List of the best Defenders who ever guarded MJ and Lebron

[Spurs5Rings2014]

I thought Diaw did a fairly good job on LeBron that series. LeBron just got ridiculously hot from outside later on. You can't really stop anyone who hits all their jumpers like that.

[Haymaker]

Where is Vernon Maxwell?

[fsvr54]

Dumars ceased to exist?

[DonDadda59]

Why do you hate Lebron so much, I know he is not as good as jordan but why do salty jordan stans always compare him to goat but instead compare him to players like kobe, magic or bird.

We didn't start the fire.

You going to take that from 3ball, Kobe stans?

The Kobe stans are extinct, their fire has gone out of the universe. KennethGriffin and Mr.Jabbar are all that's left of their religion.

[3ball]

They were sagging off (in 2013)...

The Spurs completely transformed the way they guarded Lebron in 2014 vs. 2013.

In 2013, the Spurs were enamored with the stats showing Lebron shoots a whopping 40% of his shots at the rim, and finishes 75%.. Accordingly, they felt they had to prevent him from getting to the hole, so they gave him wide open jumpshots - the stats ALSO showed he shot poorly from mid-range and long two's, so there was some rationale for using this approach... The strategy did okay - Lebron averaged 25 PPG on 45%.

But after getting their heart broke in 2013, the Spurs went back to the drawing board and figured out a BETTER way to guard Lebron - they noticed that since he came to Miami, his shot attempts were down, and he focused on keeping his efficiency high.. They exploited this by playing him straight up, since his efficiency-approach made him not a threat for a big scoring game..

The straight-up approach allowed them to stay at home and shut his teammates down, which led to the Heat getting destroyed by record margin - the counter to this strategy was for Lebron to take advantage of the straight-up defense and go off for 40 PPG, thus giving his team a chance to win.. But unfortunately, his basketball acumen deficit did not allow him to figure out that straight-up defense means he should try to go off for a huge game - honestly, one 40 point game would have done it, then the Spurs would've gone back to letting him shoot wide open jumpers..

[Kvnzhangyay]

The Spurs completely transformed the way they guarded Lebron in 2014 vs. 2013.

In 2013, the Spurs were enamored with the stats showing Lebron shoots a whopping 40% of his shots at the rim, and finishes 75%.. Accordingly, they felt they had to prevent him from getting to the hole, so they gave him wide open jumpshots - the stats ALSO showed he shot poorly from mid-range and long two's, so there was some rationale for using this approach... The strategy did okay - Lebron averaged 25 PPG on 45%.

But after getting their heart broke in 2013, the Spurs went back to the drawing board and figured out a BETTER way to guard Lebron - they noticed that since he came to Miami, his shot attempts were down, and he focused on keeping his efficiency high.. They exploited this by playing him straight up, since his efficiency-approach made him not a threat for a big scoring game..

The straight-up approach allowed them to stay at home and shut his teammates down, which led to the Heat getting destroyed by record margin - the counter to this strategy was for Lebron to take advantage of the straight-up defense and go off for 40 PPG, thus giving his team a chance to win.. But unfortunately, his basketball acumen deficit did not allow him to figure out that straight-up defense means he should try to go off for a huge game - honestly, one 40 point game would have done it, then the Spurs would've gone back to letting him shoot wide open jumpers..

and you know more than him? It can definitely be argued Lebron is mentally weak (and has a strong case), etc., but his basketball knowledge just can't be...

[3ball]

Where is Vernon Maxwell?

Good point.. Maxwell played MJ tough and didn't back down.. they almost fight at the 4:28 mark - MJ talks some junk to Vernon after finishing over Hakeem for 7th time of the game:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7N_qSFAsP8

Dumars ceased to exist?

Forgot about Dumars - but I always thought it was more the team defense of the Bad Boys rather than Dumars specifically.. Along with the of the Celtics, Lakers, Hawks and Knicks (among other teams), the Pistons were one of the better paint-camping and physical teams in the league at that time.

[3ball]

and you know more than him? It can definitely be argued Lebron is mentally weak (and has a strong case), etc., but his basketball knowledge just can't be...

of course it can - look how bad his efficiency approach failed... look how dumb that approach is period... his team literally got beat worse than any team ever has - his approach couldn't have worked WORSE.

and lebron isn't the kind of guy to change what he'd been going all year - he'd bought into the whole efficiency thing, and he wasn't going to change mid-Finals.. and you see this year, he's much less concerned about efficiency - he learned that shooting 55% doesn't guarantee victory.

during the 2014 Finals, Lebron admitted to a reporter in the post-game press conferences that he was shocked to be shooting so well and losing so bad.. spurs had him bamboozled mentally - the efficiency thing had him so blinded, that the thought of taking over and going for huge scoring games didn't even occur to him - like, he thought that was BAD.

not only did the efficiency thing blind him, but if he was such a smart basketball player, why doesn't he play off-ball more or on the post more?

