07-16-2024, 03:48 PM
(07-16-2024, 03:08 PM)audiosway Wrote: That my friend is where you and I differ. Klay wasn't brought in to replace DJJ. Naji Marshall was. Naji is a better defender than DJJ. He is an enforcer that is a great POA defender as well as help defender. Grimes was brought in to replace Josh Green. Grimes was used by the Knicks to always guard the opponents best player.
On a scale of 0-100 I would consider Klay an 80 right now. He was brought in to replace Hardaway Jr. THJ was about a 40 on defense. That is a massive upgrade. Combine that with Klay being one of the best shooters of all time and it's an even larger upgrade.
Grimes and Naji are both lock down defenders. They are better on offense and defense than the two guys they are replacing. I even mentioned right after the finals that I was interested in seeing Naji brought in. Naji is also 6'7" to DJJ being 6'5". Naji is a playmaker and a good shooter.
Klay is replacing DJJ in the starting (and finishing) lineup. The OP was questioning how we are going to guard the POA in those lineups. Naji won't be in those lineups.
Is Klay an 80 on defense? The Warriors were a lot better on defense when he was off the court (with a rookie replacing him). I don't expect much more than average. That would be better than THJ, but probably not ideal next to Luka and Kyrie.
I am cautiously optimistic about the Naji signing, but there is not a lot of evidence to suggest he is a better defender than DJJ. He played less than 20 minutes a game off the bench on a middling team while DJJ was starting on a finals team going against the opponents best offensive player. Naji playmaking includes a lot of turnovers and his shooting is based on a fairly small sample. I hope he turns out to be better than DJJ, but that would be more projection than description.
I think we got better in the offseason, but there are question marks with all the new guys, and the biggest question mark is fit. This team fit really well last season. I hope we can say the same for next season.