He bulls through picks well and is not afraid to go over them. Some will just hang around waiting for the play to end, but Jack keeps track of his man and also helps if its needed. Hell overshoot passing lanes, gambling for the steal. The Top 100 will begin to roll out next week. Passing skills, ball handling, and court vision are crucial. Hell frequent the area at the top of the key, just above the free-throw line, and when a shooter starts to shoot, hell close out quickly to challenge the shot, regardless of where it is coming from. The greater problem is how easily he gets disrupted on pick-and-roll defense. His contributions won him a spot on the NBA All-Time 50th Anniversary Team. Meanwhile, another player has his numbers go up because he is capable. Hes one of the slower point guards in the league now, but in spite of that, hes almost ubiquitous at times. As a result, opponents shot 42.9 percent from deep against him in the pick-and-roll. He compensates for his diminutive size by fighting hard and using that aforementioned quickness. He also knew when he needed to score, as evidenced by his 42-point performance in Game 6 of the 1980 NBA Finals for a Lakers team missing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. A defensive point guard will also pressure opponents in passing lanes in an attempt to generate steals and scoring opportunities for their own team. Even so, combo guards still require above-average passing skill, but not as much as possessed by "pure" point guards (which is what those in the traditional mold of a point guard are referred to). But what kind of suit was he wearing on the last episode? Players Stats: 15.2 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 5.4 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.2 BPG, Honors: 2003-2004 Finals MVP, 5x All-Star, 3x All-NBA Selection, 2x All-Defensive Team Selection. During his career, he was selected to nine All-NBA Defensive Teams and five All-Star teams. To read more, go here! He is tremendous at using that muscle to his advantage, too. Most of those come for one of two reasons: Either he bites on the fake and is too slow to recover, or the shooter shoots over him and he doesnt have the ups to challenge it. Parker is a seasoned point guard who plays the game like a pro. Point guard - Wikipedia If he didnt retire at 34, its interesting to see where Cousy could have landed all-time as he averaged 3.8 DWS per season. When hes not getting wrapped up, he plays the pick-and-roll well. The Best NBA Point Guards Of All Time - The Delite The point guard was always capable of scoring the ball at the . A lot has been made of how an explosive offense is the way to captivate fans. Players Stats: 17.7 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 8.2 APG, 1.6 SPG, 0.1 BPG, Honors: 5x All-Star, 5x All-NBA Selection. The biggest reason appears to be a fundamental one. 19.5 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 11.2 APG, .520 FG%, The player The point guard is positioned on the perimeter of the play, so as to have the best view of the action. Also, he was disliked for flopping feigning a foul to get the ball back, yet he proved to be a key ingredient to the Spurs championship-winning formula. You probably cant say right away, because you watched the storyline, not how Harvey dressed. 10-time All-Star, 11-time All-NBA selection, five-time All-D selection, Hall of Fame, Career stats In his single season with the Wizards, the former NBA MVP averaged a triple-double (again), and he was a big reason why Washington made the playoffs after a rough start to the season. Went from dominating games strictly with his passing to making the fifth-most 3-pointers in NBA history. The 25 greatest point guards of all time | Yardbarker He closed out on jump-shooters half-heartedly, which is bad enough, but when you combine that with the way he played pick-and-roll plays, it was even worse. Marcus Smart. Hes one of the most prolific players in the game. If it tends to fall in the middle, he gets a 20. Hes incredibly focused while on the court, but hes always working things out in his head; they dont come automatically, and that costs him time. As previously stated, he gets the help from Green and Leonard to guard the top point guards. Even though Payton only played a little part in 2006, the Heats success would not have been possible without his defensive presence and leadership. He never leaves his man to help a defender that doesnt need help, but he always seems to be there when help is needed. While Rose was fairly criticized for not playing hard defensively prior to Thibodeau, that criticism is no longer accurate. He has a barrel chest, broad shoulders and 20 pounds on most point guards, so he gives the appearance of dwarfing players that are technically as tall as he is. Bob Cousy Bettman/Getty Images. He does a capable job of knowing when to help and when to stay. During the 1960-1961 season, the then-32-year-old Cousy racked up 6.3 DWS, the most in his career. Stephen Curry 4. Although Wade had an accomplished resume, if he had played one more season, he wouldve easily overtaken the next player on the list. He routinely gets blistered in isolation (.93 points per play), fails to close out well on shooters and lags when coming off of screens. Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. While the Clippers were better when Paul was on the bench, it wasnt because he was on the bench. Those are the questions I was looking to answer. Adande, Brad Doolittle, Tom Haberstroh and Kevin Pelton are NBA writers for ESPN.com. There is no doubt about it: Steph Curry is the second-best in the top 10 point guards of all time. Los Angeles Lakers (1979-91, 1995-96), Honors If Williams had more pride in his defense, he would actually ask for, and depend on, help more than he does. Lin is a mixed bag when it comes to help defense. What is the difference between WAM and WAMS? That said, here are the NBAs five best defensive shooting guards of all-time, based on their DWS. NBA top 15 point guard rankings for 2021-22: Stephen Curry sits at No (Note: Players chosen only if they have played as a shooting guard for most, if not all, of their career.). He has trouble compensating for his lack of size when challenging jump shots. Let me remind everyone, young and old, I played against @iamisiahthomas when he was hurt & hobbling on one leg and @iamisiahthomas still scored 25 points in one quarter in the NBA Finals! Lennys passing and leadership on the floor were solid, but he also had a few great scoring years on the court. He simply doesnt have the same ability as the elite point guards to get up in the air, and that hinders his ability to defend the jump shot. The NBA is flush with dominant point guards. Taj Gibson, his backup, is a tremendous defensive player, which only amplified the effect of Boozers shortcomings. Refusing to back down because youre afraid of being put on a poster is a good thing, not a bad thing. By NBA standards, he jumps like an elephant and runs like a turtle (and not one of those fast turtles youve heard tell of eithera slow turtle). That all-around game made Kidd one of the league's top point guards for nearly 20 years. This is not so common anymore, as most coaches are now solely specialized in coaching and are non-players. Players Stats: 12.6 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 8.7 APG, 1.9 SPG, 0.3 BPG, Honors: 10x All-Star, 6x All-NBA Selection, 1994-1995 Rookie of the Year, 9x All-Defensive Team Selection, Hall of Famer. Its because Griffin and Jordan were on the bench next to him. By taking the total number of plays and the total number of minutes (regular and postseason combined, because Synergy just throws it all together) we can determine how many times per 36 minutes a player was the initial defender on the play. Nevertheless, its just as important. After years of being sidelined by ailments, the grandeur that should have been his was snatched from him. DWS are how many wins a player produces based on his defensive ability. Not everything about a players value can be seen even through advanced stats, or even while hes on the court. He was also an outstanding playmaker and a solid scorer with a strong mid-range game. In his 16-year career, Wade averaged 2.961 DWS per year and his 47.38 DWS is good for 55th overall. Jason Kidd was the definition of a jack-of-all-trades point guard: he could pass, score and grab rebounds. He owes his charitable demeanour to a group of elementary school parents. His Synergy numbers tell the story. He also uses his quick hands to steal the dribble, and he does so without taking risks. His offensive style has been revamped to incorporate a powerful mid-range jumper along with some range as well. When you look at his on/off numbers, you expect that hed be a solid help defender, but you dont see much evidence of that. Kevin Garnett 8. Three-time MVP (1986-87, 1988-89, 1989-90), three-time Finals MVP, 12-time All-Star, 10-time All-NBA selection, Hall of Fame, Championships Its difficult to have a perfect rating system thats entirely objective, and even more difficult to have a realistic one that is purely subjective. -- Haberstroh, Honors While he is frequently noted for his ability to see the court and make the right play on offense, he doesnt get the same recognition on the defensive end. To create All-Time #NBArank, we put together a ballot with the 150 greatest players ever. He has no All-Defensive team accolades, because those werent introduced until the 1968-1969 season. For this reason, a small penalty was exacted for every minute