[Kvnzhangyay]

of course it can - look how bad his efficiency approach failed... look how dumb that approach is period... his team literally got beat worse than any team ever has - his approach couldn't have worked WORSE.

and lebron isn't the kind of guy to change what he'd been going all year - he'd bought into the whole efficiency thing, and he wasn't going to change mid-Finals.. and you see this year, he's much less concerned about efficiency - he learned that shooting 55% doesn't guarantee victory.

during the 2014 Finals, Lebron admitted to a reporter in the post-game press conferences that he was shocked to be shooting so well and losing so bad.. spurs had him bamboozled mentally - the efficiency thing had him so blinded, that the thought of taking over and going for huge scoring games didn't even occur to him - like, he thought that was BAD.

not only did the efficiency thing blind him, but if he was such a smart basketball player, why doesn't he play off-ball more or on the post more?

maybe because what you think is better is not?

[3ball]

maybe because what you think is better is not?

lebron's team lost by more than any team ever has in the Finals.

that means you could've replaced him with literally anyone in the world - you or me - and the same thing happens - the Heat lose by record margin..

so yeah, i'm quite certain Lebron's pursuit of efficiency over all else was suboptimal.

the stats back me up - In 21 out of the 24 years since 1991, the team leader in shot attempts on the Finals-winning team took more than 25.56% of the team's shots - which means that the load Lebron took on in 2014 Finals (25.56% of his team's shots) was not a large load, and the notion that he couldn't have done more, or that no one else would've done more, is wrong - 21 out of the last 24 did more.

also, the guys that DID win while shooting less than Lebron - they all had well-balanced teams (KG's 08' Celtics, Parker's Spurs, Rip Hamilton's Pistons).. the Heat were top heavy - they OBVIOUSLY needed Lebron to take over, especially once it was evident the Spurs were playing him straight up - but he was too addicted and blinded by the efficiency strategy he'd employed all year to see the obvious.
.

[Kvnzhangyay]

lebron's team lost by more than any team ever has in the Finals.

that means you could've replaced him with literally anyone in the world - you or me - and the same thing happens - the Heat lose by record margin..

so yeah, i'm quite certain Lebron's pursuit of efficiency over all else was suboptimal.

the stats back me up - In 21 out of the 24 years since 1991, the team leader in shot attempts on the Finals-winning team took more than 25.56% of the team's shots - which means that the load Lebron took on in 2014 Finals (25.56% of his team's shots) was not a large load, and the notion that he couldn't have done more, or that no one else would've done more, is wrong - 21 out of the last 24 did more.

also, the guys that DID win while shooting less than Lebron - they all had well-balanced teams (KG's 08' Celtics, Parker's Spurs, Rip Hamilton's Pistons).. the Heat were top heavy - they OBVIOUSLY needed Lebron to take over, especially once it was evident the Spurs were playing him straight up - but he was too addicted and blinded by the efficiency strategy he'd employed all year to see the obvious.
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Before going any further, how can you prove that he was employing an "efficiency strategy"?

[poido123]

Fatass Diaw


Midget Barea


Jason Terry



You can clearly see how tough Lebron's defenders have been over the years. I don't know why anyone would think Jordan had better defenders on him.

[3ball]

Before going any further, how can you prove that he was employing an "efficiency strategy"?

that's like me asking you to prove OJ's guilty.

[sdot_thadon]

I dunno, I think they both faced some great and good defenders. Lebron's era is more competitive at his position by far though.

Also your list is missing guys like ariza, thabo, Caron butler, young josh smith, etc.

[3ball]

It's important to remember that the skill needed to play basketball in no-spacing was much higher, which produced superior players.

With no spacing in previous eras, the option of running offense to shift the spaced-out defenders and get an open shot wasn't available, so players had to settle for contested shots more often.. When teams don't run as much offense and settle for contested shots instead, pace and shot volume increase.

The volume shooting associated with 2-pointer basketball and the wider repertoires needed to navigate defenders in closer proximity enabled previous era wings to put more pressure on defenders than today's wings - higher volume and wider repertoires meant previous eras wings were more of a threat to go off for a big game than today's 3-and-D players.

Otoh, today's game requires a slower pace - the spacing necessitates running more offense to shift the spaced-out defenders and set up open 3-point looks.. Also, smaller offensive repertoires are necessary for the wider lanes provided by 3-point shooting and spacing-out environments.. Naturally, it's not surprise that today's 3-and-D wings are less of a threat to go off for a big game and pose less of a threat individually to the defense.. Again, this is in contrast to the more diverse mid-range games of previous eras, which enabled repeated contested shots and therefore less time-consuming offense.
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