Defence is our Backbone

We knew that Ron Artest would play physical, man defence on the bigger wing players in the league.  Just like we knew Thabo Sefolosha and Kirk Hinrich would keep better offensive players on the bench in their Round 1 matchups to play good, hustling, perimeter defence.  And that players like Grant Hill, Anderson Varejao, and Kurt Thomas would slide their feet, take charges and rotate in the interior.  But there have been some players behind the scenes not normally thought of as defenders that have stepped it up and put on their best James Posey impression.  Generally, they have to step up as the defensive stopper on the floor, so their work is cut out for them.  And no, even though he didn't show up for the regular season and went for approximately 47 straight games without a blocked shot, Kevin Garnett's defensive resurgence these playoffs does not make the list.


Surprise Perimeter Defender
Jared Dudley - SF - Phoenix Suns

Anyone watching the Suns couldn't help but notice the sprightly young man that looked like he was put together from Playdoh taking up a textbook defensive pose in front of players like Kobe Bryant and Manu Ginobili.  His strange appearance has resulted in descriptive tweets like this one, this one, and my personal favourite, this one.  Nevertheless, he is fast becoming a KSBFNBAP (that's a Kiwi Sports Blog Favourite NBA Player).  With his butt low, legs bent, one hand in the passing lane, one hand preventing the crossover, he would make basketball coaches from the movies proud (Coach Carter, the guy from Glory Road, etc).

Despite his body looking as soft as a marshmallow and his head being perfectly round like he is a Southpark character, he has both a good turn of speed when a player tries to drive past him, and enough awareness not to jump on the pump fakes and jab steps.  Sure, it might have been the sanitary pad obscuring Manu Ginobili's vision, but he was kept pretty quiet for the series by Dudley.  Kobe has been unguardable mostly, but a combination of Grant Hill and Dudley have forced him to pass a lot more.  It helps that Dudley also grabs a good amount of rebounds, which the Suns' system needs from their wing players.

Honourable mention - Anthony Parker - SG - Cleveland Cavaliers

Parker drew the task of defending Rajon Rondo until Lebron James decided it was a royal duty.  Both failed, but Parker did a noticeable job of staying in front of Rondo most of the time when he tried to penetrate.  The "genius" defensive plan drawn up by former Coach of the Year, Currently Unemployed Mike Brown to go waaaay under screens on Rondo instead resulted in him having oodles of time to scan the floor and deliver a perfect pass.  He finished with this line.  I remember someone (probably Jeff Van Gundy, who knows everything there is to know about basketball), saying that trying to defend him like that just wouldn't work.  But when it was just a standard, man defence scheme, Parker did a fairly good job of keeping Rondo from doing this every night.


Surprise "Hustle" Defender
J.J. Redick - SG - Orlando Magic

With an emphasis on 'surprise'.  Perhaps some of that back to back DPOY hustle has rubbed off on J.J., because he has been chasing Ray Allen around screens and across the court like he lives for defence.  It is reminiscent of what Delonte West did to Ray Allen in the Cavs-Celtics Eastern Semi-Finals in 2008.  RayRay has been on in a big way this playoffs, but the game tape shows how much better J.J. is than Vince Carter, Matt Barnes, or even Mickael Pietrus in the all important hustle category.  If Orlando progresses though, I can definitely see Stan "I play Vince Carter in the clutch in close games" Van Gundy thinking that someone with more tattoos is required to defend Kobe Bryant, and playing Matt Barnes instead.  It will be the wrong move.

Honourable mention - Glen Davis - PF - Boston Celtics

Big Baby?  Hustle?  Just a look at some images of him will convince you that he will never be described as 'quick' or 'intelligent'.  But for the Celtics, he has been exactly that.  His work in the middle has placed him with the best defenders in the playoffs.  He isn't the vertical presence that Dwight Howard or Kevin Garnett is, and so doesn't alter the shots that those guys do simply by standing there.  Big Baby's advantage is his size, specifically, his width.  He takes up so much room on the court that the attacking players can't go around him, forcing an early shot or - a lot of the time - a charge.  There was a moment in game 4 where he rotated to Howard, fell over, got up as Dwight received the pass, and managed to block him at the rim.  So yes, he is quick, and he can jump.  See the 3:20 min mark of this video for the block. Despite his seemingly carefree attitude and comical appearance, Davis is becoming a ball player and a handy backup to Garnett.  Now he has defence and a beautiful 15-footer (also the 1:00-2:00 min stretch of this video) that he apparently works hard on.  Add that to his Dirk Nowitzki-esque propensity to have a good time, and he is also in the running to be a KSBFNBAP.



This is outrageous! Back it up with raw numbers!


I...can't.  There aren't a lot of stats available to measure the defensive efficiency of a player, especially guys that often defend a good scorer.  One good stat is dMULT - standing for defensive multiplier, which measures the opponent's performance relative to their usual production as a percentage.  So if a player has a dMULT of .900, it means the opponent has been 10% worse offensively than normal.  Even so, it is still not ideal for reserves as the creator says here. (Props to Bradford Doolittle at Basketball Prospectus for the stat)

2009-10 dMULT numbers (it doesn't separate out for playoffs unfortunately - hopefully it gets added to Basketball-Reference soon where playoffs are separated):

Jared Dudley - 0.870
Anthony Parker - 0.959
J.J. Redick - 0.944
Glen Davis - 0.996

Apart from Dudley, not good numbers.  Simply being less than 1.000 (the player's average production) does not make a good defender.  Dwight Howard's league leading dMULT is 0.548.  Monta Ellis' bullfighter defence is rated 1.005.

But that is why these four are surprise defenders.  Nobody thought J.J. Redick would keep Ray Allen quiet for one play, let alone a game or two.

The numbers don't back it up, but just watch the games.  Defence requires commitment and basketball IQ.  Maybe these guys decided it is the best way for them to get playing time, but these playoffs, they are fully committing to the championship-winning side of the ball.