Deflections Key Part of ‘Havoc’
December 14, 2018 | Men's Basketball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
It's a statistic you won't find in a box score, or even in the more advanced game stats available to the media that include things like layups and dunks, points per possession and more. But for Georgia men's basketball coach Tom Crean, deflections are an essential measure of what the Bulldogs are doing defensively.
"We definitely keep track of that during the game, definitely, we keep track of that and so we know it at every timeout. At any point in time I can ask for it and every timeout we cover it," Crean said Thursday, two days before the Bulldogs (5-3) host No. 20-ranked Arizona State (7-1) on Saturday.
So why are deflections so important to Crean? He summed that up in a nutshell with a phrase he said he'd learned a long time ago: "Deflections are a barometer of active defense."
He added: "And I can't think of a better description, so it's not about steals, it's not about gambling and going for plays that aren't there, it's about being really active with your hands, trying to get a hand on the ball, and the fact that we can block some shots is definitely an added bonus for us there."
Crean's offensive and defensive styles are predicated on activity — quickly pushing the ball up the court on offense, moving without the ball, attacking a defense's weak spots on offense, while defensively those deflections Georgia tracks on the bench, they measure that defensive activity as well as the more traditional statistics do.
After eight games, it may be no surprise that Georgia's deflections king right now is Nicolas Claxton, the 6-foot-11 sophomore with an abundance of athleticism and quickness and an albatross-like wingspan. Claxton leads the team with 76 deflections, an average of 9.5 per game; the No. 2 man on the squad is 6-8 sophomore Rayshaun Hammonds, who has 29.
"His ratio is incredible right now,," Crean said of Claxton, "he's one turnover for every 10 deflections — pretty incredible."
Crean is almost certainly not alone among coaches that pay attention to deflections, but it's something new the first-year coach has brought to the Bulldogs' attention.
Asked if he'd heard much about deflections from previous coaches in his basketball career, Claxton said, "Not much." But he knows it's something he's well-suited for, absolutely.
"It's kind of new to me, but it's something that I'm pretty good at, using my length and being active throughout the game."
According to a USA Today article published in April, the average man has a wingspan roughly 2 inches greater than his height. College and pro basketball players are far from average and Claxton's wingspan certainly exceeds 7 feet. (If you remember the late Manute Bol, he reportedly stood 7-7 with a wingspan of 8-6.)
Claxton's physical gifts and understanding of the game allow him to block a lot of shots — his 2.6 blocks-per-game average ranks second in the SEC and is tied for 20th in the country — and get a lot of rebounds (9.0 boards a game, second most in the conference).
He's scoring 12.5 points per game and averaging 1.4 steals (tied for 11th in the SEC). Claxton is clearly wreaking a lot of havoc on the court.
"He has a lot of activity and it's not just the balls he gets his hands on, it's the ones he takes your vision away, the ones he distorts," Crean said. "His length has been incredible and I think that's becoming a little more infectious for us."
While Claxton is the runaway leader in deflections — which are just what they sound like, getting a hand on the ball defensively and disrupting the offense — Georgia has eight other players with at least 19. The Bulldogs are getting a lot of hands on the ball in more traditional ways, too, leading the SEC with 44.1 rebounds per game and blocking 6.1 shots a game (third in the SEC.).
Crean likes the havoc that's being created inside defensively, but he said on the perimeter there is room for improvement.
"We're not even close to putting the level of pressure on the ball and the level of hand activity and hand pressure that we've got to have off the ball, we're not there yet, but we're working at it, and I've seen improvements, but it's not where it's got to be yet," he said.
And that perimeter defense will need to be sharp Saturday, he said, against a very long and talented Sun Devils squad — "... they create so much havoc just because of their length," Crean said — that is averaging 83.6 points per game, holds opponents to 70.9, averages 45.2 rebounds a game and swipes 6.1 steals, just ahead of Georgia's 5.8 steals per game average.
Georgia can't do anything about its length before tipoff Saturday, but it can control it's activity, the amount of havoc it creates.
"Like Coach Crean says, that's creating an edge," Claxton said. "Deflections, whether it's steals, blocks, tipping passes, it just disrupts the offense, so that's good."
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
