Memphis thoughts

[David 76]

Watch his feet. He's laterally slow. He's quick up and down, so you are correct there.

Watch his help defense. I was impressed.

 

[champs99and04]

Watch his feet. He's laterally slow. He's quick up and down, so you are correct there.

I don't think he's remotely slow laterally. He has switched onto guards and stayed in front several times this season.

I generally agree with @David 76 . I'm still not sold on him as a pick-and-roll defender, and he hasn't been able to maintain his defensive rebounding rate from Cornell, but in the last couple games, he has been a huge difference maker defensively.

 

[3rdbass]

Watch his feet. He's laterally slow. He's quick up and down, so you are correct there.

Maybe more lazy than laterally slow. Some very athletic players are like that. Thinking they are so athletic they can catch up to letting their man beating them.

Now if you were saying dham I agree as he isn't laterally quick.

 

[Rico444]

He can defend a few positions, but in general he's very slow. He gets burned by quicker guards off screens and that's when he usually reaches out with his hand. If he had better positioning, like you pointed out, it would neutralize his need to excessively reach in. Quick feet!

He's a power forward. Lebron James might be the only power forward on the planet that doesn't get burned by quicker guards. Do you think Gary McGhee was a bad defender, or that it might be tough for a big man to defend a guard with above-average quickness?

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Watch his feet. He's laterally slow. He's quick up and down, so you are correct there.

Against Memphis he was guarding bigs and guards seamlessly. The broadcast replayed one of the charges he drew a couple times to comment on how quickly he moved his feet.