Top Ten Defensive Players

[smokeablount]

Ok, now this list probably has less variability than the offensive player list, but I'm quite bored at work and figured it made sense to rank the top ten defensive players.

1a Duncan- the best team defender in the game
1b Garnett- the best individual defender in the game
3 Tayshaun Prince
4 Battier
5 Rondo
6 Rasheed
7 Bowen
8 Camby
9 Josh Smith
10  Billups

Raja Bell has fallen out of favor with his playoff performance the past two years. 

[crownsy]

pierce has been an unbelivable swing defender this year, and chuncy has gotten eaten alive by multiple PG's (including rondo)

somehow paul is on that list, higher than tenth, and bumps chuancy. everything else looks good.

[RondoIsAPimp]

This isn't going to be very popular but.........

Kobe. When he wants to be, he can be the best perimeter defender in the league. This is why he is the closest thing we will ever see to MJ. He can dominate on both ends.

Ron Artest and Ben Wallace have slipped, but you could argue that they are both top 10 defenders when motivated.

[celticmaestro]

chris paul is missing from that list. pierce has been fantastic this year. kirilenko and marion are great defenders. so is gerald wallace. kobe bryant is another great defender, josh howard is very good. andre iguodala, ron artest.

it's too difficult to list a top 10 defenders, easier just to throw names out there.

[casCELTIC]

Josh Smith is not a great defender, just a great athlete.

I'd give Najera (who is always conspicuously absent from this conversation) in there.

Also, Camby is quite possibly the most overrated defender of all time.

[crownsy]

This isn't going to be very popular but.........

Kobe. When he wants to be, he can be the best perimeter defender in the league. This is why he is the closest thing we will ever see to MJ. He can dominate on both ends.

Ron Artest and Ben Wallace have slipped, but you could argue that they are both top 10 defenders when motivated.

compeltly missed him, kobe should be on there, no doubt.

i disagree on wallace, he's just not that good definsvly anymore. espically without sheed in there. Wallace is a help shotblocker, and right now he has no other big man in bronland to help him out (Z is subpar at defense at best.)

[smokeablount]

I could potentially take Billups off this list and put on Marion or Pierce, but I really don't know who I would take off to accomodate the guys mentioned.  Next year I could see Bowen coming off with age, but to me G Wallace, Artest, and Kobe weren't quite good enough to displace him.  Camby and Smith are questionable in that they play post defense for terrible defensive teams so they face more pressure from penetration than most.  It inflates their stats but they do more work than probably anyone.  

It is harder to list ten than I originally thought, especially because I can't seem to find stats for ratios of opponents season PER/PER against and fg% season/field goal % against.

[Chris]

If we are just throwing out names, I think Perk deserves mention.  He is one of the most underrated, but important cogs to the C's defense.  He has been one of the top low post defenders in the league for a little while now (when he is able to stay on the floor that is), but this year, he has also become a dynamic team defender, who is almost as good on the perimeter as he is down low.

He may not be in the top 10 yet, but I think he deserves honorable mention.  I definitely think he has been a better defender this year than Rondo.

[indeedproceed]

chris paul is missing from that list. pierce has been fantastic this year. kirilenko and marion are great defenders. so is gerald wallace. kobe bryant is another great defender, josh howard is very good. andre iguodala, ron artest.

it's too difficult to list a top 10 defenders, easier just to throw names out there.

Chris Paul I don't think should be on that list, his man defense is realy average to just above average, but this list isn't for average.


1) Kevin Garnett
2) Tim Duncan
3) Shane Battier
4) Rasheed Wallace
5) Marcus Camby
6) Bruce Bowen
7) Kobe Bryant
Shawn Marion
9) Rajon Rondo
10) Ron Artest

Take it apart, I dares ya!
 

[drogbagarnett]

chris paul is missing from that list. pierce has been fantastic this year. kirilenko and marion are great defenders. so is gerald wallace. kobe bryant is another great defender, josh howard is very good. andre iguodala, ron artest.

it's too difficult to list a top 10 defenders, easier just to throw names out there.

Chris Paul I don't think should be on that list, his man defense is realy average to just above average, but this list isn't for average.


1) Kevin Garnett
2) Tim Duncan
3) Shane Battier
4) Rasheed Wallace
5) Marcus Camby
6) Bruce Bowen
7) Kobe Bryant
Shawn Marion
9) Rajon Rondo
10) Ron Artest

Take it apart, I dares ya!
 

1- KG
2- Duncan
3- Battier
4- Rondo
5- Bowen
6- Posey
7- T. Prince
8- Kobe
9- Perkins
10- Lebron

For me Shoot blockers and stealers are not great defenders !!
Most of the time they are great gamblers...
That inflates your defensive stats but doesn't translate on better D for your team...
(e.g. Marcus Camby, Joe Smith, Chris Paul, Baron Davis...)

