Ranking the Top 10 Defenders in NBA History 

Yessir

Yes please

yessir

yesssss

maybe

Will probably do that in the near future

@@HoopVenue my top offensive players you don't have to respect it but I'd bet them. 1 Meadowlark Lemon 2 Goose Tatum 3 Wilt Chamberlain 4 Earl Manigault 5 Pete Maravich also a great defender blocker steals and rebounder unlike the stories told. 6 Elgin Baylor 7 Curly Neal 8 Bill Sharmin 9 Dr j 10 George Gervin 11 Pre injury Nate Archibald 12 Joe Hammond 13 Oscar Robertson 14 Raymond Lewis 15 Kareem 16 Jerry west 17 Earl Monroe 18 Bob cousy 19 Bob Davies 20 MJ/Clyde drexler 21 Larry Bird 22 Magic 23 Kobe

@mikethenbaguy Pgs defenders I got 1 Oscar Robertson 2 Walt Frazier.

@@dustincobb5718 Robertson??

@@MikeTheNBAGuy yeah he's one of the best defenders ever and very underrated. Kareem said he could easily back down someone 6 inches taller than him. Oscar is the most underrated defender. He's probably a top 5 defender all-time period.

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Appreciate it man!

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@Horror Hawk That's arguably not true, Wilt ran the court from both ends and is stats from his rookie season alone were very impressive both offensive and defensive the only person with higher stats historically in nba ever was Wilt himself! Wilts Rookie year 1959-60 37.6 points, 27.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists in 72 games. Bill Russell year 1959-60 18.2 points, 24 rebounds and 3.70 assists 74 games. The implication you are making with no evidence is that Bill Russell rebounded from both ends of the court while Wilt just waited in one spot and rebounded from there? That's ludicrous, the video evidence exists showing Wilts speed, stamina and him rebounding from both ends of the court and getting his team to the playoffs by not only his offensive play but his defence. Stats also show something important about wilts game his highest scoring game shows he didn't do anything differently than other nba legends like MJ or Kobe? Kobe Bryant 66%+ in attaining his 81 points. (with the three point line) ( 42 minutes on the court) MJ 59%- in attaining his top score of 69 points. (with the three point line) (50 minutes on the court) Wilt Chamberlain's 59+% in attaining his top score of 100 points. (Without the three point line) ( 48 minutes on the court)

As bloated as wilts numbers look when compared to today it came out to be 20ppg 10rpg

Old comment but do you think Russell would be employed at the 4 in the modern NBA on defense (like AD often with the Lakers) and what type of ball-screen coveraged would you run with him?

Max he’d lose value as a spacer so now

@@Max-kv8uw Russell would be great at the 4 or 5 but I see him switching from 3-5 and even picking up guards situationally, more like Draymond than AD.

@@Max-kv8uw Russell would be a better version of Gobert.

Gobert?? Gobert never leaves the paint area for help defense...

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@@HoopVenue Also just wondering, why no Rodman?

@@buckybadgerw3522 while his man-to-man defense was spectacular and extremely versatile, he was very lazy off the ball and weaker in help situations, 1995 Spurs vs Rockets is a prime example.

@@HoopVenue do you mean for his career overall or peak aswell? cause id agree his off ball defence was suspect after around 92 (reb chasing and inconsistent motor, 95 wcf is a good example as you said) but imo he was good off ball at peak, good enough that combined w/his individual defence hes up there with pippen/kawhi/bobby for goat wing defender.

@@thb1091 I would say off-ball was always a bit of a weak spot for Rodman, obviously in Detroit he was active enough that combined with his historic man defense he was a GOAT level defensive wing peak for peak, but it still wasn't enough to put him in that next tier of defenders overall.

my thoughts on Bill is that while he did benefit from era greatly, he would still be the GOAT defender in any era, whereas Thurmond and Wilt would lose a lot of value, because of how smart Bill was and how much ground he was able to cover on that end, I think a peak Bill Russell in any other era adds about 12% the value of any other peak defender.

Thegumbojumbo Russell’s era was the peak of basketball. Plus spacing in the 60s is the same as 80s pretty much

talk WUDO

Appreciate it man 🤝

Appreciate it

Young Hakeem as well.

Jerry West Walt Frazier

Wilt is the greatest

I agree with all, except I would have left out "probably" and kept, "the best player of all time". My opinion.

@@wmden1 I feel wilt doesn't get the respect he deserves

@@Stiggi71exactly

@@Stiggi71he really don’t

It’s the seasonal valuations for their year by year impact relative to era

He should be on this list

Yeah, he was such dominant from 07 to 12 as a defender...monster

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@@HoopVenue that's a cool website. Just wondering for Mooses Malone. How good was he on the offensive end other then rebounds and defensively also. Was he a good one ? Because people say hes bad and a black hole so not true if it was true. He definlelety was a underrated player also took the 40 win rockets to the finals including his impact in philly where he took them to the finals outrebounding Kareem

T J if you want to see my more in-depth dive in Moses’ game to to my last top 100 video, he’s in there and I can provide more on his offensive game there

@@HoopVenue episode 9 right?

@@tj5180 yes

It’s the career CORP values that I did by season, basically my opinion on how much defensive value they added over their career

it's the CORP that I explained at the beginning of the video, ultimately how much defensive impact I believe they accumulated over their career based on seasonal valuations.

