Synergy Grades: Individual Defense
 

I ran the defensive Synergy (the same tool coaches use to scout) numbers for each player (Minus Trevor Moore who does have enough possessions to get a grade).

The defense from our bigs has been really good. Its a feel spots on the wing where we could be better:

Chris Vogt: Good (.706 ppp)
Jay Sorolla: Excellent (.385 PPP)... one of the best in the country
Chris McNeal: Very Good (.647 ppp)
Zach Harvey: Average (.857 ppp)
Jeremiah Davenport: Very Good (.625 ppp)
Mika Adams-Woods: Below Average (.938 ppp)
Keith Williams: Average (.80 ppp)
Mamaoudou Diarra: Excellent (.5 ppp)
Tre Scott: Very Good (.684 ppp)
Jarron Cumberland: Very Good (.615 ppp)
Jaevin Cumberland: Below Average (.929 ppp)


Looking at these numbers, Our 4 bigs are doing a really good job on defense.


I'm just really surprised to see Keith posting average defenses numbers. It could be that he is tasked with guarding the best player, but he should thrive defensively with his length and athleticism.


But the clear weakness is the guards with Jaevin, Keith & Mika posting not great numbers. I think Mika and Keith will improve and so will Jaevin but he is less likely with being a fifth year senior.

I have a question about the synergy grades. Is this just a PPP based on when they got in the game? Is there anything individual about it? Are things like steals and blocks factored in?

its individual defense.

So its when your a defender, how often does the guy your guarding score.

It covers every aspect of defense. Ill post a screenshot of it on my next post.

So it shows how well a player covers Post ups or spot up jumpers or whatever.

I don't know how synergy or other defensive grades system works. The synergy grades don't consistently agree with Basketball references DRtg.
Because of that, I tend to believe in the eye-test.

I think Sorolla's numbers are going to come down significantly once he returns and gets a bigger sample size, but I do think Diarra is the best defender on the team.

Jaevin I don't expect much improvement from, he's here for the offense and wasn't known as a defender at Oakland. Keith, Harvey and Maw have the athleticism to improve significantly, I feel like Scott could be better as well. It seems like Scott and Keith are having some trouble adjusting to not have a rim protector to funnel the ball to when their man drives.

I'm surprised at how high Jarron ranks. Also surprised at Davenport ranks. I consider them both good at defense, but would have guessed that Scott would be in front of them.

I notice you left Moore off. If that because of lack of minutes? I feel like he would rated pretty high on defense.

https://i.imgur.com/TPijzuV.png
https://i.imgur.com/TXFGsre.png
https://i.imgur.com/CmxiMyP.png

I wonder how well that applies to overall defense. I think Vogt (and Sorolla) is a fairly good individual defender, it's in help defense and rim protection where he really lacks. Scott, Williams and Diarra seem to be the best or most willing help defenders. Perhaps leaving their man to help someone else ends up hurting their score?

Defense is one of the hard metrics to really get accurate. But I do prefer Synergy's model. Its a tool that every coach in america uses to scout players, themselves and to watch film.

I think its a steal for 20 bucks a month, because I get access to video express, meaning I can download any game in their archive.. Which is literally every game every played in the regular and post season dating back to 2005-2006




I left off moore because he doesn't have enough possessions to warrant a grade but his numbers are the worst on the team... BUT its in extremely low sample size.

He is giving up 1 point per possession. But i'd take that with a huge boulder of salt

Foot speed matter in help defense.


Chris Vogt moves well up and down the court. But quickness and lightness of foot is not something he has in his bag of tricks, so when he is put in a spot to quickly rotate and help, its going to take longer than a quicker player.


But if our guards don't get beat off the dribble, then we don't need to help so much.


Coaches see these grades and numbers as well. So they will do what they can to get switched in to Jaevin or Mika, and try to exploit them. Its up to them to adjust

Of all the new comers... Chris Vogt is my favorite player.


I never thought I'd say that. And I thought picking him up was a huge mistake and even worse, not sitting him out in a redshirt year. I was absolutely wrong about him.

I have no idea how he is going to do in bigger games. But up until this point, Chris Vogt is doing everything you could ask for in a big.


Offensively he grades out as Excellent and is scoring a whopping 1.219 PPP


He is limted in how he scores, but who cares, its consistent.


Thats one area that Im starting to believe that John Brannen is far better than our last coach..... and thats Development of big men. Chris Vogt isn't a natural. He learned all that footwork and technique from his coaches.

Thanks for these stats. These defensive numbers coupled our TO’s is very ominous. We turn the ball over at a high clip and our guards can’t keep anyone in front of them. Jaevin really doesn’t turn his hips well on defense. When he is one on one with a defender they blow by him which forces either an easy shot or a foul...he has to grab defenders a lot. This puts us in a difficult spot because he is by far our best shooter so you have to keep him on the floor.