best defensive point guards of all time

Some will just hang around waiting for the play to end, but Jack keeps track of his man and also helps if its needed. His net defensive rating is fairly close to even, and slightly above average for point guards. He is suitable at keeping most players out on the perimeter, but against elite point guards he has more problems. Thats good for 14th all-time in NBA history and he also had 10 seasons in the top 20 for steals per game. Rajon Rondo is probably the most athletic player in the league who plays most of his game below the rim. Because Derrick Rose was the NBAs youngest MVP in 2009, its unfortunate that the guy isnt higher on this list. There arent a lot of players that could lock down Michael Jordan, the greatest player of all time. Generally speaking, the point guard is the player in possession of the ball for the most time during a game and is responsible for maintaining possession of the ball for their team in the face of any pressure from the opponents. Kevin Durant, surprisingly, also bails out his co-star a lot. Then, when players pull up and shoot, he doesnt use his length to close and get a hand in the face of the shooter. Jrue Holiday is making . The Greatest Defensive PG's in NBA History! - ranker.com 13.1 PPG, 10.5 APG, 2.2 SPG, .384 3P%, The player David Robinson 6. Jrue Holiday. When he does, he gets put off and his effort isnt there anymore. Even though hes been injured a lot, Paul is averaging over two steals a game for his career. But hes slightly built, and that raises some issues, especially when hes caught a fraction of a second behind a play. 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. Three-time MVP (1986-87, 1988-89, 1989-90), three-time Finals MVP, 12-time All-Star, 10-time All-NBA selection, Hall of Fame, Championships Furthermore, he is a legend for the Phoenix Suns and one of the teams finest players. 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. No one was a better passer than him. With his limited speed, he is always in full throttle and getting himself around the court, pestering whoever has the ball. When the pick gets set, he just hurls into it and uses the momentum of the bounce to send him in the right direction. Over the last decade, the best point guards such as Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, and others have dominated the position. A defensive point guard will try to accomplish this with constant pressure on the ball, making it difficult to maintain possession. But his lack of any vertical leap kills him on the jump shot. Simply put, defensive win shares (DWS) are defined by how many wins a player produces based on his defensive ability. First, a range of 18 to 22 makes it easier to arrive at the eventual score of 100the baseline everything was weighted to. Gary Payton was born on July 23, 1968, and is widely regarded as one of the best defensive point guards of all time. Jeremy Lin is not one of the faster point guards in the NBA, and hes not particularly quick either. In the last entry, we focused on the five best defensive NBA point guards of all time. 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. For this reason, a point guard is usually, but not always, more skilled and focused on passing than shooting. READ ALSO: James Harden's age: stats, contract, family, dating, net worth in 2022 and more. There arent many point guards who can do it all, but Kidd is one of them. Meanwhile, we are presenting the top 10 by position. 12.6 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 8.7 APG, 1.9 SPG, The player After years of being sidelined by ailments, the grandeur that should have been his was snatched from him. The official cause of death of Flashdance singer Irene Cara has been determined. This is one of those cases where scouting helps. Walt Frazier 10. Aside from his offensive prowess, Johnson had the ability to hit for power and lead the offense at a high level. Also with both, theyve shown more success utilizing their physical attributes on the offensive end than the defensive end. Of course, sometimes his opponent scored, too. Considering his challenges with speed, he did reasonably well with the pick-and-roll, again because of his size and strength to fight through picks. What color was his tie? It is akin to the blind men and the elephant in the Indian fable adapted to a poem by John Godfrey Saxe. One aspect of Roses year-long absence that gets lost is how much the team suffered defensively without him. He made everything go for those Lakers teams. Paul is just listed at just 60, and that might be generous. He doesnt just bring effort to every game; he brings it in all the right ways. These point guard rankings will be the first of five articles. Mike Conley is exceptionally quick, virtually teleporting himself from one part of the court to another at times. One of the greatest rebounding guards of all time. 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. Hes not looking at the ball-handler's chest, which makes him susceptible to fakes, so when his opponent breaks, Rose is momentarily frozen. Watching him rotate was watching perfection. On pick-and-rolls when hes not set, teams have learned to expect this. -- Haberstroh, Honors Although Wade had an accomplished resume, if he had played one more season, he wouldve easily overtaken the next player on the list. 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. #VCTLOCKIN #Valorant #valorantagents #valorantgaming. He averaged 18.4 points, 7.5 assists and 5.2 rebounds per game. He just doesnt have the physical tools to play at an elite level. All pre-draft measurements were obtained from the database hosted on Draft Express. Lets say a perimeter defender gets beaten and then his center blocks the shot. He does those things; he just doesnt do them very hard. During the 1960-1961 season, the then-32-year-old Cousy racked up 6.3 DWS, the most in his career. Thats helped him amass 47.3 DWS, 56th overall. He fights through picks, going over them when he can and under them when he cant. Stockton embodied a true point guard - an extension of the coach that ran the team's offense seamlessly. By the time he was done, he had racked up 10 All-Star appearances, nine All-Defense selections, six All-NBA . Blake Griffin was 21st out of 47 power forwards, and Jordan was 23rd out of 38 centers. Steve Nash 7. 