Vote for the Top 10 Defensive Players in NBA History

[elementally morale]

I'm not going to post the names of guys whose prime was earlier than 1980, because I haven't seen them play. Footage won't do justice, you can put together a 3 minute clip of any average defender making him look great. With that said:

1. Hakeem
2. Rodman
3. Payton
4. Pippen
5. Garnett
6. Kidd
7. Jordan
8. Mourning
9. Artest
10. Mutombo

[ThaRegul8r]

I continue to find it sad the disrespect Nate Thurmond gets, when he was recognized during the time he actually played as second only to Russell, yet as time passes and you get people who don't know much about the era talking about all-time great defenders, Thurmond gets completely overlooked, as the people looking back now after the fact would only be aware of the big names, which were Russell and Chamberlain.

[WillC]

Originally Posted by ThaRegul8r

I continue to find it sad the disrespect Nate Thurmond gets, when he was recognized during the time he actually played as second only to Russell, yet as time passes and you get people who don't know much about the era talking about all-time great defenders, Thurmond gets completely overlooked, as the people looking back now after the fact would only be aware of the big names, which were Russell and Chamberlain.

Why are you so angry? That's your second negative post in this thread.

You talk as if you know everything and others know nothing.

I'm well aware of Thurmond's incredible defensive abilities. However, there are dozens of legendary defenders to choose from, so he's not a lock for the top 10.

There's nothing disrespectful about having Thurmond about 10th to 15th all-time amongst the best defenders in basketball history.

I think you're the only one around here who is being disrespectful by assuming that others know less than you do.

[elementally morale]

Originally Posted by ThaRegul8r

I continue to find it sad the disrespect Nate Thurmond gets, when he was recognized during the time he actually played as second only to Russell, yet as time passes and you get people who don't know much about the era talking about all-time great defenders, Thurmond gets completely overlooked, as the people looking back now after the fact would only be aware of the big names, which were Russell and Chamberlain.

Talking about defensive impact based on stats is false on too many levels. Who here has seen Nate Thurmond play regularly? Not some games or some 5 minute long video clip but, say, a season?

It's sad enough to see 15 year old kids arguing Stockton vs. Isiah, when all they saw was a few games worth of footage (if that much). One should really refrain from posting on matters he has no clue about.

I'm almost 40. When it comes to Bill Russell, all I can say is 'I don't know' though. I have never seen the guy play, for crying out loud. Talking of Nate Thurmond's defensive impact... come on.

[Teanett]

bizmac biyombo!!!

[toxicxr6]

Here are the All time career defensive ratings


1. Gar Heard 95.3
2. Tim Duncan 95.39
3. Dave Cowens* 95.52
4. David Robinson* 95.65
5. Ben Wallace 95.76
6. Clifford Ray 96.26
7. Wes Unseld* 96.31
8. Sam Lacey 96.45
9. Jim Ard 96.53
10. George Johnson 96.67
11. Paul Silas 96.77
12. Elvin Hayes* 97.36
13. George McGinnis 97.61
14. Kim Hughes 97.66
15. Hakeem Olajuwon* 97.89
16. Dwight Howard 98.04
17. Connie Hawkins* 98.08
18. Bob Lanier* 98.40
19. Jim Brewer 98.51
20. Marcus Camby 98.51
21. Steve Mix 98.72
22. Mel Daniels* 98.91
23. Kevin Garnett 98.99
24. Patrick Ewing* 99.08
25. Yao Ming 99.10
26. Rich Kelley 99.18
27. Dikembe Mutombo 99.19
28. Bobby Jones 99.25
29. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar* 99.30
30. Len Elmore 99.33
31. Rick Barry* 99.44
32. Julius Erving* 99.53
33. Alonzo Mourning 99.57
34. Ted McClain 99.59
35. Manu Ginobili 99.67
36. Truck Robinson 99.74
37. Bob McAdoo* 99.75
38. Jermaine O'Neal 99.85
39. Marvin Webster 99.92
40. Alvan Adams 99.94
41. Shawn Kemp 100.14
42. Darryl Dawkins 100.25
43. Dennis Rodman* 100.26
44. Jim Chones 100.27
45. Tree Rollins 100.36
46. Mark Eaton 100.37
47. Bruce Seals 100.37
48. Darnell Hillman 100.43
49. Spencer Haywood 100.44
50. Bob Dandridge 100.48

