A solid NBA individual defender includes various characteristics. It’s a blend of effort, discipline, instincts, and strong footwork, among others. These players consistently maintain focus and thrive on optimal positioning to stop an opponent’s offensive moves. Their ability to anticipate actions allows them to react quickly, disrupting both the individual opponent, but also the other team’s offensive rhythm.
Good footwork helps them stay in front of their opponent. They can navigate through screens and limit shooting opportunities effectively. They understand off-ball defense and can deny the ball and limit options.
On Tuesday, Keon Ellis, as a starter, held Damian Lillard to 10 points. He has only been held to 10 points or less 10 times over the last NINE seasons. So yeah, Ellis played really well.
Let’s take a look.
On the opening play of the game, Ellis demonstrated his skills. He never loses track of where Dame is, gets wide with his stance and illustrates great footwork. When the screen from Giannis comes, notice how Ellis leans into Giannis, using his back as both a shield and wedge to slip around him. Sabonis delivers some nice help defense and Ellis is quickly back on Dame’s hip. The possession ends in a turnover and an open three for Ellis on the other end that he drains.
Essentially, he gets the ball out of Dame’s hand, eliminates his second option, cuts through the screen for his third option, and then forces Dame to give the ball up a second time in one possession. Stellar stuff while setting a tone.
Instinct when he sees the screen coming – he immediately positions himself to pin Giannis away from him so he can get around it. Then he doesn’t lose focus coming around the screen and watches the ball. He sees the pass coming and is able to swat the ball away from Lillard.
Dame beats him around the screen here, but his desire to play defense, as well as his footwork (notice the long step he takes to recover) allows for him to at least get within breathing distance to Lillard to make the shot uncomfortable.
Again, he shows great instincts here, and this time off the ball. Lillard gets around him and Sabonis and Huerter do a good job of trapping him. Instead of trying to force a triple team, Ellis identifies where the roller is, gets wide and stays directly in front of him so Dame doesn’t have an easy escape. He is forced into a tough fadeaway that misses.
Ellis applies great pressure with his footwork and speed. Dame gets a little frustrated and pushes Ellis back. When he moves into a double team, Lillard passes back Portis. He immediately jumps into the center of the lane to prevent a dribble drive, great off-ball awareness. Portis still drives and Ellis is able to contest the shot well, forcing a miss.
And then the very next night, Ellis started again and faced De’Angelo Russell and the Los Angeles Lakers. Russell had scored in double digits in the previous 16 games. He finished with 6 points on 2-9 from the field.
Here, Russell fakes taking the screen from Lebron James, and dribble drives the other way. After effectively wedging himself to get around James if needed on the screen, Ellis slashes with Russell, displaying his quickness and once again, great footwork. Sabonis again delivers some great help and Ellis anticipates the pass and jumps behind Sabonis to intercept it.
Ellis doesn’t make a splashy play here, but I included it because of his off-ball awareness. Watch when Russell comes off the screen and toward the paint. Sabonis is there to stop the drive and Ellis remains in a defensive position without guarding anyone at the moment. His goal is to get as wide as possible to cut off passing lanes. When you watch him off the ball, he is often purposely extending his arms as much as possible for this reason.
This is full on cornerback stuff. Ellis does his job getting around the screen, but the pass is still made to the roller. He keeps his eyes on the ball handler and as soon as he sees an indication of a pass he is flying to the receiver – steal and off to the races. And he doesn’t try to do too much on the fast break. He gets it to Fox, and it results in a bucket.
And while he isn’t on track to be a top scorer, he is effective on offense when he needs to be. He scored 14 points on 62% from the field against the Lakers. Obviously, there is a reason why the Kings signed him to a three-year deal in February. It is going to be interesting to see how Mike Brown uses him down the stretch of the season. It would be nice to see a lot more of him on a team that needs consistent defense.
Imagine a starting lineup where, against the majority of teams:
1) Fox can guard the second best offensive guard
2) the SG doesn’t get hunted
3) Keegan gets more shots
Huerter is a bottom-10 starting SG. We have average to good outside shooters at PG, SF, PF. I’ve seen enough. Make the change Mike.
