Who’s the next Defensive "Stopper" ?

Maybe a long shot. Nate has a lot of kind words to say about his players. He once called Luke Ridnour the next Steve Nash. I think him saying that Webster could become a defensive stopper has more to do with encouraging Webster than actually making a real prediction.

Just kidding, though his potential on that end was one reason we got him. But it will take years to develop it.

Judging from defensive on/off stats, the next generation of good perimeter defenders (not looking at dominant inside men here) might include players like Josh Smith, Kyle Lowrie, Rajon Rondo, Thabo Sefolosha, Chuck Hayes, Josh Howard, Tony Allen, Gerald Wallace. Some of those can only stop guards, others could develop into guys able to guard multiple positions.

Webster didn’t even put a dent into the opposition last season (+0.9 Net, negative values are the good ones here).

“he got straps” = he is a lockdown defender

know it, use it, love it

Afflalo on the Pistons bench, he’s a serious defensive player. I think he’s their best stopper already (better than Rip or Tayshaun). I consider him a certainty to be an elite defensive two guard in this league for a long time.

I also think LeBron James is going to be one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA next season. He’ll be taking his spot on those All-Defensive teams for years to come.

Thaddeus Young is a player with big potential on the defensive end, but I didn’t see him enough at small forward yet to get a feel for how good he is defensively at his natural position. He earned too many minutes at power forward for that. So the jury is still out, but someone to watch. His teammate Andre Iguodala is a top defender, and he’ll have an even bigger impact defensively at shooting guard rather than at small forward where he was at last year (love that idea of that combination defensively).

Julian Wright is a very strong defensive player. I think he’s very likely to become an elite stopper. I think he’s the best one-on-one perimeter defender on the Hornets roster already, they could have gone further if he’d played more minutes.

Tony Allen on the Boston Celtics bench is a very good defender already. There’s less certainty here about his ability to become a top level defender, but he has good potential in that regard. I think he’s the least sure thing of the players mentioned so far but someone worth keeping tabs on.

Anyway, there’s a few names that pop to mind

Heck, why not?

I heard a while ago on Wheels or ct. side that Batum blocked Travis’ shot, you know THAT Travis shot. Take that FWIW but that is pretty hard to do considering how high T can jump, of course he could just be out of shape and getting back into the playing groove.

I think that we need to find that LeBron or Paul stopper to be effective as he is they are the only players that could possibly derail our dynasty. K*be will be almost done when we start and will hopefully be the playing/minority owning Armani Jeans Milano.

Hopefully Bayless takes up that challenge is able to stay in front of Paul. We need to say that he cannot do it so he gets that fire up in his arse and works on nothing but D. We did a good job against last year holding him to 16.5P and 9A, so props go to Blake and Jack, and Bayless should be able to defend a better than Jack.

LeBron is the problem, he is only 23 and what I fear is if Cle has cap space in 10 and can make a run at Bosh, Wade or the multitude of other players that may be avalible. If LeBron paired with another legitimate star it could be another Blazers/Bulls late 80s, early 90s situation with Bron acting as Jordan and Wade acting as Pippen. Hopefully, much like the summer of 09, most of the players signed extensions and the pool will be depleted a bit.

If we get a perimeter D player, we need him to have the express goal of stopping Bron.

If we can get a D stopper to stop Bron, there will be nothing in our way to a dynasty.

Forget the fact that they were against old men with enormous manboobs. I owned them. After the game they would not make eye contact with me. They just looked down at the floor as they left the court in shame.

And just for giggles I followed them into the locker room and approached one of the older men and snatched his baby powder container right out of his hands with an authoritative, “I think this is mine.” just to see how far into their heads I truly was.

I then started applying the baby powder to my arm pits right in front of them as I kackeled. Quickly, a herd of old men gathered around me in a circle and began snapping their fingers in unison. My bluff had been called.

Sensing my immediate doom I sized up my opponents and survyed my surroundings. Due to my years of training in the arts my instincts took over and I scaled the lockers and started doing random snap kicks into the air, screaming, “who wants some?”. Fortunately for me, a member of the staff heard the commotion and came and bailed me out.

I learned my lesson that day. I never played defense again.

The end

He is only 23 and one of the best defenders in the NBA. Right now he is an elite help defender, though I think he will be the next lockdown defender in the NBA. Other possibilities include: Jeff Green (OKC) Thabo Sefolosha (CHI) Corey Brewer (MIN) Anthony Randolph (GSW)

GREG ODEN, LAMARCUS ALDRIDGE, BRANDON ROY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
omg how long til the season starts, I’ve got the jones real bad….

The first category is players who already play quality defense and have the physical ability to be a great defender. I would put Josh Smith into this category. The second category would be players who don’t necessarily play quality defense, but have the physical ability to play great defense. I would put Martell is this category.