I think he’s saying Dunn was the best defender last year too:
Man that Florida play is crazy. Live and until I rewatched, I thought the ball hit the rim on the fly but no, that was just Dunn disrupting somehow getting a finger on it and tipping it
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Yeah, agreed. Hence the wink to my message.
Dunn showed flashes last year, and the metrics were good for Dunn last year. But he wasn’t on the court enough minutes to say that he was the most impactful defender last year.
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Here’s the scary thing … Dunn is getting better every game. He will be another step above his current play when we hit February. Sky is the limit.
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He was simply the best defender per minute played in the country last year. And this year is no different.
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This mad me chuckle…
https://x.com/embracepaceuva/status/1730963057638081010?s=46&t=BborzeYVjI_-zdz6KbhRWg
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Lee is on fire. 24 pts, inefficient, but beat Furman
I loved it when Tony had had enough of starling beating us off the dribble and put Ryan on him. I don’t think starling scored again.
Starling looked completely disheartened when he dribbled the ball up the court only to see RD spread out in front of him. Like a nightmare come true.
Then Mintz checked back in and RD guarded him. Mintz tried to drive by him, couldn’t get past him and fumbled the ball. We fouled Mintz in the scramble for the ball, but the message was sent by Ryan - you can’t drive by me.
Dunn is just a ridiculous defender. It’s crazy. He may be able to guard 1-4 in the NBA. Maybe not the quickest PGs. But I would still let him try. He’s that good.
Go Hoos.
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Great description there ha
I think RD will be able to guard every NBA position in 2-3 years since there are no real 5s now
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The question for me is whether he bulks up to be an NBA 4 or if he wants to be a 3 in the nba (or what the team who drafts him wants). Because at his current weight I don’t think he’d be super set to guard NBA 5s
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There’s almost no difference between a 3 & 4 in today’s NBA, because hardly anyone runs a post offense, and if they do it runs through the 5.
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Early in the second half, after Tony Switched Dunn on Starling, that first time he came down the court he literally stumbled and fumbled the ball when he got to within 3 feet of Dunn. Like you said it literally looked like Dunn scared him.
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I’ll eat my hat if Dunn can successfully guard Embiid, Wemby or Joker.
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Lol yep. No way in the world he’s guarding those guys. He’ll need to be a 3 n D type.
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That’s a pretty high bar since no one on the planet can guard 2 of the 3, and it might not be long before it’s all 3.
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I mean, that’s the bar for guarding 1-5. Being able to match up with Stephen Adams or Kevan Looney or some other non-shooter 5 doesn’t really mean anything. It’s why non-shooters get played off the floor in the playoffs. Of the other team can stick their worst defender on you and you can’t exploit the matchup, your team’s playing 4 on 5 on offense and no amount of defensive ability can overcome that.
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I get what you’re saying, but you could probably count on one hand the number of guys that can effectively guard the 1-5, and Ryan has the physical tools/potential to at least be mentioned in that group. Not being able to shutdown the guys you mentioned, and I might include KAT in that group, doesn’t make Ryan a liability…just human.
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I didn’t mean this as a negative on Dunn at all. In fact, I think if he were in the NBA this season, he could make 2nd team all defense if he could provide enough offense to not be so much of a liability that he could get enough playing time.
Just that I don’t think there’s a single person in the entire basketball world that truly has the ability to guard 1-5 in the NBA. No one playing the Sixers is both quick enough to stay in front of Tyrese Maxey and strong enough to keep up with Joel Embiid. Ben Simmons, when he was right in the head and before his back injuries, may have come the closest.
Dunn could absolutely murder the right opponent in a playoff series if he has a good coach. Look at what the Celtics did with Robert Williams against the Sixers. Put Williams on PJ Tucker and let him roam freely off Tucker to patrol the rim knowing Tucker wasn’t going to make them pay for that strategy by sneaking away and making open 3s. When the Sixers got smart and took out their non-shooters, Williams couldn’t match up with Embiid as well and he got benched too.
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Off topic, but was trying to think about our pitch to future wings (cough London Jemison cough) and the NBA players Tony can compare them to (bc that’s really what kids care about at the end of the day)
Klay Thompson (1st round)
Mike Scott
Joe Harris
Justin Anderson (1st round)
De’Andre Hunter (1st round)
Sam Hauser
Trey Murphy (1st round)
Ryan Dunn (1st round, knock on wood)
Future (potentially)
Leon Bond
Andrew Rohde (maybe he’s a guard idk. He’s 6’6” tho so he’s a wing in my book)
Jacob Cofie
Am I forgetting anyone? Even if I am not, that’s a pretty damn strong list to bring into a meeting with a recruit
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