best defensive point guards of all time

What is the difference between WAM and WAMS? A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position. Why not a normal scale of one to 10? -- J.A. The values for the various metrics which comprised the WAM score and scouting scores are also available on each slide. You cant build a house first, and then pour the foundation underneath it. Six blind men all go to see an elephant which they'venever encountered before. It probably tells the accurate story here. Hinrich always had a high basketball IQ. Jack has good but not great effort. Current NBA point guards known for their defensive prowess include Jrue Holiday, Mike Conley Jr., Marcus Smart, and Chris Paul. J.A. -- Haberstroh, Honors The former professional basketball player was born on March 26, 1962, and is regarded as one of the best passing point guards. His shot-making and defense made him a top-tier point guard throughout his career. To recap, Jason Kidd was the best defensive point guard, Michael Jordan skied above other shooting guards, John Havlicek paced all small forwards - for the time being - and the "Mailman . Of course having book smarts doesnt preclude you from knowing what youre doing on the court either. So I saddled up my workhorse, Synergy, and watched an hour or two of each of the top 15 WAM scores playing defense. He always picks up on the switch. By the time he was done, he had racked up 10 All-Star appearances, nine All-Defense selections, six All-NBA . Congratulations, Brian Roberts! Below is a list of the 25 Best point guards of the NBA. With his limited speed, he is always in full throttle and getting himself around the court, pestering whoever has the ball. Can they play bigger than they really are? Notably, several modern point guards have used a successful style of post play, a tactic usually practiced by much larger centers and forwards. Some players with tremendous athleticism just dont apply it on both ends of the court. But it seems like Paul is nutmeggingand breaking opposing defenders ankles every game. Not only is Damian Lillard one of the most exciting players in the game today, he makes a strong case as one of the best point guards in NBA history. "The Logo" Jerry West was an NBA Champion, a 14 time All-Star, ten time All-NBA First team selection, four time All-Defensive team selection, NBA scoring champion and an NBA assist leader. You can almost rate Chalmers improving basketball intelligence by how many times per game he gets yelled at by his superstar teammates. A point guard often controls the offense and they also control who gets the ball and who doesn't, as this type of controlling style of play is necessary to control the tempo of a game. You need to build something on it. Two NBA titles and a Finals MVP award make him one of the all-time great point guards because of his ability to score from mid-range and his propensity to attack and finish at the rim. He also shows poor awareness at times, getting surprised by picks as if the setter had just popped up from out of the floor like a Whac-A-Mole. The point guard is positioned on the perimeter of the play, so as to have the best view of the action. He doesnt cheat in either direction, though. In his 16-year career, Wade averaged 2.961 DWS per year and his 47.38 DWS is good for 55th overall. As a result, he rarely gets tangled up with the pick-setter. He gets a higher score here than he technically deserves because he tries so hard. Since I always get asked "Where's ___________?" It looked like teams designed plays counting on him being lazy. -- Adams, Honors Isiah Thomas, born on April 30, 1961, and possibly the best player ever under 6-foot-1, combined talent with fierce competitiveness. The other thing thats surprising about Rondo with his size is how well he fights over picks. Being big and strong doesnt mean players automatically got higher scores, though. Not to mention that he is an elite finisher around the rim, shooting 61.5 per cent on 5-foot attempts. There are some disadvantages to this style of play. Thats pretty much what you see with Conley. It seems so much of Conley is either there or not there; you get it or you dont get it. Some point guards are still given a great deal of leeway in the offense. Aside from the centre, having the best point guard is critical to improving your game because every play starts with him. Conley looked away from Billups and was pointing vehemently to Paul, trying to tell Allen to get over there and cover him. Although Drexler never made an All-Defensive Team in his career, he did average two steals per game for his 15-year career. -- Peterson, Teams He secures first place in the top 10 NBA point guards of all time. 