Does This Make It Harder To Trade Calderon?

[grindhouse]

I don't know if calderon has the worst D in the league but if he does I wouldn't be surprised. both jack and calderon let players WALK by them on a regular basis. I think everyone knows he D is bad its all about whether or not his weakness can be hidden, he probably hasn't been traded because most teams don't think they can hide his lack of D enough to justify acquiring him

[jeff_hostetler]

Just my two cents on the issue.

I'm not arguing one way or the other, but I think it's important to underscore the team defense concept.

Say, for example, the Raps were fielding a team of Calderon, Derozan, Turk, Bosh and Bargs. Ie, their starting 5 from last year.

If there were better defenders at the 3, 4 and 5, particularly at the 3 and 5, PG's would be far less likely to attempt to drive into the paint from the top or from the wing. That the Raps had bad help defenders at the forward and centre likely made it that much more appealing for the opposing team to have at them. I'm not saying this makes Calderon's defense better. What I am saying is that the success rate of opposing PG's is likely hugely inflated due to the fact that there was no one in the paint or SF who could adequately compensate for the PG penetration.

The way the league is dominated by fast PG's right now, and as a rule of thumb as far as basketball goes, the defender is typically always at a disadvantage, particularly at the 1.

It goes without saying that if Calderon was playing with Okafor at the 5 and Artest at the 3 that Calderon's opposite number would have a far worse line. Not only would the opposing PG score less, they would likely attempt to drive and score less as well.

To sum, yes Calderon has defensive issues. But the lack of overall D on the part of the Raps only served to compel opposing teams to attack more from the point into the paint far more than they would have had the Raps interior D been better. Better defense in the paint makes better defense at the wing, and vice-versa. One weak link exposes and exacerbates the other.

It is unfair to fully blame one player the way Calderon is when obviously the whole team was suffering from the no-D affliction.

[Apollo]

Every organization in the league has a scouting team. I'm sure their research dwarfs what the media can produce. I keep reading that there are people who value Jose Calderon.