The Less Rondo the Better

[BballTim]

Rondo's defense is.... indefensible.  All he does is gamble for steals.  He let's himself get picked off so freaking easily.  He NEVER fights through picks.

And last night, he left Novak WIDE OPEN on both of those three-pointers at the end of the game.  On the second he literally stood there when Novak rotated up and Rondo just pointed, "Someone get him."  He wasn't picked, he wasn't covering another offensive player.  He just stood there.

  So you watched the game, saw Rondo hurt his back, watched him struggle to even jog up and down the court after the injury, heard the announcers commenting on how much he was struggling to move, and came to the conclusion that he left Novak WIDE OPEN was unrelated to that and because he's a bad defender? Wow. Just wow.

So many Celts fan are blinded by the "greatness" of Rondo and his passing that you can't see the truth: He's a horrible defender, unless it's getting steals.  He's lazy and doesn't give a [dang].  

  I guess all the nba coaches (who vote on the all-defense teams) are blinded as well, and add in the GMs who pick him as the best or close to the best perimeter defender in the league every year. So must be the people who (apparently) slant most of the defensive metrics to favor Rondo every year.

Delonte West was so much better than Rondo last year on defense.  And Bradley is incredible.  Rondo is all about "the glory" and making the highlight film pass.

  Saying that West was a better defender is like saying that Bass is a better defender than KG or Baby is a better defender than DH. It's ridiculous. Rondo's better than Bradley as well.

[Fafnir]

Rondo and Pierce messed up the last three, both thought the other had Novak. Both were worn down/tired, you could see they weren't moving great.

The other was a rotated and contested by two players, but not quickly enough obviously.

[D Dub]

Rondo's defense is.... indefensible.  All he does is gamble for steals.  He let's himself get picked off so freaking easily.  He NEVER fights through picks.

And last night, he left Novak WIDE OPEN on both of those three-pointers at the end of the game.  On the second he literally stood there when Novak rotated up and Rondo just pointed, "Someone get him."  He wasn't picked, he wasn't covering another offensive player.  He just stood there.

So many Celts fan are blinded by the "greatness" of Rondo and his passing that you can't see the truth: He's a horrible defender, unless it's getting steals.  He's lazy and doesn't give a [dang].  

Delonte West was so much better than Rondo last year on defense.  And Bradley is incredible.  Rondo is all about "the glory" and making the highlight film pass.

Ummm... you must not be watching much pro ball right now, EVERYone is mailing it in across the league this week.

It's the tail end of the most grueling regular season of all time.  And we just traveled to Tor, NJ, then North Carolina on back to back to back nights over the weekend.  

Cut the starters some slack until the playoffs start.

[No Nickname]

 So you watched the game, saw Rondo hurt his back, watched him struggle to even jog up and down the court after the injury, heard the announcers commenting on how much he was struggling to move, and came to the conclusion that he left Novak WIDE OPEN was unrelated to that and because he's a bad defender? Wow. Just wow.

  I guess all the nba coaches (who vote on the all-defense teams) are blinded as well, and add in the GMs who pick him as the best or close to the best perimeter defender in the league every year. So must be the people who (apparently) slant most of the defensive metrics to favor Rondo every year.

  Saying that West was a better defender is like saying that Bass is a better defender than KG or Baby is a better defender than DH. It's ridiculous. Rondo's better than Bradley as well.

Whatever.  If he was too hurt to play defense, he was too hurt to play offense.  He had no problem doing that.  If you can't even try to stay with your man on defense then get out of the game. 

My comment isn't about just last night.  Rondo's done this forever.  You watch him closely in future games.  He rarely fights through picks.  He routinely lets his man get wide open for threes.  He does it all the time.

And yes, if you watch Delonte, he plays straight-up defense like a man.  He doesn't want to let his man score on him, ever.  Neither does Bradley.  Rondo couldn't care less.

And if you think Rondo is better defensively than either West or Bradley, you're blind.  Rondo gets voted by those NBA GMs because they all look at stats like steals.  That to me doesn't define a great defender.  It's one part of it, but if you're man scores 7-10 times and you get three steals the other times, you're hurting your team.