under 30 minutes, and a small bonus was provided over 30 minutes. Congratulations, Brian Roberts! James Harden's age: stats, contract, family, dating, net worth in 2022 and more. -- Doolittle, The great Knicks ball-movement offense started with him. Of course, sometimes his opponent scored, too. In the last entry, we focused on the five best defensive NBA point guards of all time. He was a giant of a guard, but he had all the necessary talents, including the ability to dribble and pass. At the very least, he could stab those quick hands of his at some more balls and disrupt the dribble from behind. He seems to get frustrated easily. The greatest point guard in NBA history. Another major evaluation factor is the assist-to-turnover ratio, which reflects the decision-making skills of the player. 7-time All-Star, 6-time All-NBA selection, 7-time All-D selection, Hall of Fame, Career stats Gary Payton. A point guard that has enough ball-handling skill and quickness to be able to drive to the basket in a half-court set is also very valuable and considered by some to be a must for a successful offense. Take, for example, Carlos Boozer in 2012. -- Kevin Pelton, NBA Insider, May be the strongest point guard ever and consistently made everyone around him better. He also has such superior court awareness that most picks dont catch him squarely, and he just glides over them. Some of this is hard to know whether to ascribe to Bledsoe or to his former coach, Vinny Del Negro, who hones his X's and O's skills by playing tic-tac-toe online. Occasionally hell chase the play after hes been beaten, but not always. For that reason, subjective analysis was also included. Just telling your players to play harder and close out on threes isnt a real system. On the one hand, he doesnt seem cogent enough of his surroundings most of the time to really offer any. Emailed daily. If he wins an NBA championship, Chris Paul, the current number one point guard, will rise even higher on this ranking. He does all those little things that dont show up in box scores. Nixon played 6 seasons with the Lakers, making the All-Star Teams in 1982 and 1982 when he posted 17.6 PPG and 17.2 PPG respectively. -- Adande, Teams He just doesnt have the physical tools to play at an elite level. He gets crossed over pretty easily, and not just by the Associations elite point guards. Isaiah Thomas 5. In all, Jordans 64.1 DWS rank him 21st all-time. His low foul rate of 4.5 percent is another indication that hes adept at getting into position quickly. I like to compare it to the relationship between a foundation and a house. 25.7 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 9.5 APG, .485 FG%, The player His net defensive rating of minus-7.7, combined with his lack of a defensively-solid backup big, is a strong indication of his value as a help defender. Other stats were determined by using my trusty sidekick, MS Excel, loaded up with standard stats available on most websites. The best way to track how effective a player is on the defensive end is by looking at their cumulative defensive win shares. For example, there was a play in which he was switched up against the Clippers, and he was put on Chauncey Billups, while Tony Allen was on Chris Paul. He can be stagnant when his man doesnt have the ball. On those, there is no link available. He also is tougher than most point guards to post up. While he does benefit from help defense, its not as often as you might think. He is in charge of getting the ball into the hands of the shooters. Its hard to notice his effort, though, because of the consistency with which he gets destroyed. Do the likes of Magic Johnson and Stephen Curry rise to the top of the point guard rankings, or is it possible for someone with undeniable natural skill like Penny Hardaway to crack the elite group? At 6-foot-1, he's the shortest NBA Finals MVP in league history, a reflection of his unique ability to dominate at the point guard position. When people think of NBA point guards, he set the mold. Players Stats: 18.8 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 5.6 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.3 BPG, Honors: 2010-2011 MVP, 3x All-Star, 1x All-NBA Selection, 2008-2009 Rookie of the Year. Because of his combination of length, speed and jumping ability, Rose has become an excellent team defender against the jump shot. He has the most assists and steals of any player in NBA history and is a master of the pick & roll. He made everything go for those Lakers teams. Chris Paul is widely considered to be one of the best point guards of the 2010s. Penny is deserving of a much better ranking just because he is such a gifted one. Yet somehow he manages to compensate and do a reasonably fair job of defending, even in isolation. Paul, who was born on