I don't know, man. Outside of Duncan all of the top 10 had defensive versatility while being elite at specific things. Even Duncan wasn't unplayable against any team at any time due to defensive matchups. I have a hard time seeing KG & Hakeem being defensive liabilities even in this era Note: I can't comment on Bill since I didn't watch him play.
I'd say Duncan, Robinson, Wallace, and Kareem, wouldn't be able to defend the perimeter game. I can't say about Russell either, but I suspect that he would not be able to keep up with fast guards. Now, Duncan and Kareem, and probably Robinson, would still be played because of their offensive impact. The team just had to find ways to minimize the defensive liability when they got switched. Guys like Ben Wallace and Mutombo with limited offensive skills would be bench players at best.
He wouldn’t waste his time on defensive lists didn’t you know he’s going to be in the top 75 of all time this year?
Hakeem being number 2 would be a joke, but I have too much respect for Bill Russell to say such a thing. I've tried to compare them and it's pretty much impossible. Maybe Bill was better, but this guy is okay with ties (considering Gasol and Tony tied) so I'd say it's more respectful and honest to put Dream and Bill as a tied number 1. That's fair in my mind.
Very sketchy list. How is 3x DPOY Dwight Howard so low? Payton so low? Did dude ever watch basketball?
First half of his career... he could dominate defensively against tweener front court players but still could get routinely beat by the likes of Shaq and Yao Example H2H with Yao: https://stathead.com/basketball/h2h_finder.cgi?request=1&player_id1=mingya01&player_id2=howardw01 Yao 23.6 PPG at over 56% shooting Second half of his career... too slow and injured to handle the positionless front court players that can handle the ball Howard doesn't have the footwork to handle the 90s centers like Robinson, Ewing, and Olajuwon. He was a beneficiary of being in the transitional era of the NBA...
Too much recency bias for my taste. Gobert is a great defensive player in this era but if you put him in an era with Hakeem, Duncan, Ewing, Mutombo, Mourning he'd be, at best, above average. And John Hollinger putting two players from his days as the Grizzlies GM in the Top 25 definitely don't scream homerism.
Looking at his list, how many are also in the top 25 all-time scoring list? Hakeem Olajuwon (#12) Tim Duncan (#15) Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (#1) Wilt Chamberlain (#7) Michael Jordan (#5) LeBron James (#3) Looking at that list, how many are also in the top 25 steals list? Hakeem Olajuwon (#9) - of note, Hakeem is the only center on the entire list. Michael Jordan (#5) LeBron James (#10) Looking at that list, how many are also in the top 25 blocked shots? Hakeem Olajuwon (#1) He is the one. ...Just sayin.
Yup and fast forward years later if he would have just swallowed his pride and accepted the complementary/secondary role with Harden he might have lasted here a bit longer.
It's pretty funny having the list topped by Bill Russell, that's just a "back in my day" type selection to keep the old people happy. If he played in an era with real talent, he wouldn't be on the list at all. But I'm okay with a token nostalgia pick.
But in my scientific analysis, Wilt would have been filtered out during the "Top All-Time Steals Leader" round. Hakeem still stands alone. *granted, they didn't track steals either back then but in my highly educated guess, he would not have been top 25 in steals.
Dwight was a physical freak with low bball IQ who benefitted from playing in one of the weakest time in the league for bigs. He would have been destroyed against most of the other players in this list in their offensive prime. I think Dwight could have been every bit as good as the other players but his overwhelming athleticism and lack of great centers in his era to push him made him kind of a waste of talent. I remember being so frustrated watching him send beautifully blocked shots into the crowd when he could have just tipped them to himself and caused a turnover. He was more into the image of dunking and sending opponents shots into the front row than actually creating value for his team. Honestly, I wouldn’t have put him on this list for that reason alone.
