NBA / Dec 15, 2008 / 10:00 am
You’re not scoring on this five
Dwight Howard (photo. Mannion)Over the weekend I caught Steve Smith — on the rise as one of my favorite NBA talking studio heads behind Gary Payton and a good 6,235 spots ahead of Mr. Sigg-Nasty — breaking down his “Fave 5″ list of NBA defenders. Coming off my own “One Player, One Defensive Stop” column, Smitty and I agree one one thing, as Kevin Garnett topped his list, followed by (in order) Dwight Howard, Ron Artest, Kobe Bryant and Bruce Bowen. Personally, I’d go: Garnett, Artest, Kobe, Tayshaun Prince, and Shane Battier and Bowen tied for fifth.
Who would you rank as the League’s top five defenders regardless of position?
December 15th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Heckler says:
the only surprise here might be dwight howard. i don’t argur with anyone who takes howard, but (today) i’ll go with marcus camby at center for defense.
December 15th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Heckler says:
oh yeah..if i put
chris paul, dwyane wade, lebron james, dirk and amare stoudamire…
YES we will score on those five
December 15th, 2008 at 10:08 am
YOUNGFED-now that i'm a celebrity i'd like to thank all the little people (lmao) says:
Dwight
Sheed
Josh Smith
Artest
Kobe
December 15th, 2008 at 10:11 am
fallinup says:
Yao
Dirk
Adam Morrison
Vince Carter
Jose Caledron
wait, what?
December 15th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Toan says:
nash
calderon
dirk
peja
shawn bradley
December 15th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Jah says:
C - Dwight
PF - K.G.
SF - RonRon
SG - Kobe
PG - Bruce Bowen
December 15th, 2008 at 10:28 am
the_don_mega says:
chauncey…
kobe…
ron-ron… (as bowen is already on the decline)
KG…
Timmy D…
December 15th, 2008 at 10:30 am
Prof. TX says:
Battier, Artest, and Marion deserve mention if only because they are some of the only guys who have been routinely asked to guard three different positions.
December 15th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Ric Hardwood says:
KG
Dwight
Posey
Kobe
C. Paul
December 15th, 2008 at 10:33 am
Deez says:
Lebon is an underrated defender - dude is a WALL when he wants to be.
December 15th, 2008 at 10:36 am
QQ says:
Kidd
Kobe
Smoove
Duncan
Dwight Howard
December 15th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Mac says:
J.Maxiell
T.Prince
R.Balkman
Q.Ross
R.Rondo
December 15th, 2008 at 10:45 am
JA says:
I think comments like “Lebon is an underrated defender - dude is a WALL when he wants to be” summarize exactly why Lebron isn’t an underrated defender.
You can’t take plays off and be a great defender. You can’t only try when you think your block is going to be on the highlight reel. It’s about the little stuff - showing hard on a pick and roll … boxing out your man even when you know you won’t get the rebound … hustling back on every play, etc.
December 15th, 2008 at 11:51 am
doug says:
definitely agree JA, and this cat doesn’t ever lock down the other teams best player for a full game. The cat goes for block when he knows the cameras are on him so those riders can say look at him how aggressive he is on the defensive end. I was watching the show when Steve Smith ranked his top 5 and he got into with Rick Kamla because he said Kobe is overated as a defender and LeBron and D.Wade should be on the top 5 over him. First of all how are you going to tell a guy who was in the league 10 plus years who should be on his top 5. Secondly,Kobe overrated as a defender?First of all those defensive teams selected every year are voted on by the coaches around the league, if he was overrated as a defender TRUST they would not select him.Thirdly, this cat takes on the assignment of gaurding the teams best defender and holding cats to way below there scoring average.That tool Kamla only looks at stats saying WADE top 15 in steals and blocks. Well when you help defend you get alot of those, Smith even said it just because you get steals doesn’t mean you play good defense it just means you play passing lanes and cheat on defense. AI lead the league in steals for a couple of years but he is not a good on ball defender at all.I hate stat guys who don’t watch the games and just look at number. O.J. Mayo went for 29 on D.WADE he was killing the poor guy hitting threes while D.WADE was hanging on his shoulder, D.WADE and LEBRON definitely have to improve there on ball D, gaurd the best cat on the other team.
December 15th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
Celts Fan says:
the real list:
C: Dwight (could argue Camby too)
PF: KG (this isn’t close.)
SF: Artest
SG: Kobe
PG: Chauncey (you can’t put CP3 ahead of him just for steals. He’s not a great - good but not great - on-ball defender.)
December 15th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
doug says:
Celts Fan KG has not always been a great defender, that this aint even close stuff has to cease. He’s a great defender this year and last year, but do me a favor and figure how many times this cat has been NBA all defensive team.
December 15th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Smitty313 says:
Kobe helps his teamates way to much on defense this year. He always leaving his man open. But he has not went head to head with to many elite two guards this year. He shut down Mike Redd and Brandon Roy, but let some one like John Salmons murder him. Kobe only plays lock down D on elite players.
