Top 10 Greatest Defenders of All Time 

Hakeem Bill

Rodman and Draymond

Russell first, Hakeem second

bill russell n hakeem

Bill russell and Hakeem Olajuwon

Lmao 🤣

Lol 😂

Sheesh🤣🤣

He was a horrible player, he was horrible to play with

​@@kingpin785510Not true at all, where do you got that from?

Bill Russel stopped Wilt... Nuff said

There is far more to defense than stats. Hakeem is for sure elite tho

​@@gswonlockswilt averaged 30 and 28 against bill on 50% FG, bill averaged 13 and 22 against wilt on 37% FG. The CELTICS and their 11 hall of famers stopped wilts TEAM, not wilt

​@@gswonlocksabsolutely not 😂

Yh but can he switch on to guards?

Kinda makes sense why they went 72-10. Imagine an inside presence more impressive than Luc Longley. Wouldn’t even be fair. Lol

​@@jonnyarnetthow Close Was Payton to making your list?

That’s crazy. And it’s crazy that both Pippen and Rodman were waaaaaay better defensively, and Jordan was far from a slouch on defence. Easily the best defence of all time. Those years Jordan rarely had to guard superstars on a regular basis which meant he could preserve a lot more energy for the offrence then previous years.

​@@MrABN86and harper was good too, they could switch 1-4

@@jonnyarnett Yet, no one wanted Rodman at the time. He was on his way out of the league after San Antonio.

PAUSE

​@@brandonszczech6516 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

My guy it's a "top 10 ____ of all time" video, which is about the lowest brow debates you can have in the sports world, because it's all completely subjective and you're comparing a bunch of guys who most never even played one another and played in completely different eras of basketball with different context. I'm not even knocking the video at all, just saying even the creator would probably tell you it's not exactly the most intellectually demanding kind of discourse.

@@brandonszczech6516 Are you gay?

@@brandonszczech6516😂😂😂😂😂

True true!!

2 DPOY in a row and runner up on a couple more occasions really.

Bro i think MJ came from all of that meat sucking

Jerry West and Kobe Bryant were both the best defensive guards in the league for 12 straight years. Why did you only mention Jerry and not Kobe?

@@thsu8 My mention of Jerry West is not a knock on Kobe, Kobe was a great defender, of course. West tends to not get the attention he deserves because he played in an earlier era and recency bias is prevalent. I understand because younger fans didn't have the opportunity to see Mr Clutch, but I did and West was great on both sides of the ball.

That's bad logic though. Rudy Gobert has multiple DPOY awards and Duncan doesn't have one but nobody would say Gobert is the better defender

​@@Slapshot544EXACTLY 😅😅😅 THEY OVERHYPE THAT DPOY NONSENSE

Exactly. Jordan guarded Magic for the majority of that series yet Scottie’s greatest defensive claim to fame is that he guarded the best opposing perimeter player more than Jordan. Jordan girded the opposing best perimeter player during their bulls tenure together just as much as Scottie did (20/39 series they played together). They were certainly equal defensively during their time together except Jordan was much better during his time without Pippen than Pippen was during his time without Jordan.

@@TheShiningMewtwoMagic was cooking MJ tho 😂😂😂😂 Pippen was the one actually disrupting him

Thank you. When I first heard bout this year ago, I was like huh. I watched those games live. I had to rewatch it so I didn’t think I was crazy. What Pip did do was pressuring Magic early messing up his flow. In his later years, MJ would pace himself. He played smart defense and went into lockdown mode at key moments. That change in intensity threw players off. It was beautiful to watch. Also, there is no doubt in my mind that MJ would have had 11 defensive selections if he didn’t retire the first time and came back at the end of the following season.

​@michaelbarnes2126 right and Pippen had his hands full guarding James Worthy lil fella. Jordan guarded Magic majority of the Finals Series fella. Pippen guarded Magic in game two because Jordan got into foul trouble in the 1st quarter lil fella. Jordan started all five games against Magic lil fella lol. Don't 4get about James Worthy lil fella lol

@@michaelbarnes2126 saying Pippen guarded Magic more or better than Jordan is like giving Andre Iguodala finals mvp in 2015. It’s giving undue credit to a lesser player for overachieving in their limited role.