May 6, 1985, has long been regarded as one of the game's greatest point guards, a fact reinforced by his selection to the 75th Anniversary Team. Why did you choose such a weird number scale? Its not uncommon to see him challenge shots with both feet on the floor. Since the first time a professional basketball player dribbled a ball, weve seen some of the greatest point guards in history. Averaging 1.5 steals per game, Wade could block transition shots as well with the best of them. In his book The Winner Within, Pat Riley described Magic as a club DJ. The five best defensive NBA shooting guards of all time - Sportsnaut On top of that, when Parkers man slips past him, he has one of the best defenders in the history of the universe, Tim Duncan, to help him out. -- Adams, For nine consecutive years, Nash's teams led the NBA in offensive rating. After watching Paul play defense for a while, what stands out over everything else is that he just never stops movingliterally. Rajon Rondo is probably the most athletic player in the league who plays most of his game below the rim. The best way to track how effective a player is on the defensive end is by looking at their cumulative defensive win shares. He could be better than he is, but its hard to blame only him. Lin plays with consistent effort on defense, but hes stuck in fourth gear. The only time hell go under a pick is when hes supposed to. The scouting score was then combined with the WAM score to produce WAMS, with the scouting counting as one-third of the final score. Aside from the centre, having the best point guard is critical to improving your game because every play starts with him. The only point guard to win Defensive Player of the Year, Payton was a defensive nightmare and he never had a DWS lower than 1.2 during his 17-year career. Its more than that. This is what I mean by ubiquity. And when hes on the bench, Eric Bledsoe, who is a 15th on this list, was with Odom. Mar 6, 2020; New York, New York, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Chris Paul (3) reacts during the second half against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Defensive Points per Play Synergy tracks every play of every game of the season and, when possible (as it is not always possible), they assign an. -- Pelton, Perhaps the most incredible part of the Big O's triple-double season is that he finished third in MVP voting (behind winner Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain, who averaged 50.4 PPG). Its interesting that when he plays against elite point guards, or when he plays angrily, he plays much more of a physical game. -- Pelton, So precise with his passes and timely with his shots. Westbrooks Synergy numbers on the pick-and-roll (.75) and isolation (.7) suggest hes better than he actually is. As Kyrie Irving showed in the decisive Game 7 versus the Warriors when he beat Stephen Curry to the game-winning jumper, Kyrie Irving is also one of the finest guards in NBA history, and he possesses some of the best hands of all time. Scottie Pippen 5. He gambles too much, and that often gets him caught out of the play. [2], Learn how and when to remove this template message, National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player Award, "The Olympic history of UConn's Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi", "Top 10 point guards in the NBA right now", FOXSports.com - Best all-time point guards, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Point_guard&oldid=1142307492, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 17:58. There are some disadvantages to this style of play. Wayne Gretzky on the court, Nash could hurt opponents by getting rid of the ball quickly or by holding on to it for so long that the defense finally made a mistake. Even though he was 38 years old when he won his first NBA championship with the Mavericks, he had two trips to the NBA Finals with the Nets. He is so athletic and so strong for his size that hes been able to get away without learning lessons he should have. Similarly, while each of the advanced and/or traditional metrics has value, each also misses something. Stockton embodied a true point guard: an extension of the coach that ran the teams offense seamlessly. Dont be surprised to see him as a head coach someday. Many remember Ginobili for his offense, but he was also a capable defender. He still struggles against the spot-up, though, because of issues that will be addressed later. On pick-and-rolls when hes not set, teams have learned to expect this. That has more to do with the second-string frontcourt, led by Lamar Odom, backing him up than it does his team defense. We ranked the best point guards, determining the list with the help of B-R's position splits.
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