Alberto Díaz, the best defensive point guard in the BCL
The Basketball Champions League (BCL) has published a report on the best defensive players in the competition, where Alberto Díaz stands out in the point guard position after a vote between players and coaches of the European league, which has made the Malaga-born player part of this 'First Team All-Defense'. Congratulations Alberto!
Unicaja are comfortably the best-ranked team defensively in the BCL. In fact, if they maintain their Defensive Rating of 96.5 points conceded per 100 possessions, it will be the best defensive season in the BCL since UCAM Murcia in the 18/19 season. Alberto Diaz is clearly a huge part of that which was reflected in the fact that he received votes from teams that haven’t even played Unicaja yet this season.
One area that Unicaja are especially strong is transition defense. According to Synergy, they allow just 0.74 points per play (PPP) in transition, which ranks them first in the league. When it comes to transition defense, Alberto Diaz is a one-man, full-court press. From a make or a dead ball he’s instantly switched on and terrorizing the opposition point guard and even from a miss you can be sure nobody is crossing half-court unmolested.
In terms of individual defensive stats, Diaz’ other strength is guarding the ball in the pick-and-roll. He allows just 0.54 PPP when guarding a scoring attempt from the ball handler. Above all, however, he just has great instincts as a defender and his energy for sniffing out opportunities on the defensive end is incessant. When it comes to defense, Diaz just has that uncanny habit of always being there.
He is part of this 'First Team All-Defense' along with Justin Simon (MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg), Chris Johnson (Hapoel U-Net Holon), Kaiser Gates (Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem) y Chima Moneke (BAXI Manresa).