50 Greatest NBA Point Guards of All Time - Bleacher Report Who are the best defensive point guards in the NBA, and how are they determined? -- Pelton, So precise with his passes and timely with his shots. The "Big O" was capable of doing it all. Isaiah Thomas 5. Only two NBA championships would make him the second-best player in NBA history. He does all those little things that dont show up in box scores. How much a player understands his role in the defense is measured here. There are some disadvantages to this style of play. The Case For: Upper-tier defender (9x All Defensive Team, including 4 First Team selections). I suspect that some of this might be by design, as Holiday bore a leading part of the burden on both ends of the court for his team, so its understandable to a point, but not to the extent I saw. The same applies to any decent basketball argument (or any other kind, for that matter). Johnson had a knack for scoring against everyone and racked up impressive numbers throughout the course of his career. Scouting isnt the same as just watching games. That makes him eligible for inclusion on this list of best point guards. (I know, but it is a part of defense these days.) Point guards are expected to run the team's offense by controlling the ball and making sure that it gets to the right player at the right time. Its interesting that when he plays against elite point guards, or when he plays angrily, he plays much more of a physical game. He owes his charitable demeanour to a group of elementary school parents. Paradoxically tough on the court and flashy off of it, Frazier epitomized the '70s-era backcourt style in which roles were less defined. You also can follow along @ESPNNBA and on Facebook. Watching specifically for this, I found only three instances in 50 plays where Garnett bailed out Rondo on isolation plays, a rate which is lower than most point guards receiving help. When it came to size, the main flaw in his game was that he was very fast and explosive with his handles. Mentally subtract them from the rankings if you feel they shouldn'tbe included. 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. Each touches a different part of the elephant, one an ear, another the torso and so on. Went from dominating games strictly with his passing to making the fifth-most 3-pointers in NBA history. On Detroits 2004 NBA championship squad, he led the likes of Rip Hamilton, Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace to victory over the LA Lakers superteam. You dont get the sense in watching him that theres a point of pride in it. This is especially true when closing out on defenders. This article first appeared on Sportsnaut and was syndicated with permission. Nash was never known as a strong defender, but he was capable of bothering opposing point guards to some extent. Born on July 15, 1990, Damian is an American professional basketball player for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association. Top NBA point guards for 2022-23: Ranking all 30 starters | Sporting News TMGNNS LEBRON Sun, 4:30p DEN CLE 2/23, 4:00p BOS IND 2/23, 4:00p DET ORL 2/23, 4:00p MEM PHI 2/23, 4:30p NOP TOR. Players Stats: 19.2 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 9.3 APG, 1.9 SPG, 0.3 BPG, Honors: 1989-1990 Finals MVP, 12x All-Star, 5x All-NBA Selection, Hall of Famer. Hes a key component in Tom Thibodeaus defense, and frankly, with Thibs, you just dont stay on the court if youre not putting in the effort on the defensive end. OPER is the Opponents Player Efficiency Rating and has been tracked by 82games.com since 2008. This is also manifested in his spot-up defense. But he never does. All rights reserved. -- Adams, Combined savvy with underrated strength. But Gary Payton did as a member of the Seattle Supersonics. After watching Paul play defense for a while, what stands out over everything else is that he just never stops movingliterally. Jumping ability, body control and agility were all considered as well. Opponents dont have much success getting around him. Interpreted as: best defensive rating with a minimum of 10000 minutes played point guards in NBA history. A defensive point guard will also pressure opponents in passing lanes in an attempt to generate steals and scoring opportunities for their own team. If it gives up fewer points, thats good. He also only has a 65 wingspan, which is short of the other bigger point guards, but what he has, he uses well. West became synonymous with brilliant basketball during his 14-year playing career with the Los Angeles Lakers. Many times, the point guard is referred to by announcers, as a "coach on the floor" or a "floor general". Trail Blazers playoff failures have been a major blemish on both his game and his career so far. He seemed to keep ahead of the play, moving to the next rotation a fraction of a second before the play even developed in that direction. The players are ranked according to their WAMS. On the other, he so rarely allows his opponent to get past him that he doesnt need to rely on it either. He defends pick-and-rolls exceptionally well because hes able to shake off picks without much trouble, even pushing around stronger players like Carlos Boozer or Robin Lopez at times. There are a number of different types of metrics available from various websites. Also, he was disliked for flopping feigning a foul to get the ball back, yet he proved to be a key ingredient to the Spurs championship-winning formula. Perhaps if hes in shoes and standing on a milk crate filled with milk, thats true. Thats the difference between what I