Klay Thompson's Defense

[audiosway]

Marshall is going to convince everyone that he's a GREAT defender. I'm not worried about that. But, he's a different KIND of defender than DJJ.

Grimes is a better defender than Green. Significantly, I think. The team will miss Green in some ways, but his overrated defense won't be one of those ways, in my opinion.

Thompson...I think there was a slight overreaction to his defensive decline at first by those among us who were taken off guard by the idea of bringing in a 34-year old FA. BUT, since then, I think the "hey, the Mavs got a free agent" shades have made the pendulum swing back a little too far in the other direction. He HAS declined, and the decline is MOST visible when he's on defense. It's tough to tell how he'll look here. I kind of feel like he'll be slightly higher than Luka and Kyrie on the "useful on the defensive end" scale but nowhere close to as good as Grimes, PJW, Marshall, Lively or Exum on that end.

In the aggregate, I believe they might have improved, defensively, as in if you were to quantify everyone on the roster's defensive skills with a number and then add those numbers up, that total number might be higher than it was last year, even at the end.

BUT, honestly, what is that worth? Not much, unless they can make the ROTATION work, and it must work on BOTH ends. The people worried about the defense aren't worried about Thompson so much as they're worried about him taking the role of the guy tasked to make up for Luka/Kyrie's shortcomings on the defensive end. However, we were recently reminded that DJJ didn't actually play as much as it felt like he did, AND, we might be making too many assumptions about the exact nature of Thompson's role. Then, you have Grimes and Marshall to factor in. I think BOTH are likely to have bigger roles here than most people seem to believe (but none of us know for sure, obviously). Mix in another summer and another regular season's worth of development for Lively, and this might look like a silly argument in hindsight.

The point is, it doesn't matter how much defense is on the roster, it's how much defense is in your top 7-8 players. But, and this part is key, if your offense sucks, there's no point in even showing up to the game, so REALLY, it's about being good on both ends with your top 7-8 players. I THINK I see ways this can be accomplished, Thompson decline or no, but given that there's far more of a gap in some of our predictions of how these guys will be used than I'd have ever anticipated, I think I've reached a point where I don't know what to expect.

I definitely agree that the "hey the Mavs got a free agent" crowd has swung it too far the other way. The Klay we are getting has declined a little bit but also not to the degree that people think. Now that may sound counterintuitive. But, Klay has never been a great athlete. And he's never really been fast. I have a feeling that people will look at Klay in Dallas and say he has had a resurgence.

He's never been a Matrix style defender either. Matrix was built for defense and was a smart defender. Klay is a very smart defender with active hands and he's able to get more out of his body as a defender than most would think. He has actually taught Steph to be a much better defender. I think he'll do the same with Luka and Ky.

Part of the reason Klay wasn't starting with GS is partly due to having so many young players that they needed to see on the floor before paying them. The other reason is that GS moves a lot and fast constantly. Where Klay declined is that he can't keep up with that pace anymore for 35 minutes a night. He never really could keep up with Steph but they made it work very well. Steph is the one that set the pace. No one can keep up with Steph.

Playing with Dallas will be perfect for Klay because it will seem like he is constantly moving and getting open but it will be nothing like it was with GS. He will normally make 2-3 moves after a screen and just send the defense scrambling. He creates a ton of chaos for opposing defenses with that. But, he will look more like his old self because of not having to run the entire night like that. 

It will likely take until the ASB for the Mavs to really get everything cohesive. But, they are going to be a blast to watch. I still think they will be a top 3 seed.

For the season last year THJ played more minutes than DJJ did. The only reason they had to go with DJJ is because THJ got hurt and then his shot just disappeared. Klay is taking the THJ role but will start in place of DJJ. Even though DJJ is a great defender I personally don't think we'll see a terrible drop off there. The games were normally tight so DJJ HAD to be out there to shut guys down. With Klay the other team is going to be scrambling more on defense trying to keep up with the 3 headed monster of Luka, Ky and Klay. That alone is going to drastically change the overall feel of the game.

Grimes is definitely considerably better on D than Green. Grimes is up there with DJJ as a POA defender I think. He's going to have a huge impact off the bench. I could also see him growing into a role that has him as a starter down the road.

Naji is a great defender. But, like you said, just different than DJJ. You guys are going to LOVE Naji. He is another PJ where he will taunt and make his presence felt as an enforcer. That energy from those 2 will spread and make the team more gritty. Naji is also a knockdown shooter. Him and Grimes can both shoot very well and without hesitation.