GDT: Minnesota at New Orleans

[D-Mac [enjin:19736340]]

Dlo is not, under any circumstances, a good defender. He is mediocre at best (when he isn't being lazy). He is being surrounded by some great defenders and being hidden on that end of the court. This is something that teams traditionally do for players who are great on offense... DLo is good on offense... sometimes. I'll admit we missed him in a couple of those losses, and he has played well at times this year (although inconsistent and still way overpaid). Let's face it, this team has three absolutely ELITE defenders in the rotation (not including okogie) and ant has actually been really good too. Each of these three is great on that end... I don't think there's any disputing that (huge credit to rosas for acquiring all three). Lets get real though, DLo is still an overall bad defender who is just getting better at staying out of the way :) As we start playing better teams, he'd better step it up a lot more on offense if he wants to justify even being in the game at important times.

[FNG]

Is anyone surprised about the disparate opinions about DLo's defense? There will always be room for disagreement about whether DLo is a positive player or not, but there's one thing everyone can agree on...DLo will always be a controversial player and provide lots of fodder for discussion on boards like these. As I read the positive and negative comments about DLo's defense, I find things I can agree with on both sides...that's the nature of Russell. On the positive side, he just looks more engaged on defense this year and the stats prove it...he currently has the best DRtg of his career, and he is part of some of the best rated defensive combos in the league. My God, the Wolves give up a remarkable 19.5 fewer points per 100 possessions when he in on the court!

But it's just as easy to make a case for the other side. Even though DLo is currently sporting his best ever DRtg through 17 games, he still has the worst DRtg on the defensively-resurgent Wolves with a very average 110. Secondly, there's no argument that he (and the Wolves) are having their defensive success against injury-riddled offensively-challenged teams...what's going to happen to DLo's defense when we start facing better offenses? Finally, every opponent we face has a "worst offensive player" on the court at all times, and Finch is quite adept at making sure DLo is matched up on him.

Somebody mentioned (maybe in this thread) how much DLo resembles Ricky Rubio in this Bizarro season, and it's true. Ricky actually has a better TS% than DLo, but DLo is protecting the ball better (although both have TO:A ratios better than 2). And while Ricky has consistently fared well in his career in on/off measures while DLo has not, this year Russell is far and away the Wolves' leader in on/off (while Ricky is third for the revitalized Cavs).

It's indeed a Bizarro season for Russell!

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

D'Angelo Russell's Defensive Rating is actually 95.5 through 15 games played -- the best in his career and currently second-best on the Wolves. I'm not sure where these other numbers are coming from, but the above can be found on the NBA site with https://go.nba.com/aqujthis link.

[FNG]

D'Angelo Russell's Defensive Rating is actually 95.5 through 15 games played -- the best in his career and currently second-best on the Wolves. I'm not sure where these other numbers are coming from, but the above can be found on the NBA site with https://go.nba.com/aqujthis link.

There are several sites that attempt to measure defensive performance, all unreliable in their own way. So after years of watching basketball and analyzing stats, I gravitate toward the source that more frequently matches my eye test:

https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/MIN/2022.html

Consistently over time, I've found that players who measure well on this site on offense and defense are generally winners, and vice versa. I also look at nba.com, but I find it less reliable. Take this year for instance. Both sites rate DLo as having the best defensive stretch of his career, and that certainly meets my eye test. But basketball reference also rates him at the bottom of the Wolves roster, while nba.com has him as only trailing JO for best defender. I think 90% of this board would say DLo is closer to the back of the pack on defense rather than our best defender, even in a banner year for him defensively.

Here's the reality check. NBA.com ranks DLo as a better defender than PatBev, Jaden and Vando, and MUCH better than PatBev, while basketball reference rates him behind these three defensive studs.

Let's conduct a poll ranking DLo, PatBev, Jaden and Vando defensively, and see how many here pick DLo as our best defender! I build my stat preferences over time and 17 games is obviously a very small sample size, but this is more evidence of why I prefer basketball reference over nba.com when it comes to evaluating a player's defense.

[kekgeek]

NBA, +/- Leaders
+224 Stephen Curry, GSW
+142 Giannis Antetokounmpo, MIL
+136 D'Angelo Russell, MIN

Never doubted Dlo. Hahaha

[TAFKASP]

NBA, +/- Leaders
+224 Stephen Curry, GSW
+142 Giannis Antetokounmpo, MIL
+136 D'Angelo Russell, MIN

Never doubted Dlo. Hahaha

So, many wanted to trade DLO fro Simmons and here we find he is a smaller version of Simmons, great defender and distributor and terrible shooter! :D

LOL

[FNG]

NBA, +/- Leaders
+224 Stephen Curry, GSW
+142 Giannis Antetokounmpo, MIL
+136 D'Angelo Russell, MIN

Never doubted Dlo. Hahaha

So, many wanted to trade DLO fro Simmons and here we find he is a smaller version of Simmons, great defender and distributor and terrible shooter! :D

LOL

Ha, who knew we already had our own version of Simmons on our roster!

Actually while they are obviously both elite defenders, DLo will never be as good a shooter as Simmons...Ben had a TS% of 58% last year, and DLo is way behind at 50% this year. However DLo has an elite +/- this year, and the last time I checked Simmons is still zero!