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I prefer Draymond's defensive ability to Marion. Marion was terrific on that end of the court, but his quote really makes him look silly.

Does he not understand the strategy behind modern defenses? Switching is something a team does when they believe it is their best option of defending specific players within specific offensive sets. Even the best defensive players switch in certain situations.

Colbinii wrote:I prefer Draymond's defensive ability to Marion. Marion was terrific on that end of the court, but his quote really makes him look silly.

Does he not understand the strategy behind modern defenses? Switching is something a team does when they believe it is their best option of defending specific players within specific offensive sets. Even the best defensive players switch in certain situations.

I mean I think he gets that. What he seems to be trying to say is that he's a better man-to-man defender than Draymond.

Marion might be better on guards just by virtue of being quicker, but we saw old Lebron competently guard Jamal and Jokic in the same game and no one is calling him better defensively than Tim Duncan.

It is a nice option for versatility, and I think it is meaningful that a lot of the guys we cite as the highest peak defenders — e.g. Russell, Hakeem, Garnett, Ben Wallace — have been able to switch onto small players when necessary, but it does not mean the analysis stops at who is most switchable. Hot take, but I am still going to take Wilt over Cowens and Adebayo.

I love Marion and its a crime he never made an all-D team, but this is Draymond and its not really that close.

Texas Chuck wrote:I love Marion and its a crime he never made an all-D team, but this is Draymond and its not really that close.

The poll results for this are right on track.

I hate to be a hypocrite and do the "me in your era and you in my era" thing that I so dislike, but Marion translates way better than Draymond who makes little sense as a 6'6 small ball 5 in the 00s.

Draymond is obv the more impactful overall defender in their respective eras but I kinda see where Marion is coming from here. He was a much better individual defender and was very versatile for his time. Circumstance counts for a lot here.

Edit: it's also interesting given we seem to be entering an era where Draymond probably wouldn't be as effective either. Is it possible that prime Draymond could only have been as impactful as he was in his own era despite being a modern player? Food for thought.

Marion was a great defender, but he's well below a guy like Draymond. Draymond's on a completely different tier IMO, just a smart and intelligent defender who can anchor a top defense like a GOAT.

Is this a serious question? Draymond will go down as one of the greatest defenders in the modern era.

VanWest82 wrote:I hate to be a hypocrite and do the "me in your era and you in my era" thing that I so dislike, but Marion translates way better than Draymond who makes little sense as a 6'6 small ball 5 in the 00s.

Draymond is obv the more impactful overall defender in their respective eras but I kinda see where Marion is coming from here. He was a much better individual defender and was very versatile for his time. Circumstance counts for a lot here.

Edit: it's also interesting given we seem to be entering an era where Draymond probably wouldn't be as effective either. Is it possible that prime Draymond could only have been as impactful as he was in his own era despite being a modern player? Food for thought.

I don’t agree that Marion is the better individual defender, and no way is he much better. Draymond to my eye is better better at both man and help defense. Perhaps Marion has an edge in certain matches, but that’s about all I see.

Draymond easily.

VanWest82 wrote:I hate to be a hypocrite and do the "me in your era and you in my era" thing that I so dislike, but Marion translates way better than Draymond who makes little sense as a 6'6 small ball 5 in the 00s.

Draymond is obv the more impactful overall defender in their respective eras but I kinda see where Marion is coming from here. He was a much better individual defender and was very versatile for his time. Circumstance counts for a lot here.

Edit: it's also interesting given we seem to be entering an era where Draymond probably wouldn't be as effective either. Is it possible that prime Draymond could only have been as impactful as he was in his own era despite being a modern player? Food for thought.

Marion was a very good individual defender as he was athletic, quick enough, stronger than he looked, had length. But this is clearly Draymond who is in a different tier than Marion. Draymond’s individual defense gets overlooked since his team defense and BBall IQ is so high.

Often people bring up that he is not a rim protecter, but Draymond does provide a paint presence and rim protection, while also being one of the greatest defensive communicators of the past 25 years, allowing him to quarterback defenses.



If you go through the seasons from 2015 through 2023, you see some elite tracking numbers for how much worse opponents shot against Draymond vs. everyone else for shots under 6 feet and under 10 feet from the rim. Pick any of the seasons at random; those numbers on the far right over there:

Outside of defensive rebounding, I'm struggling to think of where Marion has the advantage here.

Certainly he wasn't nearly as good at guarding up. Lamar Odom used to cook him regularly.

Marion maybe a bit more versatile and a better rebounder but Draymond wins this easily for all the reasons stated.