Poll: Who is a better defender, Paul Pierce or Lebron James?

[PerkinsERA43]

Paul has superior footwork on offense and defense. In fact, the only player in the league who has equal/better footwork than Paul is Kobe.

However, Lebron's physical capabilities give him the potential to surpass Paul.

Currently, though, Paul is just a hair better because of his footwork and savvy. 

[indeedproceed]

Lebron is the better defender I think...but he's got Pierce syndrome...gotta carry the load from offense..and its a big load.

[Fastbreak]

Paul is the better defender and he looks younger too...

[kw10]

I think LeBron has come a long way in defence since his early years where he was known as a below-average defender. But with that said, Paul Pierce is a very good defender himself as we saw this season when he doesn't have to carry all the load, which LeBron still has to. Pierce is also more experienced, so at the moment, definitely Pierce, but over the next few years, providing LeBron get some help, he can be a terrorising force on defence.

[billysan]

Lebron James is quicker than guys his size and stronger than guys who play his position. Does anyone seriously doubt he is at least 250+ lbs and 6'8" tall? He is playing SF in a PF body and makes up for it with athleticism for now.

Lebron James has 30+ pounds on Paul Pierce and 2+ inches with comparable quickness. Paul Pierce still out plays him defensively because of experience and fundamentals. While I do think Lebron plays excellent defense, I do not think he will surpass Pierce due to physical (mostly weight) differences.

No way Lebron covers Kobe Bryant in a head to head matchup. The only way Lebron even slows Kobe down is with a lot of help from double teams/team defense. IMO he is just not quick enough to cover most shooting guards and if the player wants to beat him he need only drive past him. Lebron cannot stay with the Ray Allen, Kobe Bryant, Rip Hamilton, Manu Ginobli type players on the wing. Paul Pierce has proven he can and still does due to superior footwork and physical skills.

Lebron gets a lot of defensive help in particular from Big Z. He also is getting very good at playing team defense within his teams system. Nothing wrong with that at all.

[jdub1660]

One-on-one defense face-to-face...Paul Pierce
One-on-one fast break defense.....LeBron James
Weak-side team defense............LeBron James
Overall Team defense..............Paul Pierce
Vocal defensive leader............LeBron James
Stealing defense..................Equally great
Blocking defense..................LeBron James

When it's all said and done, I would have to say LeBron b/c of his strength and speed for his size. His timing for blocking shots is ridiculous, and he's very vocal with his team like KG(his team just doesn't listen enough) Celtics fan all the way, and I'd pick Pierce over LeBron to his my buzzer beater or crunch time shots, but LeBron would be my choice for Defense(Even though Pierce has to be given crazy amounts of credit for shutting Kobe down in Game 4 and basically throughout the playoffs, and even giving James hell to score points)

[Edgar]

james posey

[hwangjini_1]

until a few months ago, i lived close to cleveland so i watched james play on TV.

this is a silly debate. pierce is clearly more committed to defense than james. james role in cleveland was never defense. while nice to have, the preference was that he NOT play tight defense on a consistent basis so as to reduce his fouls.

james is over all a better bb player than pierce. no argument there.

but for defense, pierce plays with much more intensity and effectiveness on a consistent basis.

[sully00]

I think that defense is still significant weakness in Lebron's game.  He does a nice job roaming the paint and blocking shots but you can see that he struggles chasing on the perimeter and as well as staying in front of his man one on one.

I think as Lebron gets older he may end up as more of a combo Forward than a swing man.  Even at this point were he plays is dictated by his roster not necessarily what he does best.  To play big mins at PF he would have to improve his rebounding but all and all I think the closer he can play to the basket the more deadly he will be on both ends of the floor.  Added to that most PF's tend to be weaker defenders and big production guys so teams will be really forced to adjust to deal with James.

