Anthony Davis & DeMarcus Cousins Will Give Pelicans a Top-5 Defense
By Justin Jett
Imagine you’re an Olympic hurdler. You jump over hurdle after hurdle until suddenly, a seven-foot brick wall materializes in front of you. You jump into it at full speed, extending your arms in an attempt to grab the top. After gashing your knees and bruising your body, you manage to jump down and start sprinting again only to smack full speed into yet another brick wall.
This is what it is like to run a pick and roll while Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins are on the court.
The main point of running a pick and roll is to draw the big man out, opening up the paint, and causing the opponent to either over help or leave the lane wide open. This doesn’t happen much when both of the Pels’ big men are on the court.
If the opposing team does not have four shooters on the floor, or the possession does not end with a jumper, they likely won’t get many good looks at the rim.
The restricted area is absolutely locked down with these two barrel chested bigs protecting it. It probably isn’t said enough how good Anthony Davis is. Charging into the rim is usually a mistake with just AD on the court but now he has a teammate who can cover him when he is intentionally taken out of the paint.
Now, Cousins is not a great shot blocker. He usually saves his determined footwork for offense and is not a two-footed jumper. He is, however, huge and smart. He drew the 4th most charges in the NBA last season as a counter to his lack of leap.
Offenses usually take whoever Davis is guarding and have him set a screen for the ball handler. If this action was set up while Cousins was on a three-point shooter, it has a chance to end OK, if it wasn’t, Cousins is likely right in the face of whoever is rolling towards the hoop.
On this play Cousins is able to draw the charge after quickly peeling off of Pau Gasol.
Opposing teams will likely try to force the Pelicans to play just one of their bigs by putting a small forward in the power forward position and trading threes for twos. Having their players run dribble handoffs or planting one of the bigs in the corner. These lineups are known to work great in moderation but will lose steam when having to bang down low with AD and Boogie.
The Pelicans would also be smart to put Anthony Davis on the small power forward. AD covers a massive amount of ground and has much longer arms than Cousins.
He could merely swipe at the ball while sticking to his man on the outside.
Guarding the perimeter may be an issue but forcing the opposing team to shoot more jumpers isn’t always a bad thing. The league is all about three-pointers AND shots at the rim. Taking away one is vital to an NBA defense.
There is also evidence that suggests three-point defense is somewhat random.
Rim protection and shot blocking are the definites, two things the Pelicans have in surplus.
Over the last 5 seasons, the number one overall defense was at least top seven in Blocks and Opponent Paint Points with the only exception being the Warriors three seasons ago (who were second in blocks but just 14th in points allowed in the paint).
Most good defensive NBA teams are also good rebounding ones. Cousins has been top two in defensive rebounding percentage two out of the last four years while Anthony Davis has grabbed over seven defensive rebounds per game for four straight.
Granted, there are only four Heat players on this end of the court, this play is a nice example of what the Pelicans can be defensively. Anthony Davis has the athleticism to trap and corral smaller guards, the Pels will have to help one man over, and DeMarcus Cousins will be able to gobble up defensive rebounds that other power forwards wouldn’t be able to.
Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins had a defensive rating of 99.6 in their 394 minutes on the court together last season. An even better mark than the Spurs, who boasted the best defense in the league. This is because, despite the parade of mediocre players lining up next to them, there is no duo quite like them in the NBA.
Offenses have to play differently because most are not used to combating two big lineups. The uniqueness of it is what caused the Spurs to confuse the Rockets in the playoffs. The Spurs two bigs lineup worked because they took away the rim altogether while ceding the dreaded mid-range.
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The Pelicans could follow a similar game plan with much more found success. Boogie and the Brow are way more athletic, better defensively, and quicker on their feet than Pau Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge.
If opposing teams go small, but the Pels decide to only allow mid-range jumpers and intentionally cut off the rim, it takes away the advantage of going small. Boogie and AD have all the tools to make a full-time defense with this philosophy work splendidly.
Having a well built defensive team is basically a pre-requisite for succeeding in the playoffs. For the Pelicans, two brick walls are a good way to start.