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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 think Butler deserves to be in this conversation.

chitownsalesmen wrote:I think Butler deserves to be in this conversation.

For sure. I got no problem with anyone putting Butler in the top 5. I had a tough time deciding between him, Holiday, and Covington for the 5th spot.

LoveMyRaps wrote:

chitownsalesmen wrote:I think Butler deserves to be in this conversation.

For sure. I got no problem with anyone putting Butler in the top 5. I had a tough time deciding between him, Holiday, and Covington for the 5th spot.

Yeah I'm not militantly saying he has to be in the top 5 but he deserves a seat at the table, ya know?

LoveMyRaps wrote: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.

Have to throw LeBron in there.

No one can deny that at any moment LeBron can be the best defender in the league, perimeter or otherwise. He can turn it on and off.

If a perimeter player needed to be stopped in the playoffs I'd take LeBron over everyone on that list, including Kawhi.

Are we talking at maximum effort or night in/night out? Kawhi is still very good with very quick hands, but right now he doesn't have the nightly defensive impact of someone like OG, Simmons, or Smart.

I would choose Simmons, OG, Jrue, Smart, and Dort.

Also, are we considering covering the pick and roll as part of perimeter defense? If we are, we might see some bigs like Davis sneak into this list as what they can do by hedging and recovering or switching arguably saves more points on actions that start on the perimeter than any other defensive play type in the current NBA. They aren't generally the best at checking quick guards 1v1 though.

I feel like if Covington counts then you have to consider the Greek Freak since one on one really doesn't matter in the NBA as much these days and pick and roll defense does. But also as long as the bar is "just not C" then Greek Freak has to be on the list.

That said there are some boring answers but they're good ones for perimeter defenders that deserve consideration:

Ariza and Matthews are doing their thing, and doing it very well defensively on high volume. A bit surprisingly Ingles is too... and as annoying as it is to admit LeBron is too.

All those none DPOY players save more points per 100 than say Ben Simmons and other than LeBron doing it on a higher "defensive load". But it's close enough to just say it isn't like they're one hit low minute wonders like a Dort (who may have a higher load next year mind you but I can only go off what I've seen for something like this really).

MarcusBrody wrote:Are we talking at maximum effort or night in/night out? Kawhi is still very good with very quick hands, but right now he doesn't have the nightly defensive impact of someone like OG, Simmons, or Smart.

I would choose Simmons, OG, Jrue, Smart, and Dort.

That's a solid top 5 list.
Although we all know when Kawhi ''feels like it'' can play like the best perimeter defender the game has ever seen.

1. Smart
2. Leonard
3. Simmons
4. Holiday
5. Harris

Marcus Smart
DeAaron Fox
Ben Simmons
Kyle Lowry
Giannis Antetokounmpo

Paul George and Kawhi Leonard are no longer elite. Jrue CAN be elite but he has a suspect motor. Some games he doesn't defend well at all because he's lazy and then other games he shuts down top offensive players and can switch 1-3.

Mikal Bridges

LoveMyRaps wrote:

MarcusBrody wrote:Are we talking at maximum effort or night in/night out? Kawhi is still very good with very quick hands, but right now he doesn't have the nightly defensive impact of someone like OG, Simmons, or Smart.

I would choose Simmons, OG, Jrue, Smart, and Dort.

That's a solid top 5 list.
Although we all know when Kawhi ''feels like it'' can play like the best perimeter defender the game has ever seen.

I'm honestly not sure that Kawhi has that gear anymore. He can still be an excellent defender, but I'd if still has that GOAT gear, I'm not sure what could have merited busting it out more than how Jamal Murray was playing in their series this year. It wasn't as if the Nuggets had a dominant wing Kawhi needed to stick to.

I don't mean to sound overly negative here. Kawhi can be a very good defender and his quick hands serve him amazingly against even good ball handling guards, but in the last two years I've though he looked more comfortable guarding bigger wings than quicker perimeter players.

Optms wrote:1. Smart
2. Leonard
3. Simmons
4. Holiday
5. Harris

Tobias Harris? That's a surprising one.

kyrie, kd, and lillard say

JRUE

LoveMyRaps wrote:

Optms wrote:1. Smart
2. Leonard
3. Simmons
4. Holiday
5. Harris

Tobias Harris? That's a surprising one.

Gary Harris??

Lebron (still a top versatile defender, especially in high leverage moments)
Kawhi (still a top defender in high leverage moments)
Jrue
Smart
Simmons

Paul George
Caruso
OG
Lowry/CP3
Honorable mention: Playoff Rondo, guarded Harden better than anyone I’ve seen

Clearly he meant Joe Harris





/S

GANGSTERDOG wrote:

LoveMyRaps wrote:

Optms wrote:1. Smart
2. Leonard
3. Simmons
4. Holiday
5. Harris

Tobias Harris? That's a surprising one.

Gary Harris??

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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.

celticfan42487 wrote:I feel like if Covington counts then you have to consider the Greek Freak since one on one really doesn't matter in the NBA as much these days and pick and roll defense does. But also as long as the bar is "just not C" then Greek Freak has to be on the list.

If "just not a center" is the bar, I have to point out that AD spends most of his time at the same position as RoCo and Giannis, even though he can play center.