I agree with all of that.
Just posted this on the Lakers game thread yesterday.
My main reasons for wanting to start Keon over Huerter would be:
OLDBHOY hit the nail on the head! (hammer joke)
On the flip side, the second unit needs defense too. Monk and Huerter at the point of attack isn’t exactly a recipe for good defense. Unless you go Davion when Fox sits still. Then Huerter at the 3 to spell Barnes/Murray?
This occured to me too. Monk and Huerter together has perimeter defenders is a bad mix.
If you’re gonna copy-paste, then so will I 😉
I agree with all these points.
I have two arguments for a slightly different solution.
I think that Barnes would react better than Huerter to a bench role and would thrive as a main offensive cog on the second unit (with more posts ups, as you pointed out), whereas Huerter is either on or off, doesn’t matter if it’s off the bench or in the starting lineup (I could be wrong).
Also, Huerter garners a lot of attention as the main DHO partner of Sabonis. He could act as a decoy in developing plays that open up others while defenders focus on disrupting the DHO.
Move Keegan to the 4, play Huerter or Keon at SF and have Malik and Barnes as your 1-2 punch off the bench.
You are living in fantasyland assuming Fox will defend against anyone.
Ellis has not been faced with being scouted in the NBA. His game is about to be a well known process.
Can he do something about it?
Fox has an Offensive Rating of 117.9 and a Defensive Rating of 114.3, for a Net Rating of 3.6.
He is 2nd in the league in steals per game and 3rd in the league in total steals.
As far as I can tell, steals are a part of defense.
One would be living in a fantasyland to believe that Fox isn’t defending against anyone.
He is the ultimate defender that all teams fear. The entire NBA recognizing for his determination to defend and stop all the best players.
Where are the Kings ranked defensively?
What team does Fox play for?
Nobody said that he was the ultimate defender.
You said that anyone who thinks that Fox defends anyone is living in a fantasyland.
Believing that a player can’t defend anyone despite being #3 in the league in steals is . . . special.
Maybe those players are bouncing the ball off their own feet and it just magically rolls to Fox . . . over 100 times this season.
And those steals come at an important time in the game like in the last quarter when you need it the most. Getting a steal in the first quarter is good but getting one with 2 or 3 minutes left in a game is great.
PS Fox plays for the Sactamento Kings. Has and always will. Period.
The NBA defensive juggernaut.
So the other thousand easy layups the teams perimeter defense allows don’t count?
Is Fox stopping all of those?
Great stuff Blake!
Keep him in the starting lineup please!
I’d platoon Barnes and Huerter depending on matchups.
I especially like how you point out Ellis’s ability to get through screens.
While watching Ellis play, my overall impression is that he is playing with great intensity, but you explain exactly what he’s doing to make opposing offenses struggle.
Great stuff. I love articles like this one.
Very helpful for people (such as me) who don’t understand and see the game as well.
The one thing I hope for Ellis is that he doesn’t interact much with the referees. I seem to recall him getting two techs and an automatic ejection for doing that. And then–correct me if I’m wrong–he soon after seemed to drop out of the rotation. Let Malik or one of the vets do the negotiating for him.
It’s got to be wonderful for Coach Brown and his staff after searching for the past two seasons – Okpala, Moneke, Duarte, Kessler Edwards and even, until recently, Davion Off Night Mitchell, though Davion’s offense the month of March has been a pleasure to see.
It’s too soon to talk about the off season, but I hope to see Keon coming back to camp with some added muscle and an improved, more reliable outside shot – which he seems capable of.
An don’t forget Jones. IMO he will impact the team next year also.
I think Keon is trying to be workmanlike. He’s not looking for his shot on offense he’s looking to help. he is a very short career .40 3 point shooter.
Our coach has a fortuitous in. It would be professionally negligent not to take it.
All he has to say is something like: “Look, Kevin, we love you, we appreciate you and the effort you’ve shown to turn yourself into a dynamic two way player, and the professionalism you have exhibited day after day, and…yada, yada, blah, blah, but we decided to name Keon in your place.”
Normally a coach has a rule that a player does not lose his job due to injury. Time to bend that rule.
