We’ve seen Gregg Popovich use his bench as a change of pace to lift San Antonio out of holes before. (As I mentioned in my All-Star reserves column, those ugly splits hang largely on Aldridge, whose declining speed and quickness have made him a glaring defensive minus.) (Having that Ginobili guy around didn’t hurt.) Nor is it breaking news that San Antonio’s recent starting fives built around veterans DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge have struggled: Lineups featuring that tandem were outscored in 2019-20, and have been rinsed by nearly 10 points per 100 non-garbage-time possessions this season. That’s been one of their calling cards since before Vassell was born: San Antonio has finished in the top 10 in bench net rating every season since 1998-99, with 16 top-five finishes and seven seasons leading the league. To be fair, it’s not exactly shocking that the Spurs have a good bench. And sometimes it’s one that makes you do a double take, refresh the page a couple of times, and make sure you really read that right. Sometimes it’s a five-man lineup that suggests a team is starting to find its identity, like the Kings’ small-ball lineup that runs De’Aaron Fox, Buddy Hield, and rookie Tyrese Haliburton alongside Harrison Barnes and Richaun Holmes. Sometimes it’s a unit propped up by the heroics of a singular superstar, like an injury-wrecked Blazers lineup that rests on the shoulders of Damian Lillard. This season, for example, the lineups that have outscored opponents by the largest number of points are the preferred starting fives of the 76ers, Jazz, Clippers, and Lakers-the teams with the four best records in the NBA. These carefully curated five-man units represent the cream of the league’s crop-all marquee names and central-casting role players anchoring teams with a real shot of hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Perimeter defensive rating and Interior defensive rating should be judged in isolation, though no one would read this topic if I said Siakam is the 24th best perimeter defender in the league.The list of the NBA’s best lineups often maps fairly neatly to the top of the standings. Blocks and steals clearly have to be weighted rather highly in that particular metric. Likewise, the outliers at the top of the list tend to be guys who get a lot of blocks and steals even if they wind up giving up more than they gain by gambling and end up benched for defensive reasons because of it at times - Dwight Powell (a debatable defender with extreme limitations in the matchups he can face) and Wes Matthews (an excellent fundamental defender) are probably the best contrast you can get of two teammates who's places on the list make no sense unless you consider blocks and steals as the defining categories. It's an interesting tool, and sort of passes the eye test at the top, give or take, but it really doesn't pass the eye test at the bottom, where the list is littered with solid fundamental defenders who don't gamble for blocks or steals and aren't tasked with trying for them. Bigs that also tend to get a higher rate of steals are likely going to float to the top regardless of how they get those steals or not. Bigs do tend to block more shots by virtue of being the guy in position who, when things go wrong, is tasked with either blocking the shot or giving up the basket. Looking at it a bit, I'm not sure it overvalues bigs specifically so much as it values players that are inclined to gamble for blocks and steals. That's not at all what I would expect to see based on the eye-test. Sherlock wrote:Seeing KP and DMC's names up there in the top 5 makes me think this stat somehow overvalues bigs and makes me question the stat.
![rudy gay defensive rating rudy gay defensive rating](https://news4sanantonio.com/resources/media/f51ee5cf-9b81-4ac7-b038-7d31d8498b89-large16x9_AP18280829392125.jpg)
Seeing KP and DMC's names up there in the top 5 makes me think this stat somehow overvalues bigs and makes me question the stat. Like RPM I think this is a stat that becomes clearer and more concise when the season is over, but regardless: Kabookalu wrote:Reading the methodology behind how they compiled this stat, it's not without fault, but defensive stats in general will always be flawed. For what it's worth Kyle Lowry last year in PDR was at 3.15. Unfortunately no other data for any other Raptors is out there. His defense has been Draymond Green esque in that regard who ranks 21st in PDR and 11th in IDR for a TDR of 1st overall. The stat is divided between Perimeter Defensive Rating (PDR) and Interior Defensive Rating (IDR), where Siakam ranks 24th in PDR and 14th in IDR for an overall TDR of 4th.
![rudy gay defensive rating rudy gay defensive rating](https://www.sportsnet.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Rudy-Gay-trade-tree-2.gif)
Reading the methodology behind how they compiled this stat, it's not without fault, but defensive stats in general will always be flawed.