Does anyone know if speed and high IQ compensate for a low defense rating?

One of my starting guards has a 93 defense and the other has a 22 defense.  They are identical in speed and IQ.  And their defense performance, at least in terms of steals, is identical.  I was just wondering.

Don't forget to factor in fouls. In this case it's 1.1 vs 2.4 per game, pretty significant.

I admit I didn't consider fouls.

I often wondered how much a 1/3 of a letter grade was worth defensively.  I.e, all else equal, who will be the better defender, an Sr. with an A in defense with an 80 rating or a Jr. with a A- in defense with a 82.  Or to stretch it more, a Sr. with A+ in Def IQ and an 80 in def rating, or a Fr. with a 90 in Def and a B-.  Any thoughts?

Posted by piman314 on 9/1/2013 10:58:00 PM (view original):
I often wondered how much a 1/3 of a letter grade was worth defensively.  I.e, all else equal, who will be the better defender, an Sr. with an A in defense with an 80 rating or a Jr. with a A- in defense with a 82.  Or to stretch it more, a Sr. with A+ in Def IQ and an 80 in def rating, or a Fr. with a 90 in Def and a B-.  Any thoughts?

My thought is that all else is seldom equal.  Ceteris paribus, whether a player is a Sr or a Fr makes no difference whatsoever.  So that's extraneous information.  In answer to the question: A/80 > A-/82 & A+/80 > B-/90.  Although, there is some margin within each letter grade.  So, the A/A- could be a wash or it could represent fair bit of separation.

In response to the OP.  I tend to think of ATH as having a greater impact on defense and SPD a greater impact on offense.  So, defensively, there is no way that a 30 ATH/ 80 SPD/ 30 DEF player is nearly as good on defense as a 70/70/70 player.  Unless you make the relevant IQs A+ vs. D-, respectively, I'm pretty sure that would still hold.

I'm fairly certain you have that backwards, where ath is the offensive stat and speed more important for defense.

Although looking at our records, you should probably just ignore me.

i think speed as far as defense is concerned will result in more steals - maybe not better overall defense but running the zone teams I've run and never matching up to any other teams in regards to forcing steals/TO's, I have noticed that faster players usually lead my team in steals regardless of defensive ratings (This could be due to the law of averages as well but I think it's speed). Yes, they will foul more and will definitely give up higher Fg%'s but i think speed = steals. ATH is more than offensive (though the effects may be easier to identify on the offensive end) - high ATH means less fouls committed and better overall defensive performance -

Posted by breum on 9/2/2013 11:38:00 PM (view original):
I'm fairly certain you have that backwards, where ath is the offensive stat and speed more important for defense.

Although looking at our records, you should probably just ignore me.

If you read what some of the most successful coaches have said (lostmyth, billyg, alblack, etc), depends on the offense.  If you run motion, they say AT and BH are most important; for flex it is SP, PE and passing.   Would guess, conversely, that if you run man or press, the AT of your guards/wings is more important against motion teams, and your speed more important against flex teams.  Keep meaning to check how different guys fared against different opponents using different offenses.  In any case, for bigs, I just look at AT, DE and LP.