This is a good call. Alvin Robertson was a MENACE defensively and a tough s.o.b.

That's what I'm saying bro, these videos are influenced by so much personal bias and pressure from subscribers or the algorithm.

Only player in history to record 300+ steals in a season the only player to record a quadruple double with steals, and there hasn't even been a player record 200+ steals since 2009

@@hakeemolajuwon4352 Michael Jordan himself said he thought Robertson was the best perimeter defender in the league in the 1980's.

That’s fair. He should have got a mention. I might do a video like this in the future, but just for Guards. It’s way too hard for the smaller perimeter players to stand out amongst the rim protecting stars

I agree! I thought the same! I was actually even thinking that he could have been part of the top 10.

Well you also have to consider the momentum that a hard block brings in. Like I’m gonna be a lot more demoralized if I got swatted into the stands vs if someone taps it away

@@TheHaas123 IDK I'd say that Russell soft blocking a shot to himself and then taking the ball down the court for a quick dunk is more demoralizing than your shot getting sent to the 2nd row.

I bet you watched the video snippet of coach Auerbach, where he commented on this exact same topic. Auerbach is a great coach, no debate about it! He was also blessed with an absolutely stacked team from the late 50s through the entire 60s. He was also the biggest homer coach I have ever heard. If you did not play for Red, you were then sh*t to him. Auerbach’s beef with Wilt goes way back to his late high school and college days. Red would have absolutely LOVED having Wilt on his team. Don’t believe me, then read the following: Auerbach wanted Chamberlain to go to a New England university so the Celtics could draft him as a territorial pick. However, Chamberlain did not respond and went to Kansas instead.

Having seen Wilt play, he did not block all shots out od bounds. For example, in '72 when wilt was the Finals MVP, quite a few of his blocks started fast breaks.

@@jingqi9106 Wilt finally figured it out late in his career. But you are right, the few highlights that are soft blocks came in a Lakers jersey. I would rather have '72 Wilt on my team than '62 Wilt, despite the stats.

Not to mention his teams were always very good.

@@jackearl5093 I think he (or the teams he was in) ALWAYS made the Playoffs, every season of his career. Also was great in the ABA (in his 1st two years), and had a very good college run.

Exactly...The Secretary of Defense ..says it all

I was also thinking about Moses. So dominant!

His defensive ability was greatly overrated by his rebounding numbers.

Good call on BJ, he was a beast

No doubt, Bobby deserves AT THE VERY LEAST an honorable mention!

The age doesn’t denote the impact or value. They deserve their love just as much as anyone else. Defense wouldn’t be where it is without them. And they are placed correctly because of HOW those guys dominated. We can’t look at bill russel any different than anyone else because of when he was born. Especially considering all the things bigs that guys like Hakeem were great at only exist because Bill quite literally invented modern day defense. There would be not shot blocking records if bill didn’t start the trend of vertical shot blocking. That alone earns bill and wilt their places in history. Not even mentioning just how accomplished overall they are as defensive anchors even without having the privilege of their major defensive stats counting. The advanced numbers and game film showcase defensive abilities and iq that translate to any time in history, not just theirs.

@@TheIcemanthomas Great points ALL ☺️ Obviously great thought was put into ur comment....i respect that 😜

Mate, I did not watch Bill Russell either, but when you look at the accomplishments, hear the opinions and watch a few old games on RU-vid, not giving him the top spot feels wrong. Hakeem is a great number 2

Yeah this list is straight trash.

Michael cooper

Eaton was a great shot blocker but wasn't a great rebounder.

Because if you watch the series. Magic was posting up Jordan scoring over either shoulder. Pippen turned the series in Game 3. Pippen up Magic full court at times . Disrupting Lakers offensive. That's why!

