He tends to use that speed and athleticism well when hes in position, too. Some players get caught out of place, but they know theyre out of place. Many consider Bob Cousy to be a passionate athlete who was the first All-Star and dominating player for the Boston Celtics squad that included legends like Bill Russell and Kevin Collier. He was the primary defender on 1,127 plays last year in all, surpassed only by Stephen Curry among point guards. Per Synergy, he forces turnovers 18.5 percent of the time, and he does so barely giving up any points. He doesnt disrupt team defense with unnecessary gambles. Norris Coles individual numbers are all better than Chalmers, but he gets docked with lower team numbers. After ball-handling, the most important areas of the game for a point guard are passing and scoring. A point guard should know when and how to instigate a fast break and when and how to initiate the more deliberate sets. He applies every bit of failing athleticism he has all the time. However, who are the all-time top point guards? This score is to help alleviate that. With both, its the combination of their size and speed that makes them so phenomenal. He has decent size for a point guard, at 63 but he doesnt have much of a vertical: 28.5.. Hes a learning player, and his extensive time sitting last year may have helped his grasp of defense as well as offense. Considering his challenges with speed, he did reasonably well with the pick-and-roll, again because of his size and strength to fight through picks. FOXSports.com - Best all-time point guards at the Wayback Machine (archived July 12, 2005), accessed 2008-02-09 This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 17:58 . His most notable awards include five NBA championships, three Finals MVPs, three MVPs, nine All-NBA First Team selections, and 12 All-Star appearances. Hes always looking where hes supposed to go, and moving in that direction, but he just takes his time getting there. The true driving force of his partnership with Karl Malone. At 61 and 171 pounds, Rondo is pretty small by NBA standards, but he plays much tougher than his size. Follow Sports Brief on Twitter for more trending and breaking news! If theres a weakness, though, its that when he comes up against the elite offensive point guards, he will get beaten in isolation. But only once did he actually truly defend the play. Additionally, the 10-time All-Star and Hall of Famer was an impressive defensive player in his own right. Players like Rose, Russell Westbrook and Kyrie Irving consistently cross him over and get past him. Perhaps the most unstoppable offensive player in NBA history, Jordan decimated and demoralized his foes on the defensive end. If youre not interested in that, feel free to skip ahead. 1. -- Pelton. Eventually, you need to form an opinion about why not just know what. Knight doesnt always recognize the help situations, but when he does, he is usually effective. That said, here are the five best defensive NBA point guards of all time, based on their DWS. They average the number of points a player gives up when he is the initial defender, and this is represented by defensive points per play. West became synonymous with brilliant basketball during his 14-year playing career with the Los Angeles Lakers. The NBA's best European guard, Tony Parker, monopolised opposing backcourt players with speed and agility, a tight crossover, and a gorgeous tear-drop floater in the lane. Why did you choose such a weird number scale? He applies his energy smartly. Think: Dennis Rodman. As one of the elite point guards in the NBA, you would expect him to have elite athleticism, but he actually doesnt. Congratulations, Brian Roberts! With Doc Rivers in charge, things should turn around shortly, and next year his WAM score will be among the best in the league. Its not uncommon to see him challenge shots with both feet on the floor. Magic had unparalleled vision; he could see players get open and deliver the ball before they even realized they were open. A 12-time All-Defensive Team selection, a nine-time 1st team All-Defense and three-time 2nd team All-Defense, Bryants 50.6 DWS ranks him 43rd overall. On Wednesday, we will have the top 10 shooting guards of all time, followed by small forwards, power forwards and centers. Speaking about hard-nosed defense-first converted shooting guards, here is one more name to the list: Dennis Johnson, one of the all-time great Celtics and at the same time one of the most underrated players in the history of the NBA. On the other hand, he was frequently bailing out whoever was playing shooting guard on numerous occasions. He has all the tools to be one: great reflexes and speed, and those long arms with big mitts on the end. -- Doolittle, Over the past season and a half, Curry has played point guard as well as anyone else in NBA history. Let's see who has made it to the top 10 best point guards of all time. His score represents the average of trying hard and not trying at all once the ball gets past him. Even though hes been injured a lot, Paul is averaging over two steals a game for his career. He was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, on February 7, 1974, to a Welsh mother, Jean, and an English father, John. It seems so much of Conley is either there or not there; you get it or you dont get it. When the team is winning or the game is close, he puts in real effort, but if they are down, he shows noticeably less energy. He routinely gets blistered in isolation (.93 points per play), fails to close out well on shooters and lags when coming off of screens. Teams Best Defenders in NBA History: Top 50 Best Defensive Players By Clark Boinis | Jul 12, 2021, 4:05pm 1. Frequently, teams would set the screen, and the point guard would just step behind the three-point line while Holiday was still underneath it (often all the way into the center of the lane) and drain wide-open treys. Players Stats: 15.5 PPG, 2.7 RPG, 5.6 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.1 BPG, Honors: 2006-2007 Finals MVP, 6x All-Star, 4x All-NBA Selection. A lot has been made of how an explosive offense is the way to captivate fans. Other stats were determined by using my trusty sidekick, MS Excel, loaded up with standard stats available on most websites. -- Adams, For