Magic Johnson 2. Stockton embodied a true point guard - an extension of the coach that ran the teams offense seamlessly. There was always that kid in high school or college who tried so hard to get decent grades. Two-time MVP (2004-05, 2005-06), eight-time All-Star, seven-time All-NBA selection, Career stats Rajon Rondo is probably the most athletic player in the league who plays most of his game below the rim. Johnsons style of play made him especially successful since he was noted for tip-ins and post play around the rim. Whenever anyone imagines a point guard, chances are theyre thinking of Utah Jazz legend John Stockton. On the other hand, he was frequently bailing out whoever was playing shooting guard on numerous occasions. ESPN ranked the Top 10 PGs of all time & they have @iamisiahthomas ranked 5th. Lin plays with consistent effort on defense, but hes stuck in fourth gear. 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. -- 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). Hes one of the slower point guards in the league now, but in spite of that, hes almost ubiquitous at times. Many remember Ginobili for his offense, but he was also a capable defender. You probably cant say right away, because you watched the storyline, not how Harvey dressed. On the other hand, you cant deny what happened, regardless of how much you watch. He also defends well against post-up plays, yielding just .54 points per play, although thats on an admittedly small 17-play sample size. -- Adande, The only players in NBA history with more games with 20 points and 10 assists are Oscar Robertson and Magic Johnson. As a point guard, Tim Hardaway was one of the most popular and respected players in the NBA during his time with the Miami Heat. For this reason, a small penalty was exacted for every minute under 30 minutes, and a small bonus was provided over 30 minutes. With his record of successes and pioneering point guard talents, Magic is at the top of the list. If Williams had more pride in his defense, he would actually ask for, and depend on, help more than he does. For a player who lacks lateral quickness and a player that has been in the league as long as he has, you would think Williams would have learned to do a better job of steering opponents into the help defense. Scroll below to see where Stephen Curry ranks among the best point guards in the NBA. 7-time All-Star, 6-time All-NBA selection, 7-time All-D selection, Hall of Fame, Career stats 21.6 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 6.9 APG, .441 3P%, We counted down the greatest players in NBA history. If it gives up fewer points, thats good. They have value when there arent such extremes like the difference between Boozer and Gibson. Who are the best defensive point guards in the NBA, and how are they determined? Derrick Rose 15. The Glove is hands down the best defender a the point guard position. Went from dominating games strictly with his passing to making the fifth-most 3-pointers in NBA history. Pass-first points of the past have given way to dynamic creators who can score as well as set up teammates. How hard do they fight through them? Nevertheless, its just as important. Sportbrief has published an article about James Harden's age: stats, contract, family, dating, net worth in 2022 and more. Either way he chases the ball until he catches it. Kyle Lowry has exceptional speed and athleticism. Then, when players pull up and shoot, he doesnt use his length to close and get a hand in the face of the shooter. If someone goes past him, hell usually just wave goodbye. In his 16-year career, Wade averaged 2.961 DWS per year and his 47.38 DWS is good for 55th overall. Eventually, that learning has to become instinct, though. He stands third among the top 10 point guards of all time. At the point guard position, point guard Damian Lillard is one of the games most talented shooters and scorers. Perhaps he just grew weary of Doug Collins' act. For all the hammering Im doing on Chalmers, it remains true that the Heat are better with him on the court than off of it, but its questionable if thats because hes on it. His score represents the average of trying hard and not trying at all once the ball gets past him. He uses quickness to capably guard the perimeter, but thats in large part because hes not always defending the elite point guards. 24. In all, Wade was a three-time All-Defensive Team selection (all on the 2nd team), his 1620 steals rank 31st all-time and hes had six seasons where he ranked top-20 in steals per game. Therefore, a lower score is superior. His 48.8 DWS is 48th all-time and the fourth most by a point guard. That can create an illusion of great defense where there is none. Ben Wallace 12. An All-Star in every full season that he played for the Boston Celtics, six-time NBA champion Bob Cousy was an all-around player: he averaged 18.4 points, 7.5 assists and 5.2 rebounds per game. He has a real grasp of the game, and he helps convey that to his teammates. The only time hell go under a pick is when hes supposed to. Current NBA point guards known for their defensive prowess include Jrue Holiday, Mike Conley Jr., Marcus Smart, and Chris Paul. 