re: What Marc Stein said about DQ

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I mean, Queen was awful defensively last season.

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I mean, no he wasn’t.

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He's too short to defend at the center position (and can't jump),

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No he isn’t. His standing reach is similar to both Bam and Jarrett Allen. Stop looking at just his height. It means very little.
Anyone who weighs 250lbs can defend the center position. That short lazy fatass should be defending 5s as well. Keeping someone out of the paint is more important than being tall, see Chet.
There’s a reason Draymond can defend 5s. It’s not b/c he tries harder than others. It’s b/c he’s fricking strong, and at 230lbs with a lower center of gravity and his 7’1” wingspan, and his instincts, he’s capable of holding his ground against most bigs in the league, despite being 6’6”.

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and his feet are too slow to defend at the power forward position.

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No they aren’t.


There’s a reason he was top 1/3 in the league in defending in isolation as well as in post ups. And opponents shot 32% from 3 against him. None of that says he is a bad defender. It’s quite the opposite.


I have to tell kids I coach all the time that no one is going to defend their man one on one all the time and stop them. It’s impossible. Everyone gets beat off the dribble from time to time. Everyone. It’s not your fault your man got by you and got an open layup. It’s your 4 teammates fault they weren’t in a position to help you that your man got an open layup.
We were bad team defensively more often than not. Don’t confuse our bad strategy and team defense (usually b/c of lazy fatass) with certain individuals being bad on defense. There were lineups that played significant minutes that were really good defensively. Hopefully our new coach finds those right lineups and also instills a better defensive philosophy. We have the personnel to be a good defensive team.

I've seen several things that indicate that DQ is going to show up in fantastic shape this year. Fingers crossed that he can make a big sophomore leap.

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There were some good moments: I liked that he refused to get pushed around and was strong against Jokic and other big centers.

And he was a rookie, and almost all rookies are poor defenders. So he'll be a better defender this year, but the question is how much better.

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You left out the most important part. He can go shot for shot with Jokic. Jokic isn't an amazing defender but he sure as hell can do whatever he wants. Queen can be an average defender and still out compete other centers if their defense can't keep up with his offense and overall abilities.

The best we have been the last few years was with Val who was a terrible defender but could pop off for 20pts and neutralize the defensive struggles.

Queen is already a better defender than Val and has way more abilities on the offensive side.

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He is not near as athletic as Bam or Allen

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No he is not. That doesn’t mean anything. Jaxson Hayes is an athletic freak. Pretty worthless defender in the NBA for the most part. All that length and athleticism yet he still sucked. This past year he seemed to take a turn and finally became a good defensive player.


DQ is not much different than Al Horford.

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What was his vertical jump?

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Doesn’t matter. He’s not the type of player you funnel ball handlers to so he can block/alter shots at the rim. His job is to use his body and keep bigs from backing him down, and to play good TEAM defense to keep opponents from getting into the paint off the dribble.

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You left out the most important part. He can go shot for shot with Jokic

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Uhh, what?

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You left out the most important part. He can go shot for shot with Jokic.

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the most realistic current comp for DQ is Sengun. Many of the same plusses and minuses....

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My favorite comp for Queen is Kevin Love. Both slow and super strong. Love really improved his fitness early to become an incredible rebounder. But he didn't really pop to year 3. It takes time.

I believe Queen will eventually play more 4. But probably not this year.