@@bryanttisdale2446 Uhhh Magic in gm1 dropped 10pts on Jordan on 4/5 shooting. What are you talking about? He literally averaged 18fga, and 20ppg dishing out 10apg against Pippen

@FrokuBabayy I said game 3. Lakers where in finals with most efficient offensive in the NBA. What are u taking about. Watch gm 3 . Slow deliberate offensive replaced the showtime offensive showing how great Magic was. He could get to the Finals either way.

@FrokuBabayy magic finals stats 19pts , 11 as ,10 reb 14pts, 10 as , 7 reb 22pts, 10 as, 6reb 22pts , 11as, 6reb 16pts ,20as , 11reb Classic Magic series. 🎩

I watched those series recently (again), and Pip guarded Magic ... So, what are you hating about?

Pippen was a great team defender. But not a great man-to-man defender.

@@RatedRex1 Magic would disagree lol

Ow about Hakeem???? Pippen isn't the most versatile, he can guard only from perimeter, he wouldn't be good defender if he was asked to guard centers.

@hristijandimitrovski8664 Pippen was able to defend the 1 - 4 positions. That's versatile

@@robs9237 Hakeem was able to guard all possitions. He just does everything that KG does, but better

It helps when nobody was leaping up for high jump shots and nobody was dunking in the game

They played like 10x Times against the same team every season

He was beast of a defensive player and insanely athletic. Imagine if his blocks and steals were recorded he might have averaged a triple double in blocks at least close to it 😵‍💫🐐

@@michaelbarnes2126 no he wouldn't. If he was playing against real athletes he would not even be mentioned

@@hakeemolajuwon4352 sure buddy 😂😂😂 he was an Olympic high jumper but whatever you say lmao

How? That’s most of what he’s known for. Lol

​@@TheIcemanthomashe's also known for scoring leader over Shaq, 71 point game and the quadruple double, which includes both offense and defense But if I recall, Robinson. Scored more points in his quadruple double than the other 3 guys who got quadruple double did.

Not weak just different. Couldn't double team on the perimeter. But you could be more aggressive in the paint. There were lots of rules that both made the era weaker and stronger. The game was just different. It was much more ISO oriented with man to man play.

@@AustinMulkaMusicthe players were undeniably less skilled though

Not a weak era of players but definitely of weak owners. Patrick Ewing did not have a single guy on his Knicks teams that could have even been a sixth man on the Willis Reed Knicks. He was not the only star player left alone on an island.

⁠@@othgmark1Agree with this. The 90’s Knicks teams were really good, but weren’t nearly as elite as the Willis Reed Knicks. You have to think about just how LOADED the Reed Knicks were as a team. Reed had so many great wingmen on those teams (Walt Frazier, Dave DeBusschere, Earl Monroe, Jerry Lucas, Cassie Russell etc) and no one on the Ewing Knicks were really on that level the Reed Knicks were aside from Ewing himself. Oakley and Starks were both solid, but I’m going Frazier and DeBusschere here in terms of backup.

@@ashuprice9719depends on how u define skill. Most of these defenders are in the “less skilled” era, but defense is definitely a skill.

All top 10 should be bigs, all. MJ isn’t a better defender than Dwight Howard. Even if you wanna do stats and DPOYs he wins 3 straight with league leading block and rebounding numbers. But if you know ball you know it’s all bids j off of impact. Love Jonny and his content and channel but I gotta disagree with him here

Duh

Nah. I’d put in Wade to have more blocks than MJ is crazy. If comparing to Kobe Howard and what not but really if we had to add someone it would be Mutombo. Had 4 defensive player of the year awards

@@anthonyurso3554 facts. He was a serious presents aline in the paint. But, he might get left off because if that 2001 finals. DPOY, said he didn't need help guarding prime Shaq. And well, that might kinda hurt your case.

@@anthonyurso3554 Thats a myth..stop saying that lie.. Jordan has 893 blocks Carter 888. Wade has 885.

@@onlyfacts3178you’re wrong Wade is first.

@@FirstnameLastname-qb2bg ??? SO i am going to believe when you bring 0 FACTS 🤣🤣🤣🤣 WHY is he 1st??? JORDAN 893 CARTER 888 WADE 885 MAYBE you skip math classes or maybe you are the typical american who REPEATS what others say without THINKING. "DUNCAN is a PF" "WILT never lead the league in assists" Those are other MYTHS that people repeat like parrots without THINKING...

