ATLANTA -- Early in the second quarter of Monday night's lopsided NBA contest between the Hawks and Kings, the ball swung around the perimeter to Sacramento guard Ben McLemore. Mike Scott, the third-year Hawks forward, stepped out to check the 22-year-old beyond the 3-point line.
Scott, by his own admission, is not Atlanta's defensive guru. He ranks alongside Shelvin Mack and Pero Antic as the Hawks' least effective defenders in terms of points allowed per possession. However, he has worked to improve on that side of the ball to complement his primary role as one of the team's offensive spark plugs off the bench. He's become a more balanced NBA player. Those behind-the-scenes efforts show every now and again, as they did against McLemore.
Stepping out against the Kings guard, film study kicked in.
McLemore is almost exclusively a perimeter-oriented player at this point in his career, with approximately half of his field goals coming from beyond the arc. The Kansas product has improved markedly in this regard, shooting 35.4 percent from 3-point range, but he's still rather one-dimensional, drawing fouls and taking the ball inside at lower rates than his rookie year. He's one of only 10 NBA players shooting 10 or more shots per game with a 3-point rate of 49 percent or higher.
Scott knew this, or at least acted accordingly, and when McLemore received the pass he elected to crowd his space, positioning himself above the 3-point line while cutting off the middle of the floor. A screener flashed to McLemore's right, attempting to make the Hawks defend the two-man game with Scott and center Al Horford, but when the Kings guard lazily showed too much of the ball, the Hawks forward swiped, picked his pocket and sprinted the other way. The highlight concluded with an alley-oop pass from Dennis Schroder that Scott flushed with two hands.
It was a highlight lost amid a franchise-record 20 3-pointers and a season-high 130 points, but it was a defensive highlight nonetheless for a player who is a vital piece on one the league's top teams.
"It's something that I worked on and something that I continue to work on," said Scott, who laughed when asked about his improved defensive numbers, saying that he doesn't get such questions often. "There's still a lot more room for improvement. I know that's an area I need to get better with -- (along with) rebounding and making plays for my teammates.
"I've been watching a lot of film and just trying to see where I can get better."
Dating back to his draft profile, defense was always expected to be a work in progress for Scott, who slipped to the 43rd overall pick of the 2012 draft. He was the prototypical NBA "tweener" who dominated at the collegiate level, but his expanded offensive skill set has made him an asset: only three other second-round picks from that draft have provided more value -- Draymond Green, Khris Middleton and Jae Crowder -- and each were drafted ahead of the former Virginia star.
What makes things interesting and occasionally trying for Scott, and puts added emphasis on the extra defensive work, is that the attributes that help him exploit mismatches on one end can create problems on the other. His athleticism and ability to knock down outside shots (36 percent this season) make him a difficult assignment for opposing big men, while his 6-foot-8 frame and strength give him an edge inside against smaller defenders.
The opposite is true without the ball. Scott, much like Atlanta's other bigs, can find himself matched up with anyone from quick Orlando point guard Elfrid Payton to Grizzlies 7-footer Marc Gasol. He's forced to focus more acutely on his defensive positioning and to stay on high alert in Atlanta's read-and-react defensive system.
"With big guys, I just front them, use my quickness and speed. There's no use in trying to get into a pushing match with somebody who's stronger," Scott said. "With little guys, I give them space and depending on what the matchup strategy is -- whether they're a good shooter or not -- or press up on them and make them drive the ball."
With extra work in the film and weight rooms -- along with the natural team-wide progression in Year 2 of Mike Budenholzer's system, which has jumped up eight spots to eighth in the league in adjusted defensive efficiency to go along with its top-10 offense -- his defensive efficiency numbers have improved. While his traditional counting stats of blocks and steals remain constant, he's holding players under their season-long shooting percentages both outside and inside:
Defensive-minded coaches are nothing to new to Scott.
First recruited to Virginia by coach Dave Leitao, Scott's third season in Charlottesville saw the arrival of Tony Bennett, arguably the preeminent grind-it-down defensive mind in college basketball. Under Bennett, the Cavaliers jumped to sixth nationally in defensive efficiency by Scott's final season. When he arrived in Atlanta, former coach Larry Drew's team was coming off a top-10 defensive campaign. And now there's Budenholzer, who, despite the headlines centering on a pace-and-space attack that preaches ball movement and a pinball-like blur of cuts and pindown screens, hangs his hat on defensive activity at every possible moment.
But defensive-minded coaches are not necessarily like-minded coaches.
Bennett's mastery of his father's Pack-Line defense is different than Budenholzer's principle-based "freelance" defense. Where one wears down collegiate offenses with unwavering discipline, the other presents read-and-react options based around a few technical ground rules -- or, as DeMarre Carroll characterized the five-defenders-on-a-string mentality, "like Muppets." Playing for four head coaches in a six-year span, Scott has had to make adjustments along the way.
"The Pack-Line focuses on when (opponents are) driving, forcing them middle and to the help. We don't force middle here. So it's kinda different," Scott said. "But it's been a while since I've been at Virginia."
Judging by the results at both levels, though, he's capable of improving when given time in a system. He developed into a National Player of the Year candidate in college, and now he's becoming a more well-rounded reserve option for an NBA title contender.
Is Scott still an offense-first player? Absolutely, and that may never change if he keeps adding on that end as well. But while he still grades out as one of the Hawks' lesser defensive stoppers, the good is outweighing the bad. Individual numbers have organically improved with the team's rising tide, but opposing players have not exploited Scott like a weak link. If anything, over the course of the season, opponents are shooting worse when he's challenging their shot.
With the possible future exception of the fast-developing Dennis Schroder, Scott has been the Hawks' biggest draft steal since landing All-Star point guard Jeff Teague at No. 19 overall in 2009. Nearly half of the players drafted in the 2012 second round are out of the league or never played in it. All in all, things have worked out well. Scott is the first to admit there is room for improvement in multiple categories, but plays like the one against McLemore seem to point to him getting the hang of things. Come playoff time, they'll need him to contribute on both ends.
When asked about playing for so many defensive-minded coaches when his most celebrated skill is putting the ball in the basket, Scott gave a straightforward response.
"It's going to have to stick sometime."
