Lonzo Ball's first-team all defense selections may surprise you
Lonzo Ball is currently rehabbing from injury but there are hopes he will return for the start of next season.
That hasn’t stopped him from podcasting, where he has given updates on his injury and dropped opinions about a number of basketball topics.
Most recently, he was asked who he would have put on the All-Defensive first team.
There was controversy about this year’s selections, as it was the first time positions were not considered and the first time there were no guards on the first team.
Lonzo’s Chicago Bulls teammate Alex Caruso made the second team, but the first team was made up entirely of bigs and forwards.
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Ball’s list undoes that injustice (if you think it was one) and moves some guards onto the first team.
The Lonzo Ball All-Defensive team
Lonzo Ball’s version differed from the official NBA selections:
-Victor Wembanyama
-Jaden McDaniels
-Bam Adebayo
-Alex Caruso
-Jrue Holiday
Ball removed Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert from the first team, along with Anthony Davis and Herb Jones and replaced them with Jaden McDaniels, Alex Caruso and Jrue Holiday.
Do you agree with the NBA All-Defensive Team lineup? pic.twitter.com/XxzCkhNzE7
— The WAE Show (@TheWAEShow) June 11, 2024
Caruso is currently Ball’s teammate on the Bulls, and he also played with Holiday in New Orleans, so there may be some bias at play here.
This is all just a bit of fun, but it does raise an interesting conversation about defensive value and whether versatile bigs are now far more valuable than players who mostly spend time on the perimeter.
Players like Victor Wembanyama and Bam Adebayo, who can affect shots all over the court are extremely valuable defensively, but on-the-ball stoppers like Caruso and Holiday can stop offensive players from getting into the lane in the first place so that bigs can focus on protecting the rim.
One thing is fairly clear: This will likely be the last time Victor Wembanyama doesn’t win Defensive Player of the Year for a long time, as he had an argument for it as a rookie and is only going to get better as he learns the game and his instincts improve.
The Bulls may have one All-Defensive player, but they are lacking in bigs with defensive versatility, which are arguably more important.
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