Best Defenders in NBA history

[TDMVPDPOY]

3. Hakeem Olajuwon - Dude chased down freaking Kevin Johnson down on a break and swatted his shot, not to mention saving a championship when he blocked Starks' game-winner in the 94 Finals. 'Nuff said.

kevin johnson had the last laugh though, putting hakeem on a poster with that dunk

[JamStone]

Kevin Garnett is also a phenomenal defender, capable of guarding the perimeter of several small forwards and a handful of guards. He alters shots and blocks shots. Always near the top of rebounding and is very good defending the pick-and-roll because of his quickness and agility for his size.

I think both KG and TD are two of the best defenders in the past decade, right up there with Ben, Bowen, and Mourning.

[lefty]

In no particular order:
Bill Russell: Invented defense in the NBA.
Nate Thurmond: Dominant shot blocker and rebounder in the age of great centers
Dennis Rodman (when he felt like it) - can defend perimeter and the post equally well. Volume rebounder, but lost the desire to do the dirty work and seeked individual glory at the 2nd half of his career.
Scottie Pippen - One of the best perimeter defenders of all time, if not the best. Curiously never won DPoY. Can shut down anyone from PGs to SFs, and even smaller PFs. Long arms, quick reflex, and amazing lateral quickness.
Gary Payton - Lots of steals, and covers his man like, well, a glove. Quick hands and lateral quickness coupled with his defensive fundamentals make him a virtual wall on the perimeter.
Hakeem Olajuwon - Great help defender, shot blocker, and man to man. Quick and agile.
David Robinson - Similar to Hakeem in many ways, but even quicker. Can cover anyone from SFs to Cs. Long arms, great timing, and his strength allows him to guard the strongest centers (Shaq).
Bruce Bowen - Again, never won DPoY, but his perimeter defensive skills are both controversial and effective. Sticks to his man like glue, and tires him out over the course of a game.
Michael Cooper - The only person who ever effectively guarded Larry Bird 1-1. Never quits.
Dennis Johnson - Underrated defender in many ways where he just hawks the PG and distrupts the opposition's offense from the get go.
Sidney Moncrief - Quick and agile, while strong enough to handle any variety of perimeter players.
Bobby Jones - 8 All-Defensive teams, enough said.
Joe Dumars - Jordan's arch nemisis. Never had any impressive defensive stats, but similar to Bowen but without the controversy.
Ron Artest (when sane) - Strong and quick, as well as crazy. Made his name by cracking Jordan's ribs during a summer pick up game.

Notable exceptions:
Dikembe Mutombo: probably the most overrated defender of all time. He was a great weak-side help shot blocker and rebounder, but his man to man defense is so-so due to his awkward mobility (except on Shawn Kemp, for some reason), but somehow had 4 DPoY.
Ben Wallace: Also has 4 DPoY, but probably deserves only two of them. I would choose Hakeem, Robinson, Russell, Thurmond, Wilt, Wes Unseld, Alonzo Mourning and even Mark Eaton over Ben Wallace on the defensive end (and defensive end alone) over the duration of their careers.
Alvin Robertson: Steals a lot, but gambles on passing lane. Can be exception on man to man due to his combination of speed and strength, but again, gambles way way too much.
John Stockton: All-time steals leader, and possibly one of the dirtiest players of all time, but his lateral quickness is suspect and always seemed to have problems with ultra-quick guards (see Iverson, Tim Hardway).

I like that list ; Pippen , Rodman and Payton are my 3 favorites D players of all-time ; they are very versatile defenders, because they could guard different types of players, different positions.

I agree on Dikembe too ; I think Anthony Mason brought that analysis (yes, he could do that ) up after the Hornets eliminated the Hawks in the 1998 playoffs.

[timvp]

Duncan, when motivated and not in foul trouble, is one of the best bigman defenders I've ever seen. That said, I still give the defensive edge to DRob just because in his prime his range on the court was the best I've ever seen. He could chase down guards like a point guard, rotate from any angle to block a shot and had little problem with any sized opponent.

That said, the one area where Duncan is far superior to Robinson and maybe anyone else in history is the ability to keep his feet and know exactly when a shot is going to be released. You hardly ever see any type of post move have an effect against Duncan because he's so sound defensively that he'll wait out any move and then be right there to contest the shot.

