By Answerman

Basketball is an offensive game. It is the most offensive game of all the major sports. Where else does each team score 85+ times every night?

As a result, throughout most of the season, attention and credit goes to offensive stars. Guys like Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitzki go to all-star games and get named to All-NBA teams due to their offense.

A player has to be real defensive juggernaut to get recognition without playing much offense. Mutombo, Wallace, Lambier, Rodman, and Cooper are the only ones I can think of in my lifetime.

However, once a year the defensive players get to hear their names. Its like the Daytime Emmys televised on prime-time. Its the announcement of the All-Defense team.

Every year the league disappoints. Star players continue to make the team, but the voters fail to give recognition to those special players who have based their lives on the committment to D.

I'm not saying that Duncan, Kobe, and Garnett don't play defense. They do. They do everything well which is why they are All-NBA...but this is the All-Defense team. This means guys who play all-defense.

The problem is with the way defense is evaluated. Defense in the NBA cannot be measured with stats. There are stats for blocks, defensive rebounds, and steals but guys who accumulate steals and blocks often expose their defense and give up easy shots.

Good defenders are guys who force bad shots, but there is no stat for individual opponent fg%. Even the best defender cannot stop an NBA player one-on-one. As a result, the best defenders are team/help defenders. They force bad shots from guys they aren't even defending.

Charles Oakley was not a great individual defender, but a great help-defender. He didn't accumulate any major stats, but teams couldn't shoot straight against the Knicks for 10 years.

There is only one way to judge...watch the games. More importantly, watch the games of the teams that play good defense. See who steps in front of the player on his way to the basket and forces the tough shot.

Unfortunately, that takes alot of work. Why would a voter do that work when they can just vote for Duncan and Garnett, again? Voters know they are great Kobe is, so he must be an impact defender.

Just in case you think the voters are correct and I'm making a thing over nothing, Shaq got on but Jermaine O'Neal didn't. If you follow the NBA, you recognize the injustice.

Here's some credit to guys who I saw play great defense this year but did not make the team, we'll call it the Answerman's All-You Guys Deserve It Team.

George Lynch - defends and helps on every perimeter player in the East

P.J. Brown - watch a New Orleans game. Any game. You'll see 0 layups but a bunch of pull-ups right outside the range. Its because PJ got in their way.

Nene Hilario - rare to name a rookie, but it was a terror to score on Denver this year. Nene was constantly in the right place.

Bo Outlaw - when Phoenix played well, it was Bo Outlaw grabbing the ball.

Andrei Kirilenko - Utah ranked 6th in points allowed and opp. fg%. Kirilenko is a beast.

Eric Williams - Boston was a good defensive team but Walker, Pierce, and Delk are not defensive players. Team defense led by Williams.

Micheal Curry - Started at forward for the 1 seed in the east. He cannot score. You figure it out.

Dale Davis - He started a center for the 6 seed in the West. He cannot score. See above.

Theo Ratliff - Atlanta ranked 8th in fg%. Its not thanks to Glen Robinson, J.Terry, or Rahim.

So there you have it. Anyone I left out is my fault because I didn't see the game, please let me know if there's an impact defender that both the league and I missed.


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