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. And do they try and recover when they get beaten? When going against point guards who have a respectable jump shot, that becomes problematic. The defensive stats arent a good way to determine the totality of defense, but they are a factor and shouldnt be ignored. In terms of point guards, Magic is the finest there has ever been. This mans achievements are indisputable, and the prospect of him winning a second NBA championship just adds to his greatness. It is really hard to say anything about Lowrys help defense. Sometimes hell even rush to defend the wrong guy while his man is draining a wide-open three. Adapting your system to every opponent and knowing their nuances is understandable. The bulk of his thefts came by stealing the dribble, not by shooting the passing lanes. However, the other side of the ball cant be overlooked because as the saying goes: defense wins championships.. Magic Johnson 2. Derrick Rose 15. You can look at why things happen and offset the misleading things. Others with less physical prowess can dominate defensively simply because they pour everything into it. For example, there was a play in which he was switched up against the Clippers, and he was put on Chauncey Billups, while Tony Allen was on Chris Paul. -- 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. Do they get their hands up and use their length? His quick feet give him tremendous lateral movement. Then, after a single down year, he had y straight years of 2 steals per . So the problem isnt a lack of speed; its a lack of applying it. In other words, giving up 15 points to Russell Westbrook is much more impressive than giving up 14 to Derek Fisher, but the raw stats dont tell you who was guarding whom. Here are the answers to some questions readers are likely to have. Do players go under picks when they should go over them? Anyways, we hope you enjoyed going through the rankings with Magic Johnson securing first place in the Top 10 NBA point guards of all time. They work harder, and they get things eventually, but not quite as well. In order to answer that, we introduce Weighted Averaged Metrics (WAM) and WAM with Scouting (WAMS), a pair of advanced defensive metrics which combine other stats and metrics, weight them so that each represents an equal relative value, and then use them all to derive a final score. Thats 20th all-time, with Kidd being the only other guard above him. His issues related to intelligence, detailed later, compound this problem. The seven-time All-Star was one of the best two-way guards of his time, and his performance in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA FInals remains one for the ages. Simply put, defensive win shares (DWS) are defined by how many wins a player produces based on his defensive ability. Among the greatest point guards of all time, Tiny is among the finest ever. By taking the total number of plays and the total number of minutes (regular and postseason combined, because Synergy just throws it all together) we can determine how many times per 36 minutes a player was the initial defender on the play. In terms of career statistics and postseason accomplishments, he ranks as the NBAs fourth-best point guard of all time. That helps him to dominate games defensively without having to leave the ground. Several sites track this, each in its slightly unique way, depending on its formula to calculate possessions. He was transcendent. He doesnt just bring effort to every game; he brings it in all the right ways. He compensates for his diminutive size by fighting hard and using that aforementioned quickness. While hes able to keep himself from getting pushed around when point guards, or even shooting guards, try and post up on him, hes not able to dig through picks the way the other three are. He routinely gets blistered in isolation (.93 points per play), fails to close out well on shooters and lags when coming off of screens. He is tremendous at using that muscle to his advantage, too. It will be interesting to see if his new coach, Jason Kidd, can help him to work on this, as Kidd was a terrific help defender. Top NBA point guards for 2022-23: Ranking all 30 starters | Sporting News TMGNNS LEBRON Sun, 4:30p DEN CLE 2/23, 4:00p BOS IND 2/23, 4:00p DET ORL 2/23, 4:00p MEM PHI 2/23, 4:30p NOP TOR. Bucks: Start time, where to watch, what's the latest, Rockets vs. Spurs: Start time, where to watch, what's the latest, Hawks vs. Heat: Start time, where to watch, what's the latest, Pistons vs. Cavaliers: Start time, where to watch, what's the latest, Raptors vs. Wizards: Start time, where to watch, what's the latest, Russell Westbrook still wants Sixth Man of Year award from time with Lakers, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Watching a thing, and watching for a thing, are different. Defense is one of the more oft-overlooked aspects of basketball because it isnt as pretty as what happens on the offensive end. He averaged 3.9 win shares per season, totaling 75.1 DWS at the end of his 19-year career, good for 11th all-time. Who's the best offensive point guard of all time? (Note: Players chosen only if they have played as a shooting guard for most, if not all, of their career.). The classic definition of a point guard, orchestrating offense and shooting when necessary. It also helps him to have the second-most defensive plays per 36 minutes of any of the point