[Miller for 3]

The fact that some people are putting Jordan ahead of Moncrief is just . And if Drob is not in your top 3 I'm negging you

[PyrrhusX]

1. Hakeem Olajuwon
2. Bill Russell
3. Dennis Rodman
4. Scottie Pippen
5. David Robinson
6. Wilt Chamberlain
7. Walt Frazier
8. Kevin Garnett
9. Garry Payton
10. Tim Duncan

[Flamboyant]

Where the hell is Metta World Peace??

White Text Entertainment ©

[L.Kizzle]

Originally Posted by Sarcastic

Pat Ewing anchored one of the top defenses of all time, and no one has him on their list. You are all just haters or just dumb. Which is it?

Mourning ahead of Pat

Walton ahead of Pat

We're not gonna act like Oakley, Anthony Mason, Smith, Derek Harper, Starks didn't play for the Knicks, all good defenders, not like Zo in Miami or Deke in ATL where they basically were the defense (save Mookie and PJ Brown.)

[HardwoodLegend]

Pardon my ignorance (I don't know enough to compile a Top 10), but what is Kevin Love doing on the short list while Bryon "Jordan Stopper" Russell and Ruben "Kobe Stopper" Patterson are absent?

[Colbertnation64]

Originally Posted by elementally morale

I'm not going to post the names of guys whose prime was earlier than 1980, because I haven't seen them play. Footage won't do justice, you can put together a 3 minute clip of any average defender making him look great. With that said:

1. Hakeem
2. Rodman
3. Payton
4. Pippen
5. Garnett
6. Kidd
7. Jordan
8. Mourning
9. Artest
10. Mutombo

If you don't feel you can make a judgment correctly, then why would you even make an "all time" list.

[Vertical-24]

Great topic, WillC! Can generate a lot of discussion and opinion

Short List:

1. Bill Russell
2. Dennis Rodman (gets severely underrated to me)
3. Hakeem Olajuwon
4. Scottie Pippen
5. Dikembe Mutombo
6. Kevin Garnett
7. Gary Payton
8. Michael Jordan
9. Dwight Howard (I actually believe he will climb the rankings a lot further when his career is over)
10. Ben Wallace

Honorable Mentions: Walt Frazier, Joe Dumars, Tim Duncan, Patrick Ewing, Sidney Moncrief

[pauk]

This is kindof impossible to rank for me because of the variety of defensive roles/experts... interior/perimeter/allround...

For interior you could rank only 10 guys like Russell, Hakeem etc. Guys that were experts on guarding the paint.

For perimeter you could rank only 10 guys like Payton, Jordan etc. Guys that had nasty lateral quickness, hands, peskyness to guard the perimeter.

For allround/versatility you could rank only 10 guys like Pippen, Rodman, Lebron etc. Guys that could do about everything & guard up to 5/all positions, but were not best ever at one thing.

I can give you my top 10 but it would be in no order and i most likely would leave out somebody who might deserve to be there even more.

There needs to be categories... not positional categories but expertise/role categories (interior/perimeter/allround).... and even then i find it extremly hard to rank everybody accurately & factually... Do i go by impact? Do i go by 1st all-defensive honors? Do i go by DPOYs? Do i go by stats and advanced stats like defensive ratings? Do i go by highlights? Do i go by biasness?
Do i ...........

[kennethgriffin]

you can't rank defensive guards with centers

people will just rank mostly centers over guards because they think rebounding is part of defense and it makes them a better defender than a guard

also with blocks. when its actually bad defense to try and block an outside shooter

and steals are from playing mostly passing lanes as a roamer

true defensive skills are measured by watching the games

and defensive teams should count

for instance. one person ranked kobe as not a top 10 defensive guard all time. and hes got the most all defensive 1st teams in nba history



in his prime he was a lock down stopper. and its way harder to defend and score at the same time

guys who were great on both ends should get more credit than role players who used 100% energy on defense.