"New Knee" Kobe - "Indiana" Ron - "Young Gun" Morris

Ever since Mike Brown left, IMO this trio has emerged as one of the better defensive perimeter trios in the NBA. All are roughly similar height-wise, but with different length, strength, and speed ratios, which allows for switching on each other's man.

Kobe's healthy knees and his focus on being an efficient scorer rather than a volume scorer this season has allowed him to invest more energy on defense than what I saw from him last season. He's moving his feet better laterally and committing himself more on that end of the floor.

Despite the hype, Metta World Peace isn't quite "Indiana Ron", but closer to what he was in Houston and his last season wtih the Kings, which is still pretty damn good. And with our focus on turnover defense to get out in transition rather than lockdown defense, Metta has done a great job of getting his quick hands on the ball and forcing transition opportunities in addition to his traditionally lockdown defense. We haven't seen that from him much during his tenure with the Lakers due to Phil and Brown's philosophies.

Morris' defense has been very good so far. His combination of length, strength (due to work in the offseason) and young legs allows him to be a thorn in the side of opposing PG's. He also does a great job of coming from the helpside and distracting opposing players from behind and boxing out players bigger than him to keep them off the glass.

This will definitely change once Nash returns, but I'm hoping that D'Antoni doesn't replace Morris with Blake when he's comes back despite Morris' deficiencies as a playmaker. The perimeter defense is primarily responsible for us bringing "Showtime" back.

^^ Great points, Revgen.

I would still prefer if Kobe didn't roam that much and close up more on his guy ... but he is putting in more effort then in seasons past

I have to respectfully disagree about Kobe being solid on the defensive end. To me, he's looked awful at times on the defensive end this year.

I think Kobe's D has been the same as its been in recent years. On ball, guarding his man, he does a great job. He's still a good on ball defender. His problem is that he roams and gambles too much leaving open 3 pt shots and/or us having to rotate to cover his man.

Morris' D has been a pleasant surprise.

Kobe is mediocre at best on D. He coasts too much and leaves his man open... Kobe hasn't played good D for years, now. I haven't noticed MWP on defense much this year... but at least his O looks better.

I like Morris on D, though. Don't know how long it has been since we had a good defensive PG starting for this team... too damned long, actually.

yea kobe has been mediocre so far on d. But can still defend well when he's engaged, like yesterday. Completely shut down mayo and made him a non factor. him n ron

Armani wrote:Kobe is mediocre at best on D. He coasts too much and leaves his man open... Kobe hasn't played good D for years, now. I haven't noticed MWP on defense much this year... but at least his O looks better.

I like Morris on D, though. Don't know how long it has been since we had a good defensive PG starting for this team... too damned long, actually.

kobe is averaging his best defensive numbers in years, averaging better defensive numbers than last seasons lebron james

kobe is holding opposing players to 44% Fg and under 10 per

lets not talk out of our behinds

Morris : solid on ball D , uses his length well to create Tos ... still try to cheat at times by going under the screen and it resulted in 3pts baskets ... overall I'm impressed with his D

Metta has been his usual self ... his only struggle is he can't chase players through screens (not quick enough but nothing new here)

Kobe has been terrible on D ( was better against the Mavs though) ... he's just leaving his man after 5 seconds into the possession for no reason , playing rookie D i.e trying to reach from behind , bad gambles ect ... he's the main pb of our D with Pau

wcsoldier81 wrote:Morris : solid on ball D , uses his length well to create Tos ... still try to cheat at times by going under the screen and it resulted in 3pts baskets ... overall I'm impressed with his D

Metta has been his usual self ... his only struggle is he can't chase players through screens (not quick enough but nothing new here)

Kobe has been terrible on D ( was better against the Mavs though) ... he's just leaving his man after 5 seconds into the possession for no reason , playing rookie D i.e trying to reach from behind , bad gambles ect ... he's the main pb of our D with Pau

C'mon, Kobe's been nowhere near as bad as Pau on D.

Finwë wrote:

wcsoldier81 wrote:Morris : solid on ball D , uses his length well to create Tos ... still try to cheat at times by going under the screen and it resulted in 3pts baskets ... overall I'm impressed with his D

Metta has been his usual self ... his only struggle is he can't chase players through screens (not quick enough but nothing new here)

Kobe has been terrible on D ( was better against the Mavs though) ... he's just leaving his man after 5 seconds into the possession for no reason , playing rookie D i.e trying to reach from behind , bad gambles ect ... he's the main pb of our D with Pau

C'mon, Kobe's been nowhere near as bad as Pau on D.

it's not as visible as he plays on the perimeter but yes he's been terrible ...he just got a pass from fans as he has been outstanding on offense

I liked the way you outlined that Rev. We have lapses, but we have some tools to be good defensively

last stand wrote:

Armani wrote:Kobe is mediocre at best on D. He coasts too much and leaves his man open... Kobe hasn't played good D for years, now. I haven't noticed MWP on defense much this year... but at least his O looks better.

I like Morris on D, though. Don't know how long it has been since we had a good defensive PG starting for this team... too damned long, actually.

kobe is averaging his best defensive numbers in years, averaging better defensive numbers than last seasons lebron james

kobe is holding opposing players to 44% Fg and under 10 per

lets not talk out of our behinds

oposing players or SG? most of those are defended by RonRon

Kobe's defensive activity is based on who he's guarding. If it's a shooter, he'll leave him open, if it's not a shooter, he'll leave him open.

If it's someone trying to show him up, well, goodnight for you sir.

Finwë wrote:

wcsoldier81 wrote:Morris : solid on ball D , uses his length well to create Tos ... still try to cheat at times by going under the screen and it resulted in 3pts baskets ... overall I'm impressed with his D

Metta has been his usual self ... his only struggle is he can't chase players through screens (not quick enough but nothing new here)

Kobe has been terrible on D ( was better against the Mavs though) ... he's just leaving his man after 5 seconds into the possession for no reason , playing rookie D i.e trying to reach from behind , bad gambles ect ... he's the main pb of our D with Pau

C'mon, Kobe's been nowhere near as bad as Pau on D.

AGREED. Pau has been terrible on D the past few years, but especially this year. At least on the ball. I'm sure James Worthy could come out of retirement and beat him with the first step... everybody gets around Pau to get a good look at the hoop.

interesting that d12 is not on the list of good defenders

hope it's just the slow road back from injury, but he's playing the worst defense of his career

I haven't been impressed with Kobe's defense, he leaves shooters open way too often and roams too much for my liking. Another thing that really bugs me is when he turns the ball over and then stops to complain to the ref instead of running back on D.

Kobe complained a lot during that Memphis game.