Trade & FA 2023-24: Stein-Ingram Trade Inevitable| LAL Want Lebron Back On Any Terms

[mvossman]

Defensively, I think the last 2 months have shown what kind of players the Mavs need. You have to be tall and long and that will allow you to be good defensively against every team and matchup. DJJ and PJ can guard 4 positions, especially SG/Forwards. I know people are obsessed with finding a POA defender like a Caruso or Alvarado to guard quick PGs but those smaller defenders don't have the versatility to guard bigger scorers. And just as important - having size and length allows them to be good help defenders and recover.

Paul George has the ball and tries to shoot but DJJ's length won't make it an easy shot. So then PG tries to drive and is met in the lane by any combination of PJ/Luka/Lively/Gafford/Kleber. Those are all players with a lot of length and will make it difficult to get a shot off.

Size/length is not the only factor that makes a player good at defense.  There are plenty of guys with length who don't play quality defense, and guys like VanVleet use strength and anticipation/BBIQ to guard guys a lot bigger than them.  Besides, Caruso is the same height as DJJ (6' 5").  He may not have the wingspan, but he is not just limited to defending guards.  As good as DJJ has been defensively, I think Caruso would actually be an upgrade.