best defensive point guards of all time

And his athleticism gives him a leg up, which helps him dominate. Players Stats: 20.3 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 6.0 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.2 BPG. The total numbers were then adjusted to arrive at a score ranging between 90 (best) and 110 (worst). Thanks for signing up. He finished the game with the most career postseason points and the highest average in a playoff series. He has a high basketball IQ, and he has that veteran savvy thing going for him, too. Lin plays with consistent effort on defense, but hes stuck in fourth gear. Top 50 Point Guards of All-Time: Magic, The Big O and Curry top the List In the 13 seasons in which he played more than 60 games, mostly with the Chicago Bulls, the 1988 Defensive Player of the Year was a nine-time All-Defensive Team selection all first-team honors and a three-time steals champion. Players Stats: 13.1 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 10.5 APG, 2.2 SPG, 0.2 BPG, Honors: 10x All-Star, 11x All-NBA Selection, 5x All-Defensive Team Selection, Hall of Famer. While he was doing that, Billups, who actually had the ball the whole time, just stepped back behind the three-point line and drained the three. Just telling your players to play harder and close out on threes isnt a real system. The five best defensive NBA shooting guards of all time - Sportsnaut Hell overshoot passing lanes, gambling for the steal. From there, hes playing catch up. Nash is the answer. Players like Rose, Russell Westbrook and Kyrie Irving consistently cross him over and get past him. Wayne Gretzky on the court, Nash could hurt opponents by getting rid of the ball quickly or by holding on to it for so long that the defense finally made a mistake. Injuries robbed Rose of the opportunity to become one of the games top five point guards. Young players who are relatively short are now developing the scoring aspects of their skill-sets, whereas previously these players would find it difficult to enter the NBA without true point guard skills. Some players with tremendous athleticism just dont apply it on both ends of the court. Michael Jordan 10. Jack is one of those players that a lot of people dont know what he brings to a team in the locker room. Surely the most underappreciated great player in NBA history because he was quietly dependable rather than flashy and never broke through on the biggest stage. Hes incredibly focused while on the court, but hes always working things out in his head; they dont come automatically, and that costs him time. These were calculated using the raw stats available on any site carrying basic stats. -- Pelton, No player his size, 6-foot-3, has ever bent defenses to his will as Curry does. To read more, go here! However, he doesnt appear to have the same strength they do. Think: Dennis Rodman. Additionally, Stockton was a fantastic shooter and defender, almost possessing no weaknesses on the floor at all. He benefits tremendously from help defense as previously mentioned, but that doesnt mean he doesnt also provide help defense. He doesnt have overwhelming effort that blows you away, but he has earnest effort. Stats dont tell the whole story and our eyes often only confirm what we already know. He was an unstoppable offensive force who could score from anywhere on the court and in any way he wanted. He tends to do the right thing, but then hell do something kind of stupid that makes you wonder what hes thinkingeven if what hes thinking is right. When we watch basketball, we get general impressions of defense, but the storyline is whats happening with the ball. Players Stats: 18.8 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 7.4 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.1 BPG, Honors: 6x All-Star, 5x All-NBA Selection, 1972-1973 Scoring Champion, Hall of Famer. It doesnt help to be fast if you dont use it, so Bledsoes score here is lower than you might expect. Hakeem Olajuwon 2. He merits a high score here. There is no doubt that Stephen Curry inherited his incredible shooting ability from his father, Dell, who was a successful NBA marksman himself, but the younger Curry's game is more diverse than Dell's. Chalmers is 62 and 190 pounds, which is about average size for a point guard. While Gregg Popovich and his brilliant system deserve a lot of the credit, Tony is a Finals MVP and is a multiple NBA champion who deserves to be recognised for his role in the legendary Spurs dynasty. As Kyrie Irving showed in the decisive Game 7 versus the Warriors when he beat Stephen Curry to the game-winning jumper, Kyrie Irving is also one of the finest guards in NBA history, and he possesses some of the best hands of all time. When the team is winning or the game is close, he puts in real effort, but if they are down, he shows noticeably less energy. Rushmore of greatest postseason performances in league history. -- Adande, Teams However his brilliant and consistent team defense team keeps passing lanes secure and helps prevent