December 15th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
tim says:
Pistons circa 2004….A springy Ben Wallace, Sheed and Prince frontline shuts down anyone….hahha i love memories of the good old days of Pistons hoops.
I know Dwight blocks shots, but isn’t that mostly helping out and not man on man?
December 15th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
Jay says:
I wouldn’t put Kobe on this list, not this year anyway. Past seasons, probably, because he was really good at moving his feet laterally and staying in front of his man (not getting picked off by picks on the other hand is another matter). But this season guys have been blowing by him. Part of that has to do with the Lakers defensive concept that has perimeter defenders shading their man into help but times where Kobe was square to his man and tried to keep in front, he’s gotten blown by more than not. I’d put his unintentional blow-by surrender rate at 80 percent.
December 15th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Jay says:
Doug, it’s not hard to find out how many all-defensive teams Garnett has been on. To answer your question, it’s 7 1st team all-defensive and 2 2nd team all-defensive. Whatever your reasons, I guess you wish it wasn’t so but um, he’s been pretty good at this defensive thing for a while.
December 15th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Dagomar says:
lol, Dwight Howard. His one-on-one defense still needs serious work, especially against faster players (see Bosh, Chris). DEFENSE IS NOT ALL ABOUT REBOUNDS AND BLOCKS. And steals are THE most overrated defensive stat out there; often steals are more an indication of willingness to gamble than willingness to play acceptable man-to-man defense (see Iverson, Allen).
Top-five defenders: Artest, KG, Posey, Battier, Prince. Hon mentions to Bowen and Duncan.
Lebron has become a great defender but this year is the first year he’s done it consistently (although he grew by leaps and bounds last year). Neither he nor Kobe plays all-out defense all the time, however, because they’re asked to do so much on the offensive end.
By the way, you could make a decent list of the NBA’s top-five worst defenders and have only Raptors starters.
December 15th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
doug says:
yeah he was really good defensively with the T-wolves, don’t you remeber. I know he’s really good at taunting little no name point gaurds and getting up in there face but when it’s time to go bodies with the big cats like D.Howard, he tends to be a little more quiet.Smitty 313 that’s all we care about is that he plays stingy D against the elite gaurds because we’ll probably see them in the playoffs later. First of all John Salmons hasn’t murdered in anyone in the league and most importantly he’s not going to be in the post season.Jay I don’t know what your watching whenever the Lakers play top tier two gaurds, Kobe locks them down. This season that list consists of Roy, V.Carter,Rip Hamilton
December 15th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
GEE...pyscopated rhythm says:
C: Dwight
PF: Josh Smith
SF: Artest
SG: Kobe
PG: Chauncey
December 15th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
karizmatic says:
Artest
Prince
Battier
Kobe
Tim Duncan
December 15th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
dapro says:
Dwight is a beast but he is far from a lockdown center same with Camby
Camby is a weakside shot blocker and solid help defender
Dwight is freak athlete who blocks a ton of shots of help defense
Neither is a defensive stallworth, both can be exploited either of the dribble or with good post play
For my money I’d go Duncan or Sheed to replace who says Camby or Howard
Nobody plays better post defense (stopping your man from getting postion and denying the ball) better than KG,Sheed, or Duncan
December 15th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
dapro says:
of=off
December 15th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Ian says:
no howard on my team
id go
duncan
kg
bowen
artest
battier
December 15th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Skywalker says:
Dwight - blocks & alters the most shots
Cambyman - probably still the best defender in the NBA
KG - not a fan at all but must respect D
Bron - held Danger to 6pts & Crash to 1pt and have u seen the D highlights this year?
Rondo - subtle but I always notice opposition guards struggling against him
on a side note Kobe is arguably the most overrated defender in the NBA just ask Truth n Salmons?! it doesn’t even look like he’s the best defender on his team anymore (Ariza?) before the Kobe fanclub start firing up let me just say that even tho I am not a Kobe fan I can add that he’s the best scorer in the NBA (yes even better than MJ) however, u can’t even compare them on D - MJ never let his opponent dominate him
December 15th, 2008 at 9:14 pm
rangerjohn says:
wow how did everyone skip the cambyman? for a defensive team i would have to say he is a better defender at center then howard (for now)
December 15th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
rangerjohn says:
@ #2
i think your wrong, because only 1 of those guys listed really knows how to pass but he cant pass because everyone else is to busy fighting over the ball. they would defend themselves.
December 16th, 2008 at 12:13 am
mules says:
for everyone discounting Dwight and Camby as not being great defenders because the majority of their blocks come off weak-side help defense, basketball is a team game and, in most cases, the centers most important roll on defense is protecting the rim with good help defense. When you’re team has a center that can slide over to help out by blocking and altering shots if/when your perimeter guys get beat, that means your guards/forwards can defend the opponents shooters tighter and to play the passing lanes more aggresively. Both of these guys are tremendous assets to their teams on the defensive end…well, unless Bosh in on the other team in Dwight’s case.