I’ve heard a decent amount of nuggets fans say Braun was a better defender than kcp by last year.
Ben Taylor also had the nuggets ranked as the second best team for this upcoming season which I thought was surprising.
Lol69HaHaHa
Now is the perfect time to do some Braun propaganda so here i go.
Braun is a fascinating defender in that he can guard wings and guard. Hes big, strong and super athletic.
Yes KCP was the better defender, especially last season. Almost every game, for most of the season, KCP was our best defender on the floor.
The issue is KCP isnt as versatile as Braun on defense. When we needed AG to guard AD cause he was cooking Jokic (god dam everything was falling for AD in that series lol), we put KCP on Lebron. You only really need to look at Lebrons numbers to realise it did not work (though honestly the only thing that would have worked was AG on Lebron).
Same went for the matchup against the Timberwolves, though at that point KCP was banged up. But ANT was just simply too strong for KCP.
In general, Braun is just more versatile on defense. Doesnt get past screens as well as KCP, but he matches up a lot better with most of the west.
Especially now that the Warriors are worse, making KCPs great defense on Steph less relavent.
Still it is worse for the Shai matchup and i dunno how were gonna guard Booker.
But Braun should have an intresting impact on the Nuggets overall defense this year (and with luck its gonna be a positive).
homiez
CB is better than KCP, KCP is great but on the downswing. KCP looked a lot better getting dimed from Joker, CB will get that benefit now.
Automatic_Arm_9868
Wish Tatum’s trainer would teach him how to stop leaving his feet and picking the ball up so early on drives especially with his lack of explosion and vertical. But he’s too busy fixing a jumper he messed up in the first place.
TreyMcnally
the best perimeter defenders in the NBA are white americans; what a crazy time to be alive
Narrow-Theory-3533
Braun though not the 99th Percentile of screen navigator that is KCP, he navigates arounds screens well enough that his size and strength makes up for it. His lateral movement is craazy though. Probably thied with being the most atheltic guy on the team with AG.
JaderMcDanersStan
Thank you OP for posting this!!! This is the content we need. Defensive clips are so fucking satisfying.
And this one was awesome defense. Strong, physical, can’t be pushed around easily, shifts his feet well. Impressive
LamboJoeRecs
The (lazy) national narrative for Denver is how important KCP was. And he was, for the team that won the title. He had some glaring weaknesses last ssn (some just injury related) but some just deficiencies. Denver by no means needed to pay what Orlando set as the market for him when you have a completely capable fill in. KCP’s role was not offense. Neither will be CB’s. Boy can defend, is athletic as hell and is a competitor that’s won at every level. And he’s completely capable of stepping up. Time to let the young man cook.
jayboogie15
Tbh half of those clips were not so great offense by Tatum. The first one, he telegraphed the move and span into the defender. The second was a pretty bad layup attempt. There’s another one closer to the end that Tatum lost his handle a little bit when dribbling with his left hand.
Nice defense nonetheless.
brizz23
I thought this was going to be one clip… but man had him in the ringer!
boomersky
bro he was in his pocket
PARDON_howdoyoudo
Braun is so solid
DXLXIII
What’s stopping Tatum being truly being a MVP level player is his inability to consistently get by defenders and generate easy shots.
Mediocre-Stick6820
Feet moving the whole time
gim1k
Sat a few rows back from courtside when the Nuggs played the Pistons at LCA in 2023. Mainly went to see Jokic and Murray, but one of the most memorable things was just how fucking fast Braun is. He was noticably faster than anyone else on the court. It was incredible.
Hovi_Bryant
Tatum doing his best Cade Cunningham impersonation
thekinggrass
The guy is a tenacious defender.
thekinggrass
The guy is a tenacious defender.
DailyDose11
Amazing example of despite scoring being at all time highs that defense is still an absolute necessity and is the difference between winning and losing games/seasons/ships.
Disastrous_Bluejay57
Braun is better than KCP at guarding wings, and worse at defending guards. So defensively they are even. It’s the 3 point shooting that remains to be seen
teensonacid
Booth you psychopath. You might have actually done it
SDLA8755
Tatum shouldn’t be playing this much live-dribble face up basketball at this stage in his career. Should be almost exclusively focused in the triple threat/mid-post extended area by now.
