RealGM

Who is the NBA's absolute worst defender that plays a significant amount of guard?

My pick would be Anfernee Simons, but there are a lot of valid options here.

Jordan Poole. His awareness on Defense is outright laughable. His inability to properly rotate makes him an absolute nuisance on Defense.

Collin Sexton & Trae Young are two of the worst Defenders in the NBA simply because they're just too small.

Probably a guy who is physically underwhelming and also not invested like Bones or Trae. Poole's not a bad guess either.

MiamiBulls wrote:Jordan Poole. His awareness on Defense is outright laughable. His inability to properly rotate makes him an absolute nuisance on Defense.

Collin Sexton & Trae Young are two of the worst Defenders in the NBA simply because they're just too small.

SIze is a handicap but when you talk to other guards of his era, Muggsy Bogues is generally mentioned as a good defender despite being the shortest guy to ever play in the league. You could shoot over him, but he was strong, quick, and an aggressive attacker of opponents dribbles (where being short gives an actual advantage). You can't be the worst defender in the league if you put in focused effort and understand the system.

I don't see enough teams to be definitive about it, but Trae is just awful. He gets steals but is otherwise horrendous.

Kyrie Irving used to die on screens almost every time. I don't know if he's improved with that.

From what I've seen, Dame has improved this year, though he's still far from good.

Thank you for 2022, but I've seen enough of the Jordan Poole Experience to know how maddening he can be on both ends of the court.

Since there are multiple aspects to defense -- on ball, off ball positioning, navigating screens, rotating, rebounding, screening out, steals, fouling -- it would be comical to have someone be bad at everything. Any NBA player can be good with effort and a basic level of positional awareness. For those that are bad at D, it usually starts with effort.

Jaden Ivey and Malaki Branham

Tyrese Haliburton

MiamiBulls wrote:Jordan Poole. His awareness on Defense is outright laughable. His inability to properly rotate makes him an absolute nuisance on Defense.

Collin Sexton & Trae Young are two of the worst Defenders in the NBA simply because they're just too small.

You haven't been watching the same Collin Sexton I have this year. Clarkson is worse on the same team

It's Trae and I'd even consider the "it's not close" addendum. We now have a half decade worth of data to show that his teams are downright atrocious on defense with him on the court. His lack of size, combined with his lack of defensive IQ, positioning, and overall laziness (especially in transition) is such a brutal combo. And it's not like he even gambles and creates turnovers as a high steals guy to even somewhat make up for it. Considering the minutes he plays, he's up there with the worst defensive guards I've ever seen.

Before this season I’d have said Jalen Green. Now he’s actually a plus defender, quite the turnaround.

Damian Lillard ?

Shoutout to Jordan Poole who deserves his place on any worst of list for this season. Plays dumb and doesn't care, it's a bad combination.

Outside wrote:Kyrie Irving used to die on screens almost every time. I don't know if he's improved with that.

I thought about posting that I thought Kyrie was giving more effort defensively and I still think he mostly is, but man was he tragic last night against the Kings lol. Not on screens, but just losing his man off-ball over and over again. Both he and Luka do okay on ball, but are really guilty of too much ball watching otherwise.

On a side note PJ Washington has shown up and been immediately asked to guard the best guy seemingly without regard to position and I'm amazed at how readily he's accepted that even on nights when he's not seeing the ball at the other end. I was really excited about Gafford's addition, but not PJ, but he's been a nice addition. Dallas is suddenly a big team with Kyrie the only small player in the rotation.

Halliburton has to be high up there. Dude is already thinking of the next offensive possession after a made basket.