I have to say, that’s largely been my impression too: Monta looks a lot sharper on D than last year. The numbers would seem to bear that out — his offensive numbers are terrible, and yet we outscore our opponents by 2.8 points per 48 when he’s on the floor thus far. Obviously that has something to do with Jack’s hot streak… still, it would seem that Monta is doing something right out there.

Good post, I’ve been noticing this too. We’re playing alot better defense nowadays. In fact, we’re giving up only 106.5 points per 100 possessions to opponents with Monta, as opposed to 112.3 points per 100 possessions earlier in the season without Monta.

But this might be attributed to many other factors as well. We’ve been playing Turiaf (a monster shotblocker and defender) at center instead of Biedrins lately. We also stopped playing Rob Kurz and started playing Anthony Randolph more. Whatever the reasons are, I’m glad the defense is picking up.

Given Monta’s quickness and speed, I always thought he had the physical ability to be a solid defender. He just needed better defensive instincts such as being a better help defender and staying in front of his man on the perimeter and even creating more pressure against the opposing offense.

and does not believe in the importance of solid defense because, under the idiocy which is nellie-ball, that assuages the capability of flying aimlessly up and down the court. instead, he prefers that defenders just stick out their extremities once in a while and, hopefully, deflect a few passes.
like rebounding, defense is more of a mind-set. it is tiring, not immediately rewarding, and other than steals, does not show up in the boxscore. most players must be encouraged and cajoled by their coaches into playing hard defense, but nellie never does this.
j-rich also had speed and quickness, as well as size, and could have been a top defender, but, alas, he was not even close.

the main point of my post was that i noticed monta’s defense is much better than it was last year. i don’t think he is a premier defender, but i think he is much improved. i don’t think he’ll make first or second team all defense, but i do see him using his quickness on the defensive end because it leads to easy buckets and makes his offensive game that much better. i do think his effort has vastly improved over years past and overall, since his return, the activity level for many warriors has been much better. basically, monta is not perfect, but his defense has certainly not been a liability since his return, and that is not something you could have said about him last year.