Kobe can guard Westbrook, Rondo, as proved in playoff. Maybe he has trouble catching up AI quick player, but there ain't many good speedy guards in the league to begin with. And who's this somebody else when he had no Ariza, Artest until 08, Ariza was not a starter until 2nd half of 2008-09 season? At that point he's already got 3 championship and 2 finals and the best defensive teammate in perimeter he had was Fox. He also had to switch to Melo in 4th quarters in 09 playoff. Now take a look at LeBron, he was guarding Alston in Magic series, when Turk and Lewis was killing it. Last year Rondo did that and I didn't see him switch.
This is like the whole Yao/Hayes argument people had last year. Hayes beat Yao on just about every defensive skill imaginable. And yet the Rockets were a top 5 defensive team with Yao and mediocre one with Hayes. In the end, it's all about results.
Kobe is certainly capable of playing great defense. But he doesn't do it most nights, that's why I think his defense is overrated.
This is a good observation. Never thought of that before. Zo had more of a post game, but Dwight is more explosive. Both are great defenders. I'd take Howard tho, given his ability to jump higher. I think Zo might have been slightly better strong side post defender but Howard is a better shotblocker. The 90s ruled.
Kobe couldn't guard Rondo himself. Kobe was able to guard Rondo because every time he got beat, he had big guys guarding the rim for him. Rick Fox is exactly who I was thinking of for the early championship years. I remember during all those great matchups with the Kings, Kobe would almost always guard Doug Christie and leave Bibby/Stojakovic to Fisher/Fox. The one game I saw him switch on to Bibby, he still got torched because Bibby was playing like a mad man.
I would take Zo. He proved himself during a great era for big men, so we know the guy can play against top competition. Dwight has struggled most of his career against players who can match his strength.
Kobe, Lebron, and Dwight are all overrated defenders Kobe only plays defense MAYBE 10% of the time. When he plays, he is excellent, but that is incredibly rare, you can't be considered among the best if you do not play it all the time. Lebron can chase down guys on fast breaks and get blocks, that is about it. I don't get how or when he started to be considered a great defender. Howard is a great shot blocker and rebounder and a terrible one on one defender. In any other era, he would be eaten alive. Fortunately for him, Yao has been the only other competent center during his time (and it shows up on the stat sheet)
zo was actually a better shotblocker and one of the best ever. going by block% from basketball reference, zo had a 6.6 blk%, which is 6th among guys with at least 1000 blocks and ahead of hakeem (5.4) and deke (6.3). howard's only at 4.5% (tied with shaq and duncan). they both scored right around 20, although howard, even with his awkward game (not that zo's was beautiful) still beats him by about 2% on TS%. you'd probably rather have zo's offensive game for a big bulky guy like perkins or anyone who was really strong, but it would be close. and then you'd want howard against weaker guys. and then of course, howard is one of the greatest rebounders ever (3rd in TRB% behind rodman - way out in front - and swen nater - who i've never heard of) while zo was nothing special on rebounds. overall, i think you have to take howard and he would be a very good center in any era. according to some article talking about what the heat'd defense might be like, going by synergysports numbers lebron is apparently very good at individual defense (post-ups and isolation) and not quite the off-ball defender (his man coming off a screen or getting a jumper off a pass) people think of him as. i wish i could find kobe's numbers for comparison but you might have to pay (durvasa do you have those numbers for kobe?). the magic have been 1st and 3rd in defensive efficieny the last 2 years with rashard lewis playing a lot of PF and guys like carter and turkoglu getting big minutes on the perimeter and lots of 3 point shooters getting other minutes. i just don't see how that can be done without howard's impact on defense being fairly tremendous.
I agree with this list. And lol at the comments about Lebron being a good defender. He's an average defender, the only reason y poeple think hes a really good defender cuz of his spectacular blocks.
kobe CAN play defense but look at what is asked of him to do on the defensive end 99% of the time. The lakers constantly bring in players to guard the opposing teams best players, whether its to keep kobe fresh or not it should not give him a pass. On a nightly basis shane, artest even ariza go out and guard the opposing teams BEST player for the entirety of the game, not one or two possessions. The fact that kobe can get on this list and receive 1st team all defensive team is a tribute to favoritism in the nba and its terrible
Actually, the only reason I think Lebron is a really good defender is because he completely shut down the Celtics best scorer in the playoffs this past year, even though he had allegedly quit on his team.
LOL, Kobe just gave him 2 steps and dared him to shoot. He's longer than Rondo and he can contest Rondo somewhat, same with Westbrook. Sure there would be time Rondo drove by and bigman helped, but how many times Rondo could even get there? You are sounding like guarding Rondo is easy. Yet Rondo torched the Cavs and LeBron looked like a deer in the light. Kobe doesn't always guard the best opposition. But he always switched when it's needed. TMac once torched Fox in first half, 32 points. Kobe switched over in 2nd half, TMac got 5 more points. Simply put, when was the last time Lakers lost a series because a single perimeter player torched Lakers? Stojakovic was a choker and he played much worse than Christie in that series due to health reason. Bibby may be on fire for a series when Kobe was counting on IV to play after a bad burger. The year before, Kobe averaged 35 points against them in playoff.
Right, and Ariza joined Lakers in a 08 trade, soon injured and didn't play much, didn't get into a starter until Mar 09. So Kobe has been counting on a Magic bench to do defense for his first 12 seasons, very insightful.
Kobe is an average defender, but at times he can be very good. He competes well, but he also guards the weakest player on the court and thats why he guards battier. Lebron is a really good defender because you can't post him, he has really good lateral quickness, and competes. Anyone who says he isn't is of cours the typical hater.
different era.. no way jordan can guard the point guards of today... you saw what happened when jordan tried to guard iverson
Prime Jordan probably could have still guarded Iverson. MJ was in his mid 30s by the time AI came in to the league.
