best defensive point guards of all time
Nixon played 6 seasons with the Lakers, making the All-Star Teams in 1982 and 1982 when he posted 17.6 PPG and 17.2 PPG respectively. That concludes the WAP portion of our programming schedule. Many times, the point guard is referred to by announcers, as a "coach on the floor" or a "floor general". The advantage of defensive rating is that it accounts for the things that dont show up in box scores. The disadvantage is that sometimes its not the player doing those things, and hes getting credit for someone elses great defense. Seemingly overhauling your system for every opponent is not. 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. Lin plays with consistent effort on defense, but hes stuck in fourth gear. He manages to defend the pick-and-roll reasonably well by doing something I can only call bouncing over picks. J.A. Kyrie Irving is unquestionably one of the greatest point guards of all time. Along with leadership and a general basketball acumen, ball-handling is a skill of great importance to a point guard. Still, a first-rate point guard should also have a reasonably effective jump shot. The players are ranked according to their WAMS. He has no All-Defensive team accolades, because those werent introduced until the 1968-1969 season. One conundrum has always been how to account for who is guarding the best player on the other team. Michael Jordan 10. The scouting score was then combined with the WAM score to produce WAMS, with the scouting counting as one-third of the final score. The most pure and one of the best point guards and playmakers in NBA History is John Stockton. Phoenix Suns (1996-98, 2004-12), Dallas Mavericks (1998-2004), Los Angeles Lakers (2012-15), Honors Russell is regarded as one of the best point guard finishers of all time. Notable point guards of the WNBA include five-time champion Sue Bird, her Olympic teammate Diana Taurasi (the only two basketball players of either gender to earn five Olympic gold medals for basketball[1]) and Courtney Vandersloot. Point guards are often valued more for their assist totals than for their scoring. On Detroits 2004 NBA championship squad, he led the likes of Rip Hamilton, Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace to victory over the LA Lakers superteam. [2], Learn how and when to remove this template message, National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player Award, "The Olympic history of UConn's Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi", "Top 10 point guards in the NBA right now", FOXSports.com - Best all-time point guards, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Point_guard&oldid=1142307492, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 17:58. On the other hand, no matter how solid the foundation is, you cant move into it. 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 still struggles against the spot-up, though, because of issues that will be addressed later. Thats pretty much what you see with Conley. By: HoopsHype. However, the other side of the ball cant be overlooked because as the saying goes: defense wins championships.. After the All-Star break, when Rose hardly played, that number fell to 17.8 and the Bulls dropped to ninth. In case you missed it, Jason Kidd was tops on the list with 75.1 DWS, good for 11th all-time. But what kind of suit was he wearing on the last episode? Lennys passing and leadership on the floor were solid, but he also had a few great scoring years on the court. Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum top NBA quotes of the week. He doesnt try to make great plays, but he tries not to make mistakes, which is maybe what he should be concentrating on. It is a testament to Jarrett Jack that he makes this list. These combo point guards can surprise defenses. The relative value between players was not affected; they were merely weighted so that the metrics could be combined without any one metric dominating the others. During the 1960-1961 season, the then-32-year-old Cousy racked up 6.3 DWS, the most in his career. Do they get their hands up and use their length? Big Shot, is one of the finest point guard leaders in the NBA. -- Doolittle, Cousy was an And-1 mix tape in black-and-white. If he didnt retire at 34, its interesting to see where Cousy could have landed all-time as he averaged 3.8 DWS per season. Its like hes just punching the clock and collecting his wages. -- Peterson, Thomas' willingness to share the spotlight helped make the Bad Boy Pistons incredible, and he had a consistent ability to step up his game in the postseason during Detroit's title runs (and near miss in 1988). Does he make stupid fouls or smart fouls? 