Top 5 most impactful defenders of all timw

[Thorpesaurous]

The word impactfull to me makes me feel like they have to be good enough offensively to warrant being on the floor for big minutes every night. So to me that costs some of the specialist guys.

Ewing was not a great defender. He was very good. And for a short stretch in his youth he was on cusp of great. But once his knees started going he was no longer great.

I have to think Walton was supposed to be Russell. Although Walton was a spectacular defender even in the late period I saw him play when he could barely move. He was just a guy who knew where to be.


Garnett belongs. I'd say Duncan probably does, although he's harder to quantify. Pippen is the single greatest defender I saw in my lifetime, and it's not particularly close in my mind. He would go into finals and defend opposing teams HOF level PGs if need be. Or he could slide onto any elite scoring wing. And he was in the passing lanes, and covered for rim protection they gave up with the spacing bigs they played.

Rodman belongs in the discussion. Although his versatility left him sooner than I think some realize. And I think late Rodman's defensive value is a bit overstated.

You could even talk me into someone like Kiralenko for short stretches.

[andgar923]

Bill Walton
Kevin Garnett
Gary Peyton
Patrick Ewing
Kobe Bryant

Any disagreements?

[Odinn]

Bill Walton
Kevin Garnett
Gary Peyton
Patrick Ewing
Kobe Bryant

Any disagreements?

None of them would be in my top 5. It's more like "any agreements?" for me.

[Wade's Rings]

Kobe has the most first defensive team selections, he is prolly second to Walton on the list.

He didn't deserve all of them though. I'm not sure about the rest of the players.

[Marchesk]

How Bill Russell isn't at the top of this list is beyond me.

Also, if you're going to throw Payton's name out there, Moncrief deserves a mention.

[k0kakw0rld]

Bill Walton
Kevin Garnett
Gary Peyton
Patrick Ewing
Kobe Bryant

Any disagreements?

Yupp Kobe, massively overrated. Plays defence for 20% of the game.

Top 5 no order

Pippen
Rodman
Payton
Kidd/Stockton
Ben Wallace

[riseagainst]

Yupp Kobe, massively overrated. Plays defence for 20% of the game.

Top 5 no order

Pippen
Rodman
Payton
Kidd/Stockton
Ben Wallace

[HurricaneKid]

Russell

15 posts until we get to Russell while Kobe is mentioned 3x?

WTF is wrong with you ISH?

Throw Ben Wallace on the list.

[HurricaneKid]

FTR, Kobe has been a below avg defender over his career (neg RAPM). That means he isn't a top 1000 defender.

[juju151111]

Russell
Dream
Robinson
Duncan
Ewing

Where is Ben Wallace

[TaLvsCuaL]

Kobe was a good defender but top 5 is laughable.

[Spurs5Rings2014]

People listing guards.

[T_L_P]

No order:

Wallace
Hakeem
Russell
Robinson
Duncan
Garnett

A PG/SG/SF shouldn't be approaching this list. Not even Pippen.

If it's a list contextualised per position, I'd probably add prime AK and Scottie (though I have no idea who to bump).

[chocolatethunder]

Moncrief. Has anyone here even watched basketball before?

[chocolatethunder]

Yupp Kobe, massively overrated. Plays defence for 20% of the game.

Top 5 no order

Pippen
Rodman
Payton
Kidd/Stockton
Ben Wallace

Easily one of the most overrated defenders of all time and certainly on ISH. He was a great rebounder and shot blocker and terrible man defender. Awful at defending the pick and roll and you could see all of his defensive shortcomings on display in international competition. Payton was better than Kidd and Stockton. Stockton was a good man defender when young and later was a good team defender so was Kidd. Payton was on a totally different level than either of them.