Blocks are the worst way to judge a rim protector

The most valuable thing a centre does at the basket is make a shot not happen, and the box score has no column for that.

A block is a highlight. It is also, quite often, a defensive failure that happened to end well, because a shot at the rim was allowed to be attempted in the first place.

The centres who genuinely destroy an offence tend to have unremarkable block numbers, and the reason is straightforward. Nobody drives at them. A guard who turns the corner, sees a specific big man sliding across with his hands up and his feet set, and chooses instead to kick the ball back out has just been beaten. Nothing appears in a box score. Possession continues, a worse shot goes up nine seconds later, and the defence has won that exchange decisively.

Deterrence is the whole job and it is close to invisible. You can catch it in the shot chart of the opposing team, where attempts at the rim dry up and mid-range floaters appear, but you cannot catch it in any individual number that a broadcast will put on screen.

There is a second problem with blocks, which is that a lot of them are bad basketball. Swatting a ball into the fourth row looks magnificent and gives the possession straight back to the offence. A big man who tips the ball to a teammate has produced the same defensive stop and a transition opportunity, and the crowd will not react at all. Some of the best defenders in the league have obviously been coached to keep blocks in play, and the trade is a slightly less impressive number and a considerably better outcome.

Then there is the chase-down block, which is the most overrated play in the sport. It is genuinely athletic. It also means somebody on your team got beaten badly enough to concede a breakaway, and if the block had not landed it would have been two easy points.

The number I would look at instead is what the opposition shoots at the rim with that player as the nearest defender, alongside how often they even try. Both are tracked now. Neither makes the graphic.

The old scouting method still holds up too. Watch a defensive possession without looking at the ball, watch the big man's feet, and see how many drivers change their minds. That is the stat.