Defending Defense

It’s time to talk a pet peeve of mine. When we talk basketball a topic that comes up over and over is defense. It’s used as an explanation of why basketball stats are behind other sports. It’s the biggest complaint used as a “flaw” in Wins Produced. Anyway I want to explain why I think the state of defense in basketball stats is not as bad as people think. Defensive stats are kept in basketball! Alright, so the first major point that comes up is that defensive stats aren’t kept. Defensive rebounds have defense in the name for pete sake! Steals, turnovers and personal fouls and blocks are also defensive stats. There are a few more that could be kept on the standard box score (tips and charges taken) but even those can be extrapolated by the play by play. The point is there are quite a few defensive stats kept. It’s not some nebulous area we can’t examine. There are some aspects of defense outside of individual box scores. Guess what? Th...