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How Good Can Walker/Hendricks Be Defensively?

Pretty fun. If we're really going to be a middle of the road defensive team next year, we won't be a bottom 5 team. Of course this doesn't have rookies so we can't see what our bench units might look like.

I put my starting lineup for my team from the draft and got a 91%.

Should be noted…starting lineups should be well above 50th percentile when being compared to all lineups.
 
What do we think made Keyonte such a bad defensive player last season? Is it fixable? Or is it always going to be that way?

I thought his defense was over hated coming out of Baylor….but every concern about his defense was on full display. I don’t think he’s physically limited as a defender….but his mentality and instincts are awful. I think the freedom he gets on offense + Hardy not being concerned with defense makes it unlikely he’ll ever be good and probably not average either.
 
What do we think made Keyonte such a bad defensive player last season? Is it fixable? Or is it always going to be that way?
Good question. I think it was mostly inconsistent effort, so fixable to the point of not being terrible, but I'm not sure if he'll ever be average or better.
 
Is there any chance the Jazz's projected starting lineup is an average or better defensive lineup?
What makes you think that the Jazz WANT to be average or better defensively? Coach Hardy does not want to be good defensively: he shoved two best defenders, Kessler and Dunn, into the limited-minutes backups and never disciplined rookies (Keyonte and Brice) for not even trying to give an effort on defense. Ainge also has no interest in defense: he traded away Fontecchio, let Dunn walk away and signed a defensive sieve Mills. He also consistently drafts players who are bad defenders like Keyonte, Brice or Filipowski.

The Jazz have not become a horrible defensive team by accident: it was the result of concerted efforts by the front office and the coach. Young Jazz players are brought up in the environment where the defense clearly does not matter and they are taking it to heart. The Jazz will not become an average defensive team in the foreseeable future.
 
It would be interesting to see a Kessler, Lauri, Hendricks, Williams, Keyonte lineup. No idea if it would work, but it would be fun to watch.
 
What makes you think that the Jazz WANT to be average or better defensively? Coach Hardy does not want to be good defensively: he shoved two best defenders, Kessler and Dunn, into the limited-minutes backups and never disciplined rookies (Keyonte and Brice) for not even trying to give an effort on defense. Ainge also has no interest in defense: he traded away Fontecchio, let Dunn walk away and signed a defensive sieve Mills. He also consistently drafts players who are bad defenders like Keyonte, Brice or Filipowski.

The Jazz have not become a horrible defensive team by accident: it was the result of concerted efforts by the front office and the coach. Young Jazz players are brought up in the environment where the defense clearly does not matter and they are taking it to heart. The Jazz will not become an average defensive team in the foreseeable future.
Apropos of nothing aside from my own curiosity, jazznik, are you a close follower of Q Anon?
 
What do we think made Keyonte such a bad defensive player last season? Is it fixable? Or is it always going to be that way?
Effort and IQ (mental lapses)

I think it's fixable.

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What do we think made Keyonte such a bad defensive player last season? Is it fixable? Or is it always going to be that way?
Keyonte did not want to play defense: he put no effort into it because he does not value defense. That was the main reason. Same story with Mitchell. And in both cases their coaches were just fine with this attitude.

Is it fixable? Well, Mitchell decided to put effort in defense in his 6th year in the league after being traded to a new team.
 
Keyonte did not want to play defense: he put no effort into it because he does not value defense. That was the main reason. Same story with Mitchell. And in both cases their coaches were just fine with this attitude.

Is it fixable? Well, Mitchell decided to put effort in defense in his 6th year in the league after being traded to a new team.
Mitchell and Keyonte arent really comparable on D. Mitchell was usually a decent defender until the last playoff series were he completely stopped trying.
 
Mitchell was an elite defensive prospect, he just decided to put his energy in offense....and because he's one of the best in the league he can. If Mitchell never developed an offensive game, he still had elite defensive talent that he could have fallen back on. He's not close to Keyonte as a defensive prospect.
 
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