It hasn’t been the usual path for a big man to learn defense.
Not when the map is ripped from the hands mid-journey, and an all-together new set of directions are inserted as immediate replacements.
Think about Wendell Carter Jr.’s last four seasons.
As a freshman at Duke, the Blue Devils started the 2017-18 season man-to-man, but switched to a zone defense in the middle of the year because of all the breakdowns they were having.
Then Carter was selected No. 7 overall by the Bulls, and is coached by Fred Hoiberg for a few months, before the Jim Boylen coup took over.