Add Jerry Sloan from that era

That’s not really a good case considering we don’t do that in the opposite direction.we don’t talk about the guys that benefit from only scoring to downplay them. They play the role they are tasked with. Nothing wrong with knowing ur role.. that’s the point of a team in the first place. That’s why guys like Duncan, kg, Hakeem, etc are a luxury. Being elite on both ends isn’t normal.. most players are really good at ONE or two things. Very few are good enough at multiple things to have the responsibility of being not the teams top scorer and defender.

Mookie was a beast

West is One of the best defensive players ever..but you Also have G.payton and Alvin Robertson at Guard positon. At Forwards people are forgetting Ron Artest and Kirilenko and B.Bowen..

Jerry West is a great mention.

34 year-old Kobe Bryant was also an "old player struggling with injuries" in the 2012-13 season while killing himself on both ends to will the Lakers into the playoffs as he made his 12th all-defensive team. Why did you only mention Jerry and not Kobe?

@@thsu8 because in the 2000s all defensive teams were a popularity contest with no fixed positions..if it was by positions like for example when Kobe got in the NBA (97) Kobe would never got an all defensive team.

@@thsu8 all defensive teams are for low IQ people.. Kirilenko one season was by far the best defensive player and he wasnt even named all defensive because he was Rússian. And how can you explain a center averaging 4 blocks per game not making all defensive teams in the 90s? All defensive teams are like i Said really dumb argument..it was ok to use it for Guards and Forwards untill the 00s.

Being voted "dpoy" became irrelevant when Gobert "won" three times while giving up twice as many ppg than he averaged.

I need the drugs you’re on. Dikembe isn’t anywhere near the defender that Duncan was. Dpoys and blocks don’t denote impact on the game. Timmy’s impact on defense was far greater than blockiny a bunch of shots. Check the numbers, check the metrics. Watch some games. Ben and Duncan led some of the most dominant defenses in basketball history in the 2000s. Dikembe did no such thing. Great rim protector. But that’s about all he did. Duncan did a lot more on that end than camp under the basket and swat shots all game.

@@TheIcemanthomas you saying you want to do drugs makes everything else you say irrelevant.

Mutombo can block shots like Gobert and Eaton but they are not as versatile and mobile like Duncan, Garnett, Wallace and Pippen. Guys like Mutombo, Eaton and Gobert can be made ineffective by playing the perimeter since they camp under the rim to block shots but defenders like the guys I have mentioned can really shot your whole team down by their aggressiveness, versatility and work ethic on defense.

Mutombo over Pipen or Duncan??? Are you for real??? No mate, no

Ewing was good but not that great on the defensive end despite he averaged 2+ blocks. Do you remember the 6th man movie when Marlon Wayans said about him that he's only 7' who makes layups 😄 It is so he wasn't too agile to be mentioned as a good defender here.

​@@romank.5261casual. Ewing is a top ten defender that led some of the greatest defense in NBA history

@@sideshowbobsaget8876 Show me some video proofs of his defensive prowess. I'm 40 y old so i saw how Ewing was playing. During that era his defensive abilities were average to extent that even Zo overshadowed him.

​@@romank.5261you just haven't been looking,Ewing played defense,he was known for his defense before his offense when he first started playing basketball.

@@lydellconner7451 i know he did play D. I'm telling his ain't the top 10 greatest

Michael Cooper more like Diapel Pooper

I came to the comments looking for the most casual take. Here it is.

You telling me Kawhi and Tony Allen are not in this video👀 I’m shocked

Sad to see Tony Allen have no mention Kobe, KD, and Curry have said he was the toughest defender they went against.

