best defensive point guards of all time best defensive point guards of all time

He gives up too much space and still gets beaten. Being big and strong doesnt mean players automatically got higher scores, though. The Glove was a nine-time All-Defensive Team selection, making the First Team all nine times. Hes not going to get beaten back, and he doesnt give up in transition. Current NBA point guards known for their defensive prowess include Jrue Holiday, Mike Conley Jr., Marcus Smart, and Chris Paul. If the team gives up more points while hes on the court, thats bad. -- Peterson, Teams The most striking thing about Hinrich is just how often he is the initial defender on the play. The Clippers never quite seemed to have a true defensive identity, even if they were improved. Top 10 Point Guards of All Time Best NBA Point Guards, NBA and other Best Basketball Leagues in the World, Facebook and Twitter takedown hackers targeting Ukraine political figures and military officials via fake accounts, Britney Spears called out Fans that She felt Sick to her stomach after Family plans Intervention, Stephen tWitch Boss passed away intestate, wife Allison Holker has filed Estate Control. They must also be able to adapt to what the defense is allowing and must control the pace of the game. New York Knicks (1967-1977), Cleveland Cavaliers (1977-1980), Honors: -- Adande, He led the NBA in assists nine straight seasons from 1987 to 1996. Let's see who has made it to the top 10 best point guards of all time. While Gregg Popovich and his brilliant system deserve a lot of the credit, Tony is a Finals MVP and is a multiple NBA champion who deserves to be recognised for his role in the legendary Spurs dynasty. Meanwhile, another player has his numbers go up because he is capable. Hes pouring out effort every minute hes on the court. He was a giant of a guard, but he had all the necessary talents, including the ability to dribble and pass. Dubs' Curry (leg) could return as soon as Sun. 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. It seems to be down to less than once a game. At 5ft 3in (1.60m) the shortest player in NBA history, Muggsy Bogues enjoyed 889 games in a 14-year career as a point guard. His defensive usage was the highest of any player with at least 1,200 minutes. He has trouble compensating for his lack of size when challenging jump shots. Hall of Famer was an impressive defensive player in his own right. The five-time All-Star and four-time All-NBA selection has averaged more than 24 points per game since being drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers in 2012. Sixth-greatest point guard in basketball history. Others with less physical prowess can dominate defensively simply because they pour everything into it. From that, each player was scored in five different areas on a scale of 18 (best) to 22 (worst). One conundrum has always been how to account for who is guarding the best player on the other team. 6 (1957, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963), Career stats However, when the game is on the line, he makes the right decision. The Top 100 will begin to roll out next week. Jacks presence on a team is one of those things. Closing out on shooters, hell go sailing past them. 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. How they moved laterally, closed out on shooters, and recovered after getting beaten were also taken into account. He has the speed to get there, but not the length to disrupt the shot once he does. 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. Norris Coles individual numbers are all better than Chalmers, but he gets docked with lower team numbers. After watching Paul play defense for a while, what stands out over everything else is that he just never stops movingliterally. What he offers goes beyond the court. Doc Rivers has had a lot of input into how Rondo plays the game. The best shooter ever not just in terms of accuracy but also in creatively getting looks with but a sliver's opening and with unlimited range. He also is tougher than most point guards to post up. When the team is winning or the game is close, he puts in real effort, but if they are down, he shows noticeably less energy. Offense is so much more than just scoring. He has the most assists and steals of any player in NBA history and is a master of the pick & roll. Dr. A's weekly risers and fallers: Jeremy Sochan, Christian Wood make the list, NBA Power Rankings: Kevin Durant's return could rock the West, What NBA Finals runs from LeBron, Giannis can teach Jayson Tatum, They said it! Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose are the two most physically gifted point guards of their generation, and, as a result, are constantly going to be compared to one another. Jrue Holiday is making . Jumping ability, body control and agility were all considered as well. The undisputed first great point guard, Cousy remains the only guard in NBA history to be named First-Team All-NBA in 10 straight seasons. -- Peterson, A menace on both ends of the court, Frazier was at his best in the 1970 NBA Finals when tallied 36 points, 19 assists, 7 rebounds in a title-clinching Game 7. Its amusing that some people say Rose doesnt apply himself on defense. Then, after a single down year, he had y straight years of 2 steals per . Defense is one of the more oft-overlooked aspects of basketball because it isnt as pretty as what happens on the offensive end. The point guard is positioned on the perimeter of the play, so as to have the best view of the action. He still struggles against the spot-up, though, because of issues that will be addressed later. -- Doolittle, Cousy was an And-1 mix tape in black-and-white. The defensive stats arent a good way to determine the totality of defense, but they are a factor and shouldnt be ignored. MVP (2014-15), two-time All-Star, two-time All-NBA selection, Career stats Among the greatest point guards of all time, Tiny is among the finest ever. One of the greatest point guards ever, Jason Kidd could make the flashy pass or the simple play with the best of them while also loving to hightail it in transition to wear opponents down in. Emailed daily. Perhaps it was the fact that the Philadelphia 76ers were having a disappointing season without their newly acquired star, Andrew Bynum. Holiday has ample size for a point guard, standing a shade over 64 in shoes, and weighing in at 205 pounds. While Rose was fairly criticized for not playing hard defensively prior to Thibodeau, that criticism is no longer accurate. The classic definition of a point guard, orchestrating offense and shooting when necessary. Smart people recognize their limitations. Los Angeles Lakers late legend Kobe Bryant is often considered the greatest Laker ever and with good reason: Bryant is first in many of the Lakers statistical categories. Thats the difference between what I call work intelligence and natural intelligence. Some people just have to work to pick things up. 21.6 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 6.9 APG, .441 3P%, We counted down the greatest players in NBA history. He gets easily overpowered when bigger point guards post him up. Blake Griffin was 21st out of 47 power forwards, and Jordan was 23rd out of 38 centers. You can almost rate Chalmers improving basketball intelligence by how many times per game he gets yelled at by his superstar teammates. Why did you choose such a weird number scale? This is also manifested in his spot-up defense. If Westbrook could channel his energy in a consistent way, he would be an elite defender, but for now, hes just a solid defender whos kind of spazzy. Thats where we naturally focus our attention, so when it comes to things like help defense, we only notice if were looking for it, or if its extreme. Once he had the ball on the fastbreak, The Flash was gone. There are times where he makes a bone-headed gamble and loses, trying to get the extra steal, but thats about the only flaw there is with him mentally. They have value when there arent such extremes like the difference between Boozer and Gibson. While he is frequently noted for his ability to see the court and make the right play on offense, he doesnt get the same recognition on the defensive end. His score represents the average of trying hard and not trying at all once the ball gets past him. Gary Payton, widely regarded as one of the best defensive point guards in NBA history, saw a similar decline in his defensive abilities after the age of 35. The values for the various metrics which comprised the WAM score and scouting scores are also available on each slide. It will be interesting to see how well he does with Larry Sanders behind him in Milwaukee. In the late 1980s, he was the face of the Bad Boys Pistons, who defeated Jordan's Bulls three times in a row in the playoffs. He has no All-Defensive team accolades, because those werent introduced until the 1968-1969 season. 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. J.A. Does he know when to go over the pick, and when to go under it? Nash was never known as a strong defender, but he was capable of bothering opposing point guards to some extent. Over the last decade, the best point guards such as Stephen Curry, Damian Lillard, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, and others have dominated the position. He compensates for his diminutive size by fighting hard and using that aforementioned quickness. Players Stats: 14.3 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 8.5 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.1 BPG, Honors: 2x MVP, 8x All-Stars, 7x All-NBA Selection, Hall of Famer. He doesnt have overwhelming effort that blows you away, but he has earnest effort. He has been improving in that regard, but its taken a while, and there are still some maddening things. The facts need to come first. -- 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. He also defends well against post-up plays, yielding just .54 points per play, although thats on an admittedly small 17-play sample size. To create All-Time #NBArank, we put together a ballot with the 150 greatest players ever. It might not seem like much, but for most players, this covered around 30-40 games' worth of defense. Opponents dont have much success getting around him. Brandon Knight has exceptional speed and quickness. As a result, hes 17th all-time with 1944 and had six seasons in the top-20 in steals.