Brooklyn Nets: Should Kyrie Irving have defensive freedom?
The Brooklyn Nets haven’t forced many turnovers in recent seasons. Kyrie Irving could improve this if the coaches give him defensive freedom. Should they?
New Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving is known for his dazzling offensive abilities and his reputation on defense is so-so at best. In one-on-one situations in particular, Irving can be rather susceptible, but this doesn’t mean he has nothing to offer on this end of the floor.
When given the defensive freedom to be aggressive and at times veer off his assignment, Irving can create a fair amount of havoc for opposing offenses. As I touched on in a prior article, he was 28th in the NBA in deflections per game last season at 2.5 (most of any current Nets player).
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He was also tied for 13th in steals per game at 1.5 (tied for career high). Caris LeVert averaged the most steals of any other returning Nets player at 1.1, a mark Irving has reached or exceeded in each of his eight NBA seasons.
Brooklyn’s defense (15th in Net Rating in 2018-19) hasn’t generated many steals in recent seasons, ranking last in steals per game in 2017-18 and 27th last season.
The team hasn’t generated many turnovers of any kind either, ranking last in defensive turnover percentage in 2017-18 and 22nd last season. It seems reasonable that Irving could move the needle a bit in these areas.
On January 21st against Miami, Irving recorded eight steals, the most of any NBA player in a game last season. Over the last five seasons, only nine players have recorded at least eight steals in a game.
As mentioned earlier, Irving creates this havoc when he’s given the opportunity to be aggressive. A lot of his deflections and steals don’t come during one-one-defense; they come when he’s able to roam a bit and make plays.
Celtics head coach Brad Stevens seemed to give Irving a fair amount of this freedom, and Irving seemed to seize on this. Along with his steals/deflections numbers, Irving’s 2.5 fouls per game last season (a decent measure of defensive aggressiveness) was tied for a career high.
His “personal foul” percentage, the percentage of a team’s personal fouls that a player has while on the court, was a career high at 17.7 percent.
There are two main questions that arise when looking forward to next season:
- Will Kenny Atkinson and the Nets coaching staff give Irving the freedom to create havoc?
- Does this freedom definitely contribute to better team defense than a more conservative approach?
These are difficult questions to answer. On the one hand, Brooklyn ranked eighth in fouls per game last season, so it’s not as if the team has played extremely conservatively on this end of the floor.
On the other hand, the Nets had the 10th-lowest defensive free throw attempt rate last season, combating the notion that the defense was very aggressive.
But regardless of the coaching staff’s preferred defensive approach, Irving will likely have the cache to maintain a fair amount of defensive freedom if he so chooses.
Irving’s “havoc” tendencies definitely boost his individual steals and deflections stats, but what do they do for team defense as a whole? He still isn’t (and may never be) a net positive on the defensive end.
He had the second-worst defensive net rating on the Celtics last season and the eye test doesn’t do him too many favors either.
He can struggle in one-on-one situations and although his “havoc” defense might suggest otherwise, the defensive effort is not always there (which to be fair, might be understandable due to his offensive workload).
But does giving him defensive freedom make things worse? Some of Irving’s defensive gambles definitely backfire, but gambling at least requires energy and effort, right?
Giving Irving defensive independence at least keeps him engaged on that end of the floor, even if it’s not the type of disciplined engagement the coaching staff might prefer. Irving’s basketball savvy enables him to make some plays in this roaming role, another positive of this approach.
Overall, Kyrie Irving is a flawed defensive player. Providing him defensive freedom likely leads to better team defense outcomes than a stricter approach.
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Nets Fun Fact:
James Harden was first in the NBA in 4-point plays last season (20). Terrence Ross was second with 10, and Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie was tied for ninth with five (most of any player on Nets roster).