2021-2022 ROSTER TALK: [ARCHIVED]

[KillerLeft]

Curious on your thoughts on his defense when directly compared to Hardaway's.

Better, but not nearly as much better as the gap that's assumed here. 

I think Bullock is much more average defensively than the credit he's given around here. I think people read that he's "a good defender" this summer when he was signed and just rolled with it. When I watch, he gets blown by a TON. Much, much more than people like Brunson, DFS...even Dinwiddie or Hardaway. Less than Luka, but that's a matter of engagement, imo. When Luka wants to defend, I feel like he can. 

I do think Bullock gets around screens better than several defenders on this team, especially off-ball screens, which are very important when you're guarding a shooter. It's literally just guarding an on-ball creator when I think he's out of his depth a bit. He's not even in the same league there as DFS, for example. 

Hardaway, imo, is the exact opposite. I've seen him do GREAT things when guarding a scorer 1-on-1. His problems seem to happen most often when he loses focus defending off-ball. Knowing when to help, and how, knowing when/where to rotate so that others can help, etc. To me, this can be taught and learned. Of course, "can be" and "will be" are very different things.