Who are the top 5 perimeters defenders in the league currently?

[ILC]

Kawhi, Simmons, Smart, Holiday, Butler

[Harcore Fenton Mun]

Simmons is absolutely a top 5 defender based on his play last season. He's gotten substantially better on defense every year of his career so far.

You're seeing something I don't. He's good, but he doesn't lock down guys like kawhi, OG, Smart etc.

Not only that, he has Embiid back there making his life easier when he over plays the defender. He erases a lot of mistakes.

[Mylie10]

In my opinion the best 5 perimeter defenders in the league are..

1. Kawhi
2. Simmons
3. OG
4. Smart
5. Covington

Curious to see what everyone else's rankings look like.

I’ll go Simmons, Iguodala, Thybulle, Kawhi, and Smart

[Lockdown504090]

Mikal Bridges

definitely deserves a mention, when he gets adult strength, its gonna real tough to get buckets on him

[aminiaturebuddha]

Marcus Smart
Jrue Holiday
Kyle Lowry
Kris Dunn
Eric Bledsoe

Matisse Thybulle has the potential to be one of the elites if he keeps improving.

Guys like Derrick White, Dejounte Murray, Shaq Harrison, DeAndre Bembry and D'Anthony Melton also deserve some recognition.

I like your list -- it is diverse, well thought out, with little based on "rep" like Kawhi.

Not sure about Lowry. He is a very good defender, but part of that is because he is a sneaky-great post defender. I watch a lot of Raptor games (because the Pistons suck and the Raptors don't) and I wouldn't even mention Lowry as a top-3 perimeter defender on the Raptors: OG, Powell and RHJ are all better.

Smart, Dunn and Simmons are my top 3, with Holiday, Bledsoe and Derrick White my next 3. Hard to pick 5. Thybulle will be on the list really soon.

I definitely agree with OG over Lowry because he's becoming a next level defender, both on-ball and team defence, but I really don't understand how you could put Powell or RHJ ahead of Lowry. Both of those guys have their moments, but also have have too many breakdowns to be consistently great. Lowry doesn't have the athleticism that Powell and RHJ do, but he's always in the right place and making smart decisions on the defensive end.

If anything, I would put VanVleet ahead of both Powell and RHJ. For a guy who is short and doesn't have much wingspan, he gets his hands on a crazy amount of balls. He somehow led the league with 4.2 deflections a game last year. And and a bonus, he's learned from Lowry how to be extremely hard to back down, even by guys with 6 inches in height on him.

[LoveMyRaps]

Siakam deserves a mention too.
Just look at the Boston second round series, even though he sucked on offense, he did a terrific job guarding Tatum and Brown.
I think OG is ahead of him right now though. But Siakam also exerts way more energy on the offensive end so that's a big reason why.

[Harry Garris]

Simmons is absolutely a top 5 defender based on his play last season. He's gotten substantially better on defense every year of his career so far.

You're seeing something I don't. He's good, but he doesn't lock down guys like kawhi, OG, Smart etc.

Not only that, he has Embiid back there making his life easier when he over plays the defender. He erases a lot of mistakes.

Well I dont know how you'd define a lockdown defender anymore. Elite scorers like Luka and Harden can score with relative ease even on Kawhi with how skilled modern superstars are and the way the game is played now. To me the most important aspect of defense is not can you stay in front of the other teams best player and hold him to a slightly lower efficiency. Personally I think being able to switch and guard all 5 positions effectively and create turnovers is a more valuable skill, and that's what Simmons excels at. I'm no defensive expert though and it's probably worth debating.

[Joshyjess]

Smart
Kawhi
PatBev
Avery Bradley
Paul George

When Bradley played for Boston, I always thought he was definitely one of the best perimeter D guys in the league. That was a few years ago, though. I didn't really get to see a lot of him this year, and was just wondering if he was still just as tenacious on D as he was a few years ago?

[stormi]

Simmons is absolutely a top 5 defender based on his play last season. He's gotten substantially better on defense every year of his career so far.

You're seeing something I don't. He's good, but he doesn't lock down guys like kawhi, OG, Smart etc.

Not only that, he has Embiid back there making his life easier when he over plays the defender. He erases a lot of mistakes.

?

Read on Twitter

Just go on twitter and type in "When guarded by Simmons" in the search bar and see more of the work he put in this year on the defensive end of the floor. Also led the league in steals. He was my DPOY personally.

[Forbes]

Smart
Bradley
Simmons
Jrue
Toss up

[TTP]

In my opinion the best 5 perimeter defenders in the league are..

1. Kawhi
2. Simmons
3. OG
4. Smart
5. Covington

Curious to see what everyone else's rankings look like.

Kawhi is still living off his reputation. He hasn’t been #1 for about 4 seasons now.

Covington is a very good team defender, not a great 1 on 1 defender.

Smart would top my list and Paul George, Kris Dunn, Jrue Holiday, Pat Beverley, Eric Bledsoe, DeJonte Murray all deserve mentions.

You don't stop being on the perimeter just because your opponent doesn't have the ball. The question isn't about who is the best lockdown 1 on 1 defender, yet a lot of people are treating it as so. Rotations and intercepting passing lanes are parts of perimeter defense.

[Harry Garris]

Simmons is absolutely a top 5 defender based on his play last season. He's gotten substantially better on defense every year of his career so far.

You're seeing something I don't. He's good, but he doesn't lock down guys like kawhi, OG, Smart etc.

Not only that, he has Embiid back there making his life easier when he over plays the defender. He erases a lot of mistakes.

?

Read on Twitter

Just go on twitter and type in "When guarded by Simmons" in the search bar and see more of the work he put in this year on the defensive end of the floor. Also led the league in steals. He was my DPOY personally.

A lot of people on RGM are really down on Simmons as a player just because of... the ROTY thing I guess? A lot of people also weirdly take it really personally that he won't shoot 3s. It's the strangest thing.

[The_Hater]

In my opinion the best 5 perimeter defenders in the league are..

1. Kawhi
2. Simmons
3. OG
4. Smart
5. Covington

Curious to see what everyone else's rankings look like.

Kawhi is still living off his reputation. He hasn’t been #1 for about 4 seasons now.

Covington is a very good team defender, not a great 1 on 1 defender.

Smart would top my list and Paul George, Kris Dunn, Jrue Holiday, Pat Beverley, Eric Bledsoe, DeJonte Murray all deserve mentions.

You don't stop being on the perimeter just because your opponent doesn't have the ball. The question isn't about who is the best lockdown 1 on 1 defender, yet a lot of people are treating it as so. Rotations and intercepting passing lanes are parts of perimeter defense.

Agreed, I was just making a comment an overall defense and that was reason enough for him not to make my top 5. Covington is a valuable defender but having a guy who can lock up with the best opposing wing player is highly important too and RC just isn’t that guy at all.

[WeTheNorth123]

I'm so impressed with OG's defense

Thats why i dont want to overpay fred vanvleet....I want to save money for OG

[LloydFree]

1. Kawhi
2. Covington
3. Smart
4. George
5. Simmons