The Thread of the 2009-2010 NBA Season

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

The Bulls organization has started turning a little Isiah-ish. John Paxson (GM) attacked Vinny Del Negro after a game a few weeks ago when he played Noah over the minutes they wanted him to play.

And huge win for the Bulls tonight. The "Defensive All-NBA" Rajon Rondo got clowned so hard by Rose that they had to put him on the bench for Nate Robinson in the closing minutes. I hope that puts an end to the ridiculous Defensive Player of the Year talk surrounding him.

1 game does not a whole season negate.

[RainMaker]

Sorry, Rondo does what he needs to do with his size (get a lot of steals). I would consider him a good defender because of it. But I don't think you can be considered a great defender until you can tell someone to shut down player X and he does it.

Do you feel that Rajon Rondo can shut down any star player in this league defensively?

[McSweeny]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Sorry, Rondo does what he needs to do with his size (get a lot of steals). I would consider him a good defender because of it. But I don't think you can be considered a great defender until you can tell someone to shut down player X and he does it.

Do you feel that Rajon Rondo can shut down any star player in this league defensively?

Nope. He racks up tons of steals because he gambles so much. His gambling wasn't much of a problem when he had a healthy Garnett playing behind him, but now with a gimpy Garnett behind him, it leads to an easy two points when he gambles and loses. He also has an alarming tendency to get lazy and fail to stay in front of his man.

Overall I'd say he's a pretty solid defender, but he could be a top defender if he gets more consistent.

[whomario]

Suns secure home court, but no Robin Lopez in the first round. Their play the last few weeks has been great though, the bench has stepped up big time even with Barbosa still searching for a rythm and a role.

Highly impressed by their season, 53 wins (and 1 game left) and home court when a lot of people didn´t even grant them a good shot at reaching the playoffs.
21-5 and 28-8 to close out the season.
As long as they don´t face the Spurs (kryptonite ...) i see them having a decent shot at advancing to the 2nd round the way teams have been playing and considering they looked great against Denver the last 3 meetings and Portland likely hasn´t Roy available, which you can overcome for a game or 2 but not a series imo.

Oklahoma-Lakers should be fun, hope Thabo does his best Shane Battier impersonation on Bryant.

Them, Portland and Oklahoma are the pleasant surprises in the West Playoffs definitely.

Boston has been highly mediocre for a while now. Remember, they started the year 23-5...

As for Rondo : I tend to agree that he gambles too much, but getting lit up by a player really isn´t that big of a deal. Happens to everyone.
The more terrible part was letting Kirk Hinrich score 30. Hello Ray Allen ...

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Sorry, Rondo does what he needs to do with his size (get a lot of steals). I would consider him a good defender because of it. But I don't think you can be considered a great defender until you can tell someone to shut down player X and he does it.

Do you feel that Rajon Rondo can shut down any star player in this league defensively?

Can any point guard shut another down under the current rules?

It's really hard to judge PG defense right now because the rules allow quick guards to penetrate rather easily. Rondo holds opposing PGs to an average of 10% below their normal production. If you combine that with the turnovers he generates and you'll have a hard time naming a better defender at the position.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by Atocep

Can any point guard shut another down under the current rules?

It's really hard to judge PG defense right now because the rules allow quick guards to penetrate rather easily. Rondo holds opposing PGs to an average of 10% below their normal production. If you combine that with the turnovers he generates and you'll have a hard time naming a better defender at the position.

I agree. I have no problem saying he's one of the best defensive PG's in the game. I wish Rose would adapt that ability to create turnovers on the defensive end like Rondo has.

I'm just saying the Defensive Player of the Year talk is pure nonsense. There is no PG who should be mentioned in that field because they can't make that kind of an impact on the game. It's akin to putting a TE in the discussion for MVP. It's just not a position that should be in that discussion.

The race this year should be between Gerald Wallace and Dwight Howard. Howard gets it because I don't think anyone in the league forces a team to change their gameplan more than he does. One sleeper who no one talks about is Josh Smith who is probably the most underated player in the league.

Rondo is 4th on my list of guys guarding point guards. I consider a healthy Paul a more refined version of Rondo who gets steals but doesn't take the same amount of risks. George Hill is a hell of a defender one-on-one and I'd even put little Kyle Lowry on the list. Maybe I just keep catching Lowry on the right nights, but he always seems to be causing havoc defensively. In fact that whole Rockets team seems to take a ridiculous amount of charges.

[whomario]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I'd even put little Kyle Lowry on the list. Maybe I just keep catching Lowry on the right nights, but he always seems to be causing havoc defensively. In fact that whole Rockets team seems to take a ridiculous amount of charges.

Lowry is awesome and kind of like a 6 foot version of Noah with the energy he brings, although a little less expressive He´ll be immensely important come next season.
Has far and away the best +- numbers (+8, next best rocket was Landry at +3.5) and the Rockets were 6-10 with him out.

But he isn´t a great individual defender really, doesn´t do a good job challenging shots out on the perimeter and has a tendency to abandon his assignment.

And yeah, Rockets take a ton of charges, that´s their compensating for no shot blocker. Leading the league there as a team and Lowry (2), Scola(12), Battier (14) and Hayes (15) are in the Top15 individually. Plus the last 20 games they had Jeffries who only leads the league ...

[RainMaker]

He doesn't need to challenge shots because most point guards are not great shooters. Penetration is the key and he is perhaps the best in the league at stopping or slowing it down. I've seen him on a number of games draw a couple charges or force PGs to pick up their dribble before they want to and watch as they turn timid.

[Ronnie Dobbs2]

I am deaf because of all the people shouting about Rondo geting Defensive Player of the Year.

[whomario]

Who said Rasheed Wallace didn´t score on Putbacks ?



at this point you can´t be picky on which basket he´s going to attack i guess

[DaddyTorgo]

I don't think Rondo is DPOY material, but he's certainly no slouch on the defensive end of the floor.