You guys with your Green/White glasses just can't see the truth.  John Bagley played better defense than Rondo. Ok, not Bags.  But it's close 

[pearljammer10]

Rondo is an outstanding point guard.  His role is clearly defined here.  In this system... right now... he's a good fit.  The other 4 starters (Ray/Bradley, Pierce, KG and Bass) are all capable of hitting shots (Bradley is a recent revelation that hopefully isn't just streaking)... so Rondo can get away with being a poor shooter and focus primarily on being a setup man.  He excels in the role.  If his teammates keep shooting the way they are shooting, Rondo should have no trouble keeping his assist numbers up.  

I think these stats might just be skewed by the fact that when Rondo missed games, we won 6 of 8.  The thing is, even with how well Rondo plays as a "setup guy", he's still got the potential to be a "weakness" for the Celtics due to his lack of offensive ability (can't shoot, can't drive late, because he can't hit free throws)... so when he sits out, our star players have a tendency to put on their vintage capes and dominate.  Pierce, in particular, seems to step his game up when Rondo is out.  Pierce seems more than comfortable letting the ball flow through him (which is how he had to play up until 2009, really)...  I'm not sure if that proves that they don't NEED Rondo out there... I suspect that even without Rondo our offense would thrive.  Some have theorized that if you stuck a shooter in there like Jose Calderon, the offense might actually be better.  It would require Pierce to control the ball more, but he'd have more space since Calderon was such a deadly shooter.  WE'd take a hit on defense, though.  Rondo has proven to be a very good defensive point guard when he's focused.

Edit:  Just took a look at what Pierce did in the 8 game stretch with Rondo out and it seems to back that up:

1/20 (LOSS) 12 points, 6 assists, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 blocks
1/22 (Win) 34 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds, 3 steals
1/23 (win) 19 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds
1/26 (win) 24 points, 10 assists, 6 rebounds, 1 block
1/27 (win) 28 points, 8 assists, 10 rebounds, 3 steals,2  blocks
1/29 (loss) 18 points, 5 assists, 6 rebounds
1/31 (win) 20 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals
2/1 (win) 17 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds, 1 steal, 1 block

Pierce averaged 21.5 points, 7.5 assists, 6 rebounds during that stretch.  So basically what happens when Rondo sits is that Pierce gets asked to do more on offense (which he's capable of doing... dunno if he could do it long-term at this age, though) and we replace Rondo with someone who can shoot better (pretty much anyone... by default).  That doesn't take away from what Rondo does, though.  He's a very skilled setup man and in THIS system RIGHT NOW... he's clearly flourishing in his role.

  Wow. These stats are just absurdly silly.

[No Nickname]

Rondo's defense is.... indefensible.  All he does is gamble for steals.  He let's himself get picked off so freaking easily.  He NEVER fights through picks.

And last night, he left Novak WIDE OPEN on both of those three-pointers at the end of the game.  On the second he literally stood there when Novak rotated up and Rondo just pointed, "Someone get him."  He wasn't picked, he wasn't covering another offensive player.  He just stood there.

So many Celts fan are blinded by the "greatness" of Rondo and his passing that you can't see the truth: He's a horrible defender, unless it's getting steals.  He's lazy and doesn't give a [dang].  

Delonte West was so much better than Rondo last year on defense.  And Bradley is incredible.  Rondo is all about "the glory" and making the highlight film pass.

Ummm... you must not be watching much pro ball right now, EVERYone is mailing it in across the league this week.

It's the tail end of the most grueling regular season of all time.  And we just traveled to Tor, NJ, then North Carolina on back to back to back nights over the weekend.  

Cut the starters some slack until the playoffs start.

Hey D Dub,

Ok, I can go with this.  It's a long season and guys get tired. Absolutely.  I hope that was the case last night. All I know is, the C's cut it to six points, and it was winning time, and Rondo just stands there like a statue.  Seriously, go look at the replay.  He ran around and guarded guys until he just decided to watch Novak.  

On the second to last Novak three, Rondo jumped out at him and at least tried to block the shot. He didn't look too hurt or tired then.  But he backed off of him by eight feet.  Why do that?

And on the last three he just stood there and pointed, "Hey, the NBA's leading three-point shooter is standing wide open. Some one pick him up.  I'm tired."

