If you’re familiar with Barry Mccockiner you would know he’s one of the biggest trolls on social media but he could drop a serious take here or there and this one really got me thinking.
“1 on 1 defense has never been less important. Offenses spread defenses out better than ever before b/c players can shoot better than ever before. The NBA most of us grew up watching was teams throwing it to their big man and watching him go 1 on 1 in the post or guys taking contested mid range shots. You may think it was better defense but really it was just way more predictable offense. Teams aren’t trotting out 7 foot stiffs who clog up the paint anymore. I think too many “analysts” are still stuck in that era when evaluating players.
Rotating and help defense are what matter, and the more 3 point centric the NBA becomes, even that is becoming more of a crapshoot where you just have to trust the percentages and hope your opponent misses or doesn’t shoot above their head on that night.”
End of take.
Offenses can be equally predictable and harder to defend at the same time.
Idk it goes both ways. Not having a POA defender that can impact ball handlers is a big issue
*Read title and was skeptical. *
Read the name attributed to the quote and “knew it was a joke.”
Read the rest of the initial sentence and was curious.
Read the quote and kind of agree.
It’s really not quite that simple. Having more to worry about than just 1v1 defense doesn’t make 1v1 less important, it just changes how you use it.
Before, it would literally be just guarding your man and keeping them in front of you. But now a lot of defense is directing your man to where there is help on the court or into a position where the best option is to pass to someone who’s not a scoring threat. That’s still 1v1 defense, you’re just going about it differently.
Having a good POA defender I think is still pretty important, but if he means Team defense > individual defenders I absolutely agree.
Hard to tell with Barry lmao.
I think as a counterpoint to team defense being everything right now is that over systematized offenses are going to start struggling more. Defensive game plans in the half court are ahead of a lot of offenses, and player improvisation or unpredictability will be king especially in the playoffs.
I’m not saying only real hoopers like Derozan will flourish, but teams with an overly rigid offensive system will definitely find it harder to score. While more fluid offenses will begin to pop off. Real issue may become when a single player is the entire offense, it almost becomes a predictable scheme in itself.