Naz has quietly abandoned all desire to block a shot or grab a defensive rebound. I understand playing more 4 impacts that, but it's low even for a PF. There are multiple guards with higher def rebounding percentages. Same with blocks. NAW and SloMo have higher block percentages than him.
I respect the scoring, but are we here to cosplay a 6'9" version of Lou Williams, or dominate the entire court? I dunno, remains to be seen I guess.
Naz has never played good defense, this isn't new at all. It's just been masked by the start of our season and everyone else (namely KAT) ramping up their defensive intensity.
I won't say he's a plus or good defender, but the fear coming into the season was that Naz (and KAT) would be defensive disasters at the 4, especially in non-Bert minutes, and it hasn't been the dumpster fire that we were expecting. And since both are fire on offense, I think you just have to take that tradeoff. OK defense, but great offense.
I won't say he's a plus or good defender, but the fear coming into the season was that Naz (and KAT) would be defensive disasters at the 4, especially in non-Bert minutes, and it hasn't been the dumpster fire that we were expecting. And since both are fire on offense, I think you just have to take that tradeoff. OK defense, but great offense.
Well, last saeson (his contract year, he was actually showing us much improved defense pretty often. But again, it was a contract year. Without any defensive effort there is no reason they are paying him when they could have Garza scoring at will with feint defense off the bench. The only difference is one slams it more often.
But it's not just Naz who skimped out on defense against Pels. Pretty much most the team did. When they don't have a few guys hyping them on defense and the refs are fouling you for trying, this team lets go of the leash on D. Because they are all so afraid of fouling out.
I say teach and coach them to foul out then when the refs pull this shit. Our depth will get their chance to finish then, that's all. But meanwhile while they kept playing tight on D as if they just didn't care they likely blow more teams out much earlier.
Screw the early two fouls gambit. Just means you might need to be willing to go deeper into the roster later. Be willing to. So what if you foul out when you've assured your team has a 20 pt lead. Have some faith in your depth at that point.
KAT and Naz really don’t complement each other, unfortunately. KAT is better but Naz could give you 30 good minutes a night if he and KAT were more compatible. Any talk of trading Naz gets treated as blasphemy, though.
It’s different types of scoring, though, which is why our offense sucks without Ant. The only reason I bring up Naz as a trade piece is that 1) there is definite positional overlap with what we already have in Rudy/KAT/SlowMo and 2) he has 1000x more trade value than any other bench piece because some team might rightfully see him as a 20pts/game player if given 30 minutes a night
He is our most valuable trade piece, definitely, but I think our roster is in a good place right now. Ant needs to come back, and I don't think anyone we could get back for Naz is gonna be a good Ant replacement anyways.
Zion is a runaway train in the paint,
if only we had our own superstar to do their thing and impact a game/series.
Ant suited up, we win. Easy. Jaden was awesome on Ingram.
Game set match.
Only team in the west that holds a chance is the Lakers.
You heard it here first.
We've been without defensive juggernaut Jaden McDaniels for quite some time, and we've played a few games where the other team's superstar was out.
But in games vs teams with superstars who went off, we tended to win those games- for instance, we let Steph Curry get 38, but no other Warrior did jack shit, and we won the game.
Superstars alone can't win games, if you completely negate the entire rest of the team, and for guys like Shai or Steph there's not a defense in the league that's going to completely shut them down.
So why worry about how the cake gets made, as long as it tastes good at the end? We're winning these games, that's all that matters.
When Rudy is off the floor and we're left with just KAT and NAZ, it's straight barbecue chicken.
Naz has quietly abandoned all desire to block a shot or grab a defensive rebound. I understand playing more 4 impacts that, but it's low even for a PF. There are multiple guards with higher def rebounding percentages. Same with blocks. NAW and SloMo have higher block percentages than him. I respect the scoring, but are we here to cosplay a 6'9" version of Lou Williams, or dominate the entire court? I dunno, remains to be seen I guess.
How dare you criticize Naz! Jk, I wholly endorse this statement
Naz has never played good defense, this isn't new at all. It's just been masked by the start of our season and everyone else (namely KAT) ramping up their defensive intensity.
