2021-2022 ROSTER TALK: [ARCHIVED]

[ItsGoTime]

Great is a very strong word. I just go off my eye test here too, there's stats based on the nearest player on nba.com to see how someone did 1 on 1 but I'm not gonna bother. Sure you can blame the apparent injury but he got murdered repeatedly 1 on 1 by Kawhi last playoffs. Powell has looked better 1 on 1 vs Kawhi historically from my memory. Feel free to dispute. He's been looking pretty good to great guarding guys like Booker on the perimeter, especially the last couple games. He is still an undersized 5 though and he's been holding his ground vs Ayton, but it's more like "do what you can to bother him as much as possible, but really you are praying he misses his shot on a moderately contested look." A great defender will make Ayton say, "I can't get a clean look, I need to pass this out to do something better for the team."

That's just how I see it. This team values the perimeter defense way more anyway, he fits great on this team. I'm not gonna let my bias blind the fact that he's an alright to good 1 on 1 defender. More on the good to great side vs smaller guys for a big.

I remember Maxi doing a great job on Kawhi the first year until he hurt his back. Then last year he went into the playoffs with his back being bad. That’s why I’ve been wanting him to not get as many minutes during the season, so he could go into the playoffs ready to go at tip top shape.