# Andrea Bargnani is a 95th percentile man defender



## Dre (Jun 20, 2003)

> Some of you will be aware of this, but for those of you aren’t, let me catch you up real quick. You know how Andrea Bargnani has this reputation as being the very definition of a horrible defender? It’s not entirely a fictional archetype, but it’s also not really so much in love with the truth that the two have announced the relationship on Facebook. Synergy Sports ranked Bargnani in the 88th percentile in post defense on a per-possession basis, and the 56th percentile in isolation defense last season (with a gaudy 95th percentile overall). It wasn’t all Dwane Casey’s wizardry last season (though his work with Bargnani’s defense should not be ignored, but we’ll get there. In 2011, he was 47th percentile in post and 83rd percentile in isolation. 2010? 72nd percentile in the post, 28th in isolation. Bear in mind these numbers are regardless of the number of possessions, so someone that defended in the post once successfully logs in at the top of the chart. So basically, he’s even better than these numbers indicate, relative to his position.
> 
> But as so many people that don’t understand nuance, statistics, or empirical information suggest, “numbers don’t tell the whole story.” It’s easy to say that, but what about who he was guarding, etc. Unfortunately, if you have too much time on your hands, as I have over the past four years, you can actually watch the game video and discover that, whoops, often Bargnani was actually defending the better offensive threat due to his raw height. Surprise! Andrea Bargnani is a pretty good man defender. Let your world shake into a new comfort. Even with the problems afforded Synergy and the metrics used in that glorious environment, it’s impossible to deny that Bargnani at least does a decent job of distracting the guy he’s matched up with into missing his shot a lot of the time.


http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/08/17/the-inbounds-the-pierre-bargnani-defensive-mirror/


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Bargs has always had good man to man D. Unfortunately, he doesn't help enough and everything is compounded by the fact he doesn't rebound worth shit.


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## Dee-Zy (Jan 12, 2006)

And he is a shit weakside shot blocker despite his height and mobility for a 7 footer.


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## RollWithEm (Jul 16, 2002)

I've always thought he was underrated.


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Val/Bargnani could actually be pretty potent for years to come, depending on how quickly Val can put it together.


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## Dee-Zy (Jan 12, 2006)

I hope that he can play strong or Toronto will have the softest twin towers ever... so much for rebuilding TO's image...


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Val boxes out, sets picks and rebounds at an elite level (or at least he will when given the chance). 

He is nothing at all like Bargs. Although he does have a very, very impressive FT motion for a big. 

Oh and Bargs isn't soft, he just doesn't read the defensive floor very well which leaves him with tunnel vision on his man.


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## Mr. Hobbes (Jul 1, 2005)

Porn Player said:


> Bargs has always had good man to man D. Unfortunately, he doesn't help enough and everything is compounded by the fact he doesn't rebound worth shit.


Sounds exactly like what they said about Kwame Brown. Maybe like Brown, Bargnani will start to recognize rotations as he gets older.

Good man to man D is less about skill, but more about effort and wingspan. It's pretty much expected if you're that tall.


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## Dee-Zy (Jan 12, 2006)

Porn Player said:


> Val boxes out, sets picks and rebounds at an elite level (or at least he will when given the chance).
> 
> He is nothing at all like Bargs. Although he does have a very, very impressive FT motion for a big.
> 
> Oh and Bargs isn't soft, he just doesn't read the defensive floor very well which leaves him with tunnel vision on his man.


He is soft in the sense that he doesn't crash boards hard not can he score in the post consistently. 

He does play his man hard but like you said, tunnel vision makes him a horrible dDefender.


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## Porn Player (Apr 24, 2003)

Chan said:


> Sounds exactly like what they said about Kwame Brown. Maybe like Brown, Bargnani will start to recognize rotations as he gets older.
> 
> Good man to man D is less about skill, but more about effort and wingspan. It's pretty much expected if you're that tall.


Kwame Brown couldn't light any team in the league up for 20 a night.

Bargnani has his flaws defensively, but on the other end, offensively he's one of the very best bigs in the league.


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## Jace (Sep 26, 2005)

I wanna say he meant defensively, considering the post he quoted only mentioned defense and rebounding.


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## Mr. Hobbes (Jul 1, 2005)

Yeah this is about defense. If you're a great man defender but miss your rotation all the time, you're a horrible defender.


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