Draymond vs Kirilenko

[durantbird]

Who's the better defender?

[SeattleJazzFan]

draymond is a much better one on one defender, AK the much better help defender.

AK's biggest issue is that his peak was so short. he relied so much on his unique athletic ability and it left him early in his career. but the 4 year span from age 21 to age 24 he was as good a help defender as any player in the history of the league. you're talking about a SF who had consecutive seasons of 3.3 and 3.2 bpg. unheard of.

despite that breathtaking 4 year peak as a defensive playmaker, you have to give the nod to Draymond who is probably a top 10 defender in NBA history and top 3 in terms of versatility defensively.

AK was incredibly underrated passer as well, but that's for another discussion.

[Duke4life831]

It depends, Draymond has 2 things working in his favor. He has had the longer peak and he has played in the more favorable time for him. Prime AK-47 was still in time where we saw the twin tower lineups, not nearly the perimeter oriented game that we see today.

I actually kind of think Prime AK-47 might be a better peak defender if he played in this era compared to Draymond. 6'9 super long and athletic and a truly elite team/help defender. So with all the switching and all the rotations defensives have to make now, I think AK would be even better than he was back in his day.

But because of the multiple what ifs, I will side with Draymond on this.

[kcktiny]

Peak-wise Andrei Kirilenko hands down.

In his prime a skinny 6-9 Kirilenko was blocking shots and grabbing steals at rates only the best defensive Cs ever did, like David Robinson, Akeem Olajuwon, and Ben Wallace.

Career-wise Draymond Green.

[nate33]

Kirilenko was good, but he is being highly overrated because he was one of the few guys in history capable of posting 5x5's. In reality, he was merely a good defender, not an all time great defender. The guy made just one All-Star game in his entire career, and made just one All-Defense 1st team. His highest finishes in DPOY voting was 3rd and 5th, and had no other finishes in the top 10. His HOF probability is less than 1%

Draymond is in a whole other class historically. He is a 4-time All-Star. A 2-time All-NBA player. A 4-time All-Defense 1st team and 2-time All-Defense 2nd team. He was DPOY once, runner-up twice and 3rd in voting once. He will almost surely go down in history as one of the top 10 best defensive players of all time. Kirilenko isn't in the top 25.

[kcktiny]

Kirilenko was good, but he is being highly overrated because he was one of the few guys in history capable of posting 5x5's. In reality, he was merely a good defender, not an all time great defender.

Since the league kept track of steals and blocked shots (1973-74), from the ages of 20-25 only 4 players averaged 1.4 or more steals per game and 2.5 or more blocked shots per game, playing in 100 or more games - Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Anthony Davis, and Andrei Kirilenko. And Olajuwon, Davis, and Kirilenko did this in 380-420 games.

Twice Kirilenko averaged 1.5+ ST/g and 3.0+ BS/g in a season. The only other players to do that in a season were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Patrick Ewing, Olajuwon, Robinson, and Ben Wallace.

The fact that he did this playing SF/PF when the others to have done this were Cs is pretty incredible (Davis PF/C).

For Kirilenko to have not been a great defender during this time (first half of his career) he would had to have been poor in some other aspect of defense, like poor shot defense other than his blocked shots, or routinely giving up on plays on the defensive end, because the impact of all those steals and blocked shots from one player is huge. Having watched him play in the early to mid 2000s, I rarely saw either from him, and thought he was a premier defensive stopper, both on the ball and with help defense.

[eminence]

AK47 was way underrated in his career, so he certainly deserved more accolades. Arguably the best 3/4 defensive player ever. But Dray has an argument as the #2 defender of all-time at his peak/prime (Russell #1). I'd rate him a bit lower than that, but I'm sure you get the point. AK as good as he was was pretty clearly 'just' a 2nd tier guy in his own era (Duncan/KG/Wallace the tier 1). Draymond is undoubtably the #1 guy for the recent era, something AK never approached. It's gotta be Draymond.

[TokeBulls]

Not even that sweet, sweet NBA nostalgia can get people to vote for AK47 over Draymond

[Jaivl]

Look I love Kirilenko, but Draymond is better. Kirilenko is faster, longer, more explosive, better tattoos, and does not lack BBIQ at all. But... somehow Draymond is better.

[McBubbles]

AK47 was way underrated in his career, so he certainly deserved more accolades. Arguably the best 3/4 defensive player ever. But Dray has an argument as the #2 defender of all-time at his peak/prime (Russell #1). I'd rate him a bit lower than that, but I'm sure you get the point. AK as good as he was was pretty clearly 'just' a 2nd tier guy in his own era (Duncan/KG/Wallace the tier 1). Draymond is undoubtably the #1 guy for the recent era, something AK never approached. It's gotta be Draymond.

This seems impossible to me. What evidence do you have to support this?

[nate33]

Arguably the best 3/4 defensive player ever.

He peaked as the 3rd best defensive player of the 2006 season going by DOPY voting (behind Bruce Bowen and Ben Wallace). He was 5th one other season and never in the top 10 beyond that (behind Artest, Wallace, Ratliff and Bowen). That must have been one hell of an epic era defensively if that to translates into him being the 3rd best defensive player ever.

Guys like Hakeem Olajuwon, Bill Russell, Scottie Pippen, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Garnett, David Robinson and Rudy Gobert are rolling over in their graves.

[eminence]

Arguably the best 3/4 defensive player ever.

He peaked as the 3rd best defensive player of the 2006 season going by DOPY voting (behind Bruce Bowen and Ben Wallace). He was 5th one other season and never in the top 10 beyond that (behind Artest, Wallace, Ratliff and Bowen). That must have been one hell of an epic era defensively if that to translates into him being the 3rd best defensive player ever.

Guys like Hakeem Olajuwon, Bill Russell, Scottie Pippen, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Garnett, David Robinson and Rudy Gobert are rolling over in their graves.

Whoops, I meant 3/4 as in positionally. Compared to real Cs or 4/5s like KG I don’t think AK would rank all that highly. But amongst guys who were strictly forwards I have him as pretty comparable to anyone (Jones, Pippen, Battier some of the others among the best).

Side note - not particularly high on Bowen compared to others discussed.

[eminence]

AK47 was way underrated in his career, so he certainly deserved more accolades. Arguably the best 3/4 defensive player ever. But Dray has an argument as the #2 defender of all-time at his peak/prime (Russell #1). I'd rate him a bit lower than that, but I'm sure you get the point. AK as good as he was was pretty clearly 'just' a 2nd tier guy in his own era (Duncan/KG/Wallace the tier 1). Draymond is undoubtably the #1 guy for the recent era, something AK never approached. It's gotta be Draymond.

This seems impossible to me. What evidence do you have to support this?

The evidence would be really really good playoff defensive results.

Something like -4.4 median playoff series result from '14-'19.

[LukaTheGOAT]

Will just say, I don't know if there has ever been a 1 on 1 defender who gave Lebron and Kobe as much trouble as Kirilenko did.