@JRyman:
You raise a great question about the interplay of individual perimeter defense and team defense including the bigs in the paint. To answer it adequately, I've got to go quite a ways around the barn. So: here goes.
Good team defenses are a combination of good perimeter defenders and good interior defenders. But if you have one or more weak perimeter defenders, about the only way to compensate for them consistently is with a dominant center/rim protector that can also hedge defend; this is why Self works our big guys so hard on hedge defense. If he gets a rim protector that can hedge 15-20 feet out it makes a defense almost guarantied to take an opponents FG% down into the high 30 percentages. Aldrich and Withey could do this. Aldrich was so good at it that he could also rebound double figures, when healthy, but he had a real stud in Marcus Morris to take up the rebounding slack when needed (and Kieff was around too). Withey, who could block and alter even more than Cole, unfortunately, could not muscle the way Cole could, so his rebounding fell off when he tried to hedge and then fall back to rim protect. When Jeff had TRob to rebound, it didn't matter much. When Jeff had Kevin Young to rebound, it was more of an issue, but Kevin was such a disruptive force, even at 180 pounds, Kevin could still usually get 8-10 boards when the chips were down. So Jeff was more or less still covered on the glass by Kevin.
Notice that I have so far not addressed Kieff. The reason is that Kieff was kind of unusual. He was 6-10 in KU inches, and so probably 6-9. He became strong only his last season. He was late blooming. His last season was a nonlinear improvement in all facets of his game. He was a large talent still in crysalis stage his earlier seasons. Kieff's was never a huge shot blocker even his last season. But he turned into an exceptional post defender and a guy that could hedge defense, too. And he had the weight and strength by that last season to punish people that crowded him. In fact, Kieff should be characterized as an alterer. He could hedge, fall back and guard, and muscle people out of their comfort zone on the way to the rim. It made him seen not quite such a dominant defender, but I suspect if one were to go back and grind the stats, Kieff had a very good defensive season that last year. Plus, he had the good fortune, like Cole before him, of playing with one of the best 4s KU has had. Marcus also was not spectacular, but he was sound and able to help Kieff in every way. And if anyone tried to pick on one, the other was sure to go to the wall for the other, as brothers are wont to do. So: I have separated Kieff, who arguably has turned out to be the first or second most talented guy Self has ever had based on what he has done in the NBA, not because he wasn't exceptional, for he was. But because he was a different kind of 5. He was a natural 4 playing the 5 and so he played it a different way.
But back to this year's team, and after that to the issue of perimeter defense that you rightly raised.
The problem this year's KU team faces is that 220 pound Perry cannot get on the glass against guys bigger and stronger than him the way Kevin and TRob ad Marcus did. So: there is a much greater burden on Joel to hedge, then rim protect, AND rebound! Only very exceptional centers can do all three even against the LSAs. Joel is one of those, but only when he is healthy enough to have his hops and quick feet (this would be so with any exceptional center, too). If he has to stay on the floor, and if he loses his foot speed and his hops to injuries, then this exposes two things in this year's team.
First, it exposes Perry's short comings on the glass, if the other team has an LSA 4. The Boolean Programming Logic for Perry is:
LINE 1: If Opponent Has LSA 4, THEN Perry Rebounds = 2 AND GO TO LINE 2, ELSE Perry Rebounds > 8 AND <10 AND GO TO LINE 2.
LINE 2: GO TO LINE 1 :-)
Second, it exposes the gaps in our perimeter defenders.
Before I proceed to analyze our perimeter defenders, understand that I am not knocking them. Every team has gaps somewhere. What makes Self such a great coach is that he finds ways to mask these gaps. I could go back over every Self team and show you where there were gaps big enough to drive a trailer truck through, except that 2008 team. Self's genius is in his ability to string these teams in ways that one, or two, guys' strengths can cover up the weaknesses.
