best defensive point guards of all timeward gangsters middleton
How hard do they fight through them? The best way to track how effective a player is on the defensive end is by looking at their cumulative defensive win shares. If Williams had more pride in his defense, he would actually ask for, and depend on, help more than he does. Gary Payton 12. We compiled a list of the top 15 point guards of all time using wholly subjective metrics from the list of active players and a few other legends. Taj Gibson, his backup, is a tremendous defensive player, which only amplified the effect of Boozers shortcomings. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 13. Why did you choose such a weird number scale? He lacks the strength to effectively go over screens consistently, so he has to go under them. Jrue Holiday. Right now, Westbrook's 11.2 assists and 47.5% assist rate leads the league this season. That said, here are the five best defensive NBA point guards of all time, based on their DWS. They average the number of points a player gives up when he is the initial defender, and this is represented by defensive points per play. Isiah Thomas, born on April 30, 1961, and possibly the best player ever under 6-foot-1, combined talent with fierce competitiveness. Players Stats: 18.5 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 9.5 APG, 2.2 SPG, 0.1 BPG, Honors: 10x All-Stars, 8x All-NBA Selection, 2005-2006 Rookie of the Year, 9x All-Defensive Team Selection. I gave Paul the highest possible score here to offset the total ineptness of the coaching staff, and the frontcourt help he got last season, but he would have a high score regardless. He does get a bit of a bump here for his rebounding. Thats pretty much what you see with Conley. He just doesnt have the physical tools to play at an elite level. However, when the game is on the line, he makes the right decision. As a result of his hurling himself around the court with utter abandon, he was generally a positive when it came to help defense. That can create an illusion of great defense where there is none. Total Defensive Plays per 36 Minutes, or TDP/36 is simply the total number of defensive rebounds, steals and blocks a player accrues every 36 minutes. Chris Paul 13. Do they get their hands up and use their length? Allen Iverson 11. Eight-time All-Star, seven-time All-NBA selection, seven-time All-D selection, Rookie of the Year (2005-06), Career stats I doubt its much beyond his height. Perhaps if hes in shoes and standing on a milk crate filled with milk, thats true. Its like someone took a normal-sized person and stretched out the arms and hands to make him. In systems like the Grizzlies play, the point guard is the first line of defense. Despite the fact that hes just 35, he has a limited amount of time left. Even players like Derek Fisher will hang him up and then hit him with the step-back. Even the fastest point guards tend to get bottled up. He averaged 18.4 points, 7.5 assists and 5.2 rebounds per game. We ranked the best point guards, determining the list with the help of B-R's position splits. Archibald, who was just 61 tall, was able to consistently sink the ball despite his diminutive stature. 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. -- Pelton, If he had played with The Mailman or a defense as stout as the Pistons, he might have made a couple of Finals by now. He led the league in total steals this year and did so without playing a lot of gambling defense. The Miami HEATs best player in franchise history, Dwyane Wade was an offensive maestro. As a point guard, Frazier was one of the greatest in NBA history. Hes like a runner trying to run a mile by alternating between walking and sprinting 100 yards at a time. His Synergy numbers compared to some of his team numbers validate that. The NBA is a point guard's paradise these days, so let's start All-Time #NBArank with our pantheon points. Additionally, the 10-time All-Star and Hall of Famer was an impressive defensive player in his own right. The effect was that the Bulls' starters all looked inferior to their backups. Jeremy Lin is not one of the faster point guards in the NBA, and hes not particularly quick either. 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. If he didnt retire at 34, its interesting to see where Cousy could have landed all-time as he averaged 3.8 DWS per season. READ ALSO: James Harden's age: stats, contract, family, dating, net worth in 2022 and more. A point guard needs always to have in mind the times on the shot clock and the game clock, the score, the numbers of remaining timeouts for both teams, etc. Players Stats: 18.4 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 7.5 APG, 0.0 SPG, 0.0 BPG, Honors: 1956-1957 MVP, 13x All-Star, 12x All-NBA Selection, Hall of Famer. Its not uncommon to see him challenge shots with both feet on the floor. Ultimately, Johnson's unselfishness earned him the title of greatest point guard of all time. Bob Cousey 8. Top 50 Point Guards of All-Time: Magic, The Big O and Curry top the List By Jeff McDaniel | Jul 16, 2020, 5:35pm 1. His most notable awards include five NBA championships, three Finals MVPs, three MVPs, nine All-NBA First Team selections, and 12 All-Star appearances. Therefore, a lower score is superior. The facts need to come first. Dont be surprised to see him as a head coach someday. Sometimes that happens, but not all that often. You cant build a house first, and then pour the foundation underneath it. Of course, sometimes his opponent scored, too. With the increased emphasis on the deep three, point guards account for a large portion of the league's top scorers. Though he had a relatively short career he only played 13 seasons his 50.4 DWS is 44th overall. Once he had the ball on the fastbreak, The Flash was gone. Micah Adams is the lead NBA research specialist for ESPN Stats and Info. If youre not interested in that, feel free to skip ahead. 1. Nevertheless, its just as important. He doesnt try to make great plays, but he tries not to make mistakes, which is maybe what he should be concentrating on. -- Peterson, He's one of only a few players in history who has been deemed too good for the sport's own good. Despite his little size, he made up for it offensively by being lightning fast and had the whole attacking package. -- 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. When he lets it go, though, it seems calculated. A lot has been made of how an explosive offense is the way to captivate fans. Hopefully he can break it. He manages to defend the pick-and-roll reasonably well by doing something I can only call bouncing over picks. His wingspan isnt much better at just 64. Rose is arguably the most athletic point guard in the league, though Russell Westbrook could present a challenge. He wont even try and fight over a pick if he gets caught in one, but just quits on the play. 