Lamb's defense this year

[high-post]

How disappointing has his effort defensively been this year? I think it's been pretty pathetic. He's routinely beaten off the dribble and fails to fight through screens consistently. He doesn't utilize his length to challenge his opponent's shots around the rim, and if he does it's often just token pressure, almost never giving a hard foul.
It just seems like the intensity is way down from last year. I know you can chalk some of it up to the injuries he's faced, but honestly it seems like a lot of it is just mental.

 

[aceboon]

Agree 100%, Moore was killing him out there and its been an issue right from the start of the season so I wouldn't use injuries/wear and tear. I know he had one today but just the difference in the number of steals he's had from playing the passing lanes compared to what he was getting down the stretch last year when he was dialed in defensively also tells the story about his effort. Doris(who was making comments all day) was talking about AO talking to Jeremy and assuming that he was telling him he needed to get some shots up, no, he was getting on him for his defense in allowing Moore to keep beating him.

 

[ford82]

Agreed. His guy scored on him whenever he wanted. Also one big three Pitt made to get back in the game Jeremy was ball watching instead of seeing ball and man, leading to a wide open three.

 

[Kitaman]

Damn can't we wait a day or two? I haven't tasted a victory in awhile (and Pitt at that).

 

[superjohn]

He's been a major dissapointment. It's okay if you are struggling but he needs to bring way more effort. I was so pissed at Shabazz's play for much of the Big East season but he has stepped it up for several games now. He's cutting down the turnovers, playing with more energy and being more of a leader, it's time for Lamb to step it up.

 

[Henry]

Lamb's defense is non-existent. He only took 9 shots today. What's going on with him? I can't figure out whether he is not in position to receive a pass, does not work to get in position to score or whether they are not setting screens for him. He should not have that much trouble getting shots off.

 

[superjohn]

He doesn't come off screens hard at all. A lot of times Bazz and Boat won't pass to him because he doesn't create enough seperation. He should be forced to watch every game tape of Rip and Ray using their screeners, Rip was the best I've ever seen at coming off screens.

 

[Jaker]

seriously beginning to think he is stoned.

 

[Catsailor]

I question his strength and conditioning. He either falls or gets knocked of his feet several times a game and the effort just doesn't seem to be there w/o ball on O or in general on D. He gets beaten badly off the dribble on a regular basis. He does anticipate fairly well to generate steals of poorly timed passes but not enough to make up for his general defensive lapses. Same with his intermittent use of his his length, when he's successful I wonder why we don't see that more often. I usually answer all the above strength/conditioning/effort.

I thing mentally he has the 2006 disease, NBA draft. He's 3/4 checked out.

 

[defense]

Agree with the analysis. What angers me is in the 2nd half, the announcers kept hoping Lamb would step up and shoot more on O. They chose to ignore the fact that Lamb's defense is extremely poor.

 

[Walker11]

His defense has definitely been a problem. Some of it may be effort but I think a lot of it is his lack of strength. He still gets muscled by screens and that millisecond extra step means the world in basketball.

On offense his lack of strength is even more glaring. I was focusing solely on him on offense for several possessions and and every single bump he took while coming off a screen caused him to slow down or threw him widely off his path.

I think it is pretty hard to definitively say whether he is loafing or not because of how he strides. When he is going all out it looks like he's not trying so it makes it impossible to tell (for me).

 

[champs99and04]

I wanna say he has half a foot out the door, but you just never know with him. Most of the time effort comes down to whether or not your making shots. It might look like he's not playing hard, but the reality is he just glides out there, whether he's playing his ass off or not.

His defense has been the elephant in the room all season long. Some of it is his lack of foot speed and some of it is lack of strength. Another possible scenario is that the kid thinks he's an NBA player and isn't putting in the effort he did last year. His decline on defense really confuses me because he was a very good defender at the end of last year.

 

[UConn990411]

His defense has definitely been a problem. Some of it may be effort but I think a lot of it is his lack of strength. He still gets muscled by screens and that millisecond extra step means the world in basketball.

He had even less strength less year, but by the end of the season he was a decent defender. And getting muscled on screens was a big problem early on last year, but was eventually able to figure it out and become at least a competent defender.

With Lamb's physical attributes (length, pretty good athleticism), he should be around average at the collegiate level. The fact that he's a defensive liability leads me to believe it's all about his effort.

 

[Walker11]

Eh, he was criticized pretty heavily for his defense in the World Games this summer. Maybe you misread his defense last year because of all his steals.

 

[UConn990411]

Maybe it was bad over the summer - I didn't watch the games besides highlights, so I don't know.

But I'm talking about last season with UConn, in which case it was OK by the end of the season. Certainly a lot better than the liability he's been all year.

 

[HooperScooper]

I watched Lamb exclusively on defense a lot in the 2nd half and he was really bad. He just looks lazy and doesn't move his feet to stop his man from penetrating on him and doesn't try to fight through screens at all. He did have that one steal at the top of the key where he had good anticipation of the pass and picked it off and went the distance for an easy two points. Other than that he didn't look like he wanted to play defense.

 

[UConnDad]

He did contribute a few nice rebounds. Our guards must as you know. But in the end there is only one stat that matters. Time to start the streak!