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. Stockton is one of the greatest assist players in NBA history, if not the greatest. Parker applies himself defensively in bursts, and this appears to be by design. Some would argue that just because he went to Harvard, it doesnt mean he has a high basketball IQ, or that book intelligence isnt the same thing. -- Pelton, Today's children will ask, "Who was the Steph Curry before Steph Curry?" Speed is important; a speedy point guard is better able to create separation and space off the dribble, giving themselves room to work. So the problem isnt a lack of speed; its a lack of applying it. He has two ways of guarding the isopray for help or flop. He also uses his quick hands to steal the dribble, and he does so without taking risks. Offense is so much more than just scoring. He doesnt play on the ball physically, utilizing that advantage. -- Adams, He could hurt defenses in so many ways: Controlling tempo was one, and he was a hell of a defender, too. It is easy to have the numbers skewed by a smaller sample size. Each touches a different part of the elephant, one an ear, another the torso and so on. But he jogs when he should run, is lackadaisical closing out shooters and goes through the motions when running through his rotations. He was second among point guards in defensive rebounds per 36 minutes. Always free! Not everything about a players value can be seen even through advanced stats, or even while hes on the court. At 5ft 3in (1.60m) the shortest player in NBA history, Muggsy Bogues enjoyed 889 games in a 14-year career as a point guard. READ ALSO: James Harden's age: stats, contract, family, dating, net worth in 2022 and more. Its not uncommon to see him challenge shots with both feet on the floor. For each player, I watched between one and two hours of footage of defense, taking account of specific things and grading them in five different areas. One of the greatest point guards ever, Jason Kidd could make the flashy pass or the simple play with the best of them while also loving to hightail it in transition to wear opponents down in. 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. He presses hard as long as the opponent is in front of him, but will frequently give up on the play once the defender is past him. Humility can often be a sign of intelligence at work, and it is with Hinrich. When the game is on the line, you like to see players find fifth, but Lin never does. His length is better; he has a 65.75 wingspan. Rose had it all, including speed, explosiveness, and the ability to score when it mattered most. Thanks for signing up. 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. Most players will take a little on-court breather now and then. It doesnt help to be fast if you dont use it, so Bledsoes score here is lower than you might expect. He has trouble compensating for his lack of size when challenging jump shots. Last season, when Rose was healthy early on, they gave up the thirdmost, 16.3 points. Hes able to stay in front of all but the quickest point guards in the league. On the other, he so rarely allows his opponent to get past him that he doesnt need to rely on it either. In fact, hes a bit of a bull on the court and tries to intimidate his counterpart. Think: Dennis Rodman. He always picks up on the switch. Stockton embodied a true point guard: an extension of the coach that ran the teams offense seamlessly. Jason Kidd was the definition of a jack-of-all-trades point guard: he could pass, score and grab rebounds. 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. The problem is that sometimes players are so inept, they skew the stats of other players. Micah Adams is the lead NBA research specialist for ESPN Stats and Info. Therefore, with a few exceptions, players were only considered if they played at least 1,200 minutes last season (which comes out to around 30 percent of possible minutes). During the 1960-1961 season, the then-32-year-old Cousy racked up 6.3 DWS, the most in his career. In addition to the traditional role of the point guard, modern teams have found new ways to utilize the position. He has decent size for a point guard, at 63 but he doesnt have much of a vertical: 28.5.. On the positive side, Rose does a decent job of understanding his role in a complex system. Isaiah Thomas 5. Anyways, we hope you enjoyed going through the rankings with Magic Johnson securing first place in the Top 10 NBA point guards of all time. He has no All-Defensive team accolades, because those werent introduced until the 1968-1969 season. If he's not on the slide and he played 1,200 minutes, he should be on this list somewhere. He also is tougher than most point guards to post up. Its hard to notice his effort, though, because of the consistency with which he gets destroyed. Williams tends to play defense, but he only seems to do the minimum. Thats a strong indication that Rose was not relying on help defense because that same help was there for C.J. 