His injury is opportunity to protect a players ego, to the degree that it matters, and it should not matter much, and preserve his confidence, though it seems mostly shot, and convey to said player that “we’ve stumbled onto something that has clicked, so we want to go down this path a little longer”.
If the meeting gets contentious, the protests loud and indignant, I suggest resorting to the big guns, present the irrefutable evidence. “See this contract you signed? The undersigned hereby promises to be all-in under any and all circumstances.” If he broods or sulks or resents the decision, no biggie, it will no not be a far cry from his standard vibe.
Kevin is NOT in a good head space because he’s bricking with regularity, including 0-4 wide open HORSE like FGs in the third quarter vs MIL, who were ready to roll over, but instead cut it to 14 points. This is a disconcerting theme after such a tantalizing first impression a season ago.
When we have the chance to bury a team, or mount a furious cpomeback. when the shot matters most, Kevin chokes, just like last playoffs. Kevin gets the yips. The ghost of Jimmer Freddette lives.
Even his modest 36% from deep is misleading. He shoots blanks, often missing badly, with hitchy mechanics, when a make is the instumental in pivotal moments.
Huerter does not just miss often, he misses badly. He’s no HB.
Regardless, his mental well being and nurturing is not pertinent to the team mission and compared to what it is best for Fox and Domas. It is all about putting our Superstar Duo in the best position to succeed, complementary players required, since they are the ultimate dictators of our success. We must be mindful to cater to their strengths and weakness. Everything else is a relative afterthought.
If you buy the premise that we go as far as our best players take us, then the foremost question a coach should ask himself is: “What is best so that our best will be at their best?”
Huerter as a floor spacer was a viable strategy when he was above average from behind the arc, and for a time led the league, and before Fox improved his prowess from deep. Now he is just another sporadic mediocre bomber not named Domas or HB.
Here’s the 3 point shooting percentages and attempts per game for our starters and Keon, and the other guys for full context:
Fox 36.4% (7.5)
HB 40.6% (4.8)
Keegan 35.9% (6.1)
Huerter 36.3% (5.5)
Domas 41.4% (1.1)
Keon 38.9% (2.3)
Davion 33.3% (2.0)
Lyles 38.3% (3.7)
Monk 37% (6.0)
In a prospective swap, we could expect 20 attempts from behind the arc per game among our starters at a 1 percent higher than Huerter. We would not sacrifice anything in terms of collective volume and accuracy.
The numbers above speak for themselves, requiring the Huerter Stans, the few than remain, to resort to the Intangibles.
Huerter creates gravity declare the Stans. Not really. Monk creates gravity. Monk forces the defense to lean in his direction, tilt the floor, corresponding to a 29.1% assist rate. If Huerter was creating all this gravity, he would act as a decoy at times too, making the opponent pay for the overplay. Huerters assist rate is 14%, less than half of Monk and 1% below his career average.
At 6’8” and fundamentally sound, there was hope Huerter would benefit from the alleged extra attention and respect when pushed off the line. Due to fear, timidity, lack of hops and force, this aspect of his game has regressed. This is reflected in 38% FGs from 10-16 feet (down 6%) 20% from 16 feet to 3p (down 24%). He’s down 5% from 0-3 feet and 4% from 3-10 feet.
He’s down from everywhere, and dragging the team down with him, 1st quarter vs MIL withstanding.
When fans talk about “not upsetting the apple cart” or that it is “too late to change the lineup” what it is so vital for us to preserve and protect?
The meeting to let Kevin know he has been demoted can be conveyed in two words: 8 and 3, which is the number of deflections and steals Keon garned in 28 minutes to set the tone for the thrashing of LAL.
Or the messenger can cite 4-21 FGs for 19%, the combined shooting of D-Lo and Lillard in the last two games. Keon was not responsible directly for all the misses, but stifling and suffocating them early set the tone.
Having Keon on the floor from the outset is vital to prevent streaky players from getting loose. It is much more difficult to keep an elite scorer under wraps when your assignment is to put out a fire. In other words, it is more advantageous for Keon to play 25 minutes as a starter than 25 minutes off the bench because his minutes will coincide with the best scoring guard or small wing, with Brunson up next.
