Trade & FA 2023-24: Lavine Market Barely There| NOP Want Trae or Murray

[Halfnir]

DJJ was a solid but not particularly elite defender when he's your primary do it all wing defensive piece, but when you lock him into a role next to essentially a bigger version of himself and consistent rim protection throughout the game, all of a sudden his defensive performance takes a big leap. He couldn't make a mistake before, now he can and someone else erases it. All his strengths as a defender are amplified.

Very good point, this is so important when assessing defensive performance of a player. Defence never happens in a vacuum. A team that plays strong help defence and has capable rim protectors allows wing defenders to overplay aggressively on defence without having to worry too much about getting beat. Stick the same aggressive wing defender in a team with Dwight Powell (sorry) at C and he will look like a turnstile on defense because opponents will blow by and score.