re: Matt Moore Bringing the Crazy Talk, what this team is missing is Aminu

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First thinking Aminu is a significantly better defender than Cunningham. I'll concede better rebounder but I don't think they're that far off in terms of defending the 3/4

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lol. Cunningham has a negative defensive real plus/minus, although not as bad as his offensive real plus/minus. He's 59th in the league amongst PFs. Aminu is 5th in the league at his position behind Draymond Green, Tony Allen, Kawhi, and Kidd-Gilchrsit. Right ahead of Sefalosha, Ariza, and Lebron.

That is a clown statement. Aminu is an elite defender. The problem last year was all 4 of our SGs(Morrow, Rivers, EG, and Tyreke) were HORRENDOUS on D and AD still wasn't effecting the game that much on D.

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He also undermined his argument by responding to a "we're missing Holiday" with "the defense was bad before he went down." He's an admitted Holiday fan and says he's a plus defender, but somehow where Jrue failed to make our team defense good, Aminu will succeed, even though he failed to do so the past 2 years.

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This. Plus, it seems to me the last thing this team needs is another player (Asik) that you literally can't give the ball to on offense unless it's at the rim.

damn, shots fired

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That is a clown statement.

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No, it's a statement from someone that hasn't watched one second of Aminu this season outside of Pels games. I'm not sure where your stats are coming from but the rankings for the Basketball Reference lineup similarly and Aminu's DBPM this year is a 3.2 but was only a 1.0 last year. Cunningham this year is a 0.7, not that far off from Aminu's 1.0.

Nobody here thinks Aminu is a bad defender, we just all wanted to get him the hell away from Monty's over use. If you could have guaranteed he'd play 15ish minutes, and those minutes would not generally coincide with Tyreke on the court, I think most of us would have kept him, especially with him getting the minimum.

But all of that is still besides the point that he's not going to stop Isaiah Thomas or Monta Ellis.

Another thing that can't be calculated is that -- and this is undeniable -- Cunningham, despite his basketball shortcomings, made an immediate impact on this team, inspiring with his energy, focus, and personality. You could say the same thing with both QPon and Cole. And it has affected the manner in which the team plays. In fact, you could argue that these intangibles have become the basis for the identity and soul of this current squad. All this, in ways that Aminu NEVER inspired this team to win. It can't even be argued.

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That's all great but switching out Aminu for cunningham will do nothing for this defense.

As stated above quick guards is what is killing this defense. Gordon and Reke lack the lateral quickness to stay with these faster guards.

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What? That's not how defense works. It's not like we grab every single defensive rebound, and no 3s score against us. yes, penetration by the guards is our number 1 problem, but there are many different ways to improve defensive efficiency and replacing a below average defending small forward with an elite one will certainly do that.

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Pels are 5th in overall rebounding rate so it's not like were severely lacking in that department. We already know what this defense looks like with Aminu. we saw it for the last 2 years.

ETA: BTW i'm not knocking Aminu at all. he's a great fit for Dallas just not here.

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Well no shite, we have Asik and Davis. Probably second to Chicago for best rebounding front court. We could be number 1 if we had a top rebounding SF. But thats beside the point. I was and am illustrating the fact that you can improve in a lot more ways than just your biggest weakness. A relatively small percentage of the other team's plays start with an iso drive by the SG.

And no, we have not seen how the defense looks like with Aminu and an elite-defending AD. He is much stronger and smarter. Aminu has always been an asset. Now Davis is a major asset whereas he really wasn't defensively last year. Together, they would be very good.

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HP taking at shot at TBW, who had engaged him

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Hardwood Paroxysm ?@HPbasketball Value Over Replacement Blogger should be a thing. Rohan Cruyff would be MVP levels.


woof

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Not taking sides or whatever, but TBW accused Moore of being a headline seeker after the Sherwood Strauss article. There is some bad blood there. Rohan was great- not fair to compare the new guys, who mostly mean well, to one of the more prominent NBA writers SBNation had.

I don't think Moore is that far off on Aminu. The Pels have really needed wing help most of the season. Aminu is a low usage rebounding/defense guy. That mold fits the roster. Same time, Aminu was less than inspiring in NO. He didn't fit the role they wanted. Moving on was best for all parties. That he's playing well in Dallas is a testament to him, a change in scenery, and to Carlisle.

And I don't think Dallas is loaded with great shooters, but they do space the floor very well and they move the ball. That helps Aminu and it isn't common in NO. To me the defense stuff is more on Monty/scheme than anything else. The Mavs have similar, if not worse, defensive talent. They are considerably better on that end than the Pels. There is a disconnect somewhere

If you think adding Aminu to the Pelicans would fix their defensive problems, then you might have head up rear end.