Martin's defense was horrifically bad last year and at the beginning of this season. I'm talking 2007 JR Smith level of non-effort. But the past few games he's really stepped up. We've put him on Monta Ellis and Kobe, both of whom killed us earlier in the season, and he did a great job. Last night he shut down Henry and Mayo, though he did lose Henry a couple of times on screens. The only person who's abused him lately is Stephen Jackson, after a great first half defensive effort. I'd say Kmart is actually playing *gasp* average defense now. If this something he can keep up, our season can definitely turn around. Maybe it'll inspire AB to play some passable defense as well. Also, this may pave the way to Lee and Martin playing together, something we haven't seen much of this season. The way they've been stroking it there really isn't much reason to keep Bud in the rotation.
I don't think his defense has gotten better, but I think the team's help-defense has improved. The one player that I have noticed improve on defense is Courtney. He's becoming one of the team's better defensive players, however, not in the same realm of Batman. K-Mart has a long way to go.
I don't think the team's help defense has improved much. What's surprised me is that Lowry is having trouble with lightning-quick guards. Conley didn't have a monster night, but got into the lane far more easily than I would have liked. Also, Derrick Rose, Westbrook, and JJ Barea really just blew by him. If the help defense is better, it isn't doing much on PG's. That's why I'm really impressed with how Kmart did on Ellis.
If by improved defense you mean within 5 feet of his man, then yes, definitely. Still not lock down defense, but I'm not expecting that from him and quite a bit better than before. I also think there are fewer plays where someone is just way out of position. They must've looked at tape and pointed out these breakdowns. A lot of playing good team defense is knowing where to be positioned and who to rotate to on the weak side. I have noticed better chemistry there. The Grizzlies were out of sorts yesterday a lot on defense. Especially when Miller was in there because when he would pass the ball down low, he would pop out to the 3point line and his man would be stuck in no-man's land because he's not used to a center being able to hit the 3. That actually makes me more optimistic about our ability to turn this thing around because it tells me that the players are all learning where each of their teammates is effective at scoring from. Adelman's read-and-react offense requires more thinking on the part of non-point guards. That means its effectiveness is more closely tied to team chemistry since everyone, not just the point guards, need to be able to make the right play. The fact that Scola's scoring has gone down is a good sign that other players are getting more comfortable in the offense since it's easy to just defer to Scola and hope he bails the offense out with his scoop shots. But if everyone knows their own role and the spots of other players, it relieves this dependency on Scola and gets the other guys good shots. I think the defensive rotations still could benefit a bit more chemistry. It certainly helps that Martin stays within the vicinity of his man and Lowry puts pressure on the ball. Miller's a bit slow and doesn't provide any shot blocking presence so I'm hopeful having Yao back helps down low. Both are slow as hell, but at least Yao can bother some shots. And hopefully Hill's rotations keep getting better. Battier's been matching up w/ true 3s, recently, which plays to his advantages (instead of people like Monta)
I have not seen any improvement from him on defense. His strength is offense. I'm actually wondering if there is any way he could improve on defense at all. He just doesn't seem to have it in him, and neither does he seem to have the mindset or build.
k-mart won't ever be a strong D player because of his size..but he can still use his quickness to re-route drives or draw charges
Doubtful, but it seems we've been hiding him better lately. With Jordan Hill and Courtney Lee coming around, we are finding our defensive identitiy.
Considering how smart of an offensive player he is, I am surprised he doesn't guide his opponents along better with positioning. It's not like he is slow or anything either.
wondering if people are actually watching the games... K-mart is doing his defense on average. stop saying he is a bad defender coz everyone knew how bad his defense is in Kings. This is so silly and annoying.. k-mart seldom let his man get huge numbers this season, and he used to hold ellis a bit as well. for Lee, everyone knows he is good at defense BEFORE he entered Rockets.. u can go back and check the reason we got Lee into Rockets, part of it is coz of his defense can guard both PG and SG... (no offense to anyone..)