[crownsy]

if stealer's aren't great defenders in your book, i find it hard to defend rondo at number 4 and no pierce, perhaps one of the most underrated SF's at taking charges in the league.....

[Chris]

if stealer's aren't great defenders in your book, i find it hard to defend rondo at number 4 and no pierce, perhaps one of the most underrated SF's at taking charges in the league.....

I was gonna say the same thing.  At this point in his carreer, Rondo is still more of a "big play defender" rather than a "lock down defender".  To me, that doesn't put him in the top 10.

I am surprised no one has listed Deron Williams.  He is one of the most solid PG defenders out there.

[indeedproceed]

if stealer's aren't great defenders in your book, i find it hard to defend rondo at number 4 and no pierce, perhaps one of the most underrated SF's at taking charges in the league.....

I tend to side with Crownsy. If you look the only guys with gaudy defensive numbers on my list are Rajon and Camby, and Marcus Camby was defensive player of the year last season.

Ron Artest, SHawn Marion, they've both played great defense all year and don't put up huge numbers...


Krep I think we overrate just a tad around here. Is he any better than Joel Pryzbilla? Desangana Diop?

[drogbagarnett]

if stealer's aren't great defenders in your book, i find it hard to defend rondo at number 4 and no pierce, perhaps one of the most underrated SF's at taking charges in the league.....

I was gonna say the same thing.  At this point in his carreer, Rondo is still more of a "big play defender" rather than a "lock down defender".  To me, that doesn't put him in the top 10.

I am surprised no one has listed Deron Williams.  He is one of the most solid PG defenders out there.

Then you guys have no idea how important Rajon is in our defensive system. Is quickness, harassment and defensive abilities enable him to stay in front of his man and more often than not be a pest for the opposition point guard...
I might be biased in my ranking as a Celtics fan but telling me that rondo isn't a very good defender is unbelievable! Especially from Celtics fans ! KG is the master piece of our D but without Rondo and Perkins the defensive excellence we reached this year would have only been a dream!
Baron Davis and Chris Paul are gamblers who get more steals than Rondo but are 10 times less efficient than Rondo defensively speaking...
Dont remember if it was coming from KG or Doc but one of them said that sometimes just having Rondo pressure the ball handler after timeouts made teams go away from the offensive plan they just prepared before...
That's says a lot to me!
Moreover, what I meant but penalizing stealers and shoot blockers was targeting the one who gambled about it... KG is a great shoot blocker but still is (or should be) everyone's number 1 in this list... So Rondo having some steals in his stats should not deprive him from being one of the most efficient defenders in this league THIS YEAR !!
And please, let's all forget about words like "at this point of his career" or "no playoffs experience" or "too young.." Either you know how to ball or you don't !!!
Rondo knows how to ball and especially defend... no matter the number of years he has under his belt...

[crownsy]

if stealer's aren't great defenders in your book, i find it hard to defend rondo at number 4 and no pierce, perhaps one of the most underrated SF's at taking charges in the league.....

I was gonna say the same thing.  At this point in his carreer, Rondo is still more of a "big play defender" rather than a "lock down defender".  To me, that doesn't put him in the top 10.

I am surprised no one has listed Deron Williams.  He is one of the most solid PG defenders out there.

Then you guys have no idea how important Rajon is in our defensive system. Is quickness, harassment and defensive abilities enable him to stay in front of his man and more often than not be a pest for the opposition point guard...
I might be biased in my ranking as a Celtics fan but telling me that rondo isn't a very good defender is unbelievable! Especially from Celtics fans ! KG is the master piece of our D but without Rondo and Perkins the defensive excellence we reached this year would have only been a dream!
Baron Davis and Chris Paul are gamblers who get more steals than Rondo but are 10 times less efficient than Rondo defensively speaking...
Dont remember if it was coming from KG or Doc but one of them said that sometimes just having Rondo pressure the ball handler after timeouts made teams go away from the offensive plan they just prepared before...
That's says a lot to me!
Moreover, what I meant but penalizing stealers and shoot blockers was targeting the one who gambled about it... KG is a great shoot blocker but still is (or should be) everyone's number 1 in this list... So Rondo having some steals in his stats should not deprive him from being one of the most efficient defenders in this league THIS YEAR !!
And please, let's all forget about words like "at this point of his career" or "no playoffs experience" or "too young.." Either you know how to ball or you don't !!!
Rondo knows how to ball and especially defend... no matter the number of years he has under his belt...

no one said he wasn't a very good defender. The person who made the top ten list put him 4th out of everyone in the NBA. I think thats too high, especially when the person then went on to say stealer's are overated, and doesn't put pierce on his list. The discussion was about that, not an attack on rondo's defense in any way, its been spectacular.

think you took the posts a bit out of context, i think we all understand what rondo brings to this team