Reply to thread

Message

[QUOTE="NYCorange, post: 1374618, member: 4918"]
I actually both agree and disagree.

On the one hand, the zone can help hide poor individual defenders who have a decent BB IQ (the reason Duke went zone for part of this year). It also requires a somewhat different skill set than man-to-man. Andy Rautins, for example, was one of the best we've ever had at the top of the zone, but I don't think defense has been his strength in his pro career.

On the other hand, a lot of our players do translate well defensively to the NBA and will even more in the future. NBA defenses in the past few years have shifted drastically towards overloading the strong side now that the illegal defense rules have been eliminated. Nearly every team employs some version of Tom Thibodeau's defense which asks players to essentially crowd the lane, push everything baseline, and often briefly guard two-on-three by hesitating in between until help arrives as the ball gets swung weak-side. Sound familiar? It should, because more and more zone concepts are getting incorporated into NBA "man-to-man" defenses.

Does this look like zone or man?

[IMG]http://img.bleacherreport.net/img/article/media_slots/photos/000/523/115/bullsnetspnr4_crop_exact.png?w=650&h=362&q=85[/IMG]
[/QUOTE]

Verification

What is a Syracuse fan's favorite color?