Yesterday, during the Lakers game JVG said that Kobe was one of the best one possession defenders of all time (I can agree with that). One possession defender, as in, a player that may or may not commit to playing great defense for a whole game but when entirely focused has the ability to shut down an opposing player for a single possession. What other current players do you all think are great one possession defenders? Josh Smith Shawn Marion Gerald Wallace healthy JO? (seems a little tougher than i thought it would be to come up with names for this list.)
LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are very good one possession defenders. And, yeah, I'll say it: Chuck Hayes.
seems like almost anyone who can play defense could be a good one possession defender. it's much harder to defend at an elite level for the whole season.
not really. You have to be able to play intelligent defense and have superior athleticism for your position. Shane, for instance is one of the best defenders in the league but in a clutch situation a player can get right around him because he lacks the foot speed to combat that. Sure, he will do all the right things, give the penetrator space and bait him into a low percentage jumper but he can not play his man close without fear of getting burned. I wouldn't consider him a good one possession defender. I see the point you are trying to make but they are two different animals. I'm glad JVG made this distinction in the broadcast.
As much as I dog McGrady, he could lock down on a single possession when he put his mind to it. He was great at poking the ball away and blocking shots.
i too see the difference but would rather the every-possession defender. lol i disagree that shane is not a good one-possession defender. he's made multiple key defensive plays in clutch situations this season.
Bad mistakes can cost you at the end of a game as well. See, for instance, the Mcgrady and Artest mixup in that Portland game early in the season. And Artest gambles a lot at the end of close games. He'll commit dumb fouls trying to pressure the ball in the backcourt, or he'll play too closly trying to force a turnover and allow his man to get by him. I think the key to being a great end of game defender is both discipline and great physical ability.
Kobe is good but not as good as advertised IMO. JVG was raving about Kobe's one possession defense yesterday during the LA/Dallas game but as he is talking the replay is showing Jason Terry just about break Kobe's ankles. Terry only stopped because he didn't see a clear path to the rim but he beat Kobe off the dribble with ease. If it's a guard I'll take Wade. If it's a bigger swing man I'll take Ron. If it's a mobile PF or Center I'll take KG. I also think Hayes deserves an honorable mention in any conversation about defense. I think he defends the post as well as anyone in the game.
KG and Kobe are among the best defenders in this league. It's also not a coincidence that both play defense throughout an entire game not just on a few possessions.
Bruce Bowen was always an incredible defender in crunch time. He's getting up there but he's definitely a guy I would want out there if I were the Spurs and I needed a key stop.
This idea of the best one possession defender is kind of silly and irrelevant, unless it is the last offensive series of the game. Anyone can be a good defender for one possession. I'm pretty sure a team, like this past year's Lions could slowed down the Patriots from 2007 on one or two possessions ... doesn't make them a good defense, probably when that team goes on to score another 55+ points. I'm still going to pick KG, Battier, Artest, Wallace, and etc for one possession.
kobe definitely doesn't. he gambles a lot and backs off and allows jumpers on lots of other possessions. the reason he could make a list like this is the same as a healthy tmac. when they are really focused and not saving energy for offense, they can be extremely good. i've always been impressed with how quickly kobe could stop and jump to contest a jumper when someone pulls up on a jumper while driving. i've seen him do it several times where it almost seemed like he stopped the exact second the other guy did with almost no reaction time. tmac was crazy good when healthy because of how many people he could guard for one possession. i always remembered what he did to dirk in that dallas series, but until leebigez brought it up, i forgot what he did to stackhouse. stackhouse kept just posting up and shooting over wesley i think, and then we would put tmac on him and the scoring would stop. it was funny that they would even go to stackhouse with tmac guarding him because it was pretty much hopeless. i don't think he ever scored on him. and while battier is a good defender no matter what, as others have mentioned he doesn't have the physical superiority to be at the top of this list. i think of battier on defense kind of like yao and dirk on offense. you give yao and dirk 30 touches a game, and you're probably going to be happy with the results. 20+ points, 50% shooting, something like that. but at a big moment, they're just as likely to trip and fall over their own feet as get a really good shot. they don't have the physical superiority to just will themselves to a good shot at any time like others can. even other guys who aren't nearly as good over a game would be more likely to get themselves a good look for any one possession. now battier isn't likely to fall on his face on defense, but he's sort of similar. over 30 possessions for his man, you're going to look back and realize that guy took a bunch of tough, contested shots and didn't have a very good game. but for one possession, a guy really putting his head down would be more likely to beat shane than some others who aren't going to give you the same results over a whole game. as for the question. if you tell me it's game 7 of the finals, 15 seconds left, i'm up 2 and i can choose any player in the league to suddenly add to my roster for this defensive possession, i'm taking lebron. no one is going to overpower him to the basket, very few could get by him and even if they did he might be able to recover and contest the shot very well anyways, and he would be the most likely to make some freak defensive play like blocking a big guy who got a pass and was going up for a layup/dunk or getting out to a 3 point shooter and changing/blocking the shot. plus, he has the requisite respect from the refs to be as physical as he wants, which is also key in being a good one possession defender.
Fixed? Kobe gets away with quite a lot IMO - he's allowed to push and slap as much as he likes, but other players get whistled for the same level of defense. Commentators call it "intensity" - but it's just plain old 'getting away with fouling'. But, with the advantage of the referees support, Kobe becomes a very tough defender to beat in a 'single possession' at the end of a close game. He just doesn't get whistled.