guards on this list. I suspect that some of this might be by design, as Holiday bore a leading part of the burden on both ends of the court for his team, so its understandable to a point, but not to the extent I saw. If it tends to fall in the middle, he gets a 20. Thats the difference between what I call work intelligence and natural intelligence. Some people just have to work to pick things up. In the 13 seasons in which he played more than 60 games, mostly with the Chicago Bulls, the 1988 Defensive Player of the Year was a nine-time All-Defensive Team selection all first-team honors and a three-time steals champion. In fact, Rondo gives more help than he getscontrary to my previous opinion. If Williams had more pride in his defense, he would actually ask for, and depend on, help more than he does. Parker applies himself defensively in bursts, and this appears to be by design. Tim Duncan He simply doesnt have the same ability as the elite point guards to get up in the air, and that hinders his ability to defend the jump shot. Dont be surprised to see him as a head coach someday. Between his height, lack of real effort on closing out and taking too long to figure out where hes supposed to be (if he ever figures it out all), he becomes the perfect storm for easy pickins. He manages to defend the pick-and-roll reasonably well by doing something I can only call bouncing over picks. The problem is he doesnt use that height or strength as well as youd like to see. His Synergy scores are worse than expected, but that appears to be from players just shooting over him more than getting past him. It is one thing to be able to recognize the player that is in a tactically advantageous position, but it is another thing entirely to be able to deliver the ball to that player. Also with both, theyve shown more success utilizing their physical attributes on the offensive end than the defensive end. New York Knicks (1967-1977), Cleveland Cavaliers (1977-1980), Honors: Hes one of the most prolific players in the game. Neither of those is really a criticism of Parker, but its a reality. Instead of passing after bringing up the ball they quickly drive to the basket or step back for an outside shot. ESPN ranked the Top 10 PGs of all time & they have @iamisiahthomas ranked 5th. He may be the finest defensive guard ever because of his awareness and abilities on the defensive end. In fact, hes probably as adept as anyone at this, and his Synergy numbers, .68 points per play against the pick-and-roll, certainly back it up. He could launch it from 30 feet or more with ease. Jumping ability, body control and agility were all considered as well. The perimeter player gets rewarded statistically for what the center did, even though he actually played shoddy defense. Chris Paul 13. Players Stats: 16.5 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 6.7 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.2 BPG. Williams needs to do a better job of forcing opponents out of the middle and into the strong side of his defense, but he tends to fall straight back instead, letting them into the lane, which allows for easy scores. No question hell be inducted into the Hall of Fame, and hes one of the greatest rim-attacking players in NBA history. Thats the advantage of the scouting portion. In addition, Cousy, dubbed "The Houdini of the Hardwood," led the NBA in assists for 8 straight seasons, creating a whole new blend of ball-handling and passing skills for the league. Thanks for signing up. The point guard was always capable of scoring the ball at the . He gives up too much space and still gets beaten. Jack is one of those players that a lot of people dont know what he brings to a team in the locker room. He doesnt put a lot of effort into chasing his man through screens. Young players who are relatively short are now developing the scoring aspects of their skill-sets, whereas previously these players would find it difficult to enter the NBA without true point guard skills. Paul was able to keep you at bay on one side of the court while dominating the other with his scoring and passing abilities. Ranked: Top 25 male fitness influencers to follow in 2023, Howe dodges row over Newcastle's Saudi ownership, Former Chelsea boss spotted in Munich with his new lover, Bam Adebayo makes bold claim about the last two DPOY awards, Gary Neville ignites debate after stating ideal price for holding midfielder, Huge Ballon dOr scandal as player claims his votes were changed to Lionel Messi. They have value when there arent such extremes like the difference between Boozer and Gibson. -- Tom Haberstroh, NBA writer, No guard in NBA history pulled down more rebounds than Kidd, who finished with more career rebounds than Willis Reed and Alonzo Mourning, among others. Therefore, its a Theoretically Asked Questions, or TAQ. He defends pick-and-rolls exceptionally well because hes able to shake off picks without much trouble, even pushing around stronger players like Carlos Boozer or Robin Lopez at times.

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