02-07-2023, 10:17 AM
(02-07-2023, 02:01 AM)SleepingHero Wrote: I always use a combo to see how good a defender is, because most defensive stats never really paint a whole picture.
For raw stats, Stocks (steals+blocks) is always good to see. A good defender should get a lot of those.
DPM, Defensive Win Shares, and DRTG I look to see if they all share a similar trend and what percentile that player ranks in each of those advanced stats.
My absolute favorite though is just what other players shoot when guarded by the guy. Is he holding them to less than 5 percentage points below league average? If yes, and all the other things above tell a similar story, I believe that the guy is a great defender.
Yeah, defense is really tough to gauge with stats. The boxscore stats are extremely limited. If I had to pick the best overall, it would be DEPM, which is basically net rating adjusted for noise as much as possible (and there is still a lot of noise) and I generally look at multiple years. But as you mention, I look at may sources to try to get an overall picture.
The opponent player shooting percentage is a useful stat, but like most of these stats, context has to be taken into account. Dorian probably didn't have the best opponent player shooting percentage, but he was always in the top 5 regarding guarding the toughest opponent while Luka is getting hidden on poor offensive players. I also think defense is such a team game that looking at one on one tells only part of the story.