Best defensive season ever

[Dipper 13]

1. Bill Russell 1964

Sports Illustrated - August 04, 1969

I think our 1963-64 team was the best. It was easily the best defensive team we ever had—maybe that's why it's my favorite—and maybe the best of all time. I rate it best despite the fact that it was only good offensively, not great. Maybe that's the key to it. We knew our offensive shortcomings and we worked hard to overcome them.

[Dipper 13]

Sports Illustrated - June 08, 1970

As despicable as it was, however, I must say that the quota system won a title for the Celtics. In the 1963-64 season Cincinnati had a better team than we did. The Royals could have beaten us, but in my opinion they virtually gave Bob Boozer away to get down to their black quota, and that gave us a championship in the bargain.

[TheXFactor]

Ben Wallace 2004?

[TheKingOfVa360]

I was going to mention Russell's '64, but I see bastillon's already beat me to it.

What makes 64 so special? I'm curious since there weren't any defensive stats for players besides defensive win shares

[G35]

Too bad the majority of Kobe's All-D teams have been fully deserving. lol @ making 6 straight All-D teams because of rep.

Never said anything different. I was making the point that Kobe has NOT deserved some of them.

You know, not being totally defensive all the time is quite an endearing trait. Maybe you should try it sometime.

That does swing both ways. Did you really have to bring Kobe up initially.....

[MisterWestside]

Too bad the majority of Kobe's All-D teams have been fully deserving. lol @ making 6 straight All-D teams because of rep.

Never said anything different. I was making the point that Kobe has NOT deserved some of them.

You know, not being totally defensive all the time is quite an endearing trait. Maybe you should try it sometime.

That does swing both ways. Did you really have to bring Kobe up initially.....

Except he wasn't being defensive. He was making the simple point that awards aren't a great indicator of of performance, and used two examples to illustrate his point. It shouldn't be a secret to anyone that Kobe isn't nearly the defender that his accumulation of All-D awards suggest he is, but alot of Kobe Bryant fans are obviously blind to evidence.

In Mo26's case, he irrationally defends Kobe Bryant in many of his posts, and even incorrectly cites RAPM data to make his arguments. rrravenred isn't picking on him; he's simply pulling his card.

[Top10alltime]

1963-64 Bill Russell, then Bill takes the top 5 fully, probably.

[Elpolo_14]

I don't think Ben wallace has the best defensive season ( that would be Bill Russell )

I know he isn't in the best conversation.
But I would like to mention Patrick Ewing in 1994 on defense was on demon time . With his interior read to clean up for his teammates mistake and he was elite as advantage dispatcher in the elbow to rim area, also able to lead All time defensive team ( -8.1rDRTG it close to the 2004 Spur / 2008 Celtics and a bit better than 2004 Piston / 2014 Pacers ). His ability to scale to the playoff was great Even to he got eaten alive by Hakeem in the final tho because he couldn't contain Hakeem footwork and pump fake shot in the post

[Elpolo_14]

Here is Robinson's 92 season. The Spurs finished #1 in D rating. More amazing was that they did that despite Robinson missing the last 14 games of the season.

-68 G played: 102.6 D rating, 70.4 Dreb%, .512 TS%, +4.7 MOV
-14 G missed: 111.6 D rating (-9 D rating drop), 65.6 Dreb%, .534 TS% (2.2 TS% drop), -3.3 MOV (+8 with Robinson than without)
+9 D rating difference, -4.8 Dreb%, +2.2 TS%, +8 MOV
-Playoffs w/o Drob: 119.6 D rating, 63.2 Dreb%, .578 TS%, -9 MOV

As you can see, the team collapsed massively with almost all of it due to the team’s defense. The team went from -6.6 from the league average (this year’s Bulls level) with Robinson to being +3.4 from the league average which is 2nd to last. So Robinson was the difference between a dominant #1 finish and the 2nd worst defense in the league

Great information. Where did you get this from? I wanna check the defense of some player too

[FrodoBaggins]

Rudy Gobert's 2020-21 RS was extremely good. MVP-level impact solely from his defense. Borderline top-5 player that RS.

2,187 MP
+16.3 on-court NRtg, +19.1 on-off NRtg
[+5.4 on-court ORtg, +6.7 on-off ORtg; -10.9 on-court DRtg, -12.4 on-off DRtg]
ON-COURT DRtg: -10.9, -9.0 rFirstChance/-1.9 rSecondChance, -5.8 rTS%, -3.3 rORB, -0.8% rAtRimFrequency, -4.9% rAtRimAccuracy
ON-OFF DRtg: -12.4, -9.5 rFirstChance/-2.9 rSecondChance, -6.7 rTS%, -1.5 rORB, -6.5% rAtRimFrequency, -7.4% rAtRimAccuracy
13.1 rim contests/100, -13.6% DFG, 3.6 rim points saved/100
+7.8 RAPTOR (4th in-season & 28th all-time [???]), -0.1 O-RAPTOR (151st), +7.9 D-RAPTOR (1st in-season & 1st all-time [???])
+4.9 DPM (9th in-season & 43rd all-time [2001-2025]), +0.4 O-DPM (111th), +4.5 D-DPM (1st in-season & 3rd all-time [2001-2025])
+6.0 LEBRON (2nd in-season & 15th all-time [2010-2025]), +0.9 O-LEBRON (64th), +5.1 D-LEBRON (1st in-season & 1st all-time [2010-2025])

[colts18]

Here is Robinson's 92 season. The Spurs finished #1 in D rating. More amazing was that they did that despite Robinson missing the last 14 games of the season.

-68 G played: 102.6 D rating, 70.4 Dreb%, .512 TS%, +4.7 MOV
-14 G missed: 111.6 D rating (-9 D rating drop), 65.6 Dreb%, .534 TS% (2.2 TS% drop), -3.3 MOV (+8 with Robinson than without)
+9 D rating difference, -4.8 Dreb%, +2.2 TS%, +8 MOV
-Playoffs w/o Drob: 119.6 D rating, 63.2 Dreb%, .578 TS%, -9 MOV

As you can see, the team collapsed massively with almost all of it due to the team’s defense. The team went from -6.6 from the league average (this year’s Bulls level) with Robinson to being +3.4 from the league average which is 2nd to last. So Robinson was the difference between a dominant #1 finish and the 2nd worst defense in the league

Great information. Where did you get this from? I wanna check the defense of some player too

I did the calculations myself.