call work intelligence and natural intelligence. Some people just have to work to pick things up. Paul, who was born on May 6, 1985, has long been regarded as one of the game's greatest point guards, a fact reinforced by his selection to the 75th Anniversary Team. In fact, hes a bit of a bull on the court and tries to intimidate his counterpart. Miami Heat and Dwyane Wade won the NBA championship in 2006 with him as a member of the Seattle SuperSonics. Gary Payton 9. Paul gets caught in a trap that WAM cant entirely avoid because it can only look at what happens, not why it happens. Sometimes he wont give that much effort, and then the next moment hell be trying too hard. He doesnt use his size exceptionally badly or incredibly well, though. It will be interesting to see how well he does with Larry Sanders behind him in Milwaukee. Doc Rivers has had a lot of input into how Rondo plays the game. When defending the isolation play, he gives up a nauseating .94 points per play, a strong indication of that. His score represents the average of trying hard and not trying at all once the ball gets past him. Wilt Chamberlain 14. Eventually, you need to form an opinion about why not just know what. 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. Holiday has ample size for a point guard, standing a shade over 64 in shoes, and weighing in at 205 pounds. He has no All-Defensive team accolades, because those werent introduced until the 1968-1969 season. His helter-skelter wizziness has him flying around the court, and sometimes its good. Hinrich has a bit more going for him in terms of size. He literally may be the least athletic guard in the Association. Watching Parker play defense for a while, particularly zooming in on the pick-and-roll plays, his impressive court awareness stands out. -- 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. No question hell be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and hes one of the greatest rim-attacking players in NBA history. Hes fearless, and no matter how large the big setting the pick is, he wont back down. Averaging 1.5 steals per game, Wade could block transition shots as well with the best of them. While hes able to keep himself from getting pushed around when point guards, or even shooting guards, try and post up on him, hes not able to dig through picks the way the other three are. 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. That deceptive length helps him nab 2.5 steals per 36 minutes and grab a ridiculous number of rebounds for a person his height. However, a good jump shot and the ability to score off a drive to the basket are still valuable skills. Whenever anyone imagines a point guard, chances are theyre thinking of Utah Jazz legend John Stockton. Because he is the one who touches the basketball first on every possession, the NBAs point guard has long been considered its most vital position. They work harder, and they get things eventually, but not quite as well. Many remember Ginobili for his offense, but he was also a capable defender. Over the next four weeks, well unveil the rankings for the other four positions. Jed Jacobsohn/AP Images. His MVP season, he had the second-best block total by a point guard in history (although John Wall exceeded that total last year.). Jack gets beat and bailed out frequently by his teammates. He uses his speed well, as long as hes engaged in the game. Now hes in Phoenix, and well see how both he and Jeff Hornacek develop in their new roles. Players Stats: 17.9 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 9.1 APG, 1.5 SPG, 0.2 BPG, Honors: 3x All-Star, 5x All-NBA Selection, 1988-1989 Most Improved Player. Hes able to stay in front of all but the quickest point guards in the league. You can almost rate Chalmers improving basketball intelligence by how many times per game he gets yelled at by his superstar teammates. Chris Paul fell into the same kind of trap last season. The only point guard to win Defensive Player of the Year, Payton was a defensive nightmare and he never had a DWS lower than 1.2 during his 17-year career. Nevertheless, its just as important. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google. Knight doesnt always recognize the help situations, but when he does, he is usually effective. Why not a normal scale of one to 10? Its like hes just punching the clock and collecting his wages. LeBron James, the best player in the NBA, is also the league's best point guard. It probably tells the accurate story here. -- Adande, The best two-way small player in league history, Paul embodies the era in which he plays by running the pick-and-roll as well as anyone has ever run it. Jordans inclusion as the best defensive shooting guard isnt surprising considering his relentless attitude to winning. Players Stats: 18.9 PPG, 5.9 RPG, 6.1 APG, 1.9 SPG, 0.2 BPG, Honors: 7x All-Stars, 6x All-NBA Selection, 7x All-Defensive Team Selection, Hall of Famer. Defense is one of the more oft-overlooked aspects of basketball because it isnt as pretty as what happens on the offensive end. His huge hands allowed him to pass as effectively with one hand as most could with two. He had absolutely no help backing him up, and that inflates his objective numbers. Teams Thats rarely going to be because of a mental error, though. Point guards are expected to be vocal floor leaders. Triple Double and for good reason: hes fourth all-time in triple-doubles with 107. Penny Hardaway was well recognized for his relationship with Shaquille ONeal when he was only a kid. Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. He gets crossed over pretty easily, and not just by the Associations elite point guards. As a point guard, Frazier was one of the greatest in NBA history. While he recovers most of the time, its worth asking why he gets beaten. Hes pouring out effort every minute hes on the court. 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.

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