Everytime I watch the Cavs play, LeBron impresses me with his defense. The guy has really put it all together this season. All he needs is a more consistent midrange jumper, and its over for the rest of the league. And beyond his ability to create defensive stops for his team, one thing he does better than anyone else is translate those stops into great offense. He's amazing in transition, either off a turnover or a defensive rebound.
Everytime I watch the Lakers play, Kobe impresses me wiht his defense. The guy has really put it all together this season. All he needs is nothing more, and it's already over for the rest of the league. And beyond his ability to create defensive stops for hsi team, one thing he does better than anyone else in translate those stops into great offense. He's amazing in transition, either off a turnover or a defensive rebound. and he doesn't take five steps
the perceptions and bias' surrounding defensive assessment/analysis are by far and away the biggest joke in the nba. marcus camby is exhibit A. i'm glad there is actually some intellectual analysis taking place these days - a far cry from the 90's when steals statistics earned john stockton all-defense honors. what i find shocking is how little most fans/analysts are aware of the causal relationship between help defense and strong perimeter defense. in a vacuum, there's no such thing is perimeter defense - any NBA level guard can go where he wants to on the court against any other NBA level guard. (obviously there are extreme exceptions, matt maloney offensively, ron artest in his prime defensively). you can't just shut NBA level guards down by yourself. so much of perimeter defense is a factor of interior defense and help defensive schemes. people just don't realize how talented NBA guards are today. i will add that the fact that kobe was recognized as some premiere defender in the 90's on the basis of a few plays every game where he would increase his intensity and guard his man closely (knowing full well shaq and robert horry were behind him) was such a complete joke. now on the other hand, there is such a thing as great individual interior defense.
Kobe Bryant is the best perimeter defender in the game. PERIOD. For one stop on the perimeter I'd rather have Kobe over any other Guard or Small Forward(yes that includes Ron Ron and Shane "block your vision and not much else" Battier)
Why settle for one stop instead of the whole game? As for monster blocks, I still rather the defending team get the ball back instead of sending it into the third row. And I feel there's no better momentum change than going on a 10-0 run, by shutting down opponents. That requires more than a single play. I guess I'm an old school fundamentals guy. Do you think that Battier never gets any steals or blocks? Anyways gambling on defense causes the entire team defense concept to break down. As a guard, that means your getting your bigs into foul trouble (or them giving up layups). Obviously, if Wade isn't getting burned by it much then it isn't hurting his team. I'm just saying that it's these Sportscenter plays that's getting these players rep while great defense all the time (which doesn't generate stats) isn't.
To supplement the article's stats, Wade's opponents have a 12.3 PER, same as Battier. Artest is nearly the same (12.2). Kobe is 14.2. Lebron is close to 10, but doesn't play SGs. In terms of steals, Wade, Lebron, Kobe, Artest then Battier. It terms of having players on his side to clean up mistakes, Wade clearly is the worst of the group--which makes his PER number even more impressive. Only members of the KBLI (Kobe Butt Lickers Incorp) would even bring him in this conversation--but the reality that he isn't close to the best overall player (Lebron) and never, ever, has been the best defensive wing just won't ever set in with those folks. So overall, Wade and Lebron clearly have cases as the current best wing defenders. Honestly whether you picked one of these two or Artest or Battier to some degree depends on match-ups--as the article implies. I don't think any of them are at the level Bowen used to be, or perhaps a younger Artest. If I were trying to slow down a super quick but not oversized wing, I'd want Wade. Need the physical presence and size on a wing, Lebron or Artest. There might be a guy where I want Battier (Roy or Kobe?--though I not sure Lebron wouldn't be better in crunch time), someone to just play strait up D and not gamble and rely on the team concept. So the best wing defender right now I think is situational--but Wade and Lebron would be two of the best choices depending on who you needed to stop or slow (nobody stops great offensive players, but you can slow them).
How can you say he is not?! The guy is the first guard in NBA history to average as many shot blocks and steals as he did this season. Until there is a better way to measure other defensive 'intangibles', you gotta go by the numbers, and the answer is a definitive "Yes" in that case.