a lot of plays from developing the way they normally would. Because Derrick Rose was the NBAs youngest MVP in 2009, its unfortunate that the guy isnt higher on this list. Somehow, he seems to be able to get his hands in the way of a lot of shots and passes that should be out of reach. Lin is a mixed bag when it comes to help defense. Right now, Westbrook's 11.2 assists and 47.5% assist rate leads the league this season. There are some disadvantages to this style of play. Watching him rotate was watching perfection. He applies every bit of failing athleticism he has all the time. Per NBA.com/STATS, the Clippers were almost 10 points per 100 possessions better defensively while Lamar Odom was on the court instead of DeAndre Jordan, yet Paul was on the court three times as much with Jordan as Odom. Dont be surprised to see him as a head coach someday. Speed is important; a speedy point guard is better able to create separation and space off the dribble, giving themselves room to work. Hopefully he can break it. Stockton was the. Watching a thing, and watching for a thing, are different. Rob Peterson is an NBA editor for ESPN.com. He lacks the strength to effectively go over screens consistently, so he has to go under them. Went from dominating games strictly with his passing to making the fifth-most 3-pointers in NBA history. As a rookie, Bill Russell relied on Cousy to lead the league in assists, and he won the MVP Award for his efforts. Hall of Famer was an impressive defensive player in his own right. Many times, the point guard is referred to by announcers, as a "coach on the floor" or a "floor general". Blake Griffin was 21st out of 47 power forwards, and Jordan was 23rd out of 38 centers. They are available for those who want to know where they fit, and it doesn'thurt anyone to include them. He uses his speed well, as long as hes engaged in the game. NBA top 15 point guard rankings for 2021-22: Stephen Curry sits at No A lot has been made of how an explosive offense is the way to captivate fans. While he is frequently noted for his ability to see the court and make the right play on offense, he doesnt get the same recognition on the defensive end. After watching Paul play defense for a while, what stands out over everything else is that he just never stops movingliterally. Meanwhile, we are presenting the top 10 by position. His high rebound rate, while partly indicative of his speed is also a result of positioning, which relates to his IQ. He yields a whopping 41.5 three-point percentage on the spot-up, which is just not good. Notably, several modern point guards have used a successful style of post play, a tactic usually practiced by much larger centers and forwards. Russ is already on the verge of breaking into the top five of all time, but its going to be a challenge. Gary Payton 9. Knight gets almost no help whatsoever from help defense. Watching video on Lin gave me one impression that stood out above everything else: his awareness of where he was on the court and where he needed to be. In his 16-year career, Wade averaged 2.961 DWS per year and his 47.38 DWS is good for 55th overall. SHOCKING one of the best defensive point guards of all time played great defense on a 20 year project old player. In his single season with the Wizards, the former NBA MVP averaged a triple-double (again), and he was a big reason why Washington made the playoffs after a rough start to the season. All pre-draft measurements were obtained from the database hosted on Draft Express. Point guards must be able to maintain possession of the ball in crowded spaces and in traffic and be able to advance the ball quickly. He presses hard as long as the opponent is in front of him, but will frequently give up on the play once the defender is past him. He gave up just .87 points defending the spot-up (making him one of the few players to defend the spot-up better than the iso). -- Adams, An early ballhandling wizard, he was a point guard who was a focal point at a time when the game was dominated by big men. He gets caught thinking, and while he makes the right decision, its a split second too late. -- Peterson, Teams Paradoxically tough on the court and flashy off of it, Frazier epitomized the '70s-era backcourt style in which roles were less defined. As a result, hes been a member of the All-Defensive First Team four times and a member of the All-Defensive Second Team five times. All that was due to Bryant emulating Jordans relentless drive to win on both sides of the floor. These point guard rankings will be the first of five articles. It will be interesting to see if his new coach, Jason Kidd, can help him to work on this, as Kidd was a terrific help defender. When going against point guards who have a respectable jump shot, that becomes problematic. Rose is arguably the most athletic point guard in the league, though Russell Westbrook could present a challenge. ESPN ranked the Top 10 PGs of all time & they have @iamisiahthomas ranked 5th. Over the next four weeks, well unveil the rankings for the other