Is defense an overrated argument?

This is why I rank Hakeem very, very high.

10/10 offense combined with 10/10 defense....

How many players can you say that for?

Jordan - but who else?

People prefer Garnett over Barkley because Garnett can give you great offense as well as being one of the best defenders EVER, not just his era.

Barkley gives you more explosive and better offense, but he's not anywhere near Garnett on the other side of the ball.

With Garnett, you have a #1 option (or 1B option) and one of the best anchors on defense ever. I think lots of people would prefer that over what Barkley brings to the table (more offensive firepower)

Lol at all the 15 year olds being exposed in this thread. Holy ****ing shit there's a lot of you.

How can you possibly say defense is overrated? Defense is the most underrated part of basketball. If one player X is barely better at offense and way worse at defense than player Y then Player Y is the better player. Defense is ****ing important.

^Ben Wallace is a great defender, not a good offensive player
Steve Nash is a great offensive player, not a good defender

Who is the better player?

[QUOTE=hateraid]I agree fully. But it seems that excellence in offense is always negated by the other player is a better defender
Take the thread Barkley vs. Garnett. The main argument for taking Garnett is he's a better defender. To me this belittles Barkley's offensive dominace[/QUOTE]
DUDE, barkley is the reason john paxson was SOOOOO open at the end of game 6. he was dominant on offense, but his defense was not even respectable. that being said, he was still a great player. its a tough one, i might still take him over KG though.

[QUOTE=Young X]^Ben Wallace is a great defender, not a good offensive player
Steve Nash is a great offensive player, not a good defender

Who is the better player?[/QUOTE]

Wallace had more team success.

It really depends on the fit. Wallace certainly couldn't carry a team offensively, nor could Nash dominate a game defensively.

Of course, many of the great players were exceptional at both offense and defense.

IMHO, though, the average player can score 20 ppg in a season if he gets the shots. The average player does not defend nearly as well. That doesn't mean a team of Rodman's is going to beat a team of Dantley's, but I really think it is easier to build around defensive players, than the other way around.

[QUOTE=Young X]Individual offense>>Individual defense - ESPECIALLY when talking about guards. If defense and offense were equal then Ben Wallace would be better than Steve Nash.[/QUOTE]

I'd rather build around Wallace than Nash.

[QUOTE=Young X]^Ben Wallace is a great defender, not a good offensive player
Steve Nash is a great offensive player, not a good defender

Who is the better player?[/QUOTE]

Kind of depends, but Nash needs the right system to shine, while Ben's rebounding and defense would help any team.

^Wilt Chamberlain averaged 50 pts in a season, can any defender in the history of the NBA have the defensive equivalent of a 50 pt season? Is ONE defender capable of stopping a team from scoring 81 pts by himself? Think about it.

[QUOTE=Young X]^Wilt Chamberlain averaged 50 pts in a season, can any defender in the history of the NBA impact wise have the defensive equivalent of a 50 pt season? [/QUOTE]

How do you quantify Russell's defensive impact for the Celtics? What Wilt did was amazing, even adjusted for pace, but can you tell me whether his offensive contribution had a greater impact on wins?

[QUOTE=Young X]Can any ONE defender stop a team from scoring 81 pts by himself? Think about it.[/QUOTE]

A great rim protecter and post defender can shut down the paint, and force the other team to shoot jumpers. But yeah, 81 points is hard to account for on the defensive end. If you put a goat perimeter defender on Kobe that night, how many does he score?

^That's the point tho, Great individual offense beats great individual defense any day. Defense is more of a team thing, while one player can pretty much dominate a game on offense by himself.

A player always has the ability to score no matter how tough the defense is, if a player gets REALLY hot from 3, how do you stop that with one player? You can't, the offensive player always has the advantage.

Just think, if defense and offense were equal wouldn't Gary Payton be better than Magic Johnson?

I think most people would choose Nash, because at the end of the day offense is more important than defense. Rightfully so....it's probably weighted somewhere in the 65-35 range when evaluating a player in favor of offense, IMO.

Charles was a dominant offensive player, probably gets at least a 95/100, while Garnett is probably closer to the 85-90 range/100.....however Barkley is so far below Garnett on defense that it makes up the difference from Charles advantage on offense and then some in most peoples eyes in favor of Garnett.

[QUOTE=Young X]^Ben Wallace is a great defender, not a good offensive player
Steve Nash is a great offensive player, not a good defender

Who is the better player?[/QUOTE]


In my opinion this question isn't valid because to me, it is far more important for a C to be good at defense, at far more important for a PG to be good on offense. It ias hard to scale a defensive C against an offensive PG.

If you were to ask me would I rather say prime Ben Wallace or prime Brook Lopez at C, it would be a no brainer.

Same as if you would ask me would I rather a prime Steve Nash running PG or a prime Mo Cheeks / Dennis Johnson... No brainer...

Ofcourse, you would prefer to have the option of great two way players - which is why players like Duncan, KG and even players like Brand, Sheed don't get enough props in my opinion...

At the end of the day, I think the importance of defense relies marginally on two things,

a) The scheme your team is running,

b) Somewhat the position you are playing, even though defense is very important over all positions, I think it is a necessity to have a defensive front court, more so than a defensive back court...

I think the fact that great defensive players are available at cheaper contracts (usually) helps me choose them over offensive players. I would never ever want JR Smith, Kevin Martin, Nick Young or any one of those types of guys on my team.