nine consecutive years, Nash's teams led the NBA in offensive rating. Johnson will go down as one of the top 25 all-time point guards because of his defensive presence. One of basketballs most dynamic and versatile point guards in the modern era. Of course, sometimes his opponent scored, too. Then there was that kid who just read the assignment on the bus and got straight As. When you combine that with his 40-inch vertical, you have a player that gets higher (139 inches) than any point guard in the leagueeven Russell Westbrook. Golden State Warriors (2009-present), Honors James Harden's age: stats, contract, family, dating, net worth in 2022 and more. The seven-time All-Star was one of the best two-way guards of his time, and his performance in Game 7 of the 1970 NBA FInals remains one for the ages. Coming over as a 25-year-old rookie, Ginobili only had two seasons where he had fewer than one steal per game and he averaged 1.3 steals for his career. Finally, both are improving on the defensive side of the ball. He probably can even tell you where the hot dog vendor and mascot are. Payton is one of two point guards to have ever won the Defensive Player of the Year, and his stats show it. Its probably no coincidence that Stephen Currys defense took a giant step forward this season playing alongside Jack, and you might see a similar progression from Kyrie Irving next year. 2. The most pure and one of the best point guards and playmakers in NBA History is John Stockton. Its difficult to have a perfect rating system thats entirely objective, and even more difficult to have a realistic one that is purely subjective. However, he tends to play soft at times against the pick-and-roll, tending to rely on his quickness when he could muscle through a pick quicker. He literally may be the least athletic guard in the Association. As a result, opponents shot 42.9 percent from deep against him in the pick-and-roll. With the increased emphasis on the deep three, point guards account for a large portion of the league's top scorers. Bledsoe is a bit of a freak. Nash was never known as a strong defender, but he was capable of bothering opposing point guards to some extent. Back in the 80s and 90s as a member of the Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets, Clyde The Glide Drexler and Michael Jordan constantly battled for the title of best shooting guard. In order to claim that title, both players had to play defense as well. Penny Hardaway was well recognized for his relationship with Shaquille ONeal when he was only a kid. Perhaps he just grew weary of Doug Collins' act. 25.7 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 9.5 APG, .485 FG%, The player Hes listed at 62 which seems about right, and hes broad-shouldered and strong for his height, but he also seems to have shorter limbs, although I cant find his wingspan listed on Draft Express. Players Stats: 23.5 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 6.6 APG, 1.7 SPG, 0.2 BPG, Honors: 2x MVP, 6x All-Star, 6x All-NBA Selection, 2015-2016 Scoring Champion. Additionally, the 10-time All-Star and Hall of Famer was an impressive defensive player in his own right. Thats because they can spend all their energy quickly, while starters have to pace themselves. Honors: 1978-1979 Finals MVP, 5x All-Star, 9x All-Defense Selection, 2x All-NBA Team Selection, Hall of Famer. There are times where he makes a bone-headed gamble and loses, trying to get the extra steal, but thats about the only flaw there is with him mentally. Thats 20th all-time, with Kidd being the only other guard above him. That deceptive length helps him nab 2.5 steals per 36 minutes and grab a ridiculous number of rebounds for a person his height. Rose had it all, including speed, explosiveness, and the ability to score when it mattered most. Does he make stupid fouls or smart fouls? The scouting score was then combined with the WAM score to produce WAMS, with the scouting counting as one-third of the final score. Players Stats: 24.0 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 6.5 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.3 BPG, Honors: 5x All-Stars, 4x All-NBA Selection, 2012-2013 Rookie of the Year. Archibald, who was just 61 tall, was able to consistently sink the ball despite his diminutive stature. On the other hand, hes not tremendously athletic. Its still possible for him to make another All-Star squad, and it seems like hes on the path to doing so. He keeps track of his man when holding back in the lane to cut off passing lanes. Whether you like him or not (and I personally dont), you have to respect that he plays the game as hard as it can be played. After watching Paul play defense for a while, what stands out over everything else is that he just never stops movingliterally. Oscar Robertson 3. He is easily one of the physically weaker players in the league, even for his position. Whats remarkable is how quickly he gets to the shooter and gets a hand in his face, even if its all the way to the corner three and the shooter is setting when Rose takes off. Its safe to say that Kidd is one of the greatest guards to ever play on the basketball floor. He manages to defend the pick-and-roll reasonably well by doing something I can only call bouncing over picks. His score would be much worse if it werent for help defense from Chris Bosh, LeBron James and Chris Andersen frequently coming to his aid. By my count, about 70 percent of the time, the ball-handler will get past him and get a shot off. That helps him to dominate games defensively without having to leave the ground. Broadly speaking, over 7,000 pieces of data on 226 players, in 16 different categories, were compiled into a database. Hes a key component in Tom Thibodeaus defense, and frankly, with Thibs, you just dont stay on the court if youre not putting in the effort on the defensive end. Scottie Pippen 5. Kevin Durant, surprisingly, also bails out his co-star a lot. But it seems like Paul is nutmegging and breaking opposing defenders ankles every game. He also only has a 65 wingspan, which is short of the other bigger point guards, but what he has, he uses well. This is to avoid confusion if you want to go to the original source.). The Glove is hands down the best defender a the point guard position.