Dirk's the most underrated defender of all time...

[stalkerforlife]

Quick hands. Contests very well. Runs back like a deer. Holds his ground in the post.

Damn.

Dude is top 15 all time.

[Akrazotile]

EASILY ahead of Kobe all time :applause:

[FKAri]

The most underrated defender is probably Andrea Bargnani

[stalkerforlife]

EASILY ahead of Kobe all time :applause:

http://40.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lmkjpwbjh01qh9wcto1_500.jpg

[Hamtaro CP3KDKG]

Its arguably hes an above average defender in his prime.

GREAT post defender he consistently ranked top of the league there statistically. One of the best defensive rebounders ever, quick hands, shooting 3s that well and getting back on defense first at that height prevents east fastbreak thats a big reason they beat Miami, smart rotations and can play great team defense in any type of zone

His lateral quickness was almost always shit tho and his perimeter defense was bad

[dubeta]

Bro I have $8 that I wanna donate, send me a link

[stalkerforlife]

Bro I have $8 that I wanna donate, send me a link

Na man, you worked hard mowing your mom's lawn.

Get yourself a 6 pack of root beer and get a red box, playa.

[Locked_Up_Tonight]

No.

But here's the thing about his defense: he is a good **post** defender. If you told him to defend against a big man straight up in the post... he does a very good job.

But he struggles with helpside shot blocking and lateral quickness on the perimeter.

Hence why he got the no d tag.

But he is a really good low post defender. But most low post defenders are good shotblockers too. And he isn't and never will be one.

[TheBigVeto]

EASILY ahead of Kobe all time :applause:

Yes agreed.
:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:

[Dro]

Are we talking prime Dirk or last few years Dirk defense? Cause one is pretty good and underrated the other is pretty horrible....

[Pointguard]

Definitely not the most underrated. If you are not guarding the best at your position most of the time, you can only be adequate as even bad defenders do that. But he does do some defensive things very well in his later years.

[HurricaneKid]

I'd go Sidney Moncrief. But go ahead and pick a league avg defender...

[Clifton]

Are people being sarcastic here?

Dirk is a terrible defender. When scorers see him in front of them, their eyes light up and they go right at him every time.

I remember in 06, when he lost to the Warriors, an 8 seed, Baron Davis seeing Dirk in transition and, nearly a foot shorter, running right at him for a layup and not bothering to use his body or change the shot because he knew he didn't have to.

Dirk was a bad defensive player. So was Nash. It's not because they didn't try. They just didn't have the instincts or the physical tools on that side of the ball.

Still great players, but the historical record isn't wrong here. He was bad.

[PistonsFan#21]

http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/12-02-2015/TKGNiZ.gif

[Fudge]

http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/12-02-2015/TKGNiZ.gif
:roll:

Like a retard trying to chase the teacher's assistant. :applause:

[Dr Hawk]

http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/12-02-2015/TKGNiZ.gif

Damn :roll: :roll: :roll:

[FKAri]

I'd go Sidney Moncrief. But go ahead and pick a league avg defender...

A guy widely regarded as one of the best wing defenders of all time...is underrated? :wtf:

[T_L_P]

http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/12-02-2015/TKGNiZ.gif
:oldlol:

[ArbitraryWater]

http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/12-02-2015/TKGNiZ.gif

the fact Dirk TURNED on that made it so dumb.. just go back the same way, or stand and walk off...

[mehyaM24]

http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/12-02-2015/TKGNiZ.gif

big dirk fan here, but wow. :oldlol: the diggler was doing circles lmfao

[StephHamann]

http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/12-02-2015/TKGNiZ.gif

He scored on him in the clutch and hit the game tying shot in McChollum's face later that game. :applause:

[Straight_Ballin]

Quick hands. Contests very well. Runs back like a deer. Holds his ground in the post.

Damn.

Dude is top 15 all time.

This is obvious because of the fact that Dirk was able to do more with less when he won that title. A lesser man with inferior defense to complement their offense wasn't able to get the job done.

[eklip]

He's definitely underrated in his prime, because some people call him an offense-only player or a bad defender.

If you look at on-off court defensive rating of the Mavs teams.
Dirk had the best defensive on-off court numbers in:
2002-03 (out of all Mavs players)
2010-11 (all Mavs players)
2009-10 (all Mavs players who played >20% of the available minutes, second best out of all players)
2011-12 (all Mavs players who played more than >50% of the minutes, second best out of all players)

He had the second best defensive on-off court numbers in:
In 2000-01 (out of all players)
In 2007-08 (out of all players who played more than 30% of the available minutes)

The Mavs had a top 10 defense in 02-03, 04-05, 06-07, 07-08, 10-11, 11-12 and a top 13 defense in 00-01, 05-06, 09-10.


Only in the last two years his defensive on-off court numbers got really bad and only then good teams started to attack Dirk on defense, mostly with pick and rolls or switches (the gif tells you why), because he's still a decent post defender. He lost a lot of his speed in recent years after his knee surgery. He can't drive to the rim anymore on offense and looks immobile on defense.