I actually would agree peak for peak, Howard > Ewing, but Ewing’s longevity and consistency is what moved the needle on this list.

He was

Insane!

I wouldn't even have Wallace on my top 5 peaks list, sure he was a very high-level anchor on some amazing defenses but let's not act like he was doing it alone. They started reaching historic levels when Sheed got there, along with Billups and Prince being clear positives, and a great coach with a phenomenal defensive scheme where they abused teams with their length. He had limitations as a rim protector and was often more in the "helping role" we often see Draymond Green in today, which is a pretty good reason as to why his foul rates are lower than those who are forced to serve as a primary. As for the Shaq mention, he was absurdly efficient in that series and that was during the season that he started to fall off a cliff, Wallace's defense on him didn't really change too much due to lack of size. Peak Wallace > Peak Ewing, but if we eliminate longevity Bill Walton is leaping both of them anyways.

@@HoopVenue Would you give Walton a top 5 defensive peak ever?

@@HoopVenue I strongly and respectfully disagree with you.

I agree because of wallace versatility he could not only protect the rim he could also graud the perimeter as well

Wilt is right where he's supposed to be, he explained why....

How many titles did Sampson and Olajuwon win together ?

Hakeem and Sampson can't go wrong either way 😊

@Dodong Altamarino The whole point of defense is to stop the other team from scoring. So a player locking down the paint and stopping all 5 positions from scoring the most efficient shots in basketball is going to be more effective at stopping the other team from scoring than locking down just one player like Dennis Rodman, or getting a few steals a game.

Pretty sure it would be: 1. Bill 2. KG 3. Hakeem 4. Tim 5. Wilt 6. DRob 7. Mutombo 8. Thurmond 9. Ewing 10. Wallace so not too different.

@@HoopVenue no Elvin Hayes?

John Rouguine would be 11th still

The Draymond omission is just because of longevity, at his peak he'd be top 10.

aint you that rockets fan on twitter?

@@itzwakk335 maybe

Mitch Richmond Joe Dumas

Seriously, he’s so much more versatile than any other defender in history

Not that Ben, Ben was Draymond level defense, far stronger and affecting the rebounds on an all time great level. For real, Ben was a monster defending screens, from 01-07 for real, maybe only KG was better than him at doing more.

Not even close look at the advanced stats. This video is actually spot on in this topic!

Wilt also got called for 100x times as many goaltends as bill, hardly ever left the paint, couldn’t guard quick perimeter players, and his blocks generally went out of bounds while bill’s went to his teammates. Bill is easily a better defender than wilt.

@@roundtable3501 Did you see all of this real time, or in youtube videos, or in interviews of Red Auerbach and other old Celtics? I don't remember seeing Bill Russell play a lot of perimeter defense, real time, or in these videos. I will give that he made an art of blocking shots, and was very close to Wilt in rebounding and I respect his game, but "100 times as many goal tends" is a bit of hyperbole. I watched them both play, real time, a fair amount, but not every game, by any means. Russell could block shots and redirect them, but he didn't block many at the top of the ball's arc, which Wilt did, often, hence goal tending, after it was implemented as an infraction.

nate thurmond nd bill russell played when there no 3 ptline 🤡

@@Coldskin1 What is the perimeter in basketball? The perimeter in basketball is that area of the court within the three point arc but outside of the paint. Shots from this area are referred to as “perimeter shots” or “mid-range shots.” U casuals should apply for the circus 🎪

@@Coldskin1 On top of that, they guarded players whom brung the ball up all the same from the other end of the court and guarded them even when dribbling and even shooting form the amount of feet that would later be considered the 3 point line and beyond. Another reason y’all belong in the 🎪 🤡

You are “personally” fucked up in your list!

Dustin Cobb there’s nothing that suggests wilt was better defender than Russell. Look at the advanced defensive metrics and DRTG

@@Papichulo-xc5nd we can't see his steals or blocks. Wilt could do or whatever he wanted he shot a bunch till 66 and it's in the stats that he started taking Les shots and doing more in other areas after 66

@@dustincobb5718 there’s more to defense than just blocks. Russell captained the greatest defensive dynasty ever. Wilts team allowed the most points in the league for a few years

@@Papichulo-xc5nd Russell Was in no way better than wilt. Look at the playoff stats. The better team won not the better player. If wilt had been a Celtic and Russell stayed a warrior I believe it was he'd have 13 ships.

@@Papichulo-xc5nd that's not all I said.

Probably the most versatile man defender ever but a very lazy off ball defender, think he came in 21st on my list

@@HoopVenue you should do a perimeter defender list since these all centers

I’m probably going to soon

@@HoopVenue I definetely agree with Scottie Pippen and Bobby Jones being better defenders than Rodman.

Scottie Pippen and Dennis Rodman were about the same level Defender when they played on the Chicago Bulls that is quite impressive he's four years younger than Rodman and Rodman only really started playing basketball when he was 21. You could argue Scottie Pippen was a better Defender but that's only because Rodman started so late he didn't develop his skills before his physical athletic Prime imagine what type of monster he would have been if had the time to develop like most players

Well, then those Detroit people are wrong and they don’t know the game as well as hoop venue.

He favorites bigs that graud the paint he doesn't have non bigs who where top perimeter defender