[BballTim]

 So you watched the game, saw Rondo hurt his back, watched him struggle to even jog up and down the court after the injury, heard the announcers commenting on how much he was struggling to move, and came to the conclusion that he left Novak WIDE OPEN was unrelated to that and because he's a bad defender? Wow. Just wow.

  I guess all the nba coaches (who vote on the all-defense teams) are blinded as well, and add in the GMs who pick him as the best or close to the best perimeter defender in the league every year. So must be the people who (apparently) slant most of the defensive metrics to favor Rondo every year.

  Saying that West was a better defender is like saying that Bass is a better defender than KG or Baby is a better defender than DH. It's ridiculous. Rondo's better than Bradley as well.

Whatever.  If he was too hurt to play defense, he was too hurt to play offense.  He had no problem doing that.  If you can't even try to stay with your man on defense then get out of the game. 

My comment isn't about just last night.  Rondo's done this forever.  You watch him closely in future games.  He rarely fights through picks.  He routinely lets his man get wide open for threes.  He does it all the time.

And yes, if you watch Delonte, he plays straight-up defense like a man.  He doesn't want to let his man score on him, ever.  Neither does Bradley.  Rondo couldn't care less.

And if you think Rondo is better defensively than either West or Bradley, you're blind.  Rondo gets voted by those NBA GMs because they all look at stats like steals.  That to me doesn't define a great defender.  It's one part of it, but if you're man scores 7-10 times and you get three steals the other times, you're hurting your team.

You guys with your Green/White glasses just can't see the truth.  John Bagley played better defense than Rondo. Ok, not Bags.  But it's close 

  I think the Bagley crack may have been the most accurate thing in your post. Talking about three pointers, people Rondo cover hit their threes at the same rate as people Bradley covers, with West well behind either of them. In terms of letting their man score, Rondo's ahead there as well.

  As for "If he was too hurt to play defense, he was too hurt to play offense", Rondo had 11 points and 9 assists before the fall, 2 points and 4 assists after. Clearly it affected him on offense, you missed that as well.

  You watch Rondo closely for a few games and you'll find that he doesn't get challenged by too many opponents, but when Bradley covers that same player they'll try and score more often.

[No Nickname]

  I think the Bagley crack may have been the most accurate thing in your post. Talking about three pointers, people Rondo cover hit their threes at the same rate as people Bradley covers, with West well behind either of them. In terms of letting their man score, Rondo's ahead there as well.

  As for "If he was too hurt to play defense, he was too hurt to play offense", Rondo had 11 points and 9 assists before the fall, 2 points and 4 assists after. Clearly it affected him on offense, you missed that as well.

  You watch Rondo closely for a few games and you'll find that he doesn't get challenged by too many opponents, but when Bradley covers that same player they'll try and score more often.

Come on Bball Tim, are you serious?  Using your own line of reasoning, if Rondo' offense was hurting that badly too, then why was he even in the game? 

If he's out there, he should be playing at least a reasonable level of defense.  Otherwise ask for a sub.  But it's not just last night.  He loafs on defense all the time.  Seriously, please watch him closely the next game.  Not just the other team's ball movement, but Rondo's off the ball defense.  He's lazy as hell. 

Is he saving his energy for the offensive end?  Maybe.  I could at least understand his thought process if that's the case.  He does get a lot of offensive rebounds which does take a lot of energy.

His fundamental, man-to-man defense though, is slack.  He can do it when he actually tries.  But he doesn't seem to want to unless all of a sudden he lets himself get picked and he has to switch to a superstar like LeBron.  Then he likes his mano-a-mano duel where he can look good for the cameras.

Believe me, I love the Celts.  I just hate lazy basketball.  Rondo's an incredible passer, cutter, rebounder.  But he doesn't play the kind of defense you want in your starting point guard.  And he doesn't shoot free throws much better either.  Those are both things that take a lot of work (FTs in the off-seaso or in practice) and he doesn't seem to want to do either.

As for Rondo "not getting challenged too often" you have it right.  But not like you think.  He doesn't get challenged so he doesn't try.  When he is "challenged" then he'll play like a beast.  But unfortunately that's only when he feels like it.

[the_Bird]

Come on Bball Tim, are you serious?  Using your own line of reasoning, if Rondo' offense was hurting that badly too, then why was he even in the game? 

