I really don't want to bring out the BI haters but

Ingram whiny baby

But did he pass him the ball there?

Not to pile on but I really have noticed this lately.

It seems that Zion is always finding BI.

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My concern is can we max out how good we can be with Zion if you're 2nd best player is THIS bad on defense, I just don't know the answer to that.

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Zion is probably going to have to be our 2nd best wing defender long term. I'm not sure if that's realistic but that's probably the best way to be able to hide Ingram. Whoever is SG, whether that's Lonzo or someone else, needs to be an All NBA level defender too. Lock down the top wings with Lonzo/Zion, have Kira/BI playing the passing lanes with their speed/length, and have Jaxson cleaning up everything at the rim.

That seems like something that could work but it relies on Zion and Lonzo (or his replacement) getting much better than they currently are on defense.

Funny meme .... but better team win last night

It’s not great but this is a bit hyperbolic.

BI has been statistically below average defensively for this team, but bottom tier is a bit too far. Cleaning the glass has him in the 42nd percentile in defensive on/off opposing team efg%, around 40% in opposing team points per possession. He’s negative in the Lebron aggregate metric BBall Index uses to determine defensive success relative to others, however that is the case for a lot of superstars as well. He actually ranks individually, relatively close to guys like CP3, Giannis, and Luka in those metrics. Problem is we aren’t getting the defensive production around BI that guys like CP3 and Giannis are getting around them.

Not great, but when you consider that on his last year on the Lakers he was in the 75th percentile in the league in those same categories, it’s clear he can be a plus defender. And heck, we saw it last night. Where other than some possession lapses, BI played a pretty damn good game defensively.

Problem is, and this is across the board besides Lonzo and Hart, there is a tendency on this team to coast on defense. And tbf BI and Zion sort of have a case to make that they need other guys to step up because when this is what you are dealing with night in and night out:


It’s really unrealistic to expect young guys just learning their way as offensive alphas to have the energy to also play good defense when they are being beaten up and having such a tough time generating your offense.

To me this is where synergy matters. We need guys that can come in and do a better job being defensively versatile and reliable in knocking down shots.

Bledsoe really needs to go and Adams probably needs to move to the bench next season. If Hayes can take a leap and we can either get NAW or Kira into the starting lineup, that should make offensive production much easier and help our two best players have more energy defensively.

It is showing the spacing superstar players receive from the players around them relative to one another.

Zion, BI, Curry, and Dame are so low because their castmates don't create much spacing for them. Meanwhile, Giannis, Kawhi, Kyrie, KD, and Jokic have a lot of shooters around them so they are being provided greater spacing relative to the rest of their peers.

Which on another note, really calls into question LAC's struggles. By all accounts, they should be dominating.