Nope, his defense isn't better. Pretty much the only difference from before is that now he's being fed some of the highest minutes in the game. His box scores look better now, if one ignores how many minutes it takes him, if one ignores actual impact on the game. His team is losing. His RPM is still terrible, both offensively and defensively. He did finally hit a smattering of threes this month. Aside from that, nothing has changed.