[timvp]

One guy who I think at least deserves some mention is PJ Brown. From '95-'05, Brown was arguably the best post defender in the NBA. His solid play never really stood out but he played his role defensively as well as anybody.

History looks fondly back at Hakeem because he was a late bloomer, but he wasn't that good of a defender for a long time. It took him awhile to do more than block shots and get steals. I was watching some of the 1986 Finals and Olajuwon got owned numerous times by 54-year-old Bill Walton.

Olajuwon at his peak was a great defender but it came late in his career. In fact, Olajuwon didn't peak until he was older than Duncan is now.

[anakha]

kevin johnson had the last laugh though, putting hakeem on a poster with that dunk

Probably not, considering Hakeem still has those two rings and all KJ has is a few posters...

[bobbyjoe]

Duncan is one of the best team defenders in the history of the NBA. He's very rarely out of position, rebounds proficiently and is one of the best at keeping block shots in play. He is "just" an above-average man-to-man defender, but his team defense more than makes up for that.

For his size, Robinson was peerless when it came to lateral quickness and flexibility; in a pinch he was a four or five position defender.

The top post defender I've seen is Rodman; and his dirty play was a part of that. Watch some of those old Bulls games with him, he could positively affect the flow of the game with a well-timed defensive play or rebound.

Kevin Mchale?

That's true but the other guys on this list like Rodman, Hakeem, DRob, Russell, Thurmond, Pippen, MJ, GP, etc were great man to man AND team defenders. They all moved a lot better laterally than Tim which gave them more range.

Duncan really impacts as a team defender with blocks but isn't going to be a disruptive force in the passing lanes deflecting and altering passes, ala a Hakeem or DRob. He doesnt have the lateral quickness to chase guards off pick n rolls and harass them. What he does his maximize his athletic ability but the other guys on the list did that and had more athleticism to boot.

Duncan is not a great man to man defender. Just ask Amare Stoudemire.

Duncan's a good defensive player but he has no business being mentioned with the greats on Chang's original list as far as strictly that end of the court. Just none whatsoever. There's a reason all the others have multiple DPOY honors and Tim never won that award.

McHale, like Duncan, was a great offensive player who wasnt a great pure athlete and not really an all-time great defender at all.

I agree that Mutombo is somewhat overrated defensively, but let's be honest, team defense is more important than man to man. Mutombo's ability to alter shots and just shut down the lane was unparalleled by anyone on this list not named Russell, Robinson, or Hakeem.

I agree with Chang that Stockton was overrated defensively and really like his list overall. Good job with it.

[bobbyjoe]

Duncan, when motivated and not in foul trouble, is one of the best bigman defenders I've ever seen. That said, I still give the defensive edge to DRob just because in his prime his range on the court was the best I've ever seen. He could chase down guards like a point guard, rotate from any angle to block a shot and had little problem with any sized opponent.

That said, the one area where Duncan is far superior to Robinson and maybe anyone else in history is the ability to keep his feet and know exactly when a shot is going to be released. You hardly ever see any type of post move have an effect against Duncan because he's so sound defensively that he'll wait out any move and then be right there to contest the shot.

There's 2 sides to that argument.

Yes, Duncan goes for less headfakes than Drob. Of course Robinson was a far superior shotblocker to Duncan so it's a given that he's going to occasionally have this strength turned into a weakness against him. But the flipside is that he blocks and changes a lot more shots than TD.

It's like a great HR hitter in baseball. Yes, he'll strike out more because of big swings, but who wouldnt take that tradeoff for the extra power.

Besides Hakeem, most great postscorers were taken out of their game by Robinson's Defense. Even Shaq seemed to have his worst games offensively against DRob.

There's not just a comparison between Robinson and Duncan defensively IMO, although Duncan was obviously the much better offensive player. Remmeber that Robinson's teams didnt have the overall defensive ability that Duncan's have, which makes TD's job a lot easier. Much easier to play help D when u have Bowen hounding perimeter players than say, Vinny Del Negro and AJ.

[tlongII]

Greg Oden

[Obstructed_View]

Besides Hakeem, most great postscorers were taken out of their game by Robinson's Defense. Even Shaq seemed to have his worst games offensively against DRob.

Actually, aside from the four playoff games in '95, Robinson's defense did give Hakeem trouble. Too bad somebody didn't convince Hakeem that Robinson had his MVP trophy four or five years sooner.