Originally Posted by
pelafanatic
Zion's defense is starting to improve. It has been clear that his processing on that end is extremely slow right now, but it's getting better. I think we overreacted pretty drastically at the beginning of the season. The reason we're not seeing the splash plays like we saw at Duke is because that's how SVG currently wants them to play.
SVG's entirely philosophy is clog the paint and protect the rim without fouling, so its understandable that Zion's block and steal numbers are down compared to his Duke days. If you look around the team, Eric Bledsoe's steal rate is down too, as is Steven Adams' block rate. SVG doesn't want guys closing too hard on 3 point shooters, gambling on steal attempts, or trying to block shots outside of their zone. Zion is just worse at transferring that philosophy to on-court play because he's basically a rookie, and he's in his second defensive system in 2 years. Once his processing catches up to his athleticism, he'll be fine. We're starting to see it with his handle on the offensive end. It'll be a similarly slow moving but positive progression defensively.
Lastly, we need to set our expectations lower than Draymond. If that's the comp, we're going to be extremely disappointed.