Moreover, we need more agility and athleticism to complement Keegan and HB. Huerter has failed miserably at this, plodding and whatnot, gumming up the works instead of enabling freedom and flow.
Keon, who has a similar physique and athletic profile to Fox, glides across the floor, as if floating on clouds, seeming to always knowing where to be without delay, graceful, intutive with perpetual poise and relentless effort.
There is NO downside to putting Keon in the starting lineup because Huerter is already mentally shaken. A little more shake is negligible.
If Kevin needs anymore quantitive evidence to accept reality, how about Game Rating of 77-126 for Lillard (-49 net rating) and RTg 83-129 for D-Lo (-46 net rating), while Keon was Rtg 128-106 (+22 net rating) and RTg 136-89 (+47 net rating).
Keon needs reps for the playoffs. This last stretch, 17 games on tap, as we pursue 50 wins (12-5 record easily within reach) and the 4 or 5 seed. The time is now. The playoffs effectively start now. It is ON like Donkey Kong.
What an opportunity to accelerate the development and readiness of Keon! This is opportunity not to be squandered with the same old, the weak sauce, the plodding impotency of the hapless headbander.
I predict our coach will start Keon next game vs NYK and beyond, perhaps giving Huerter a few more games off. Offocially it will be called “leg soreness”, unofficially it will be a Mental Health Vacation and chance to experiment further. Then when the sample size of success increases, a permanent switch at SG will be readil accepted.
The coach was less hesistant to the idea the second time he was asked by Matt George after the LAL game than the first time after the MIL game when asked by Kyle Madison.
Our coach knows what he needs to do, he just wants to tread carefully. Change is coming, the prudent bet to be wagered in the pursuit of glory, the antidote to the inconsistency, the ugly losses and dubious synergy among the starters. Fortune favors the bold. Yet with a little reflection and logic, Keon is not just a bold choice, he is the obvious one.
Good post. Too long. Brevity is the soul of wit. Avoid repitition.
I’m pretty sure the saying is “soul is the wit of brevity,” but I could be wrong. Either that or “Wit is the brevity of soul.”
😋!
Still too long. Brevity, Soul, Wit.
How about ” Funny souls be brief” that’s even more brief thus more fun.
You bring so much to the conversation. Always appreciate it.
Developed a callous scrolling to the end. Didn’t read your manifesto.
Reduce this to three sentences?
I read the whole thing. I enjoyed it. Even if I didn’t read the whole thing I would not feel compelled to tell you how to engage with this forum. Post away. Thank you for the effort you put into this analysis.
Ellis is amazing.
Ellis is God.
Huerter sucks.
Huerter really sucks.
Mix in big words out of context that don’t make any sense as used.
Ellis is God.
Huerter sucks.
Copy and paste some stats to take up more space on e screen.
More big words used incorrectly.
This post is all about winning a Pulitzer.
Huerter does not suck. He has proven over the years he is a good basketball player bur right now is a little down. If I’m right and that is questionable he will be a King next year but along with Ellis, Monk and Lyles holding down the back ups. We need a player like him and his shooting.
I agree. Huerter is a great player for this team.
That is my point.
G league player plays average defense and is gifted an NBA deal.
Plays average defense in two games on an average team and is now God.
Rooting against my favorite team’s success because I’d rather be right than happy
Success is championship rings and consistent deep playoff runs.
Do those successful teams fanboy for G league players simply because nobody else on the roster tries to play defense?
Not God.
Not at all God. Playing for his life in the NBA.
We agree.
Great stuff, Blake. Thank you.
I really hope Ellis can keep it up. He’s a fun guy to root for. But we shouldn’t forget in our euphoria that the sample size is small and that we have similar bouts of enthousiasm during a stretch of Davion’s games.
Another thing, if you focus on Domas in many of these clips, his help defense and ability to hinder line drives to the baskets and passing lanes is really good. He may not be a shotblocker, but that doesn’t make him a bad defender. He protects the rim in different, less obvious ways.
Blasphemy!
Cancel this man!
You must fanboy for Ellis or be chastised!
Defense wins playoffs. I see us getting out of Round 1.
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