Lebron has the length, athleticism and quickness to be the best defensive player in the league. At times, when committed he can apply defensive pressure like no one else, however defense is much much more than that. He is prone to taking defensive possessions off and lazily rotating, and for that he is not even in the top five of defenders.
Are you serious? Better than AI, Wallace and Josh Smith? The other guys he is arguably better than when he "tries", but these three? Yeah Right. By your argument I could also say that Josh Smith is a better defender than LeBron "when he tries", so whoever tries harder would be the better defender, no?
i think he said that assuming yao would make it all the way back. if he did, we would have had a great chance. we're a playoff team without yao. having a superstar is all this team needs to go to the next level. JVG wasn't really wrong in making that "prediction"
Defensively, I'd still take Artest. He is probably the most physically imposing SF in the league, couple that with the high energy/effort he puts on the defensive end (not even comparable to LBJ there).
He may be right. Listen, with his size and quickness and force there is no way you're gonna score on him easily. Without effort he is probably a very good defender, but once he puts his head on the defensive side he may easily be the best. He just has the physical adventage.
He meant that he is Steve Francis best defender. Steve has needed people to defend him after all of his problems.
Cleveland was a top 10 defensive team the last few years, and now they are 26th. That's quite a drop. Either LeBron was an underrated defender, or Mike Brown was an underrated defensive coach (or both).
I don't think Mike Brown was an underrated defensive coach. Everyone knew that was what he was good at.
I think he's looking at it from the standpoint of a last possession. LeBron doesn't have the concentration -- possession to possession -- that Battier has, but when he's locked in he's a very strong defender. His steals/blocks are way down this year, though.
I remember when he was getting written off as all hype when he made the NBA all defensive teams the past 2 years. Now he's on the Heat, people actually watch him play more, and are starting to come around.