18.7 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 9.9 APG, 2.3 SPG, The player Most players will take a little on-court breather now and then. All you have to do is watch him on offense to know he has all kinds of speed. Therefore, its a Theoretically Asked Questions, or TAQ. Watching Parker play defense for a while, particularly zooming in on the pick-and-roll plays, his impressive court awareness stands out. You can be the best shooter in the world, but you can't score if you don't get the ball. The following are the five categories and what was considered for each of them: How fast players are from end to end is only a part of speed. The greatest point guard in NBA history. It seems so much of Conley is either there or not there; you get it or you dont get it. Still, hes one of the best point guards of all time, and his stats show that hes a deserved All-Star. However, a good jump shot and the ability to score off a drive to the basket are still valuable skills. Defense is one of the more oft-overlooked aspects of basketball because it isnt as pretty as what happens on the offensive end. Westbrooks Synergy numbers on the pick-and-roll (.75) and isolation (.7) suggest hes better than he actually is. He has been improving in that regard, but its taken a while, and there are still some maddening things. The problem is he doesnt use that height or strength as well as youd like to see. Instead of passing after bringing up the ball they quickly drive to the basket or step back for an outside shot. Defensively, Stockton had 3,265 steals the most all time during his 19-year. 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 . 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. When you combine that with his 40-inch vertical, you have a player that gets higher (139 inches) than any point guard in the leagueeven Russell Westbrook. If you are a basketball freak, you might be interested in knowing about NBA and other Best Basketball Leagues in the World. When hes coming off screens, hes especially horrible, giving up 1.15 points per play. He averages 1.8 steals per game. Rajon Rondo is probably the most athletic player in the league who plays most of his game below the rim. His net defensive rating is fairly close to even, and slightly above average for point guards. He has a real grasp of the game, and he helps convey that to his teammates. The perimeter player gets rewarded statistically for what the center did, even though he actually played shoddy defense. Other individual metrics and team metrics thin out the impact of those factors. For this reason, a point guard is usually, but not always, more skilled and focused on passing than shooting. For the purpose of this study, 82games was used because the net defensive rating was also easily available and it made for consistency. He uses his feet and body well, steering his man into the help defense when he knows hes not able to keep up. As a result, hes been a member of the All-Defensive First Team four times and a member of the All-Defensive Second Team five times. The only thing is that the Bulls actually gave up 8.6 more points while he was on the court. Oscar is the first triple-double king and is one of the greatest NBA players of all time, no matter what position he is playing. With his limited speed, he is always in full throttle and getting himself around the court, pestering whoever has the ball. Rondos lack of a need for help defense allows Garnett to help more elsewhere. Marcus Smart. Yet somehow he manages to compensate and do a reasonably fair job of defending, even in isolation. 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. Take, for example, Carlos Boozer in 2012. He tends to rely on his speed to compensate for his lack of mass. Conley is inconsistent in how he applies effort on the court. Some would argue that just because he went to Harvard, it doesnt mean he has a high basketball IQ, or that book intelligence isnt the same thing. 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. People that just do their job dont usually pitch in and help their co-workers. He tends to use that speed and athleticism well when hes in position, too. Michael Cooper was a great defensive guard, evident when he won the Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) award in 1987, and James Worthy is a top-ten Small Forward of all-time and was one of the . Despite his little size, he made up for it offensively by being lightning fast and had the whole attacking package. Above all, the point guard must understand and accept their coach's game plan; in this way, the position can be compared to a quarterback in American football. But he never does. 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. Kevin Garnett 8. One aspect of Roses year-long absence that gets lost is how much the team suffered defensively without him. Although Drexler never made an All-Defensive Team in his career, he did average two steals per game for his 15-year career. As a result, he rarely gets tangled up with the pick-setter. Ultimately, Johnson's unselfishness earned him the title of greatest point guard of all time. While that is by design, he shouldnt get the same credit as players who bring their full attention the entire time theyre on the court. Hes 63 with a 68 wingspan and an 83 standing reach. He has all the tools to be one: great reflexes and speed, and those long arms with big mitts on the end. He probably can even tell you where the hot dog vendor and mascot are. On top of that, when Parkers man slips past him, he has one of the best defenders in the history of the universe, Tim Duncan, to help him out. On the other hand, he was frequently bailing out whoever was playing shooting guard on numerous occasions. Chris Paul fell into the same kind of trap last season. The best way to track how effective a player is on the defensive end is by looking at their cumulative defensive win shares. On the other hand, hes not tremendously athletic.