If Rondo's not playing, who is?  I'll take Rondo playing at 40% versus Keyon Dooling playing at 110%.  Keyon had the worst +/- on the team in his 16 minutes, only hit 1-5 shots and didn't do much of anything else out there.  You rather see him play 30 minutes?  Run with a Keyon/Bradley backcourt?

Ray was out.

Pietrus was out.

Quis hasn't played worth a [dang] in months. 

Despite the protestations of a vocal group here, E'Twaun Moore isn't very good. 

Bradley can't play two positions at once. 

Rondo sucked it up and did the best he could, even though he was hurting.  I'm glad the kid's a [dang] warrior, I'm glad the kid's not one to sit out.  We were down quite a bit already at that point, no one would have blamed him if he called it a night and we waved the white towel.

He didn't, and the team didn't.  That's commendable.  But, there's only so much he could do.

[No Nickname]

If Rondo's not playing, who is?  I'll take Rondo playing at 40% versus Keyon Dooling playing at 110%.  Keyon had the worst +/- on the team in his 16 minutes, only hit 1-5 shots and didn't do much of anything else out there.  You rather see him play 30 minutes?  Run with a Keyon/Bradley backcourt?

Ray was out.

Pietrus was out.

Quis hasn't played worth a [dang] in months. 

Despite the protestations of a vocal group here, E'Twaun Moore isn't very good. 

Bradley can't play two positions at once. 

Rondo sucked it up and did the best he could, even though he was hurting.  I'm glad the kid's a [dang] warrior, I'm glad the kid's not one to sit out.  We were down quite a bit already at that point, no one would have blamed him if he called it a night and we waved the white towel.

He didn't, and the team didn't.  That's commendable.  But, there's only so much he could do.

I'm sorry, but you guys are just blind to the fact that Rondo is lazy a lot of times on defense.  If he "sucked it up as best he could" when they were down by a lot, why quit when it was a seven-point game with two minutes left?  That makes no sense.

Watch the very last play on this highlight.  Novak had JUST HIT A THREE the possession before (when Rondo also gave up) but yet the Celts were still down only seven, not an insurmountable deficit.

Watch what Rondo does when he's "guarding" Novak in the corner.  He just stands there, not even picked, when Novak runs to the top-right of the three point line.  Rondo just points.  Gives up.  Doesn't care.

Now if that's how Rondo played defense every possession after he fell, then ok, I'd get your point.  But no, he ran around some.  He somewhat tried to stay with his man, when he wanted to. 

But in crunch time, with 2:00 left, when the Celts had finally cut a 15, 16, 17 point lead down to six, he quit.  If you can't see that on the last play in this clip (video box on the right) then you guys are delusional.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=320417018

[BballTim]

  I think the Bagley crack may have been the most accurate thing in your post. Talking about three pointers, people Rondo cover hit their threes at the same rate as people Bradley covers, with West well behind either of them. In terms of letting their man score, Rondo's ahead there as well.

  As for "If he was too hurt to play defense, he was too hurt to play offense", Rondo had 11 points and 9 assists before the fall, 2 points and 4 assists after. Clearly it affected him on offense, you missed that as well.

  You watch Rondo closely for a few games and you'll find that he doesn't get challenged by too many opponents, but when Bradley covers that same player they'll try and score more often.

Come on Bball Tim, are you serious?  Using your own line of reasoning, if Rondo' offense was hurting that badly too, then why was he even in the game? 

If he's out there, he should be playing at least a reasonable level of defense.  Otherwise ask for a sub. 

  If Doc wants him out of the game then he should put someone else in. Rondo's a warrior, he's going to do what he can to help the team win. I don't see the point in attacking Rondo for trying to fight through an injury.

But it's not just last night.  He loafs on defense all the time.  Seriously, please watch him closely the next game.  Not just the other team's ball movement, but Rondo's off the ball defense.  He's lazy as hell. 

  His ball denial defense is about as good as you'll see from a point guard. He doesn't always stick with his man but he's also very disruptive to opposing offenses when he cheats off his man to help out.

His fundamental, man-to-man defense though, is slack.  He can do it when he actually tries.  But he doesn't seem to want to unless all of a sudden he lets himself get picked and he has to switch to a superstar like LeBron.  Then he likes his mano-a-mano duel where he can look good for the cameras.