four positions. As previously discussed, it is true that purely objective analysis does not, and cannot, tell the whole story, especially when it comes to something as dynamic as defense. For his time with the Phoenix Suns, Johnson is most known for his role alongside Charles Barkley. While Rose was fairly criticized for not playing hard defensively prior to Thibodeau, that criticism is no longer accurate. Our booby prize winner is pictured above. DWS are how many wins a player produces based on his defensive ability. How much a player understands his role in the defense is measured here. And do they try and recover when they get beaten? Players Stats: 14.1 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 5.0 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.6 BPG, Honors: 1978-1979 Finals MVP, 5x All-Star, 9x All-Defense Selection, 2x All-NBA Team Selection, Hall of Famer. Best Defenders in NBA History: Top 50 Best Defensive Players By Clark Boinis | Jul 12, 2021, 4:05pm 1. Since I always get asked "Where's ___________?" Then, after a single down year, he had y straight years of 2 steals per . By NBA standards, he jumps like an elephant and runs like a turtle (and not one of those fast turtles youve heard tell of eithera slow turtle). 1. He does those things; he just doesnt do them very hard. The other metrics help alleviate the extremes because they also indicate what a players personal defense does. Were shooters able to shoot over them? He has all the tools to be one: great reflexes and speed, and those long arms with big mitts on the end. The biggest reason appears to be a fundamental one. The foundation (the facts or stats) needs to be laid first, and then the house (opinions about how, or why, something is) is built on top of it. In the late 1980s, he was the face of the Bad Boys Pistons, who defeated Jordan's Bulls three times in a row in the playoffs. If someone goes past him, hell usually just wave goodbye. Some will just hang around waiting for the play to end, but Jack keeps track of his man and also helps if its needed. An All-Star in every full season that he played for the Boston Celtics, six-time NBA champion Bob Cousy was an all-around player: he averaged 18.4 points, 7.5 assists and 5.2 rebounds per game. He manages to defend the pick-and-roll reasonably well by doing something I can only call bouncing over picks. The following are the five categories and what was considered for each of them: How fast players are from end to end is only a part of speed. He is so athletic and so strong for his size that hes been able to get away without learning lessons he should have. Adande, Brad Doolittle, Tom Haberstroh and Kevin Pelton are NBA writers for ESPN.com. Although Stockton accumulated numerous All-NBA nods, he only made the All-Defensive Second Team five times. He does a poor job of defending the spot-up, surrendering 1.07 points per play. Its why Williams gives up .92 points per play in isolation, one of the worst averages among point guards. If youre not interested in that, feel free to skip ahead. -- Adams, Honors One of the best -- and quickest -- lob passers the game has ever seen. Of course, sometimes his opponent scored, too. One aspect of Roses year-long absence that gets lost is how much the team suffered defensively without him. Still, Nash's greatest historical legacy will be paving the way for Stephen Curry and a new generation of point guards in a league that embraced point guards making plays with a wide-open court. In the NBA, Isiah Thomas is an amazing leader and is truly the most competitive force on the court that we have seen from a tiny guy. Hes not looking at the ball-handler's chest, which makes him susceptible to fakes, so when his opponent breaks, Rose is momentarily frozen. But he jogs when he should run, is lackadaisical closing out shooters and goes through the motions when running through his rotations. There are some serious contenders in Steve Nash and Walter Frazier, so hell have to settle for fourth place in the race. The best way to track how effective a player is on the defensive end is by looking at their cumulative defensive win shares. He just doesnt have the physical tools to play at an elite level. Seriously, you should hear Mark Jackson rave about him. He doesnt just bring effort to every game; he brings it in all the right ways. He does such a good job of it while the ball is in front of him, theres no reason he couldnt do it after the ball-handler gets past him. Doc Rivers has had a lot of input into how Rondo plays the game. His net defensive rating of minus-7.7, combined with his lack of a defensively-solid backup big, is a strong indication of his value as a help defender. Lillard has been one of the NBA's most dangerous scorers, capable of striking shots from anywhere on the floor. He has above-average size and strength, but he doesnt play like it. (Note: Players chosen only if they have played as a shooting guard for most, if not all, of their career.). He may be the finest defensive guard ever because of his