[DolanCareParticipant]

Per 100 possessions metric, the Spurs defensive rating is remarkably better with Kawhi Leonard on the bench. 97 per 100 possessions with him sitting, 106 per 100 possessions with him on the floor. 

CBS Sports attempted to explain this statistic…. the explanation didn’t do it for me. They said that opposing teams purposefully isolate Kawhi on defense by removing their best offensive player from the action. Essentially making the game 4 on 4. 

But wouldn’t 4 on 4 without your best offensive player make your offense worse? Not according to the Defensive Rating metric….

Can someone explain this crazy stat to me? 

[Anton123Participant]

The Spurs play 14,4 minutes a game without Kawhi Leonard. Can it be that Popovic sits Leonard down when the other team is playing their worst players? It is easier to defend against bad players than it is against good ones.

That’s just an idea.

 

[DolanCareParticipant]

This definitely has truth to it. Bench players like Patty Mills and Dedmon are simply better defenders than Parker and Gasol. A changing to the starting line up may be a worth while experiment. 

[KingslayerParticipant]

Chicago for example put Butler in the corner the whole possession, and put Aldridge or Gasol in the PnR. Both lack the mobility to adequately defend on an island, and guys like Manu and especially Parker can’t cover like they used to. The Spurs don’t have many great athletes and individual defenders besides Kawhi, so the strategy has been successful (and is catching on).

I doubt that completely explains it though. Perhaps Kawhi’s defensive brilliance has taken a small step back in general, now that he has so much responsibility to create offense.

 

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

 It’s actually a brilliant strategy. Kawhi may be the best individual perimeter defender in the league but he can’t necessarily impact team defense in the same way that a draymond green can (who you can basically switch onto anyone). If kawhis primary job on the defensive end is to shut down the opposing teams best player, then you kind of negate his impact on that end by choosing to take that guy out of the play.

It wouldn’t have really worked with past spurs teams but it does with this team because teams are smart enough to realize that their just aren’t that many quality defenders on the floor outside of kawhi. When you take him out of the play, you can force the Parker/ gasol-aldridge combo to defend the pick and roll and usually find success. 

It’s one of the main reasons I don’t see the spurs as a serious contender this year despite their record. I just don’t believe they can be good enough defensively.

 

 

[DolanCareParticipant]

 It’s a well written arguement, not sure if I buy it. Draymond Green can switch onto anyone, true. But every time Draymond switches onto Dwayne Wade, that means someone else is guarding Jimmy Butler. Every time Draymong switches onto Kevin Love, that means someone else is guarding Lebron. 

If you bench Butler, or Lebron, the team is less likely to score. How is this any different? The only explanation I can think of is that it’s confusing on defense when you’re suddenly playing 4 on 4 without realizing you are.  

 

[Author]

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