  From synergysports, when Rondo's opponent isolates him, that player scores about .58ppp, compared to .78 for Bradley or (ahem) 1.12 for West. .58ppp is fairly smothering defense. Again, you talk about watching games, but it's fairly rare that people playing against Rondo have big games, and the players he guards seem to score a lot of their points when Rondo is either out of the game or covering someone else.

As for Rondo "not getting challenged too often" you have it right.  But not like you think.  He doesn't get challenged so he doesn't try.  When he is "challenged" then he'll play like a beast.  But unfortunately that's only when he feels like it.

  Again, if you check out those synergy numbers, you'll see that players going against Bradley or West attempt to score against them more often than Rondo's opponents. You talk about people being blind, but the case is your viewing is very selective. If Rondo's man scores because Rondo wasn't playing great defense, you take notice. If that man goes the next 7-8 possessions without doing a thing, it's like those plays never happened.

[BballTim]

If Rondo's not playing, who is?  I'll take Rondo playing at 40% versus Keyon Dooling playing at 110%.  Keyon had the worst +/- on the team in his 16 minutes, only hit 1-5 shots and didn't do much of anything else out there.  You rather see him play 30 minutes?  Run with a Keyon/Bradley backcourt?

Ray was out.

Pietrus was out.

Quis hasn't played worth a [dang] in months. 

Despite the protestations of a vocal group here, E'Twaun Moore isn't very good. 

Bradley can't play two positions at once. 

Rondo sucked it up and did the best he could, even though he was hurting.  I'm glad the kid's a [dang] warrior, I'm glad the kid's not one to sit out.  We were down quite a bit already at that point, no one would have blamed him if he called it a night and we waved the white towel.

He didn't, and the team didn't.  That's commendable.  But, there's only so much he could do.

I'm sorry, but you guys are just blind to the fact that Rondo is lazy a lot of times on defense.  If he "sucked it up as best he could" when they were down by a lot, why quit when it was a seven-point game with two minutes left?  That makes no sense.

Watch the very last play on this highlight.  Novak had JUST HIT A THREE the possession before (when Rondo also gave up) but yet the Celts were still down only seven, not an insurmountable deficit.

Watch what Rondo does when he's "guarding" Novak in the corner.  He just stands there, not even picked, when Novak runs to the top-right of the three point line.  Rondo just points.  Gives up.  Doesn't care.

Now if that's how Rondo played defense every possession after he fell, then ok, I'd get your point.  But no, he ran around some.  He somewhat tried to stay with his man, when he wanted to. 

But in crunch time, with 2:00 left, when the Celts had finally cut a 15, 16, 17 point lead down to six, he quit.  If you can't see that on the last play in this clip (video box on the right) then you guys are delusional.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=320417018

  Frankly I'd say what's delusional is claiming that a player that tries to finish out a game when he's too injured to move around well doesn't care. Too bad you weren't posting here after his elbow injury in the playoffs, I would have loved your posts about how he wasn't going to the left enough after that happened.

[BballTim]

If Rondo's not playing, who is?  I'll take Rondo playing at 40% versus Keyon Dooling playing at 110%.  Keyon had the worst +/- on the team in his 16 minutes, only hit 1-5 shots and didn't do much of anything else out there.  You rather see him play 30 minutes?  Run with a Keyon/Bradley backcourt?

Ray was out.

Pietrus was out.

Quis hasn't played worth a [dang] in months. 

Despite the protestations of a vocal group here, E'Twaun Moore isn't very good. 

Bradley can't play two positions at once. 

Rondo sucked it up and did the best he could, even though he was hurting.  I'm glad the kid's a [dang] warrior, I'm glad the kid's not one to sit out.  We were down quite a bit already at that point, no one would have blamed him if he called it a night and we waved the white towel.

He didn't, and the team didn't.  That's commendable.  But, there's only so much he could do.

I'm sorry, but you guys are just blind to the fact that Rondo is lazy a lot of times on defense.  If he "sucked it up as best he could" when they were down by a lot, why quit when it was a seven-point game with two minutes left?  That makes no sense.

Watch the very last play on this highlight.  Novak had JUST HIT A THREE the possession before (when Rondo also gave up) but yet the Celts were still down only seven, not an insurmountable deficit.