[feyki]

Yes , Young Dirk(2002-2006) was underrated defender .

[Shih508]

Dirk is way better defender than Kobe through out their career and Kobe got 10+ all defensive team selection and Dirk got none. Stern's rigging!

[Smoke117]

http://cdn.makeagif.com/media/12-02-2015/TKGNiZ.gif

*cringe*...:roll:

He's never been a bad defensive player...he's just never been a high impact one either for the most part. Is he the most underrated defensive player of all time? of course not...but this is a stalker thread, so I don't see why anyone would take this assertion seriously. He's not even the most underrated PF from his era defensively for that matter...Rasheed Wallace is. He doesn't have one 1st team or 2nd team all defensive nod and he was a top 10 defensive player last decade.

[SHAQisGOAT]

He's definitely underrated in his prime, because some people call him an offense-only player or a bad defender.

If you look at on-off court defensive rating of the Mavs teams.
Dirk had the best defensive on-off court numbers in:
2002-03 (out of all Mavs players)
2010-11 (all Mavs players)
2009-10 (all Mavs players who played >20% of the available minutes, second best out of all players)
2011-12 (all Mavs players who played more than >50% of the minutes, second best out of all players)

He had the second best defensive on-off court numbers in:
In 2000-01 (out of all players)
In 2007-08 (out of all players who played more than 30% of the available minutes)

The Mavs had a top 10 defense in 02-03, 04-05, 06-07, 07-08, 10-11, 11-12 and a top 13 defense in 00-01, 05-06, 09-10.


Only in the last two years his defensive on-off court numbers got really bad and only then good teams started to attack Dirk on defense, mostly with pick and rolls or switches (the gif tells you why), because he's still a decent post defender. He lost a lot of his speed in recent years after his knee surgery. He can't drive to the rim anymore on offense and looks immobile on defense.

This...

Now, most underrated defender of all-time? Of ALL-TIME? :facepalm

[Lebronxrings]

Wtf Dirk Is a terrible defender. His lateral quickness is terrible, he gets beat off the dribble easily. He's a terrible perimeter defender, often losing his man. His post defense is okay but... It's post d, he's 7 feet, all he does is raise his arms so of course he's average. If anything he's overrated in defense. Great offensive player tho

[Pointguard]

He's definitely underrated in his prime, because some people call him an offense-only player or a bad defender.

If you look at on-off court defensive rating of the Mavs teams.
Dirk had the best defensive on-off court numbers in:
2002-03 (out of all Mavs players)
2010-11 (all Mavs players)
2009-10 (all Mavs players who played >20% of the available minutes, second best out of all players)
2011-12 (all Mavs players who played more than >50% of the minutes, second best out of all players)

He had the second best defensive on-off court numbers in:
In 2000-01 (out of all players)
In 2007-08 (out of all players who played more than 30% of the available minutes)

The Mavs had a top 10 defense in 02-03, 04-05, 06-07, 07-08, 10-11, 11-12 and a top 13 defense in 00-01, 05-06, 09-10.

Only in the last two years his defensive on-off court numbers got really bad and only then good teams started to attack Dirk on defense, mostly with pick and rolls or switches (the gif tells you why), because he's still a decent post defender. He lost a lot of his speed in recent years after his knee surgery. He can't drive to the rim anymore on offense and looks immobile on defense.
Those numbers really over rate him like crazy. 1. He was usually guarding the team's weakest offensive player, which was usually at center. 2. Teams couldn't attack him because there were few teams that were good at both center and PF positions. After TD got his career high on him in '02 I think, he was rarely guarding the better scorers there for a while.

Its more like what Lebronxwings said,

Wtf Dirk Is a terrible defender. His lateral quickness is terrible, he gets beat off the dribble easily. He's a terrible perimeter defender, often losing his man. His post defense is okay but... It's post d, he's 7 feet, all he does is raise his arms so of course he's average. If anything he's overrated in defense. Great offensive player tho

[DMAVS41]

Those numbers really over rate him like crazy. 1. He was usually guarding the team's weakest offensive player, which was usually at center. 2. Teams couldn't attack him because there were few teams that were good at both center and PF positions. After TD got his career high on him in '02 I think, he was rarely guarding the better scorers there for a while.

Its more like what Lebronxwings said,

Anyone calling prime Dirk a terrible defender is either an idiot or ignorant.

He's under-rated because people are kind of stupid and perception lasts a long time even after its obviously false.

Now, that doesn't make Dirk a great defender and he certainly isn't the most under-rated defender ever.

But someone calling him terrible? Sorry, just no.

[ArbitraryWater]

Yes , Young Dirk(2002-2006) was underrated defender .

More like 2005 n up

[feyki]

More like 2005 n up


Dirk was amazing on defence against Kings at 2004 . Probably better than Shaq and Lebron ever was , huh :oldlol: ?