Jay Bilas on Jimmer

Haha, but this is coming from the guy who said VCU had NO shot at beating Florida State.

We all know how that worked out for him…

VCU is a good team, I admit Bilas messed that one up.

On Jimmer: He’s dead on. That man cannot play defense at all.

Yea alot of talk has been brought up that he rests on defense because he has to play alot of offense……But that Florida game showed that he really cant defend at a high level.

 i think he can play defense. but he definitely doesnt. hes a good athlete and he knows basketball so im sure if he put his mind to it he could play solid defense. but getting motivated defensively should be his primary concern going into the draft

 I suspect his D will be mediocre at the next level, but not as bad as all that. And let us keep in mind that there are plenty of scorers in the NBA who aren’t good at defense. Michael Redd is a good example. That guy was an All Star and yet he was often considered the worst defender in the league. I remember one time reading an article that pointed out that by certain statistical measurements, not only was Redd the worst defender in the league, but he was much worse than the second worst defender in the league. 

This is an old quote that I found on the net. Not the article that I remember, but gets to the same point. 

The Bucks are poor defensive team across the board, with no defenders showing above-average skills so far in 2006-07. As for Redd, he is one of the very worst defenders in the game, bar none. Using NBA Trak’s plus/minus system for evaluating defenders, Redd is at plus 9, the worst figure in the NBA among qualifying players. (His backcourt mate, Mo Williams, is second-worst at plus 8.)

dlipto11 was right on the money, he doesn’t put forth the effort because BYU wants him to concentrate solely on offense. Half of playing defense, just like rebounding, is a mind set. If you are determined, concentrate hard on the defensive end of the court, and want to be good, you can do it. Come on, he’s a terrific athlete who cannot be stopped on the offensive end. Anyone with that kind of athletic ability can make himself into at least a decent defender.

Of course he doesn’t have the height, quickness, or reach to be a great defender, but he can be more than adequate. There are many guards in the NBA who play little or no defense, so I have to laugh when certain college players are singled out for one reason or another for their lack of defense.

 It is hard to analyze how good of a defender he can actually be though, becasue his only real job on defense is to not foul out because if he gets in foul trouble, BYU doesn’t have a chance at winning pretty much any game.