In the last eleven games, Al Jefferson went 33 and 12 last night on 14-18 shooting. Andrew Bynum went 30 and 14 on 13-18 shooting. Cousins went 26/15. http://www.82games.com/1112/11DET14.HTM Monroe gives up a .558 efG to his counterparts. They've played against a lot of bad centers, which is why his opponents' production is so low, but when they play against a good one, those guys tend to dominate. Of course it's only his second year in the league, but if the Pistons are building around him, is this a major issue to be concerned about?
Maybe. Tough to tell. His defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions when he is on the court) is the 2nd best on the team behind Ben Wallace. He has the most defensive win shares by a mile... mainly because he plays way more minutes than Ben Wallace. He is barely in 2nd on offensive win shares behind Stuckey and Monroe's total win shares per minute are tops on the team. This would all indicate that he is nearly our best defensive player and also nearly our best offensive player. While his opponents shoot a higher percentage against him than he does against them, it is interesting to see how they do it. They shoot 56% against him overall, but they also only shoot 55% against him in the paint (iFG%). This means that they are also shooting about 56-57% against him from outside the paint. Not sure how other team's centers are averaging that high of a percentage on what are effectively jump shots, but it looks like they are. The positives are that Monroe is not fouling them very often and they don't score as often as Monroe does on them (they just do it at a slightly higher efficiency on non foul FGA's). But that makes a bit of sense- if they are more selective, they will shoot a higher percentage. You see that with guys like Amir Johnson who aren't that skilled offensively, but who score opportunistically on broken plays, off of rebounds, or through guard generated opportunities when their defender is drawn off of them. When you look at how Monroe scores, it is much more devastating IMO. He only has a 51% overall FG percentage, but in the paint, he is converting at a 72% clip! This means that outside the paint, he is pretty ineffective and probably only does it when he has to. The 4% point differential between the two doesn't bother me after looking at how it is done. I would be much more concerned if the opposing centers were dominating GM in the paint and were shooting 72% on him. He's holding down the paint really well and is snatching a ton of rebounds to prevent the opposition from getting easy 2nd chance points.
Not terrible by any means in my book, but he's certainly a second year defender. Learning to defend at the NBA level is the hardest part about adjusting to the league. I also agree with BDL that he doesn't get a lot of help. Big Al and Bynum are loads and no on can stop them straight up. Monroe plays good position defense, moves well off switches, and is pretty good at getting back to his man after showing on the pick and roll. And he's getting better at not fouling (and maybe getting a little more respect from the refs). The thing I don't see him doing all that much is swooping in to block or alter shots by players someone else is guarding. Maybe he's concentrating on rebounding position, or maybe he just doesn't like getting his feet too far off the floor.
He has a long way to go. Just using th eeyeball test you can easily see that Max and Ben ar4e head and shoulders above GM, but I think he truly wants to be a good defender, he has good footwork and quick hands so I can see him getting better over time, he just needs to learn the nuances of defending. As far as Bynum, Cousins and Jefferson.......they're simply better than he is, and that's no slack on him, but as good as he is he is not the best front court player in the NBA. Right now he's not a good defender, but he's not awful, he's not CV.
Bynum is a bit better, but even with his recent struggles I can't agree on the other two. Jefferson is even worse defensively and a black hole, and Cousins is a center that shoots 43% (ie, Rodney Stuckey is a more efficient shooter than Cousinss), is extremely foul prone and just not a smart player in general.
I feel like you really haven't watched Bynum or Cousins play. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing that you have seen less than 10 Lakers or Kings games this season, and I'm also betting that you didn't watch them all the way through.
I haven't really noticed Greg being a terrible defender. That being said, opposing teams do seem to get a fair amount of free chili, and as the man in the middle, it's Greg's job to keep that from happening. I'm not too worried about it yet. Greg is young and has plenty of time to learn. Plus, he's teamed up with a bunch of bench caliber help.
Greg is cruising on the defensive end. He played a lot tougher early on in the season but it didnt matter as we couldn't buy a bucket. Maxiell is the best help we can give him and he's like 6'5". He kinda has to pace his aggressiveness so he can stay out of foul trouble so Frank can sit him in the 4th.
Cousins is a horribly inefficient big man. Those are the facts. It's why I'm not a big fan of his. I haven't watched him play a ton, but I do know the guy takes way too many jumpers, is a similar level athlete to Monroe, and picks up a lot of dumb fouls.
I really like Greg Monroe. I'm glad the Pistons picked him up. You should watch Cousins play. It might change your mind. He is young, strong, and talented. He will be a force in the NBA. He does pick up fouls, but not as much as he did last year. He also demands a double team on offense, and handles the defensive duties on a team that plays no team defense... so when guards get past Tyreke Evans, Marcus Thornton, or Isaiah Thomas (believe me, guards get past these guys) DeMarcus is left to defend the rim.
If you put an average rim protector like Sam Dalembert next to Greg Monroe, Greg would look a lot better. The Pistons are asking Greg to do too much right now on the defensive end of the floor. The team needs another solid big to start along side of him and a bench big to back him up. The reality is that Jason Maxiel is at best, a #4 PF on a decent team. I can't wait for Joe to re-up J-MAX for 5 years at $35 mil in the off-season.
I really doubt that Maxiell does anything but take his player option. He isn't worth much more than $5 million a year, and probably wouldn't start anywhere else. That being said, you can't ignore the effect that Maxiell has had on the team; the Pistons are a better team with him on the court and in the starting lineup, and he's a major reason they're back into playoff contention.
It is not unusual for Monroe to be the worst of the 5 Pistons defenders on the floor. I think this is why he sits so much in the 4th for Ben. I think it is somewhat easy to confuse him and get him to follow his man up to the FT line only to leave someone unguarded next to the hoop. This has been the issue to me, not that he isn't an athaletic shot blocker. He is not a total write off like Charlie G, but maybe it would help the team if he were a little more aggressive and used up some fouls in the name of physicality.
It is quite possible that Frank is telling him to take it easy on the defensive end to avoid picking up fouls. He's got active hands for a big and he did play with more agressiveness before he became the key part of our offense.