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. But Gary Payton did as a member of the Seattle Supersonics. Players Stats: 14.3 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 8.5 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.1 BPG, Honors: 2x MVP, 8x All-Stars, 7x All-NBA Selection, Hall of Famer. Bledsoe runs through his rotations, but he rounds them off or overruns them. They work harder, and they get things eventually, but not quite as well. Why did you choose such a weird number scale? Its like hes just punching the clock and collecting his wages. Hell go flying outside the play, right as his man catches the ball, and then hell not only have to make up that ground, but hell also have to fight through the pick. However, the other side of the ball cant be overlooked because as the saying goes: defense wins championships.. This could be something that Monty Williams, a coach with outstanding player development skills, can work on in New Orleans now that Holiday is with the Pelicans. To create All-Time #NBArank, we put together a ballot with the 150 greatest players ever. Then there was that kid who just read the assignment on the bus and got straight As. Point guards must be able to maintain possession of the ball in crowded spaces and in traffic and be able to advance the ball quickly. In fact, hes probably as adept as anyone at this, and his Synergy numbers, .68 points per play against the pick-and-roll, certainly back it up. If he wins an NBA championship, Chris Paul, the current number one point guard, will rise even higher on this ranking. Aside from his offensive prowess, Johnson had the ability to hit for power and lead the offense at a high level. 18.7 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 9.9 APG, 2.3 SPG, The player Its no surprise that the best point guards in the NBA have more than just the ability to pass the basketball. (As an aside, in the slides, you will only see the original metric value, not the weighted number to determine the WAM. Players Stats: 25.7 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 9.5 APG, 1.1 SPG, 0.1 BPG, Honors: 1963-1964 MVP, 12x All-Star, 11x All-NBA Selection, 1960-1961 Rookie of the Year, Hall of Famer. Coaches are responsible for developing young players, and it would have been fun to watch him grow under Doc Rivers. -- Haberstroh, Honors For his time with the Phoenix Suns, Johnson is most known for his role alongside Charles Barkley. He routinely gets blistered in isolation (.93 points per play), fails to close out well on shooters and lags when coming off of screens. Whenever anyone imagines a point guard, chances are theyre thinking of Utah Jazz legend John Stockton. 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. He works well within a system where there are no real defensive weaknesses. A lot has been made of how an explosive offense is the way to captivate fans. One way of offsetting the problems of defensive rating is looking at on/off stats, meaning how many points does the defense give up while a player is on the court versus when he is off the court? Big O is widely regarded as one of the best offensive point guards of all time. Kawhi Leonard 11. His 47.4 DWS is 54th overall, good for an average of 2.963 DWS per season, slightly edging Wade. He could create at an elite level while also scoring off the dribble from the midrange. Hes just over 60" without shoes but has a wingspan of 67.5. Only four players in the history of the combine are as short or shorter and have at least that kind of reach. With the increased emphasis on the deep three, point guards account for a large portion of the league's top scorers. Notable point guards of the WNBA include five-time champion Sue Bird, her Olympic teammate Diana Taurasi (the only two basketball players of either gender to earn five Olympic gold medals for basketball[1]) and Courtney Vandersloot. Scottie Pippen 5. Even players like Derek Fisher will hang him up and then hit him with the step-back. Jordans inclusion as the best defensive shooting guard isnt surprising considering his relentless attitude to winning. Even though hes been injured a lot, Paul is averaging over two steals a game for his career. The perimeter player gets rewarded statistically for what the center did, even though he actually played shoddy defense. 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. While he does benefit from help defense, its not as often as you might think. After the All-Star break, when Rose hardly played, that number fell to 17.8 and the Bulls dropped to ninth. He normally makes the right play, even if he doesnt always do it well. WAM is the foundation, and WAMS is the house. On the one hand, he doesnt seem cogent enough of his surroundings most of the time to really offer any.

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