In an effort to determine true defensive prowess, I did a study on the field goal percentage of offensive players when a player was guarding them.
I will break this down into three groups: guards, forwards, and big men. This will not be an exhaustive list, but will include top defenders at their postiion according to reputation, and a few Celtics.
This will not take into account the frequency of each shot, but I will take the percentage from each category and total them together. The lowest total number from the percentages will indicate a better defender.
Bigs
Name 0-8 8-16 16-24 24+ % Howard 55 38 41 32 166 Bogut 48 42 38 35 163 Gobert 49 45 36 36 166 Hibbert 51 42 39 34 166 Biyumbo 50 39 39 36 164 Noel 52 39 42 36 169 Whiteside 52 44 42 39 177 Jordan 54 39 41 36 170 Asik 55 42 40 35 172 Kanter 57 46 40 38 181 B Lopez 56 43 39 36 174 Noah 53 42 41 34 170 Henson 50 32 40 32 154 Davis 56 37 38 34 165 Anderson 57 37 35 33 162 Perkins 54 38 36 31 159 Drummond54 40 44 37 165 Ibaka 50 38 37 35 160 Horford 56 39 39 33 167 Zeller 55 42 39 34 170 Bass 57 40 36 35 168 Olynyk 55 39 37 35 166 Sullinger 55 42 40 35 172 |
As you can see, the best overall defender at the center position in the NBA is John Henson, and it’s really not even close. He not only contests threes, but he is solid at the rim and the in between game. He uses his length really well. Perkins surprisingly challenges on the perimeter very well, which makes his overall defensive score solid. Ibaka uses his athletism really well to contest all over the court. Some think he baits players and gives up easy shots, but these stats simply say that is not true.
Whiteside is clearly overrated as a defender. He might be a good shotblocker, but overall, players shoot well against him. He is the second worst on this list to Enes Kanter. Other players like DeAndre Jordan, Joakim Noah, and Omer Asik also appear to be somewhat overrated as defenders. No doubt that their athelticism gives their teams unique defensive flexibility, but players shoot pretty averagely against them.
The best big defender on our team is Olynyk (as a second year player). Olynyk compares to Anthony Davis, Rudy Gobert, Roy Hibbert, Dwight Howard, and Al Horford in these stats. He is clearly not the shotblocker that some of these players are, but he makes up for it by contesting the midrange and deep range well. Sullinger is the worst defender on our team.
Wing
Josh Smith, Jimmy Butler,
Name 0-8 8-16 16-24 24+
Anteto 54 37 40 35 166
Wiggins 62 43 39 37 181
Durant 51 33 36 37 157
Middleton 52 35 39 34 160
James 56 36 42 35 169
Dudley 50 37 38 34 159
Igoudala 53 38 36 33 160
Leonard 52 38 37 35 162
Allen 53 39 34 35 161
Green 51 40 36 33 160
MKG 50 41 42 35 168
Butler 50 43 41 34 168
Thompson 51 43 37 34 165
Crowder 59 37 40 32 168
Jerebko 56 41 40 33 170
Turner 57 40 38 34 169
The best wing defender in the NBA is Kevin Durant, and this really isn’t that close either. Middleton, Green, Allen, Leonard, Duley, and Iggy all rank highly as well, all of which are generally recognized as the best defenders in the NBA (one of the reasons I think this stat is viable as a way to define defensive abilities).
Wiggins got abused this year. He was guarding the other team’s best player, but he got crushed. Kidd-Gilchrist also doesn’t rate very highly in this.
Jimmy Butler surprisingly rates lower, but with all of the offensive effort he has exerted this year, it makes sense that his defense would take a step back.
I expected this stat to show our forwards well, but they were average to slightly above average. I like Crowder, but I would like to see these stats improve more. He is a crazy man sometimes, but I would like to see him put forth more consistent effort at bodying up and contesting shooters.
Guards
Name 0-8 8-16 16-24 24+
Paul 54 37 42 36 169
Curry 51 41 37 34 163
Matthews 53 41 39 32 165
Bledsoe 54 38 38 37 167
Westbrook 54 43 38 37 172
Shumphert 54 40 39 32 165
Ju Holliday 52 36 33 35 156
Mills 52 35 35 34 156
Hill 51 41 38 34 164
Wall 54 41 39 33 167
Smart 56 38 40 35 169
Bradley 56 43 37 34 170
Thomas 57 36 44 34 171
A few surprises on here. The best starting guard in the NBA was Curry, but that was possibily because of who he was guarding (Iggy and Thompson take the other team’s best guard).
Patty Mills and Justin Holliday were the two best. Mills uses his quickness well as a pesky defender. Holliday has floated around the league for a few years. I would guess that getting to play against Curry and Thompson every day in practice and learning under Iggy would help his development immensley.
Our guards rank out slightly above average as defenders in this. Thomas is not nearly as bad as people think he is. Bradley might be slightly overrated. Smart showed really well as a rookie (3rd to Rodney Hood and Dante Exum, who had Gobert backing them up) and he is the only good rookie in the playoffs.
Overall, I think one more year of continuity will improve our defensive numbers slightly across the board. Obviously, if we are able to get a rim protector, those number go up even more.
According to opponents field goal percentage, our most effective defender is Kelly Olynyk. Stat after stat continues to show his unique abilities. I’m not sure if he will take the step forward to being a star/leader, but he is a unique all-around talent. I really like what he brings to the table and think that he might be a perfect compliment and teammate to almost anyone.