According to some of the players at the All-Star game: Rookies/Sophs All-Stars Kevin Durant He's so strong. He uses his body well, his hands. He's very quick. He uses his feet well. You have to try to shoot over the top of him. Make him run around a little bit. Put him in pick-and-roll situations and stuff like that. Eric Gordon He's a big strong guy and it's definitely tough to hit a shot over him. Ray Allen He doesn't really care if he fouls you or not. He's going to make sure you feel him. He's going to do something like clamp down on you physically. Whatever it is, he's going to force you away from the basket and make the referee make a call. The best way to beat him is just keep moving. Rashard Lewis He gets into you. He's so aggressive on the defensive end and they let him get away with a couple of fouls. He really has to hit you in order for them to call a foul on him. You have to be aggressive, strong, and physical to beat him. You have to take the contact, then try to go through the contact.
He gambles a lot but I'd take him over Battier to cover the best player on the other team down the stretch in a game 7. That includes when Battier is at 100%.
Ron Artest gambles on both ends of the court but you'd be hard pressed to see him ever mailing it in either. If it weren't for his attractive expiring contract, I'd try to move McGrady for two cents on the dollar before I'd trade Artest.
Mark Eaton was the kind of player no one wanted to go up against down low. If Yao could ever emulate Eaton, then he would be the kind of player no one would want to go up against as well. I think that it would be nice if the Rockets could ever hire Eaton to be an assistant to mainly work with Yao on how to defend the paint. But I don't ever see that ever happening because I feel that he'll likely be loyal to the Jazz since they're the team that drafted him (4th Round of 1982 Draft) and gave him the opportunity despite not playing much in college.
Artest is much more intimidating than Shane is. Shane is a great defender he might be better than Artest, but Artest is the guy that no one wants to face or be in the same court as. This is fine, because people underrate Shane's defense and his entire game. So when the game starts, Shane will just shut players down. I'm glad he isn't getting attention to be honest.
Shane's been down this year defensively, but I think he's performed better on that end overall than Artest has this year.
Possibly, Artest is clearly better than Battier overall though, Hands down. Artest has better defense off the ball though, blocking shots, stealing the ball. Battier is the better perimeter defender and he can also block shots. I could careless which one you want to consider better defensively, just give it your all and play.
those quotes mean nothing. there's no doubt that artest's strength on the defensive end is his aggression and his toughness. he wants to disrupt plays and wants to get the ball from his opponent at all costs. that's why he's got a reputation for being a great 1-on-1 defender. the thing is though that that's all artest offers. he's not a good team defender and his gambles often don't play out so that he's causing even more trouble to the team defense. plus, you have to think about it in an objective way. of course those players name ron. i'm pretty sure they don't care about good team defense. i'm also sure they'll like taking contested jumpers a lot more than getting bumped around by a physical beast like artest. bottom line is the players don't want to face artest but battier's the guy that's a lot more important for a team's defense. i also have to agree with durvasa here. battier's defense isn't too good this year but overall he's still better than ron who has a little trouble this season as well.