Almost all of these are better than mj lmao I love Jonny but idk why he’s inflating mjs defensive impact

Giannis, mark eaton, bill Walton, Nate Thurmond, Ron Artest, shaq,Bobby jones, hondo Havlicek, moodier blaylock, Alvin Robinson, cp3, jrue holiday, mo cheeks, dr j, Dave debuscherre, Walt Frazier

​@@TheIcemanthomasBobby Jones AKA The Secretary Of Defense. Very good

Real hoopers know Timmy D the true 🐐

sound like you hating my guy

I agree 100%. While some players can switch or slightly guard most positions, KG could literally guard EVERY position on the floor as his main assignment regardless of their height in an ‘elite’ level. KG can legit guard small/quick PGs the entire game and shut them down. KG can shut down elite perimeter defenders with no problem, then switch on 7 footers and shut them down as well. It wouldn’t be just a few plays or on switches like many players on this list. It wasn’t like he just sagged off players and used his length on smaller ones. He got up on them, moved his feet with them, then recovered like a 2 guard. Shit was unreal, unlike I’ve ever seen before even Hakeem didn’t do this as well. And huge eye roll on LBJ being included. I believe he did so to appease the onslaught of LBJ stans.

Agree on LeBron should have been mentioned, but then I think those guys in the list played consistent D all their careers,vand LeBron kinda cool It off since 2017

Best times to be alive as an NBA fan. As a kid, I was glued to tv during that playoff run. Matter, fact I still go on RU-vid those moments.

The spurs also had beautiful defense. They were typically one or two right with Detroit l.

@@TheIcemanthomas it was but not as Electric and fun as Detroit's defense.

Over who? Just saying he should be here doesn’t really say much because there’s plenty of players that u could make a case for. Who would he be over on this list?

Factsss.

​@TheIcemanthomas I think more so this list which just like nba dpoy voting, I feel is a lil bias toward big men and rim protection and not so much on ball defense. There is really only 3 legit on ball defenders ok this list which to me, shows that people don't seem to value on ball defense. I definitely feel kobe and Gary Payton should've made this list and I feel you can remove David Robinson and Ben wallace in my opinion.

@@TheIcemanthomas I personally would put him around the 6-8 range

@@nicholashackie1407hat’s because no matter how valuable a on ball defender is, the front line will always be more valuable given that the most efficient and most utilized shot in the game is a layup or dunk. Therefore defense will always favor bigs. And that’s fine. Why can’t it be that way? Offense favors guards nowadays far more than bigs and no one complains that bigs don’t get as much mvp love because they don’t play as much on the perimeter to score in huge spurts like guards. We’ve taken enough from them. The one thing that they’ve always ruled over is defense. And that isn’t gonna change. They just cover more ground and effect more space than a guard can.

kareem the GOAT center. skyhook all day RIP hakeem

​@@shmogaoh you mean like when Hakeem on a team of John smiths beat the showtime Lakers in 5 in 86 and bitched Kareem?

@@tropicmix8765 hakeem still had worthy and better depth then the lakers. what makes sports great is any team can win on any day. no doubt hakeem won that matchup. we alomst splitting hairs but kareems slighty better imo. tbh chaimberlains maybe the GOAT and were not even mentioning his name!

Totally agree mate, Hakeem is the most complete, and the best IMO. but when It Game to D, Bill Russell is the GOAT.

​@@shmogaskyhook, yes, but Hakeen was nowhere near the defender The Dream was. Both have a strong case

Shawn Marion is the first name to come to mind

Considering that basketball reference has all-defensive vote shares going back to at least 1991, this wouldn't even have to be that speculative - there's 3 decades worth of data he could comb through and present to see who gets extra selections and how that changes their totals. I'd love to see a video like this!

Shaq probably would have snagged a few of those. As it stands he got 3 all 2nd team nods, between his raw BLk/REB # and his name recognition he would have gotten a lot of votes from people scratching their heads looking for people to vote for 3rd team all defense. I don't think a 3rd team all defense is a nessacary award/accomplishment I think limiting it to 2 puts some extra merit on making the cut.

​@@colebanville3372yup same for me

@@timtresch4848 definitely agree considering how hard it is to evaluate season long defensive accomplishments via the eye test without something like raw counting stats to give you somewhere to start with apples to oranges comparisons (steals and blocks are obviously insufficient on their own). We don't need a third team all defense, but it would still be interesting to see folks who were regularly considered worth recognition by some and if that runs counter to or better supports the narrative of their careers.