awareness and abilities on the defensive end. West became synonymous with brilliant basketball during his 14-year playing career with the Los Angeles Lakers. Other stats were determined by using my trusty sidekick, MS Excel, loaded up with standard stats available on most websites. -- Peterson, A menace on both ends of the court, Frazier was at his best in the 1970 NBA Finals when tallied 36 points, 19 assists, 7 rebounds in a title-clinching Game 7. He literally may be the least athletic guard in the Association. But hes just not very strong. With the increased emphasis on the deep three, point guards account for a large portion of the league's top scorers. However, the other side of the ball cant be overlooked because as the saying goes: defense wins championships.. During each of his five NBA championship rings, he was one of the finest players in the league. But his lack of any vertical leap kills him on the jump shot. We ranked the best point guards, determining the list with the help of B-R's position splits. For his career, Jordan averaged 2.3 steals (third all-time) and 4.2 DWS per year. Two-time MVP (2004-05, 2005-06), eight-time All-Star, seven-time All-NBA selection, Career stats The Big O's best statistical season came in 1961-62, when he averaged a triple-double for the entire season, a feat that has never been duplicated. He tends to be beaten off the dribble more often than he should be, considering his physical advantages, but he also uses his physical ability to recover when he is beaten. When he lets it go, though, it seems calculated. Top 20 best defensive midfielders in the world today: who are they? Tim Duncan Sometimes that happens, but not all that often. He does a capable job of knowing when to help and when to stay. Nowadays, the point guard is expected to do more than simply run plays; he or she must also be the teams offensive leader by putting up big numbers every night! Perhaps the most unstoppable offensive player in NBA history, Jordan decimated and demoralized his foes on the defensive end. David Robinson 6. Championships: 3. He also used his incredible basketball IQ to steal the ball and defend at a high level. One of basketballs most dynamic and versatile point guards in the modern era. Kirk Hinrich wasnt the fastest player in the NBA when he came out of college. I doubt its much beyond his height. Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum top NBA quotes of the week. He gets easily overpowered when bigger point guards post him up. Jordan also had two seasons (86-87 and 87-88) where he was in the top-20 in blocks per game and seven seasons in the top-20 in defensive rating. Hes able to stay in front of all but the quickest point guards in the league. If you want the perfect picture of what Hinrich brings to the defensive end of the court, think of him tackling the runaway freight train, otherwise known as LeBron James, in the game which stopped the Miami Heats streak. The "Big O" was capable of doing it all. Triple Double and for good reason: hes fourth all-time in triple-doubles with 107. Whats remarkable is how quickly he gets to the shooter and gets a hand in his face, even if its all the way to the corner three and the shooter is setting when Rose takes off. -- Adams, The fashion forerunner to Russell Westbrook. Point guards are often valued more for their assist totals than for their scoring. Chris Paul 13. Thats pretty much what you see with Conley. Gary Payton is one of the best ever. On the other hand, no matter how solid the foundation is, you cant move into it. Pauls been an All-Defensive Team selection nine times, being selected to the 1st team seven times and the 2nd team twice. Stockton embodied a true point guard - an extension of the coach that ran the team's offense seamlessly. Top 15 Greatest Point Guards In NBA History - TheSportster He gives up too much space and still gets beaten. Its hard to notice his effort, though, because of the consistency with which he gets destroyed. For a player who lacks lateral quickness and a player that has been in the league as long as he has, you would think Williams would have learned to do a better job of steering opponents into the help defense. Bledsoe just doesnt bring much energy to the defensive side of the court, which is a shame, because if he did, hed be a ball hawk. He had unusual strength for his size, quick feet, elite hands, and timing to help him hold down opponents one-on-one and rack up steals. Scoring point guards typically look to score first, thus preventing teammates from getting the ball. More explosive and athletic point guards focus on scoring as opposed to play-making, forgoing assists and ball-movement, and often defense, for higher scoring numbers. Tony Parker is one of the fastest players in the league if youre going by pure speed. -- Tom Haberstroh, NBA writer, No guard in NBA history pulled down more rebounds than Kidd, who finished with more career rebounds than Willis Reed and Alonzo Mourning, among others.

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