With the All-Star weekend concluding, I thought it would be fun to take a quick look at what players are allowing the most productivity against them (you'll recall that the Game Logs page on lists.php - for example http://pbsl.ijbl.net/lists.php?page=gam ... es%20Kuntz - lists the opposing starter for players who start a game). This isn't a perfect method, but it's interesting to me to see who the WORST defenders in the league are. Just like the All-League teams, let's set up a first, second, and third team for all-worst-defense team.
The metric I use is Productivity which is "Points Created" (approximately equal to points plus rebounds plus assists plus steals plus blocks minus turnovers minus missed shots minus fouls divided by two - in other words, add up all the good things a player does and subtract all the bad things a player does) divided by minutes (so a player whose opposing numbers play more minutes isn't penalized for giving higher stats). This isn't perfect by any means, because you might not play against that starter full time, and you do get penalized in this system if he puts up numbers against your backup (but if that's the case, why aren't you as a starter out there guarding him? probably foul trouble!) So basically, the rating you see is the number of positive stats the player gives up on average per minute he's guarding someone - the best defenders in the league give up a little more than 0.5 and the worst defender... well, he gives up 0.993.
Also, I restricted this to those that had 1,000 minutes or more logged against them to make sure we had a big enough sample size. So with those caveats, here are your all-worst Defensive Teams.
THIRD TEAM
C - Aaron Donald, Hawks (0.844) - Lots of people have pointed out the Hawks' defense is a bit iffy and they're just trying to outscore teams. Perhaps nobody personifies that more than Donald, who puts up all-star offensive numbers most nights... and gives up all-star numbers to the guy he's playing against almost as often!
PF - Kristaps Porzingas, Raptors (0.894) - Kristaps has put up nice scoring numbers for the Raptors this season - the problem is, his defense is still really soft. He may have decent potentials for defense but clearly he's not there yet.
SF - Rodney Hood, Pacers (0.779) - Give the Pelicans credit for realizing Rodney's defense was awful and pawning him off on the Pacers. Give the Pacers credit for knowing it too and stuffing him on the back of the bench.
SG - Lonzo Ball, Knicks (0.756) - The stewards just traded for Lonzo (well, they really traded for cap relief) and he'll bring his awful brand of defense to the Knicks. The only good news is he won't be starting in New York like he was in Charlotte so his rating won't get any worse.
PG - World B. Free, Heat (0.821) - Free was super-raw when he came into the league and got the Duren treatment - a seat on the bench his first couple of seasons. He's been unleashed on the league this season and the results have been less than impressive. He's super inefficient offensively and is getting lit up defensively. The defensive tools are there, but it might be time to consider training him to get him to those potentials faster.
SECOND TEAM
C - Fausto Garrido, Trailblazers (0.845) - A career backup who has been pressed into service in Portland this season due to an utter lack of other big bodies on the roster, Garrido seems like he has the skills to be better than this. Maybe it's just apathy on a bad team, or maybe it's that he's rotating to cover someone else who got beat and his man is going to the rim for easy lobs. Either way, he's not been effective on the defensive end this year.
PF - Phil Johnson, Clippers (0.905) - Didn't even know this guy was a thing until I did this article. Seeing him here is a bit of a surprise since nominally he has decent post defense. But his athleticism is sub-par and in a league with more and more stretch-fours (particularly in the West) he is probably being forced away from the basket. And with a team as bad defensively as the Clippers are, he's going to get burned.
SF - John Wall, Clippers (0.787) - Wall I knew about. And given his diminutive size and lack of interior defense, it's no surprise he's getting torched playing out of position at SF. John would probably be better at SG or better yet PG but he's letting himself get punished inside. But for $40M in earnings this season, I have to think he doesn't care.
SG - Joshua Swan, Heat (0.761) - It isn't a surprise Swan is getting destroyed defensively - his defensive potentials are awful. But his offense and athleticism are only passable at best. The only reason this guy is seeing so many minutes? The Heat WANT to be bad.
PG - Morris Cox, Thunder (0.827) - Can't say I'm shocked to find a Thunder player on this list. Cox is getting thrown out there because an apathetic front office spent the summer in hibernation. On the bright side, at least he's posting decent offensive numbers and might be able to fool a team into overlooking the red cape he carries on the floor each night.
FIRST TEAM
C - David Brunette, Clippers (0.882) - Put Brunette with Johnson and Wall and the Clippers have by far the worst defensive front court in the league. Brunette might some day be a backup center good for a few spot minutes, but as a starter he's simply overmatched every night. Good thing they're tanking, right?
PF - Dirk Hardpeck, Cavaliers (0.993) - Dirk was an all-star this season but, like Aaron Donald, gives up all-star numbers as well. The good news for the Cavaliers is that by posting all-star numbers himself, he masks his defensive deficiencies. I'm also not sure if this is a case of bad defender or average defender on a bad team whose teammates are making him look worse.
SF - Lino Brookins, Thunder (0.793) - See comments on Morris Cox.
SG - Dexter Aguilar, Spurs (0.882) - Things were looking really nice for the Spurs until February started when the wheels fell off. But you expect that from a young team. Aguilar has been putting up good enough offensive numbers to make the all-star team but is absolutely abysmal defensively. The good news his, since he only shows up on half of the court, he's on about the right contract - half a max.
PG - Victor Newman, Spurs (0.887) - Much like Aguilar, Newman is something of an offensive savant but mediocre defense combined with slow feet are leading him to get torched on the defensive end. His defensive skills are okay but he's just not quick enough to play point guard, and the way opposing players are lighting him up shows that. Fortunately for him, the Spurs are young enough that they can let him take his lumps.
All-Matador Teams
All-Matador Teams
The Cat is Back