The above being said, the toughest place to mask perimeter defensive gaps IMHO is at point guard. Self has done it twice before Naadir. Sherron was a better defender at PG than Naa appears to be, but Sherron suffered short leg syndrome on his drop step from time to time against top flight guards. Self used Cole and Marcus to cover up this flaw in Sherron's game later. And earlier, Self had defensive help wizards in RR, Chalmers, and Rush, that in some combination of two of those three that could cover Sherron's mistakes outside and Kaun, Darrell, and DBlock could make it quite unpleasant for blow by's inside. But Sherron had on great edge over Naa. Sherron played at a time when you could literally body a point guard all over the floor. And Sherron had the body to body any ordinary point guard, even the long ones, into the cheap seats. Naa does not have the kind of strength to play that way, even if the refs would let him. But if he could body PGs the way Sherron could, he would not look quite so bad as he does, when Joel is not there to back him up, and when Perry is disappearing due to an LSA.
The other time Self has had to mask a deficient PG on defense is last season. EJ of the knee quilts could barely slide for parts of the season. At times he looked like a pirate with a peg leg. But EJ was a naturally great defender. Super anticipation. And a defensive players mentality. He was in short the kind of guy that could stiff screen a behemoth like McGary, if he thought that was what it took to screw with an opposing team's head. Naa does not appear to have that mentality, at least not yet. Anyway, Self just told EJ to forget about conventional guarding for about two months and just said over play the guy and turn him into the paint. Shove him if you have to, but don't worry about blow bys. Step in front of him as best you can, but get him to Withey. Hell, at times EJ actually seemed to use his hands to guide blow bys to Jeff. :-)
The key here of course is that Jeff was ALWAYS back there all season. It was one of the counter intuitive miracles of basketball history that sinewy tough Jeff Withey never got injured, once he quit trying to carry extra weight. But he didn't. So: while we had to watch the ugly blow bys past EJ last season for a couple months, Withey was always there to block and alter, and the whirling dervish that Kevin was, was always ready to explode out of nowhere and strip, or block a blow by. And it also didn't hurt that 23 year old Travis, one of god's great gifts to old man's defense, was always there shadowing and helping. And lastly, Ben was an L&A you always had to look out for coming out of no where too, just because Ben liked to do outrageously unexpected things by temperament.
On this year's team, Naa is being masked with Joel, who has been at half speed, or off the floor, for what seems a month and a half or so. And Perry watches his back unpredictably. When Perry has a slow wide body, or a skinny ninny his height, then he often can step in and catch the blow bys. But as the season goes on, and the competition gets better, more and more Naa cannot rely on Perry for masking tape. More and more he has had to rely on two freshman phenoms that have never really had to play much defense, and certainly never have had to help defend another position 25-28 feet out. Wiggins and Selden have gradually improved at helping, but gradually is the operant word. And, well, Wigs turned out not to be particularly comfortable as the 3 that had to body the other teams LSA perimeter player; that job seems to have fallen increasingly to Selden. But the point is: though perhaps even more physically gifted than Travis Releford, neither Wiggins, nor Selden, seems to have found the key to the difficult juggling act of locking down their own man, while also helping on the point guard. Thus, Naa has found his weakness more often unmasked than masked this season. And it is quite fair to say that he has found his weakness more unmasked than Sherron, or EJ, ever did. And when Naa has somewhat more deficiency to mask, it makes him appear an even worse defender than he really is. Naa just has the misfortune of playing the point on a team that is, unless Joel is feeling fresh as a daisy, that is ill-equipped to give him the masking he needs.
Self undoubtedly recognized this from the beginning and so has put the spurs to Naa from the beginning. Self knew he wasn't going to be able to mask him at times as well as he needed and so Self has pretty much constantly kept a fire lit under him about his defense.
For Naa's part, I think he has done perhaps as good of a job as he is capable. He has gotten a little better all the time on defense, despite having to constantly face new defenses thrown at him that he has to recognize and respond to, also.
Naa has the toughest assignment of any one on this team.
He is the one guy that has to play at the edge of his envelope most of the time to make the team work. His only totally comprehensive coverage insurance is Joel. And Joel has been a damaged aircraft carrier steaming at about half to 2/3s speed the last month even when on the floor.
Naa has to be very happy to have Joel back.
And Naa's play is apt to improve considerably on both ends of the floor so long as he is back.
Insurance is a good thing, when you can afford it.
Naa is in good hands with Joel "All State" Embiid.
Rock Chalk!
