List yours, here's mine, a lot of guesswork involved here, skews late because I am not that familiar with the 60's and 70's guys: C: Bill Russell (Sorry Hakeem, but you just have to go with Bill here) F: Dennis Rodman (the young detroit dennis was a fabulous man defender) F: Michael Cooper (sorry pip) G:Alvin Rob ertson (maybe the best at getting steals I have ever seen) G: Derek Harper (Kenny Smith's nightmare)
heh. Anyway, I'm changing mine- I'll put Sidney Moncrief at one guard slot and boot Derek Harper off. Sure, no true point, but whatever, it's a defensive team.
Yeah he did. So did Bobby Jones, forgot about him. Also John Havlicek and Paul Silas Seeing as Dave DeBusschere was a 6 time 1st team all defense I would put him up there too but I just don't know enough about him.
I never really thought Jordan was as good as his press on defense. He was good when he wanted to be, no question, but it just wasn't all the time. McHale deserves consideration, along with Duncan and Garnett, but I gave Rodman the edge because of his incredible rebounding. Wallace is very good but not better than Russell.
Dave Cowens was a great defensive player, and Walt Frazier was one of the best defensive PGs I've ever seen. Nate Thurmond and Mark Eaton deserve some mention at C.
C) Russell or Dream (hard to compare with statisitical differencials due to eras) Cowens, Thurmond, Mutombo, Eaton, Mourning,and others were also great erasers. PF) Rodman SF) Paul Pressey...people forget how dominant he was on D...Pippen, Pressey's teammate Moncrief and Derrick McKey would also fit here. SG) Joe Dumars. Better than Jordan, Robertson, etc. who were more gamblers with stats who also got beat a lot more than great D players should. Coop was great as a role player, but not over 40 mins like Joe D. PG) Payton. Harper, Mo Cheeks, et al were bigger, stronger points who could and would bang, as Payton would, but didn't have the glove's complimentary quickness.
1st Team: C: Bill Russell (only guy to have the luxury of considering where to block a shot, not if) PF: Dave Cowens (could be the best defensive player of the 70s) SF: Bobby Jones (maybe some had higher peaks, but he was scary for damn near his whole career) SG: Gary Payton (assuming he could handle bigger guys night-in, night-out) PG: Maurice Cheeks (the ball was never safe with him around) 2nd Team: C: Hakeem Olajuwon (a center in the top ten of the all-time steals list, besides topping the blocks list?) PF: Dennis Rodman (scary one-on-one, and he's one of the best rebounders ever) SF: Scottie Pippen (one of the few true "shut-down" defenders ever) SG: Joe Dumars (made you earn everything and still found time to be a big-time scorer) PG: Walt Frazier (could body people or stick on them while barely touching them) Guys I'm Kicking Myself For Leaving Off: Michael Cooper, Kevin Garnett, Mark Eaton, Sidney Moncrief, Jerry West, Jerry Sloan
C: Hakeem Olajuwon - greatest defender ever for my money. everything bill russell was but 3 inches taller. 1st in blocks and 6th in steals all time in a much more evolved nba. somehow only won as many Defensive POY awards as ben wallace currently has. PF: Bill Russell - he's the right size for today's power forwards. if he has to be a center, then hakeem still beats him out and i put in rodman for being a great one on one guy with amazing rebounding abilities (trying to think of pf's before my time i should be considering and not getting any, hmm) SF: scottie quitten - dude was a bad mutha on D. you could put him on the pg, the sg, or the sf and know he would shut them down. hell, phil even put him on ostertag a few times (of course ostertag probably couldn't score on me). hell of a team defender too and just always seemed to make defensive plays on the team i hated the most. SG: i'll go with Joe D. how did mj get on the most all-nba D teams ever (thought i think payton tied him now) besides his ungodly hype? i mean he could be very good on D when he wanted but pippen guarded the other teams best player and if jordan wasn't allowed to maul people like he did he would've been less highly regarded. man i hate jordan. though he is the 3rd person from the bulls 2nd threepeat i've mentioned. yeah, jordan really won with scrubs didn't he. PG: Payton - 9 all-nba D team's and used to frustrate the hell out of us (along with his partner in crime mcmillan).
