I actually think he’s “theoretically” really good on defense. He has quick feet, and his positioning and decision making are really good. He also tries his ass off.
But he’s just small. So players shoot over him or overpower him. Same with Isaiah Thomas. Their defensive fundamentals were great but the size was the handicap.
Conversely I think Giannis has pretty poor defensive fundamentals but he’s just massive and freakishly athletic so he’s effective. If you watch closely, his footwork is relatively poor and he gets cooked a lot but his size and athleticism allow him to recover and still affect the play
I agree with all that. Thats why I said he struggles, not that he’s bad. I don’t think he is a bad defender, but his lack of size causes problems sometimes.
I’ve played and coached at different levels, and I can tell you that it’s pretty common for guys who have atrocious defensive fundamentals get praised as good defenders simply because they are freakish athletes.
I don’t like when people say players like that are “bad” on defense. Because they aren’t really unskilled at defense. They’re just less effective due to their size.
My pet peeve is that people massively overrate size issues defensively.
You mentioned Isaiah, he’s a great example.
He wasn’t a good defender by any stretch but people listed him as the worst defender of all time, said he could never be a good defender and then would turn around and say other short PGs like Chris Paul and Kemba Walker were more respectable because they were at least a little bigger.
Isaiah had the exact same standing reach as Kemba. But one was 5’8 and the other was 6’0.
Not to mention the effort plays a huge role. Isaiah’s height definitely hurt his defence but that same season Russell Westbrook was bottom 5 in the league in contesting shots. Harden was just as bad, a simple screen would leave Houston playing 4v5 defensively.
A 6’3 PG standing 4-5 ft away just isn’t a bigger defensive presence than a 5’8 guy in your face.
But he’s just small.
As for Pritchard, we were actually subbing him into playoff games last season specifically because of his defense.
6’5 Brogdon was dying on screens and both Horford/Williams had to play more drop coverage because of their health. A guard who needs to switch and a big who can’t switch is a really bad combination. So coach Mazzula would periodically try to sub Pritchard into games. We needed someone who could fight over screens and stick to their man.
But Pritchard had DNP’ed so much last season he had lost his shooting rhythm and couldn’t hit the side of a barn, so we’d sub him back out.
He was subbing in for defense and subbing out for offense.
People might also come around on Pritchard’s defense this season because we’re actually using him as a weapon now.
Part of why we’ve struggled on teams like Miami and GSW is because they pressure our wings with smaller guards who might struggle to contest shots but can get in lower and disrupt the dribble, think Chris Paul doing well on Durant historically.
This season we’re running a lot of Pritchard + Holiday full-court presses and it looks like we’re hoping to do the same.
I actually think he’s “theoretically” really good on defense. He has quick feet, and his positioning and decision making are really good. He also tries his ass off.
But he’s just small. So players shoot over him or overpower him. Same with Isaiah Thomas. Their defensive fundamentals were great but the size was the handicap.
Conversely I think Giannis has pretty poor defensive fundamentals but he’s just massive and freakishly athletic so he’s effective. If you watch closely, his footwork is relatively poor and he gets cooked a lot but his size and athleticism allow him to recover and still affect the play
I agree with all that. Thats why I said he struggles, not that he’s bad. I don’t think he is a bad defender, but his lack of size causes problems sometimes.
I’ve played and coached at different levels, and I can tell you that it’s pretty common for guys who have atrocious defensive fundamentals get praised as good defenders simply because they are freakish athletes.
My pet peeve is that people massively overrate size issues defensively.
You mentioned Isaiah, he’s a great example.
He wasn’t a good defender by any stretch but people listed him as the worst defender of all time, said he could never be a good defender and then would turn around and say other short PGs like Chris Paul and Kemba Walker were more respectable because they were at least a little bigger.
Isaiah had the exact same standing reach as Kemba. But one was 5’8 and the other was 6’0.
Not to mention the effort plays a huge role. Isaiah’s height definitely hurt his defence but that same season Russell Westbrook was bottom 5 in the league in contesting shots. Harden was just as bad, a simple screen would leave Houston playing 4v5 defensively.
A 6’3 PG standing 4-5 ft away just isn’t a bigger defensive presence than a 5’8 guy in your face.
As for Pritchard, we were actually subbing him into playoff games last season specifically because of his defense.
6’5 Brogdon was dying on screens and both Horford/Williams had to play more drop coverage because of their health. A guard who needs to switch and a big who can’t switch is a really bad combination. So coach Mazzula would periodically try to sub Pritchard into games. We needed someone who could fight over screens and stick to their man.
But Pritchard had DNP’ed so much last season he had lost his shooting rhythm and couldn’t hit the side of a barn, so we’d sub him back out.
He was subbing in for defense and subbing out for offense.
People might also come around on Pritchard’s defense this season because we’re actually using him as a weapon now.
Part of why we’ve struggled on teams like Miami and GSW is because they pressure our wings with smaller guards who might struggle to contest shots but can get in lower and disrupt the dribble, think Chris Paul doing well on Durant historically.
This season we’re running a lot of Pritchard + Holiday full-court presses and it looks like we’re hoping to do the same.