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. Exceptions were made for Derrick Rose, Danny Granger, Andrew Bynum and Kevin Love because they have all been All-Star players, and all are still, at least by age, in their prime. A defensive point guard will try to accomplish this with constant pressure on the ball, making it difficult to maintain possession. For his time with the Phoenix Suns, Johnson is most known for his role alongside Charles Barkley. Eric Bledsoe has a reputation as being both quick and fast, even for a point guard, but he rarely shows it on defense. -- Kevin Pelton, NBA Insider, May be the strongest point guard ever and consistently made everyone around him better. Magic Johnson. While that is by design, he shouldnt get the same credit as players who bring their full attention the entire time theyre on the court. Is he an effective flopper? 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. 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. -- Adande, He led the NBA in assists nine straight seasons from 1987 to 1996. While Rose is slightly faster, Westbrook is slightly bigger. Thats a strong indication that Rose was not relying on help defense because that same help was there for C.J. Overall, hes ninth in steals with 2,207, and Drexlers 49.9 DWS is good for 45th all-time. When he applies it, he does so effectively, especially in isolation and the pick-and-roll. These were calculated using the raw stats available on any site carrying basic stats. The true driving force of his partnership with Karl Malone. Honors: 1978-1979 Finals MVP, 5x All-Star, 9x All-Defense Selection, 2x All-NBA Team Selection, Hall of Famer. He finished the game with the most career postseason points and the highest average in a playoff series. His huge hands allowed him to pass as effectively with one hand as most could with two. Follow Sports Brief on Twitter for more trending and breaking news! Chris Paul fell into the same kind of trap last season. 21.6 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 6.9 APG, .441 3P%, We counted down the greatest players in NBA history. -- Doolittle, Perhaps someday Paul will reach the conference finals and we can focus more on his incredible accomplishments as a scorer, distributor and defender and less on his teams' inability to turn them into deep playoff runs. Here he is. It doesnt seem that it would be that impressive if found it. Chalmers is 62 and 190 pounds, which is about average size for a point guard. Great size made him impossible for most. Thats rarely going to be because of a mental error, though. When he does do it, he does it half-heartedly. Each of these has its own value, and those specifics will be discussed more on the next slide. He has the most assists and steals of any player in NBA history and is a master of the pick & roll. Adapting your system to every opponent and knowing their nuances is understandable. How they moved laterally, closed out on shooters, and recovered after getting beaten were also taken into account. This is one of those cases where scouting helps. Nash is the answer. His quick feet give him tremendous lateral movement. Thats where we naturally focus our attention, so when it comes to things like help defense, we only notice if were looking for it, or if its extreme. It is one thing to be able to recognize the player that is in a tactically advantageous position, but it is another thing entirely to be able to deliver the ball to that player. While no one always guards the best player, some players are much more likely to be guarding the other teams elite players, which makes them appear weaker defensively. Always free! To recap, Jason Kidd was the best defensive point guard, Michael Jordan skied above other shooting guards, John Havlicek paced all small forwards - for the time being - and the "Mailman . When you combine that with his 40-inch vertical, you have a player that gets higher (139 inches) than any point guard in the leagueeven Russell Westbrook. Opponents dont have much success getting around him. This is what I mean by ubiquity. He didnt have an eye-popping number, but he was in the top 25 percent of players there. SHOCKING one of the best defensive point guards of all time played great defense on a 20 year project old player. In the history of the combine, only nine players have recorded better sprint and agility scores, and of those, only three had a better vertical than his 37.5 inches. Sometimes, all that the on/off stats tell you is the difference between two players that play the same position. 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). He merits a high score here. 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. -- Adams, Combined savvy with underrated strength. One of the most recognisable players in NBA history, Walt Frazier is a deserving candidate for the Basketball Hall of Fame. He could create at an elite level while also scoring off the dribble from the midrange. When he does, he gets put off and his effort isnt there anymore. On the other hand, hes not tremendously athletic. Think: Dennis Rodman. Jacks presence on a team is one of those things. He has decent size for a point guard, at 63 but he doesnt have much of a vertical: 28.5.. "The Logo" Jerry West was an NBA Champion, a 14 time All-Star, ten time All-NBA First team selection, four time All-Defensive team selection, NBA scoring champion and an NBA assist leader. Many remember Ginobili for his offense, but he was also a capable defender. A defensive point guard will also pressure opponents in passing lanes in an attempt to generate steals and scoring opportunities for their own team. He gives up too much space and still gets beaten. Players Stats: 16.5 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 6.7 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.2 BPG. Have a look! Bucks: Start time, where to watch, what's the latest, Rockets vs. Spurs: Start time, where to watch, what's the latest, Hawks vs. Heat: Start time, where to watch, what's the latest, Pistons vs. Cavaliers: Start time, where to watch, what's the latest, Raptors vs. Wizards: Start time, where to watch, what's the latest, Russell Westbrook still wants Sixth Man of Year award from time with Lakers, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. (Note: Players chosen only if they have played as a shooting guard for most, if not all, of their career.). -- Adams, Thomas was as tough as they come, could score with the best of them (such a sweet stroke) and, make no mistake, was the baddest of the Bad Boys. 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. Not to mention that he is an elite finisher around the rim, shooting 61.5 per cent on 5-foot attempts. He and Chris Paul are the contenders for smartest defensive point guard in the game today. Some would look at Conleys frontcourt and assumenot entirely incorrectlythat having Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol to back him up pads his stats. The ripple effect of that was that every single Bull had a worse defensive rating with Boozer than when playing with Gibson. Reethi Beach Resort Closing,
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