Sure, but to be fair, I did describe that as a “moment”.

@@jonnyarnett fair

@@jonnyarnett Bro, that’s a poor take. Even in that “moment” Magic was scoring on him. Go back and rematch that “moment” and while Pip did good in 2-3 possessions he was getting beat the rest of the time. There’s a reason why MJ continued to guard him my dude. There’s TONS of moments in their career in which MJ had to cover Pip’s man as instructed by the coaching staff because Pip was getting beat. Pip was a free safety that roamed the floor, that was his strength not being a suffocating defender like you described. Sure he was still good, but he’s become highly overrated. It’s just disappointing that you made this oversight based on disproven narratives and myths. Still appreciate your effort tho.

@@jonnyarnett PLEASE a video on Dream Team 2 (94 FIBA Team)

Look at bill Simmons rewatch a bulls. Lakers vs Bulls. Pippen turned the series guarding Magic. Jordan was getting scored on. Phil gave the tough playoff assignment s to Pippen when it was on the line. Pippen guarded magic 91 finals. Pippen guard Gary Payton 96' finals (when Seattle won games 4,5) Pippen guard John Stockton the end of 97' finals. Jordan was unbeatable or without flaws.

I agree. He is the only player with 2000 steals and 1000 blocks.

@@RatedRex1 hakeem,karl malone, and bron are the only players with 2k steals and 1k blocks

Dr J was not the defender Pippen was, so stop it

@@javigar133 Depends on what you value more-on ball or off ball. In todays switch everything, Julius is the best off ball defending active defender at his position and the best help defending /weakside shot blocker ever at his position-something LeBron gets known for and doesn't come close to Doc. Dr. J doesn't need to be allowed to play physical to be a good defender. All that said, Pips on ball defense has been overrated a tad. People rememebr the 91 Finals vs Magic. People remember him fronting Chuck. People remember him picking up point guards full court. Issue is, that Magic narrative is hype over 1 play where he picked up Magic 3/4 court and yet Magic still got by him and Pip needed help D to stop magic from scoring at the basket. Michael defended Magic most of that series. Chuck is shorter and could be fronted by any taller longer mobile F. He was a the mercy of the entrance passer. The point guards Pip would pick up weren't exactly explosive guys. We're talking Mark Jackson, Derek Harper, John Stockton. Mike on the other hand had to constantly run around screens and stay active off ball to defend his man of that era. Mike is the best off ball defender at his position and on ball, the stocks, advanced stats at his position. Mike meets more(all) criteria at his own position as best defender at his position ever than Pip does his own position b/c Pip is neither the best off ball(Dr.J), nor the best shot blocker(Dr.) nor the best def. win shares(DR J), nor the most versatile(LeBron), nor the best on ball(Kawhi). At his position, Pip is only the best at steals at his position.

This casual left out a fucking four-time DPOY.

Also left out Dwight Howard. Put in MJ though.

Blockiny is great but it isn’t the only thing that defense entails. He wasn’t as impactful a defender as anyone on this list.

@@alecboulton3537do I have any real reason Dwight should be over mj? Just saying it doesn’t make it true. U gotta have something to back that up.

@@TheIcemanthomas Dwight is a three-time DPOY. That alone should put him over MJ, imo. MJ was not even the best defender on his team.

Jordan isn’t the best perimeter defender of all time that goes to either Walt Frazier or GP

@@dododump3144 fr im so confused why hes on the list

Didn't Pippen have back injuries in 1998? Never seemed like he was the same player after them.

@@etanabu2232 because the list is mainly based on steals blocks and reputation as a defender and not how they actually played defense

He did not shut down iverson. And how can Kobe and GP have the most all the defensive teams but not be on the list ?

He was there though? Under Gary Payton.

Kawhi played3 years at that level. Not anywhere near enough time to be on that list. And he is NOT the greatest or even second greatest perimeter defender. Stop it.

@@TheIcemanthomas kawhi has made the all defensive team 7x along soth 2 dpoy .. stop it

Kawhi is not better than MJ... And he was 10th