ShAuN wrote:Well I mean Kobe has Odom and Kwame who are better shotblockers than Blount. But I agree Pierce DOES need to stfu. But the only thing is, WTF is everyone talking about? This is Pierce saying he should be on the All Defensive First Team, why is everyone bringing up Kobe?
He's not talking about Odom & Kwame...lol.
Pierce is talking about when Kobe made all defensive teams, which is when Shaq was on the Lakers. Now that Shaq is gone, Kobe doesn't even make the 2nd team.
I first read this when Pippen made a statement about who should be DPOY and it's popped up again a few times. The theory is that you can ride your man hard if you have an monster paint defenders like SAS or Detroit.
They've done some research and it seems to be true for some players. For instance Tayshaun Prince has very good defensive ratings until Wallace & Sheed take their break (and he's usually in still), then his defensive ratings go down dramatically...although it's not very good proof because Wallace & Sheed barely took any time off last year so there's not a lot of data to work with. It could have been coincidence.
Delambert and Camby might have good stats, but the reality is, for whatever reason, the Sixers and Nuggets do not protect the paint all that well. The best teams at protecting the paint last year were SAS, Detroit, and the Bulls.
And in case you're wondering, a lot of people are suspicious why Chris Duhon is the #1 rated defensive Point Guard last year and Ben Gordon one of the highest rated SGs. And the Bulls do use that strategy of putting a hand in their guy's face and forcing him to drive to the basket...where he meets with Curry-Chandler-Davis. And while Curry might not be the best guy to defend other big men, he has no problem getting his hand up in front of some 6'1" point guard trying to drive into his area.