THis list used to be easy. Barkley, Dominique Wilkins, Kenny Smith, Kukoc and anybody else from Yugoslavia. I haven't seen a list in a while though. So who are today's worst defensive players and whY? (this is a hanging curveball for all Mobley-basherrs, or any Rocket-basher, btw)
Steve Francis. His idea of defense is to stand five feet from the guy with the ball and dare him to shoot. I mean I love the guy, but the man is a complete moron on the defensive side. Cato is also pretty damn bad when it comes to one on one defense. I mean this guy made Olawakandi seem like the second coming of Hakeem this past season. Moochie Norris. Cant blame him that much. At least he tries (sometimes) unlike Francis. Steve Nash is pretty damn horrible.
Damn, three Rockets on your list. Do you watch any other teams? Kukoc is still one of the worst. Peja is terrible. Wang Zhi Zhi is atrocious. Shawn Bradley is absolutely horrifying to watch play D. He's only adept at blocking shots from the weakside. Allan Houston is awful.
John Wallace (a total joke) and Trajan Langdon are just terrible, leaving inches between them and their man. Ira Newble is said to be a stopper-type defensively, but never contests his man's shooting-arm, so he's pretty much useless even if he can keep up. I'd say that the biggest liability is Shawn Bradley. His height enables him to block shots and patrol the lane for a few rebounds... but despite this he downright sucks. He is too weak to position himself in the post, the reason he commits so many fouls. Even when he does invoke a foul, he can't stop his man from scoring. Any others?
Glenn Robinson wasn't a bad defender in college but he stinks in the pros. He is afraid to make contact it seems sometimes.
The entire Mavs team except Najera. The entire Rockets team except Griffin. The entire Bucks team except Mason.
LaFrentz is a bad man-to-man defender, but a good help defender. Sam Cassell is near the top of my list. The guy doesn't use his arms at all to play defense. If you don't use your arms, your defender can drive by you or shoot over you at will.
I don't think Larry Johnson counts as still being in the league but he sucked. Too small, so he didn't even try.
Actually, though his block totals are good, Pau Gasol got scorched in games that I saw. In fact, in the game here in ATL, Shareef Abdur-Rahim went off for 20 with Gasol checking him. Then, Lowe put Gasol on Kukoc, and Toni went on to his best game of the year, dropping another 20 on the helpless Pau. He will be a terrific player, but that was the worst defense I saw last year... Except for Dion Glover.
I live in Sac, and he definitely got far better in the second half of last season. I agree that he used to be a joke. He doesn't have great lateral quickness, but he's excellent at guarding bigger players (power forward types). HOOP-T pointed this out already, but Finley is capable of being a shutdown defender, Griffin is good, Buckner is good, and Lafrentz is one of the better shotblockers in the league. My pick for worst defender? ANTAWN JAMISON. No one is even in his league. Sure he can rebound, but that's not defense. Funny thing is, Dave Cowens coached him, and Cowens was one of the best defenders ever, one of only three guys that I ever saw block Abdul-Jabbar's skyhook... and Cowens was 6'9"! You think he could have taught Jamison how to play D.
Finley is okay but Cuttino lit him up three times last year and I saw Bonzi get off on him as well. Not to mention Francis almost completly jumping over him for a layup last year. My WORST - Francis (Love him but Stockton shouldn't blow past him EVER!) - Fisher (When Brian Shaw is put in as a defensive replacement for you then you suck) - Van Horn (Killed by every SF & PF he played against in the playoffs and let TMorris get points on him) - Jamison (Too slow for most SF's & no where near strong enough to stop good PF's) - Wang (slow and not physical at all for a C. Not used to the NBA physical play. When the Rocket sbeat the Mavs by 30+ last year [yes that actually happend ] Moochie went at him on a fast break when it was just them two. He went up and had a chance at the block but decided to grab Moochie's waist, let Moochie get the and 1 and picked up the intentional foul. While Mooch was shooting the FT, Nelson was on the sidelines showing Wang how to go up for a block or take a hard foul. Maybe w/ some time he can improve but IMHO he is a long ways off from being able to D up on a legit C) Damn, no players from Europe on my list at all
Funny thing is, when asked who was the best defender at PG in the league, Dr. Jack Ramsey cited Fisher. Now, am I the only one who thinks the good Doctor is on crack? By the way, Dr. Jack also traded Wilt Chamberlain back in the day... .
Mitch Richmond has always sucked at D. He would've been a big part of their championship if he could play some D.
Fisher was an awesome defender in the Lakers 2000 and 2001 title runs. Last year, he didn't look as good. That might have more to do with the fact that Bibby and Kidd are just very good PGs.
Jamison is a horrible perimeter defender, but he is a very hard worker who wouldn't be such a liability if he had a position to play in the pros... If he had consistent range beyond 18 feet, which he was able to use in his back-to-back 50-point scoring nights two seasons ago, he'd still be one of the best small forwards in the league. Derek Fisher is a joke.
I too have heard several people say fisher is a decent defender and I fall out of my chair. Fisher gets burned by quick points. Not as bad as Ron Harper, but he just gets burned.
