can he look so fluid on offense but look so choppy on defence .His footwork weird but he was effective.
Can a guy his age with coaching and drills turn his defense around.

Timelord did a good job on Harden as he was chest bounced twice without budging Rob in paint in the paint and Rob had a partial block on a three.

[Tr1boy]

Jabari -did a good job  haw can he look so fluid on offense but look so choppy on defence .His footwork weird but he was effective.
Can a guy his age with coaching and drills turn his defense around.

He was the least of the problems in game 1. Actually played a solid game and should have had Fournier mins in the 4th

[PhoSita]

My guess at this is that on offense you know where you're going before the defender does.

On defense you need to anticipate and react to how the offensive player moves.

We see plenty of guys who are extremely effective at scoring even when their speed leaves them.  Much rarer to see really excellent defenders who have lost a step.

[W8ting2McHale]

Moving forward and knowing where you want to go, versus reacting to someone else while moving backwards.

Defense requires fluid hips, good lateral quickness, and not getting fooled by head fakes. It is a different set of muscles and BBIQ in play. Very few guys are elite at both. Being elite at one can keep you in the league. Maybe even more so than being average at both?

[wdleehi]

Maybe he should play some small ball 5 minutes when the Nets go small.   


With Parker on defense, as long as he is where he needs to be, that is enough for him to stay on the floor.  I would still expect him to get beat by the Nets weapons more often then not.

[BruceBanner18]

Regardless of his defense, he needs to be on the court more game 2. It seems obvious to most watching (and commenting here).

It will be interesting to see if Stevens agrees. I've been a Stevens supporter but his rotations and substituting send nonsensical at times

[wdleehi]

Regardless of his defense, he needs to be on the court more game 2. It seems obvious to most watching (and commenting here).

It will be interesting to see if Stevens agrees. I've been a Stevens supporter but his rotations and substituting send nonsensical at times

Of those who got minutes, who do you take minutes from?   Especially when Walker needs to stay out of foul trouble and will play a  lot more minutes.

[BruceBanner18]

Regardless of his defense, he needs to be on the court more game 2. It seems obvious to most watching (and commenting here).

It will be interesting to see if Stevens agrees. I've been a Stevens supporter but his rotations and substituting send nonsensical at times

Of those who got minutes, who do you take minutes from?   Especially when Walker needs to stay out of foul trouble and will play a  lot more minutes.

Fournier, Thompson and/or Nesmith. And I'm fine with Kemba only playing 30 min unless he's really hot.

[Who]

There are different types of quickness. There is end to end quickness (transition), side to side quickness (defensive stance) and explosive quickness / first step quickness (blow by quickness). And also vertical quickness (how quick your jump is).

There are some players like an older Ron Artest who wasn't quick end to end but still had excellent side to side quickness which both hurt him as a transition scorer / defender (end to end) and enabled him to be an elite man-to-man defender on the perimeter (side to side).

Some guys - often big guys - are slow in small spaces but have great speed when they get out in open space. When they are allowed build up a head of steam. So they can struggle to change directions on defense (side to side & agility) but be very effective in transition offense.

When we look at Jabari we see a player who has good explosive quickness and end to end quickness but struggles with side to side quickness and changing directions (agility). This has been the story since he was in the NCAA. This is not new. His injuries made the issues worse but it was already hugely problematic for him since the moment he stepped foot in this league.

[rollie mass]

TP for that post .
Can his defense be improved with specific drills and weight work in conjunction with a defensive coach that tailors and off season program including watching film how best to position himself considering his flaws. and strengths.

It would help that the roster can be established, where the players know what each others strengths and weakness are and Brad could compensate .
Watched first quarter just focusing on Parkers defense and he did a very good job.

I hag Rollie Massimino as a coach and he taught and drilled defense till you dropped man to man, pressure help defense. and it worked.I t got like we were choreographed the communication was very vocal and not the norm way back then but iit was daunting and the defense was shattering and demoralizing..His defense came from his New Jersey background to Lexington High.
As you explained offence" knowing where they are going and defense reacting" being picked up late in season and with a roster full of injuries, change and youth .

[Kernewek]

I think it's likely that he will get better if he stays with the Celtics due to reps, but at a certain point, a player is who he is and no amount of training is going to change that.

Parker's initial comp coming into the NBA was Carmelo Anthony, and while he's not going to hit that ceiling, I think the defensive comparisons (as in a lack thereof) are still valid.