The Give and Go: Best Defenders

Credit:  AP Photo/Nell Redmond

The Give and Go is a quick back and forth between Paul Mitchell and Chris St. Jean about a relevant subject in the NBA at that moment.

Chris:  Alright Mitchell, recently Michael Kidd-Gilchrist proclaimed that he wants to be the best defender to ever play the game. That’s a lofty goal, but it may not be as far fetched as it seems.  I noticed his name come up in this John Schumann tweet:

Largest on-off-court NetRtg differential, led by a couple of MVP candidates: pic.twitter.com/0UoI2n2Tt4
— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) March 12, 2015

The Hornets’ Defensive Rating drops by 8.4 points per 100 possessions when Kidd-Gilchrist is on the floor compared to when he’s off which Schumann has ranked as the third best defensive impact by that metric.  He’s been great this season, so it’s not all that surprising, but he’s only 21, so how good can he be defensively in three years?

Who do you think is the best defender in the NBA?  Who do you think are regarded as the best defenders of all time?  And do you think Kidd-Gilchrist can achieve his lofty goal?

The Give and Go: Surprise Records

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The Give and Go is a quick back and forth between Paul Mitchell and Chris St. Jean about a relevant subject in the NBA at that moment.

Paul:  

Last week we discussed two teams with the best records in their conferences and their chances of finishing the season as their respective #1 seeds. It’s still early, but which teams’ records have surprised you as we enter the fourth week of the 2013-14 season?

2014-15 NBA Season Preview: MVP, All-NBA, and Playoff Predictions

Image via sportswol.com

Here we are.  NBA Day.  It's been a long few months and yet with the NBA Finals finishing in June, then the Draft, off-season, NBA Summer League, and even a bonus FIBA World Cup tournament, we've barely been without basketball.  Today is the day though.  It's the instant all that speculation and all those predictions become almost immediately invalidated.  That's alright though.  Starting tonight, there will always be a fresh batch of basketball games to talk about.  New information to help inform us.  Our studies begin tonight.

2014-15 NBA Season Preview: Los Angeles Clippers

Credit:  Noah Graham/NBAE via Getty Images

Although the majority of it has been unpleasant, the Clippers have quite a lot of history. After the events of this past season though, it's history they're trying to avoid.  There’s no use re-hashing that experience though.  The Clippers are ready to move forward, to transition, and they might have the perfect person to lead them through it: Doc Rivers. Doc was a stabilizing influence throughout the organization in the transition after the Sterling debacle.  That's half the reason why Doc Rivers is my Coach of the Year this season. The other half?  Well, this Clippers team is going to be really good.