If you’re familiar with Barry Mccockiner you would know he’s one of the biggest trolls on social media but he could drop a serious take here or there and this one really got me thinking.
“1 on 1 defense has never been less important. Offenses spread defenses out better than ever before b/c players can shoot better than ever before. The NBA most of us grew up watching was teams throwing it to their big man and watching him go 1 on 1 in the post or guys taking contested mid range shots. You may think it was better defense but really it was just way more predictable offense. Teams aren't trotting out 7 foot stiffs who clog up the paint anymore. I think too many "analysts" are still stuck in that era when evaluating players.
Rotating and help defense are what matter, and the more 3 point centric the NBA becomes, even that is becoming more of a crapshoot where you just have to trust the percentages and hope your opponent misses or doesn't shoot above their head on that night.”
End of take.
*Read title and was skeptical. *
Read the name attributed to the quote and "knew it was a joke."
Read the rest of the initial sentence and was curious.
Read the quote and kind of agree.
It's really not quite that simple. Having more to worry about than just 1v1 defense doesn't make 1v1 less important, it just changes how you use it.
Before, it would literally be just guarding your man and keeping them in front of you. But now a lot of defense is directing your man to where there is help on the court or into a position where the best option is to pass to someone who's not a scoring threat. That's still 1v1 defense, you're just going about it differently.