Watch what Rondo does when he's "guarding" Novak in the corner.  He just stands there, not even picked, when Novak runs to the top-right of the three point line.  Rondo just points.  Gives up.  Doesn't care.

Now if that's how Rondo played defense every possession after he fell, then ok, I'd get your point.  But no, he ran around some.  He somewhat tried to stay with his man, when he wanted to. 

But in crunch time, with 2:00 left, when the Celts had finally cut a 15, 16, 17 point lead down to six, he quit.  If you can't see that on the last play in this clip (video box on the right) then you guys are delusional.

http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=320417018

[No Nickname]

If Doc wants him out of the game then he should put someone else in. Rondo's a warrior, he's going to do what he can to help the team win. I don't see the point in attacking Rondo for trying to fight through an injury.

Exactly.  Doc should take him out of the game when he goes into "tired mode."

 His ball denial defense is about as good as you'll see from a point guard. He doesn't always stick with his man but he's also very disruptive to opposing offenses when he cheats off his man to help out.

All subjective. And even you admit "he doesn't always stick with his man."  But a lot of time it's not to double-team someone else.  It's just to stand and watch.  And sometimes to watch his man hit a three.

 From synergysports, when Rondo's opponent isolates him, that player scores about .58ppp, compared to .78 for Bradley or (ahem) 1.12 for West. .58ppp is fairly smothering defense.

Again, this is just in iso situations where you use this stat.  Rondo let's himself get picked so easily that it's no longer an iso situation.  Also, Bradley is usually covering the team's best guard so of course he's going to have more points scored against him.  Doc puts Rondo on the other team's weakest offensive player much of the time.  Or the one least likely to drive.  Guys who just like to shoot spot-up threes (like Novak). 

  Again, you talk about watching games, but it's fairly rare that people playing against Rondo have big games, and the players he guards seem to score a lot of their points when Rondo is either out of the game or covering someone else.

  Ahem, have you ever seen what Derrick Rose, Chris Paul, and Russell Westbrook do to Rondo when he tries to cover them?  BIG GAMES!  But like I said, most times Doc realizes this and puts Rondo on the shooting guards for these teams.  Just like he had Rondo on Novak last night.

You talk about people being blind, but the case is your viewing is very selective. If Rondo's man scores because Rondo wasn't playing great defense, you take notice. If that man goes the next 7-8 possessions without doing a thing, it's like those plays never happened.

When Rondo's man doesn't score the next 7-8 possessions it's not always because he is playing "good defense."  It's because they were able to drive and dish.  But whatever, that's such an anecdotal thing to say.  You don't show specifics with that statement.  Just what you think you remember.

I'm talking about two specific plays last night, and asked folks to watch for these types of plays in future games, where Rondo just laid down and gave up.  And it wasn't because he was injured.  He was running around on offense and on other defensive possessions.  Here he just quit.  I don't see Paul Pierce doing that.  Or Bradley.  Or KG.  Or Ray.  They don't just stand there and point like Rondo's prima donna self "ooh, oooh, my man is running free."

He wasn't even picked at all on that last Novak three.  Chandler was three feet away from him.  Rondo actually ran into Chandler well after Novak was at the three point line to make it look like he got picked.

Weak.

[No Nickname]

Frankly I'd say what's delusional is claiming that a player that tries to finish out a game when he's too injured to move around well doesn't care. Too bad you weren't posting here after his elbow injury in the playoffs, I would have loved your posts about how he wasn't going to the left enough after that happened.

You're posts are as weak as your analysis Tim.  You back up nothing.  All anecdotal and using stats for situations I never referenced.

The fact is, Rondo was able to at least run after he got hurt.  We all saw it.  He didn't just go from top of the key to top of the key.  He ran around... when he wanted to. 

Anyone who's sane can see that on that last Novak three he just quit.  Yeah, that's being a "warrior."  If Rondo had at least attempted to stay with Novak, you might have a leg to stand on.  If he were picked, you'd have a leg to stand on.

The guy just STOOD THERE.  He didn't even try.  During crunch time!  Down only seven! 

Sure, do it when you're down 16.  Do it if there's only :30 left in the game.  But the Celts were making a run.  They were coming back.  And Rondo punked out.  He's done it before.  He just doesn't like playing what anyone who ever played organized ball knows as "fundamental defense."  He just doesn't.