Timofey Mozgov Discussion: Shut Down For Season (66)

Proven above

Starters points allowed last season: 112.9

Starters points allowed this season: 103.3

Lakers Defense improved from last season- PROVEN

No, I'm using facts, specific to Mozgov proving he isn't bad, while you used team defensive numbers trying to pin all the problems on Moz.

Once again, team numbers. if you'll remember, when you first made this claim, I asked you for numbers specific to Moz, because after watching the games, I knew he wasn't the biggest problem, and you provided no stats specific to him. Luckily I found the specific defensive numbers and they proved what I said was correct.

Again:

League Average Defense: 103.3

Mozgov's defense when Randle isn't on the floor blowing coverage: 103.8

Mozgov's defense is Average- PROVEN

Oh, so now it's not about if he's a good defender, it's about if he's a shot blocker? We can talk about that too if you want now that it's proven that Moz isn't a bad defender.

We paid a guy what has proven to be market price. Imagine that.

I didn't skew a thing. You just choose not to accept that facts because they destroy your argument.

Because it's Moz's fault most of the team can't communicate or rotate effectively.... right

We're done here

 

I posted where I got them before. Here's one:



Here's another:

http://lakerfilmroom.com/long-road-toward-respectable-lakers-defense/

And I don't agree with the conclusions off your article. I agree with the conclusions of this one:

"Consider that Lakers’ opponents have shot the 2nd most shots in the restricted area in the entire NBA. The only team who has allowed more shots in the RA than the Lakers are the Thunder, but their opponents shoot over 7% points worse on those shots (59.2% vs. 66.4%). So, to summarize, the Lakers are allow the 2nd most shots in the restricted area but allow opponents to shoot the best percentage in the league when they take those shots.

In other words, the Lakers not only have a rim protection problem, they have a rim prevention problem too.

This is why pointing the finger at Mozgov and saying the team should maybe play Black or go small (with Randle or, when he returns, Nance) more somewhat misses the point. The Lakers struggle to defend dribble penetration in isolation. They defend the screen and roll poorly as a team — guards don’t get through picks well, big men don’t contain ball handlers well on hedges, and weakside wings don’t tag the dive man well enough to prevent easy passes/lobs.

You can point at Mozgov for some of these things, but it really is a team wide issue which needs fixing. If you’re Russell or Lou Williams or Brandon Ingram or Jordan Clarkson, you cannot continue to get beat on straight line drives or die on screens. If you’re Randle or Black or Nance you cannot continue to get beat off the dribble on switches. If you’re Black or Thomas Robinson you cannot allow guards to turn the corner when hedging the P&R, getting to the rim to create an easy shot or an offensive rebounding opportunity.

If you’re looking for fixes, these are the areas in which they lie. Only when these things are fixed will the Lakers start to surrender fewer shots at the rim. And only when they do these things better will players on the back line be in better position to challenge and alter those shots. Only time will tell if the players who can accomplish these things are actually on the roster, however."

http://www.forumblueandgold.com/201...lems-are-about-rim-protection-and-prevention/

As I said, we're done.

 

I think it really makes no sense to discuss whether Mozgov is a good or a bad defender. It frankly doesn't matter right now.

What matters is does Mozgov provide enough value for 16 million a year? IMO the answer to that is no. I don't think you can measure defense in stats correlated to groups, nor can you measure defense just by numbers.

Matter of fact: Lakers need a rim protector and shot blocker, both of which Mozgov cannot do effectively. Our team leader in blocks is Larry Nance at 0.7 blocks a game. Thats just not good enough. The rest of the bigs are complete toast in this regard.

 

I don't agree with that either.

No one is going to agree to come to a 17 win team unless they are getting over paid, so our choices were either stand pat and hope Zu and Black (An unknown rookie and a small ball center) bust out, or overpay. We couldn't, an shouldn't risk it. We had to sign a center, and what we paid Mozgov isn't out of line with signings that went on this summer.

I understand the notion that people want a shot blocker, but who was available that would have come to a 17 win team?

 

^sadly, this is the other (true) part of the story. I'm not trying to find alternative solutions because probably we didn't have a choice to begin with.

While I agree that the other options weren't any better, it doesn't make this a good choice. To give a 30 year old with scrub career averages of 7/5 a 4 year contract, who also has a history for injuries...hell should have kept Ed Davis. He can produce similar numbers with better D and shot blocking. All I'm saying is it didn't have to be 16 million a year for the type of production that Mozgov offers.

 

It sort of did though. Mozgov was signed at market value. He was less than Biyombo, Ryan Anderson, the same as Ian Mahinmi (although the salary structure is different), and most importantly less than Joakim Noah. Noah is a similarly valued asset with similar flaws going to another bad team. Mozgov, like it or not, is right in the salary lane he should be given the market conditions.

The one who is overpaid is Deng. Deng is making more than Allen Crabbe, Evan Turner, and only a couple million less than Batum. Deng was the real overpay for a veteran.

 

You know he was hurt right? Had a failed knee surgery to repair a cyst or something during the year, rushed back, and was hurt the entire playoffs. Using those stats as an indicator of his ability is wrong. He has plenty of other stats you can use, but his playoff stats last year are an unfair benchmark.

 

Looking at ine stretch of a few games on a bad knee won't explain a player's value.

 

That's 100% untrue. He had the cyst or whatever it was removed from his knee, rushed back, and reinjured it. This subject has been covered extensively.

http://www.espn.com/blog/cleveland/...t-summer-and-his-rehab-was-handled-improperly