Breaking down Jeff Teague’s flaws
Defense
This is where it starts to get a bit ugly for Jeff Teague.
Teague struggles mightily at times on the defensive end, failing contain his man in pick-and-roll scenarios and often caught ball watching when playing off-ball defense. Proof in the 29-year-old’s stuggles defensively is in his 107.9 Defensive Rating, which ranks him 345th league wide amongst the 455 qualified players.
In the pick-and-roll, Teague is far too tentative fighting through screens which forces him to switch or get left trailing the play. This puts a load of extra pressure on the big man who now has to step up and guard the P&R ball-handler, a tough cover for any big guy.
Here Teague doesn’t fight through Jusef Nurkic’s screen nearly well enough, leaving Karl-Anthony Towns stranded on an island with Damian Lillard, who promptly feeds a rolling Nurkic who Teague has no chance of containing and is forced to foul.
The on-ball flaws are a lot easier to deal with if Teague was a solid off-ball defender, but he is often lacking awareness of his man or collapsing too far in the paint and leaving his man open at the 3-point line.
This play is a prime example, the point guard is roaming inside the paint for absolutely no reason, leaving Reggie Jackson open to catch and comfortably get his look off before Teague arrives.
Luckily for Jeff Teague, his ability to swipe away steals on these off-ball blunders keep his defense from being a complete disaster. Teague averages 1.6 steals per game, which is good for 18th league wide.
In this situation, coming off Goran Dragic – who averages 17.3 points per game – and floating around inside the arc isn’t ideal defending, but Teague makes up for it with his quick hands and instinctive reflexes.
Next: Karl-Anthony Towns was exposed in the pick-and-roll
Jeff Teague is a really solid player, and he is at the offensive helm of a Minnesota team that is steaming toward their first playoff birth since 2004. His struggles are still evident however, but they aren’t flaws that can’t be reversed under Tom Thibodeau’s coaching.