Poopieplatter
Great clip
MumrikDK
Braun always looks like a pure twitch athlete to me. Everything he does is an explosive jerk.
robzombie03
Now someone show him getting crossed up so we can call him a bum.
25 Comments
I’ve heard a decent amount of nuggets fans say Braun was a better defender than kcp by last year.
Ben Taylor also had the nuggets ranked as the second best team for this upcoming season which I thought was surprising.
Now is the perfect time to do some Braun propaganda so here i go.
Braun is a fascinating defender in that he can guard wings and guard. Hes big, strong and super athletic.
Yes KCP was the better defender, especially last season. Almost every game, for most of the season, KCP was our best defender on the floor.
The issue is KCP isnt as versatile as Braun on defense. When we needed AG to guard AD cause he was cooking Jokic (god dam everything was falling for AD in that series lol), we put KCP on Lebron. You only really need to look at Lebrons numbers to realise it did not work (though honestly the only thing that would have worked was AG on Lebron).
Same went for the matchup against the Timberwolves, though at that point KCP was banged up. But ANT was just simply too strong for KCP.
In general, Braun is just more versatile on defense. Doesnt get past screens as well as KCP, but he matches up a lot better with most of the west.
Especially now that the Warriors are worse, making KCPs great defense on Steph less relavent.
Still it is worse for the Shai matchup and i dunno how were gonna guard Booker.
But Braun should have an intresting impact on the Nuggets overall defense this year (and with luck its gonna be a positive).
CB is better than KCP, KCP is great but on the downswing. KCP looked a lot better getting dimed from Joker, CB will get that benefit now.
Wish Tatum’s trainer would teach him how to stop leaving his feet and picking the ball up so early on drives especially with his lack of explosion and vertical. But he’s too busy fixing a jumper he messed up in the first place.
the best perimeter defenders in the NBA are white americans; what a crazy time to be alive
Braun though not the 99th Percentile of screen navigator that is KCP, he navigates arounds screens well enough that his size and strength makes up for it. His lateral movement is craazy though. Probably thied with being the most atheltic guy on the team with AG.
Thank you OP for posting this!!! This is the content we need. Defensive clips are so fucking satisfying.
And this one was awesome defense. Strong, physical, can’t be pushed around easily, shifts his feet well. Impressive
The (lazy) national narrative for Denver is how important KCP was. And he was, for the team that won the title. He had some glaring weaknesses last ssn (some just injury related) but some just deficiencies. Denver by no means needed to pay what Orlando set as the market for him when you have a completely capable fill in. KCP’s role was not offense. Neither will be CB’s. Boy can defend, is athletic as hell and is a competitor that’s won at every level. And he’s completely capable of stepping up. Time to let the young man cook.
Tbh half of those clips were not so great offense by Tatum. The first one, he telegraphed the move and span into the defender. The second was a pretty bad layup attempt. There’s another one closer to the end that Tatum lost his handle a little bit when dribbling with his left hand.
Nice defense nonetheless.
I thought this was going to be one clip… but man had him in the ringer!
bro he was in his pocket
Braun is so solid
What’s stopping Tatum being truly being a MVP level player is his inability to consistently get by defenders and generate easy shots.
Feet moving the whole time
Sat a few rows back from courtside when the Nuggs played the Pistons at LCA in 2023. Mainly went to see Jokic and Murray, but one of the most memorable things was just how fucking fast Braun is. He was noticably faster than anyone else on the court. It was incredible.
Tatum doing his best Cade Cunningham impersonation
The guy is a tenacious defender.
The guy is a tenacious defender.
Amazing example of despite scoring being at all time highs that defense is still an absolute necessity and is the difference between winning and losing games/seasons/ships.
Braun is better than KCP at guarding wings, and worse at defending guards. So defensively they are even. It’s the 3 point shooting that remains to be seen
Booth you psychopath. You might have actually done it
Tatum shouldn’t be playing this much live-dribble face up basketball at this stage in his career. Should be almost exclusively focused in the triple threat/mid-post extended area by now.
Great clip
Braun always looks like a pure twitch athlete to me. Everything he does is an explosive jerk.
Now someone show him getting crossed up so we can call him a bum.