Basketball Prospectus Rates Kobe as League's Second-Best Defender

Grading individual defensive performance - not just blocks and steals but the whole of a player's game at that end of the floor - is one of the most difficult things that hoops analysts attempt to tackle. It hasn't been solved and remains more art than science. But Bradford Doolittle, one of the geniuses over at Basketball Prospectus, has developed a thoughtful and sophisticated model to do just that, and today (in an article you can reach through the link above) he listed who he calculates to be the NBA's 17 best individual defenders this season.

Three Lakers make the list. Lamar Odom checks in at #15, Ron Artest at #11 and Kobe Bryant all the way up at #2, just behind Dwight Howard. Bradford's piece is a good read if you're into statistical modeling. Or just, you know, basketball.

almost 2 years ago DexterFishmore 10 comments 0 recs |

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Yeah, that was interesting read

Most of which was the prevalence of offensively potent players, which is pretty legitimate — make the person you have to guard on the defensive end expend ridiculous amounts of energy to guard you when you’re on offense, and you get good defensive numbers checking a less potent offensive player as a result. It’s an interesting way of measuring defensive prowess, although Doolittle is right to indicate that it can be slightly fluky (i.e. Gallinari).

As far as the Lakers players go, that list looks pretty accurate. Taking Kobe’s offensive prowess into account, it’s no surprise that he holds the stats of wings down when they’re already puckered out from chasing him around the court, although Kobe’s defensive ability obviously is very good. The presence of Artest, as far as this rating goes, also indicates an important facet: he’s chalking this up despite his minimal (relatively speaking) contribution on offense, which means that he’s really shutting people down. The corresponding Ariza comment was pretty relevant — he’s simply not the level of defender that Artest is and it’s very doubtful at this juncture that we’d have as potent of a defense. And you can’t make the “if he was on the Lakers his rating would be better argument” either, as Houston is a good defensive team. Odom’s place on this list isn’t surprising as well, as he’s such a versatile defender in help, pick-and-roll, and man-to-man situations.

To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.

by Ben R on Feb 12, 2010 10:41 PM PST reply actions

Other Laker Regulars

Here’s how they come out by dMULT…

Pau Gasol – 0.915
Andrew Bynum – 0.951
Derek Fisher – 1.066

That gives me additional faith in the system, as it all more or less lines up with what our eyes tell us.

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by DexterFishmore on Feb 12, 2010 11:01 PM PST up reply actions

That looks pretty good

Although I had to double check Fisher’s opponent PER stats just to make sure that the 6.6% added productivity he was giving wasn’t totally off (PGs currently have a 17.7 PER against him, a few points above the league average).

To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.

by Ben R on Feb 12, 2010 11:35 PM PST up reply actions

I am slightly surprised that Drew's only 5% more productive than his cover

And Pau 8.5%

Or maybe I just didn’t understand how dMULT works?

"That's a giant sig " - Ben R.

by Saurav A. Das on Feb 13, 2010 1:27 AM PST up reply actions

This measure strictly looks at defense

So it’s saying that Bynum’s opponents have been 5% less productive than they are over the course of the season, not that they are 5% worse than his productivity.

by kpelton on Feb 13, 2010 1:33 AM PST up reply actions

Ah yeah

Thanks for clearing that up (:

"That's a giant sig " - Ben R.

by Saurav A. Das on Feb 13, 2010 1:36 AM PST up reply actions

As a tiny bit of context

Pelton’s article on OKC’s vastly improved defense is a nice read:

http://basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=915

Nice tidbit also — we’re currently second in defensive efficiency (Boston is first). The team currently behind us is not Cleveland, Orlando, San Antonio, or even Charlotte. It’s OKC. That’s how far they’ve come this season, and they’re going to be terrifying in two or three years.

(Don’t worry about a potential playoff series though. Their frontcourt has huge (literally) matchup issues against us.)

To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.

by Ben R on Feb 12, 2010 10:49 PM PST reply actions

OKC is the future of the WC if you ask me

Portland who?

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.

by Justin N. on Feb 13, 2010 3:33 AM PST up reply actions

I feel like a nerd

for enjoying this article as much as I did.

While there are a few suspect names on that list, I can’t help but agree with most of it and I love seeing three Lakers in the top 15.

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.

by Justin N. on Feb 13, 2010 3:30 AM PST reply actions

So Dirk Nowitzki > Kevin Garnett. I guess I’m gonna have to clean my glasses. (OK, I admit, I only looked at the ranking and have not yet read the article.)

The Lakers "Too big, too strong, too long, too good."

by olf on Feb 13, 2010 1:37 PM PST reply actions