in defense of KO

[SHAQATTACK]

When I think of Kelly ......in positive way

Defense doesn't registrar .......

Right now on a one to ten scale ,   I rate him a TWO .

He is flat foot est. Kid I ever seen.

He needs more strength training and work under the basket . 

An aggressive mindset would help too .

[Chris22]

When I think of Kelly ......in positive way

Defense doesn't registrar .......

Right now on a one to ten scale ,   I rate him a TWO .

He is flat foot est. Kid I ever seen.

He needs more strength training and work under the basket . 

An aggressive mindset would help too .

Did you see Kelly's two blocks the other night?

[D.o.s.]

Broken clock, twice a day.

[nickagneta]

When I think of Kelly ......in positive way

Defense doesn't registrar .......

Right now on a one to ten scale ,   I rate him a TWO .

He is flat foot est. Kid I ever seen.

He needs more strength training and work under the basket . 

An aggressive mindset would help too .

Did you see Kelly's two blocks the other night?

I have seen Spud Webb do spectacular dunks in a game, it didn't  make him a low post threat. I have seen Kelly Olynyk have some spectacular blocks, that doesn't make him a good defender.

[Joe Green]

Defense is first and foremost about skill. I have seen so many freak athletes with gorilla length arms fail to defend the pick and roll.....

KO is playing smart team defense. He is not a lock down defender - no one claims it. However the TEAM plays better defense when he is on the court, which is ALL I CARE ABOUT.

[Joe Green]

I don't know why - but we are one of the best defenses in the league when he is playing in Feb...

Probably because of the teams we played:
http://www.nba.com/celtics/schedule

We played, uh, one playoff team that month?

Well, his defensive rating was 10 points better than Tyler Zeller, Marcus Smart and AB (arguably the three best defenders on the team) . Were they playing the Warriors while KO was on the bench?

Interesting query. Since I haven't been able to watch as many games as I'd like this year, I decided to investigate some reasons.

My first stop: Basketball Reference. Weirdly, Olnyk doesn't show up when you search for how many minutes each Celtics player played in February, which was my first inclination to an explanation for this difference...
http://bkref.com/tiny/H82fE

So I went to the game logs:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/o/olynyke01/gamelog/2015/

And it would seem that, go figure, Olynyk was on the bench while the rest of the guys were playing the Warriors:
http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201503010BOS.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/201501250GSW.html

And he also sat out all of February. So. Uhm. There's that.

You are correct - I was thinking about January - before he got injured. Still - if you check out the stats on NBA.com you will see what I am talking about.

[D.o.s.]

which stats? I spend a lot of time on stats.nba.com, so I'm curious as to what you're looking at.

[Tr1boy]

Defense is first and foremost about skill. I have seen so many freak athletes with gorilla length arms fail to defend the pick and roll.....

KO is playing smart team defense. He is not a lock down defender - no one claims it. However the TEAM plays better defense when he is on the court, which is ALL I CARE ABOUT.

Exactly. And if we get a Narlens Noel to work with KO,  KO "little" things will be noticed more

KO has a great motor. He is always busy trying to help

[oldtype]

I honestly think he's already good enough on defense not to be a humongous liability. He's never going to be a stopper, but this is enough if he can improve his offensive game.

[kozlodoev]

KO has a great motor. He is always busy trying to help

Never mistake activity for achievement

[littleteapot]

Can someone show me clips of Olynyk's great team defense? Whenever I watch, it seems like he fails to contain penetration on the pick and roll and he is very indecisive when he's coming off the weakside. IMO to be at least an average interior defender, you have to be able to take one thing away consistently when the other team penetrates. You either stop the ball handler or stop a roller/cutter/post player from getting open. IMO he's caught in between or a second late most of the time. If you're Hassan Whiteside you can get away with this, but not Olynyk.

I don't think that what the team defense looks like when he's on the floor is "all that matters." Who else is on the floor with him?

[D.o.s.]

KO has a great motor. He is always busy trying to help

Never mistake activity for achievement

Hey, Corey Brewer has kids to feed.

[Tr1boy]

KO has a great motor. He is always busy trying to help

Never mistake activity for achievement

Yeah why not applaud guys that stand around instead.
Im not talking about activity like a headless chicken. But instead a 7ft tall player closing lanes, running out to shooters to at least try to distract jump shots, run end to end to try to tip in missed opportunities. KO at times doesnt have to do these things like Sullinger and it would be ok. But he chooses to "try"

[kozlodoev]

KO has a great motor. He is always busy trying to help

Never mistake activity for achievement

Hey, Corey Brewer has kids to feed.

In fact, he's just got one son. Ironically, he's apparently named Kelly...

[kozlodoev]

KO has a great motor. He is always busy trying to help

Never mistake activity for achievement

Yeah why not applaud guys that stand around instead.
Im not talking about activity like a headless chicken. But instead a 7ft tall player closing lanes, running out to shooters to at least try to distract jump shots, run end to end to try to tip in missed opportunities. KO at times doesnt have to do these things like Sullinger and it would be ok. But he chooses to "try"

He's really not doing half of these. But you should read up on "necessary but not sufficient" conditions