Of players I've watched enough of to comment on: (so no DJ, Hondo, or anyone pre-90s)
Tony Allen, and its not that close between him and Avery Bradley.
Oh of course I forgot about TA. But don't you think that he became the defenders he is when he joined the Grizzlies. He started to be on the All-Defensive teams from the year 2011, when he left us.
No, because he definitely showed flashes of his defense from time to time. Doc just didn't play him that much and he was frequently injured too while playing for the Celtics.
I remember Tony playing incredible defense on Kobe in the Finals back in 2010 (it still hurts thinking about it
). Easily one of the best defensive performances that I've seen from a player in a 7-game series.
Through 4 games Tony managed to hold Kobe to 26,6 percent shooting (5-19 FG). I was bummed to see him go after such a performance.