I'm not sure the defense is "crappy" especially compared to my second string...
For example, I'd rather have Kobe Bryant at 70% than Jordan Farmar at 100% in a close or important game.
I don't know what other people have experienced or think, but I think that for some offensive tactics, players with high driving skills will be fouled more often. For others, players with high inside shot skills will be fouled more often. for an example of this, check out my last PL game! I too am still in a fog as to how the game works, which is something I actually kind of like. I prefer to try and use my knowledge of the real game of basketball and see how it goes rather than figure out the math that it really is. Not to say that I don't read and try like hell to understand Josef Ka's valuable work.
Once I scored a basket that still makes me laugh.