2 Players You Would Give a “Pass” to on Offense and Defense (respectively)

Offense: Kendrick Perkins- We all know he has as much post offense as Scott Brooks… maybe less. He is in there to rebound and be a physical force. With Durant, Westbrook and Harden capable of filling it up on any night Perkins should get a pass from any offensive responsibility other than setting screens and getting offensive rebounds. It would futher help Perkins be a no show on offense if Serge develops his offensive skills over the summer (He will play with the Gasol brothers this summer so he might learn a thing or two)

Defense: Steve Nash- The guy is a lights out shooter, pin point passer and rarely turns the ball over. He gives you so much on offense and can get the entire team involved rather than just himself like some great scorers. He deserves a little extra help side defense from his teammates on the other side of the ball.

Defense – Dirk! Not really a guy you associate defense with (although he has been tougher on that end the past few seasons). He gets the pass on defense for probably his entire career because his jumper is so money and he always produces offensively.

Offense – Anderson Vaerjo = Now, he can get to double digit scoring and occasionally, he does shock you with a post move. But this guy is not an offensive threat. Yet, he find ways to make a difference whether its grabbing a board or taking a charge, he can impact a game and score 2 points. Honorable mention to Shane Battier because he never will consistently score but he always plays SMART and does the little things to win. Probably the ultimate glue to have and any amount of 3s he hits is just the cherry on top

 Offense: Tyson Chandler – He is already an oustanding defender in all aspects.  His value rebounding, defending the pick-and-roll, and operating as a weakside shot blocker are all more important than anything he could do on offense.

Defense: Dirk Nowitzki – He is just too good offensively.  Having a big man who is so dangerous both as a post up threat, iso threat, and a pick-and-pop jump shooter puts the defense in a world of trouble.

The last time these two were paired together, it turned out alright, so I decided not to overthink this.

(all-time)

OFFENSE: Dennis Rodman – best rebounder of all-time, multiple NBA titles, would get under the skin of his opponents, played great defense, was a real hassle playing against

DEFENSE: Dirk Nowitzki – amazing scorer, the best foreign player of all time, but he never has been a solid defensive player and Mark Cuban never asked him to be and the world doesn’t really care

 Pass on offense: Dikembe Mutombo. The finger-wagging sensation had a range the didn’t exceed his standing reach, but man did he shut down a lane. 

Pass on defense: George Gervin. In an era known for lax defense, Gervin still found a way to stand out as a no effort guy.  But damn the Iceman sure could finger roll!

Nobody deserves a "pass".

If you had to, Nash would be up there. But he would never give himself a pass. I believe he had a season where he lead the league in charges drawn (or was at least amongst the leaders).

And Tyson Chandler is actually very efficent on offense. He scores very well close to the bucket and has REALLY improved his free throw shooting. DeAndre is already an effective player… but think of how much better he’d be with 1) a simple jump hook or drop step 2) 70% FT shooting

O: Joel Anthony

D: Jamal Crawford

Defense: Carmelo Anthony, the guy’s simply too good at putting the ball in the basket. If I were the GM of his team, I’d give him a great passing point guard, a solid secondary scorer who can get around 15-18 points every night and load the rest of the team with perimeter shooters and defensive players. I think that would definitely be a championship contending team.

Offense: Thabo Sefolosha, I watched him in the Lakers series going up against Kobe Bryant and he was superb on the defensive end. He won’t shut down the other team’s best offensive guy, but he will really make them work for every single point they get. He’s got a solid wingspan which helps him get some steals as well. 

Joel Anthony is worthless on both ends of the court (hence how he only played 2 minutes during the NBA finals)

Defense: James Harden – no awareness at that side of the ball what so ever, not enough will to stop players or stay infront, also not smart defender.

Offense: Thabo Sefolosha – looking a little stiff with the ball, very erratic shooting the ball, can missed dunks on some opportunities from time to time, seems that doesn’t know how to use effectively his athleticism and vertical leap when going into the basket to finish.

 Paradox, 

Thanks for defending Tyson’s offense. People seem to think that to be good at offense you have to have an assortment of moves. Chandler doesn’t have many moves and certainly doesn’t use what he has all that offense. Instead, he just puts the ball in the basket more efficiently than anyone in the league and (I think) his 71% True Shooting Percentage last year was highest in league history. And we aren’t talking about one shot a game either, he’s scoring 11 a game. But the big thing is that defenses have to respect him because if he gets the ball in one of his positions it is game over the ball is going in the basket. 

So Tyson is actually a very good offensive player and for the last two years (Dallas and Knicks) he has actually improved both teams offense as much if not more than their defense (and he makes their defense better). Now this is hard to see on the Knicks because Amare has become bad and Melo shoots a mediocre percentage on lots of shots. But the best way to look at this was when Melo and Amare were out, the Knicks were basically unbeatable with an offense that was largely just Chandler setting picks for Jeremy Lin. 

And I wouldn’t give Perkins a "pass" on offense because of his low post defense. That is a nice thing and super important if you are playing Bynum or D. Howard. But he has trouble stopping the elite PFs because of their quickness (he certainly didn’t stop Lebron’s post game in the finals) and he doesn’t bring rebounding, blocks or steals to the table (he’s below average for a starting center in all those catagories). So there isn’t enough to earn a pass for the lousy scoring numbers on mediocre shooting percentages.