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Who was better at defense in their primes?

I think this is a very interesting to debate as your talking about two of the greatest defensive wings of all time.

I heard someone once discuss how having Lebron roam and using his athletic ability in the middle of the court was a lot like having an elite defensive big man because of how quick he was at covering territory.

I've also seen MJ average 2.5 steals in a season and over two for his career.

So let's please not be recency biased and really give it a thought process...

Is this a serious thread? MJ by a nautical mile.

Jordan won defensive player of the year and deserved it, in an NBA with considerably better defense than today. Sorry but it was not that close.

Pretty clearly LeBron. Nostalgia and the undeserved DPOY might make some people pick Jordan (who was a really good defender, don't get me wrong), but LeBron is essentially a bigger and stronger version of Jordan on defense. His versatility is just much better than Jordan's, and that makes a big difference in terms of defense.

I also think LeBron is one of the smartest defenders of all time as well...like he's a mini-Garnett in terms of being able to read what the offense is doing and predicting what they're about to do and figuring out what he needs to do in order to blow up the play. Jordan wasn't on that level in terms of defensive IQ.

Again, not taking shots at Jordan here, I don't think he was a dumb defensive player...I actually think he was quite smart. I'm not saying he wasn't versatile or didn't have certain advantages on LeBron in his own right (he was quicker and could defend PGs better)...he just falls short overall, due to LeBron's superior size, strength, and defensive IQ. And it's pretty clear to me, like how 4 is clearly bigger than 3, even if they're close.

mdonnelly1989 wrote:Who was better at defense in their primes?

I think this is a very interesting to debate as your talking about two of the greatest defensive wings of all time.

I heard someone once discuss how having Lebron roam and using his athletic ability in the middle of the court was a lot like having an elite defensive big man because of how quick he was at covering territory.

I've also seen MJ average 2.5 steals in a season and over two for his career.

So let's please not be recency biased and really give it a thought process...

imo, "back in the day" bias is just as big a problem in these arguments.

Michael Jeffrey Jordan

SeattleJazzFan wrote:

mdonnelly1989 wrote:Who was better at defense in their primes?

I think this is a very interesting to debate as your talking about two of the greatest defensive wings of all time.

I heard someone once discuss how having Lebron roam and using his athletic ability in the middle of the court was a lot like having an elite defensive big man because of how quick he was at covering territory.

I've also seen MJ average 2.5 steals in a season and over two for his career.

So let's please not be recency biased and really give it a thought process...

imo, "back in the day" bias is just as big a problem in these arguments.

Well, fair enough that makes sense.

The Rebel wrote:Jordan won defensive player of the year and deserved it, in an NBA with considerably better defense than today. Sorry but it was not that close.

Better defenses? Playing defense today is much more difficult because of the 3 point shooting and more sophisticated offenses. Earlier it was iso after iso which is much easier to guard.

mihail_petkov wrote:

The Rebel wrote:Jordan won defensive player of the year and deserved it, in an NBA with considerably better defense than today. Sorry but it was not that close.

Better defenses? Playing defense today is much more difficult because of the 3 point shooting and more sophisticated offenses. Earlier it was iso after iso which is much easier to guard.

no comment.

I've got Jordan. I think he was better at actually shutting down players and defended with tremendous passion and had terrific hands.
Bron was more versatile overall, his specialty were the chasedown blocks

The Rebel wrote:Jordan won defensive player of the year and deserved it, in an NBA with considerably better defense than today. Sorry but it was not that close.

Defense was not better back then. Not to take anything away from Jordan, but defense was much worse back then.

mihail_petkov wrote:

The Rebel wrote:Jordan won defensive player of the year and deserved it, in an NBA with considerably better defense than today. Sorry but it was not that close.

Better defenses? Playing defense today is much more difficult because of the 3 point shooting and more sophisticated offenses. Earlier it was iso after iso which is much easier to guard.

It's not really close either. Go back and watch the game then. Teams didn't have to guard multiple actions like they do today. It was a much simpler game. I think that's actually why a lot of people miss it.

jordan the better man to man defender against guards/wings, Lebron the more versatile defender.

Different types of defenders:

Jordan was probably better at locking guys down 1 on 1. LeBron is more versatile and probably a better help defender/roamer. If you think defense was harder to play in the 80's-90's than it is now you have no business making arguments in this thread.

SeattleJazzFan wrote:jordan the better man to man defender against guards/wings, Lebron the more versatile defender.

This. And it's not close on either side of the fence.

mihail_petkov wrote:

The Rebel wrote:Jordan won defensive player of the year and deserved it, in an NBA with considerably better defense than today. Sorry but it was not that close.

Better defenses? Playing defense today is much more difficult because of the 3 point shooting and more sophisticated offenses. Earlier it was iso after iso which is much easier to guard.

Nah nah, Jordan was the GOAT defender in an NBA where playing defense was harder but was also the GOAT offensive player in an NBA where playing offense was harder.

I haven't seen LeBron really have success against guys like Durant, Antetokounmpo, Leonard, or George in terms of defending them. So I would say Jordan.

LeBron was a better defender at his best.

Jiminy Glick wrote:I haven't seen LeBron really have success against guys like Durant, Antetokounmpo, Leonard, or George in terms of defending them. So I would say Jordan.

And I've also never seen Jordan anchor a defense the way Lebron did in his 2013 and 2016 title runs.

Jordan's the better man defender.

Lebron the better help defender.

Best way to answer it.