Small Forward Wednesdays: Boy, could Damien Wilkins defend

Damien Wilkins is no longer a member of the Indiana Pacers. However, his defensive contributions have been missed.

Damien Wilkins wasn’t quite the player the Pacers needed him to be. He was only able to play in 19 games, about half of the contests during his tenure with the team. The problem with Wilkins was that he couldn’t put the ball through the net, he only made one-third of his shot attempts while he was in Indiana. What Wilkins did offer, and what the Pacers will likely miss, is Wilkins’ defense.

For a 38 year old (his birthday was six days ago!), Wilkins could move his feet on the defensive end of the floor. He would stay in front of his matchup in his limited minutes and made life hell for his opposition by sliding his feet and moving his hands, something that no other Pacer has been able to do this year on the wing.

This is reflected in Wilkins’ defensive field goal percentage. Defensive field goal percentage is a stat NBA.com uses to measures the field goal percentage on shots where a player is the closest defender to the shooter. Wilkins had the best defensive field goal percentage on the team during his time in Indiana, he caused opponents to make shots just 37.2 percent of the time. For reference, Victor Oladipo is second on the team at 42.6 percent, almost 5.5 percent worse than Wilkins.

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Much of this success could be attributed to his defensive field goal percentage on three-point shot attempts. He allowed his opponents to make just 23.5 percent of their threes while these matchups were 34.5 percent three-point shooters overall. He made his opponents miss 11 percent more frequently than expected thanks to his fantastic defense on the perimeter.

The reason Wilkins’ defense is missed so much is that none of the other wings on Indiana are any good at defending the perimeter. Victor Oladipo usually defends a guard, but Lance Stephenson and Bojan Bogdanovic are usually matched up with an opposing wing. Bogdanovic has a defensive field goal percentage of 49.4, over 12 points higher than Wilkins, and Stephensons DFG percentage is 50.2, 13 points higher than Damien Wilkins.

Clearly, in his limited minutes, he was effective on the defensive end. Watch him here as he does an unbelievable job on Denzel Valentine before swatting his shot:

Elite footwork and rapid hand movement made this play very easy for old man Wilkins.

Next: Who might the Pacers target in the 2018 NBA draft?

Damien Wilkins was waived for financial reasons, which is a shame. He was helpful in his infrequent court time. Wilkins had a great veteran presence and couldn’t hit a shot, but man could the guy defend.