[crownsy]

I think that defense is still significant weakness in Lebron's game.  He does a nice job roaming the paint and blocking shots but you can see that he struggles chasing on the perimeter and as well as staying in front of his man one on one.

have to disagree here with regards to small forwards. he actually did a stellar job of keeping pierce in front of him in every game but 7.

against the premier SG's in the league i think he struggles to keep up lateraly, but if i had to pick a weakness in his defenseive game, it wouldn't be staying in front of people, it would be that he tends to get a ton of reach in fouls when he's trying to play lock down defense, mostly do to inexperiance.

to use an overused catch phrase, he's still learning the little "vetran tricks" that guys like pierce and posey know.

[celticmaestro]

Marc Jackson: "Shane Battier defends Kobe Braynt as well as we've ever seen anybody. Tonight Paul Pierce has matched it and raised it."

He's proven himself to the world on the biggest stage.

[sully00]

I think that defense is still significant weakness in Lebron's game.  He does a nice job roaming the paint and blocking shots but you can see that he struggles chasing on the perimeter and as well as staying in front of his man one on one.

have to disagree here with regards to small forwards. he actually did a stellar job of keeping pierce in front of him in every game but 7.

against the premier SG's in the league i think he struggles to keep up lateraly, but if i had to pick a weakness in his defenseive game, it wouldn't be staying in front of people, it would be that he tends to get a ton of reach in fouls when he's trying to play lock down defense, mostly do to inexperiance.

to use an overused catch phrase, he's still learning the little "vetran tricks" that guys like pierce and posey know.

I agree his position is SF, most SF's play a slashing game they head to the basket off the dribble Lebron is better at defending that.  It is when his man moves east west on him that he tends to struggle and lose his man.  I think that he will eventually move to PF when the match up dictates as opposed to SG.  He will just be more of a combo forward think Artest or Marion than a player who is going to chase SGs out at the 3 pt line.

[crownsy]

I think that defense is still significant weakness in Lebron's game.  He does a nice job roaming the paint and blocking shots but you can see that he struggles chasing on the perimeter and as well as staying in front of his man one on one.

have to disagree here with regards to small forwards. he actually did a stellar job of keeping pierce in front of him in every game but 7.

against the premier SG's in the league i think he struggles to keep up lateraly, but if i had to pick a weakness in his defenseive game, it wouldn't be staying in front of people, it would be that he tends to get a ton of reach in fouls when he's trying to play lock down defense, mostly do to inexperiance.

to use an overused catch phrase, he's still learning the little "vetran tricks" that guys like pierce and posey know.

I agree his position is SF, most SF's play a slashing game they head to the basket off the dribble Lebron is better at defending that.  It is when his man moves east west on him that he tends to struggle and lose his man.  I think that he will eventually move to PF when the match up dictates as opposed to SG.  He will just be more of a combo forward think Artest or Marion than a player who is going to chase SGs out at the 3 pt line.

I agree, im just not sure it's feasible in the first place to have a SF chase 2's around all games unless their a very elite defender. I mean, lebrons a big guy for a SF, and i can see how he would fit in well as a smaller PF, but i'm just not sure the fact that he can't stay with SG's all night is a knock on his defense.

most SF's aren't asked to cover SG's because of the quickness mismatch.

[nickagneta]

Remember the talk about LeBron when he was first drafted about him ultimately being a PG? Lots of very knowledgeable basketball people were saying that LeBron was and would be a PG first and foremost. Now he's only 23 and thinking that LeBron would be anything but a power forward in another 5 years is silly, IMO. Can you imagine LeBron having to try to defend CP3 or Rondo or Derrick Rose?

[Edgar]

Remember the talk about LeBron when he was first drafted about him ultimately being a PG? Lots of very knowledgeable basketball people were saying that LeBron was and would be a PG first and foremost. Now he's only 23 and thinking that LeBron would be anything but a power forward in another 5 years is silly, IMO. Can you imagine LeBron having to try to defend CP3 or Rondo or Derrick Rose?

pn order to be honest and respecting the question i cant imagine paul defending rondo