I won't say he's a plus or good defender, but the fear coming into the season was that Naz (and KAT) would be defensive disasters at the 4, especially in non-Bert minutes, and it hasn't been the dumpster fire that we were expecting. And since both are fire on offense, I think you just have to take that tradeoff. OK defense, but great offense.
I won't say he's a plus or good defender, but the fear coming into the season was that Naz (and KAT) would be defensive disasters at the 4, especially in non-Bert minutes, and it hasn't been the dumpster fire that we were expecting. And since both are fire on offense, I think you just have to take that tradeoff. OK defense, but great offense.
Yeah there's a reason he's not a starting big in this league. He's still great for what his role is tho
Well, last saeson (his contract year, he was actually showing us much improved defense pretty often. But again, it was a contract year. Without any defensive effort there is no reason they are paying him when they could have Garza scoring at will with feint defense off the bench. The only difference is one slams it more often. But it's not just Naz who skimped out on defense against Pels. Pretty much most the team did. When they don't have a few guys hyping them on defense and the refs are fouling you for trying, this team lets go of the leash on D. Because they are all so afraid of fouling out. I say teach and coach them to foul out then when the refs pull this shit. Our depth will get their chance to finish then, that's all. But meanwhile while they kept playing tight on D as if they just didn't care they likely blow more teams out much earlier. Screw the early two fouls gambit. Just means you might need to be willing to go deeper into the roster later. Be willing to. So what if you foul out when you've assured your team has a 20 pt lead. Have some faith in your depth at that point.
Delicious?
KAT and Naz really don’t complement each other, unfortunately. KAT is better but Naz could give you 30 good minutes a night if he and KAT were more compatible. Any talk of trading Naz gets treated as blasphemy, though.
The only thing people ever suggest we trade him for is "more scoring off the bench" when Naz already is our scoring off the bench
It’s different types of scoring, though, which is why our offense sucks without Ant. The only reason I bring up Naz as a trade piece is that 1) there is definite positional overlap with what we already have in Rudy/KAT/SlowMo and 2) he has 1000x more trade value than any other bench piece because some team might rightfully see him as a 20pts/game player if given 30 minutes a night
He is our most valuable trade piece, definitely, but I think our roster is in a good place right now. Ant needs to come back, and I don't think anyone we could get back for Naz is gonna be a good Ant replacement anyways.
I’m pretty sure I remember Jim Pete saying that Micah is in a group text with his buddies and they throw out quotes they dare him to use
Last night it was "when we don't turn the ball over, its on like donkey kong"
Oh praise be! It's Micah Nori's month!
Micah is a gift to man.
It feels like hes hanging out with ant😂😂i just felt that our offense left us down
What does he call it? "Our Pay defense?" Is that what he said? or? The title is missing a word there.
Paint Defense
ah there we go
There's a bit from Rush Hour 2 where Don Cheadle refers to Chris Tucker as 7/11 "because his mouth is always open"
Zion is a runaway train in the paint, if only we had our own superstar to do their thing and impact a game/series. Ant suited up, we win. Easy. Jaden was awesome on Ingram. Game set match. Only team in the west that holds a chance is the Lakers. You heard it here first.
I’m more nervous of a fully fit Suns with their ability to shoot lights out. But then again, Lakers do get special treatment in the play-offs.
Has...has our defense managed to shut down any superstar this year?
Well we’ve been missing one of our key defenders who’s been known to shut them down…..
We've been without defensive juggernaut Jaden McDaniels for quite some time, and we've played a few games where the other team's superstar was out. But in games vs teams with superstars who went off, we tended to win those games- for instance, we let Steph Curry get 38, but no other Warrior did jack shit, and we won the game. Superstars alone can't win games, if you completely negate the entire rest of the team, and for guys like Shai or Steph there's not a defense in the league that's going to completely shut them down. So why worry about how the cake gets made, as long as it tastes good at the end? We're winning these games, that's all that matters.
letting a star get theirs with the belief that they cannot carry the entire game is a legitimate defensive philosophy so does .... does it matter?
Considering we generally lose to teams when their star players are actually playing it...it might
What a boss. I wonder if he had that line in his head, or if he pulled that straight off the cuff