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Who since 1980 would be the best defensive SM too defend Peak Lebron the best?

I was going to say Pippen reflexively, but looking at those names it occurs to me that peak Artest or Rodman might really cause Bron problems because they could match his strength. In fact I think I'm going to go with peak Artest here, although young Rodman might be a real adventure too, because I can't even imagine how Bron would respond to all of the Worm's antics and chucks to the ribs. He'd probably just flop down and roll around soccer style, but if you did that with Wormy he would just "accidentally" step on you or trip over you and land on your head or something.

Andre Iguodala and Kawhi Leonard each won a FMVP defending LeBron

Didnt young kawhi already successfully defend lebron? (Its not like you can consistently shut the guy down lol)
I think in this era, pippen would even be better.
If you put lebron in the early 90s, rodman would be really sucessfull as well.
Also i think prime KD can clearly defend lebron well enough.

The thing is, lebrons passing is just as dangerous so it doesnt matter sometimes if you make him inefficient. His passing also opens up his offense cause defenders are playing for the pass at times.

JJ Barea

I think I'd take nine time first team All DEF Michael Jordan.

I am absolutely torn between Kawhi and Rodman. Not a slight on the others but I think Kawhi and Rodman are the two choices to defend Lebron.

We already have seen how well Kawhi guarded Lebron and how much Lebron hated Kawhi guarding him. Kawhi just did his job, no trash talk, and Lebron was hating life.

Rodman though would absolutely terrorise Lebron's mindset.

If I had to choose with gun to my head for the best long term outcome I'd choose Kawhi based on the size of those gloves that are massive advantages on defense as well as his calm head.

Rodman would be massively entertaining but in today's game with Lebron's flops and cries Rodman will be struggling to stay on the court.

Shawn Marion doesn't get a spot in the poll even though his defense resulted in Lebron's worst Finals ever?

Depends what you think is peak Lebron.

2009 Lebron is too quick for Pippen, but Pippen could guard the 2013 an 2017 incarnations very well.

2013 and 2017 Lebron are too smart and strong/bully ball-ish to be shut down by your Artest/Rodman types, but they are quick enough on their feet to give the 2009 version hell.

Extremely tough decision and of course we will never know the right answer...but I have to go with Rodman. Rodman was a student of defense like no other. I think he might have a tough time against the size and speed at first but given a few matchups he would make adjustments and get under LeBron's skin. It would be interesting to see how LeBron would react to the merciless head games.

Peak Leonard is probably the best match-up. He has the ideal combination of strength, length, size, athleticism and IQ to defend LeBron and make life difficult for him in almost every situation.

Rodman is a close second.

Artest probably comes third. He had incredibly quick feet, and the strength not to get bullied by LeBron on the block or on his drives. I put him third because Leonard and Rodman are better athletes and probably better equipped to deal with Bron's speed, but it's very close between Rodman and Artest. I'm going back-and-forth between the two.

Pippen was a generational team defender, and a great individual defender, but he would get bullied on the block by LeBron and on his power drives. In fact, I'd pick Iguodala ahead of Pippen as an individual defender for this match-up.

The ways defenses now have to switch in the pick-and-roll (because of the pull-up 3) makes this conversation a bit less relevant than it used to be though.

flranger wrote:I think I'd take nine time first team All DEF Michael Jordan.

Lebron’s height and strength would be way too much for MJ. He was an elite defender but he was guarding the best guard usually. Pippen always took the best wing due to his size and Rodman in the paint or stretch bigs.

Did everyone just forget Artest and Lebron played in the same league. Almost from the same generation in fact, drafted in 99 and 03. Lebron actually looked stronger whenever they matched up.




Ignore the title on the video, Artest actually also had some good defensive performances on Lebron but Kawhi and Iggy were better Lebron defenders especially when they were on teams with lesser scoring roles.

I voted Pippen, but Artest was the first name coming to my mind, he is probably the strongest among the options, and you need a lot of that to go against Lebron

donnieme wrote:Did everyone just forget Artest and Lebron played in the same league. Almost from the same generation in fact, drafted in 99 and 03. Lebron actually looked stronger whenever they matched up.

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

Ignore the title on the video, Artest actually also had some good defensive performances on Lebron but Kawhi and Iggy were better Lebron defenders especially when they were on teams with lesser scoring roles.

To be fair, Artest peaked wway before these video took place. He was at his best in Indiana, not as a Laker.

That said, I think that Iggy did the best job overall on James. He was such a fundamentally sound perimeter defender and he also brings a lot of strength and length (unlike someone like Battier or Bowen, who weren't strong enough against James).

I'd like to see some bruising forwards like Anthony Mason or Gus Johnson on James. They were strong enough to deal with James size, but they also possessed quick feet and length to bother his shot.

Kawhi and KD as well as Iggy worked fine even against prime LeBron. Scottie? Probably. I'm not sure what people consider LeBron's prime but in my resemblance it was a phase of strong physical dominance but very little out side shooting skill. That means you need someone with length and strength and active hands, so i dont think MJ, Kobe or the likes - who were elite defenders in their own right - could have slowed him down as much as the aforementioned group.

If we take Peak Lebron to be his 2012-2014 incarnation, probably Kawhi. Lebron had too much power for Pippen and too much speed for MWP or Rodman.

narmerguy wrote:If we take Peak Lebron to be his 2012-2014 incarnation, probably Kawhi. Lebron had too much power for Pippen and too much speed for MWP or Rodman.

Young Detroit Rodman had better lateral speed than Kawhi in my opinion.