vols 30
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Well we kind of got screwed in that Purdue game. Would’ve been playing eventual champion Virginia the next round.
I see a DPOY in Grant’s future.
The wing players have the hardest defensive assignments imo because they have to guard the shooters, drives, and occasionally post ups. Look at Rudy Gobert guarding on the perimeter and see how he looks. To be DPOY you need to be good at all levels of the defense. You can’t be good at one thing and be called DPOY. Grant has the potential with him being 6’6”/6’7”.I almost reacted like this was crazy, but he's already over the biggest hump, and that's getting national recognition as a great defender. DPOY is a reputational award as much as anything. It seems like you gotta be seen as a top defender for a little while before you get consideration.
Even still, it will be hard because he's not a rim defender. Almost all DPOY's defend the rim well. They just gave it to Marcus Smart, so maybe that means times are changing.
The wing players have the hardest defensive assignments imo because they have to guard the shooters, drives, and occasionally post ups. Look at Rudy Gobert guarding on the perimeter and see how he looks. To be DPOY you need to be good at all levels of the defense. You can’t be good at one thing and be called DPOY. Grant has the potential with him being 6’6”/6’7”.
42. Kennedy Chandler, PG, Tennessee | Freshman
Height: 6' 0" | Weight: 170 | Age: 19 | Last rank: 48
To Chandler’s credit, he made a lot of progress as the season went on, looking much more confident and assertive by the end of the year. He still profiles better as a backup in the NBA considering his size limitations and reliance on his speed. But Chandler generally makes the most of what he has, utilizing his quickness and vision to facilitate offense and attack the paint, and putting in consistent effort defensively. He wound up with respectable shooting numbers (38% from three) but made just 60% of his free throws, which will continue to feed concerns about his jumper. The main issue here is that it’s arguably a tough proposition to invest first-round draft capital in undersized, offense-first guards. Chandler falls into that bucket for me, though he may very well stick in the league long-term.