If the NBA held a one-on-one tourney, which 8 players should be invited?

Ask Tracy McGrady and Paul Pierce how overrated Ron Artest is as a defender. He has shut them both down many times.

There were some statistical analyses about Ron Artest done leading up to the DPOY voting. Roughly, the player he is guarding (usually the best 2/3 on the opposition) averages 18 ppg vs. the rest of the league with >40% shooting. Against Artest, that player averages under 10 ppg with under 30% shooting.

He was far-and-away the leader in DPOY voting among perimeter players. Only post guy Ben Wallace was close.

Dwayne Wade? Artest was assigned to Caron Butler instead for most of the series Butler was totally nonexistent. In the final 2 games in the series, Artest spent some time on Wade and held his shootong percentage way down and contributed to Pacer wins.

I'll give you the Rip Hamilton example. The one thing Artest does NOT do well on D is run around and through multiple screens. At 245 lbs, he can't get around them fast enough to chase 2-guards through double and triple screens. For this reason he spent most of the series on Tayshaun Prince, and when he was assigned to Hamilton, Rip still went off.

Of course running defenders through multiple screens is irrelevant to 1-on-1 basketball.

When you judge how well a player guards a guy 1-on-1 on the perimeter, particularly in denying them the opportunity to create off the dribble as opposed to working off screens, no one is as devastating as Ron Artest. He routinely shuts down or at least severely limits the damage inflicted by guys who primarily rely on creating off the dribble, including Pierce, McGrady, Marion, Rashard Lewis, Jamal Crawford, Jamal Mashburn, Michael Finley, Jerry Stackhouse, Latrell Sprewell, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Jason Richardson, Joe Johnson, and others.

Defense is important in a one-on-one game. Artest is one of the few guys versatile enough to guard 1-on-1 all 2's, all 3's, and some 4's. Garnett is probably the only guy more versatile on D, yet he is not as disruptive in getting his hands on the basketball and being physical.

 

AK-47 is a great all-around defender.

I don't think he has enough low post moves on offense to win a one-on-one tournament, though.

I probably could have put Shawn Marion on my list. He can guard a variety of people very well, and score in lots of ways.

I don't think making open jump shots is relevant to winning a one-on-one tournmant. I'll never argue that Artest is a great or even a good pure shooter. Artest has no reliable J, but he does have lots of those playground finger rolls, flips, floaters, and generally awkward-looking offensive moves that happen to go in a lot. 18 ppg as the second option on a very low-scoring half-court team reflects that. His offensive moves work in a 1-on-1 situation. He uses his big body very well around the basket for a perimeter guy. I have to admit that I was surprised how well Tayshaun Prince defended him.

Artest is not a top 10 player overall (doesn't shoot well enough, besides the anger issues), but I think he's definitely be a top 10 1-on-1 guy.

Maybe nobody agrees with me. Opposing coaches from the East would, I think.