The Trail Blazers’ defense has produced the second-worst defensive rating in the NBA through 16 games. Underneath those team-wide struggles, their is a short-list of individual culprits on Portland’s injury-depleted roster. With that in mind, Enes Kanter and Anfernee Simons appeared inside Bleacher Report’s recent look at the worst defenders in the NBA.
The list compiled by Bleacher Report’s Andy Bailey blended several defensive statistics (FiveThirtyEight’s RAPTOR rating, defesnive box plus/minus and defensive field-goal percentage). After explaining why rookies were excluded from the list, Kanter took center stage.
Bailey made it a point to highlight Kanter’s stellar offensive contributions, but the big fella’s suspect pick-and-roll defense earned the spotlight’s attention.